Big Picture Science
Episodes
Feet Don't Fail Me (rebroadcast)
04 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Standing on your own two feet isn’t easy. While many animals can momentarily balance on their hind legs, we’re the only critters, besides birds, f...
Skeptic Check: Hypnosis
27 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You are getting sleeeepy and open to suggestion. But is that how hypnotism works? And does it really open up a portal to the unconscious mind? Hypnoti...
Fantastic-er Voyage
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Thinking small can sometimes achieve big things. A new generation of diminutive robots can enter our bodies and deal with medical problems such as int...
Dinosaurs' Last Gasp
13 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Do we have physical evidence of the last day of the dinosaurs? We consider fossilized fish in South Dakota that may chronicle the dramatic events that...
DNA is Not Destiny (rebroadcast)
06 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Heredity was once thought to be straightforward. Genes were passed in an immutable path from parents to you, and you were stuck – or blessed – wi...
For the Birds (rebroadcast)
30 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in...
End of Eternity (rebroadcast)
23 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Nothing lasts forever. Even the universe has several possible endings. Will there be a dramatic Big Rip or a Big Chill–also known as the heat dea...
Neanderthal in the Family (rebroadcast)
16 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Back off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pl...
Catching Fire
09 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We have too much “bad fire.” Not only destructive wildfires, but the combustion that powers our automobiles and provides our electricity has gener...
Skeptic Check: Dr. Oz
02 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Oz’s personable and folky approach when talking about difficult health subjects has made him a trusted source for medical information. But some ...
Eclectic Company (rebroadcast)
18 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We present a grab bag of our favorite recent science stories – from how to stop aging to the mechanics of cooking pasta. Also, in accord with our ...
Finding Endurance
11 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In 1915, Endurance, the ship that took Ernest Shackleton to the Antarctic, was slowly crushed and sank. Shackleton, and the 28 men he brought with hi...
Go With the Flow (rebroadcast)
04 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Solid materials get all the production credit. Don’t get us wrong, we depend on their strength and firmness for bridges, bones, and bento boxes. B...
The Latest Buzz
28 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Is your windshield accumulating less bug splatter? Insects, the most numerous animals on Earth, are becoming scarcer, and that’s not good news. They...
Nuclear Worries
21 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The nuclear threat is back, and the Doomsday Clock is almost at midnight. How did we end up here again? In the 1930s, German physicists learned that s...
Identity Crisis (rebroadcast)
14 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
DNA is the gold standard of identification. Except when it’s not. In rare cases when a person has two complete sets of DNA, that person’s identity...
You Are Exposed (rebroadcast)
07 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
There’s no place like “ome.” Your microbiome is highly influential in determining your health. But it’s not the only “ome” doing so. Your ...
Skeptic Check: 5G
28 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
5G, the latest mobile network standard, is coming. As new cell towers sprout around the world, do we know enough to confidently claim that this new te...
Melting Down
21 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change isn’t waiting for us to act. We’ve missed several deadlines to mitigate the dangers of this existential threat, which suggests we p...
Iron, Coal, Wood
14 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you don’t remember the days of the earliest coal-fired stoves. They changed domestic life, and that changed society. We take you back to that ...
Skeptic Check: Do Your Own Research
07 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists are increasingly finding their expertise questioned by non-experts who claim they’ve done their own “research.” Whether advocating Iv...
Bare Bones (rebroadcast)
31 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
You may not feel that your skeleton does very much. But without it you’d be a limp bag of protoplasm, unable to move. And while you may regard bone...
Make Space for Animals
24 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Long before Yuri Gagarin became the first human to go into space, Laika, a stray dog, crossed the final frontier. Find out what other surprising speci...
Testing Your Metal
17 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Catalytic converters are disappearing. If you’ve had yours stolen, you know that rare earth metals are valuable. But these metals are in great deman...
Into the Deep (rebroadcast)
10 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard worms arguing? Deep-sea scientists use hydrophones to eavesdrop on “mouth-fighting worms.” It’s one of the many ways scienti...
What's a Few Degrees?
03 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Brace yourself for heatwave “Lucifer.” Dangerous deadly heatwaves may soon be so common that we give them names, just like hurricanes. This is one...
Mycology Education (rebroadcast)
27 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath our feet is a living network just as complex and extensive as the root systems in a forest. Fungi, which evolved in the oceans, were among the...
Attack of the Mutants
20 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The omicron variant is surging. More contagious than delta, omicron demonstrates how viruses use mutations to quickly adapt. Mutations drive evolution...
Hubble and Beyond (rebroadcast)
13 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The universe is not just expanding; it’s accelerating. Supermassive black holes are hunkered down at the center of our galaxy and just about every o...
Skeptic Check: Identifying UAPs
06 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Pentagon’s report on UAPs (Unidentified Aerial Phenomena) said nothing about the possibility that some might be alien spacecraft. Nonetheless, t...
Talk the Walk (rebroadcast)
29 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Birds and bees do it … and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can wal...
Skeptic Check: Shroom With a View (rebroadcast)
22 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Magic mushrooms – or psilocybin - may be associated with tripping hippies and Woodstock, but they are now being studied as new treatments for depres...
Suitable For Life?
15 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Life nearby? We’ve not yet found any on our favorite planet, Mars. But even if Mars is sterile, could we ever change that by terraforming it? Or see...
Your Inner Tree
08 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Declining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change. Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to massive...
Dimming the Sun
01 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Does geoengineering offer a Plan B if nations at the U.N. climate meeting can't reduce carbon emissions? The Glasgow meeting has been called “the la...
Skeptic Check: Brain Gain (rebroadcast)
25 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Looking to boost your brainpower? Luckily, there are products promising to help. Smart drugs, neurofeedback exercises, and brain-training video games...
Radical Cosmology (rebroadcast)
18 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
400 years ago, some ideas about the cosmos were too scandalous to mention. When the Dominican friar Giordano Bruno suggested that planets existed outs...
Fuhgeddaboudit
11 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
A thousand years ago, most people didn’t own a single book. The only way to access knowledge was to consult their memory. But technology – from ...
Home Invasions (rebroadcast)
04 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
As we struggle to control a viral invader that moves silently across the globe and into its victims, we are also besieged by other invasions. Murder h...
AI: Where Does It End? (rebroadcast)
27 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The benefits of artificial intelligence are manifest and manifold, but can we recognize the drawbacks … and avoid them in time? In this episode, r...
Skeptic Check: Science Denial [rebroadcast]
20 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change isn’t happening. Vaccines make you sick. When it comes to threats to public or environmental health, a surprisingly large fraction ...
Animals Being Jerks
13 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They’re cute and cuddly. But they can also be obnoxious. Science writer Mary Roach has numerous tales about how our animal friends don’t always bo...
De-Permafrosting
06 Sep 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Above the Arctic Circle, much of the land is underlaid by permafrost. But climate change is causing it to thaw. This is not good news for the planet. ...
True Grit (rebroadcast)
30 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Without sand, engineering would be stuck in the Middle Ages. Wooden houses would line mud-packed streets, and Silicon Valley would be, well, just a v...
You've Got Whale (rebroadcast)
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
SMS isn’t the original instant messaging system. Plants can send chemical warnings through their leaves in a fraction of a second. And while we lo...
Phreaky Physics
16 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
It was a radical idea a century ago, when Einstein said space and time can be bent, and gravity was really geometry. We hear how his theories inspire ...
Skeptic Check: Anti-Vax
09 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They were developed in a matter of months, and they’re 90 percent effective at stopping infection. They protect against serious illness or death. An...
Platypus Crazy
02 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They look like a cross between a beaver and a duck, and they all live Down Under. The platypus may lay eggs, but is actually a distant mammalian cousi...
A Twist of Slime (rebroadcast)
26 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Your daily mucus output is most impressive. Teaspoons or measuring cups can’t capture its entire volume. Find out how much your body churns out and ...
New Water Worlds (rebroadcast)
19 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The seas are rising. It’s no longer a rarity to see kayakers paddling through downtown Miami. By century’s end, the oceans could be anywhere from...
Cicadas and Zombie Seeds
12 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Rip van Winkle snoozed for 20 years, and Sleeping Beauty for 100. But seeds in an underground bottle have easily beaten both these records, germinatin...
Skeptic Check: Pentagon UFO Report
05 Jul 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When the government announced it would release a report about strange aerial phenomena, public excitement and media coverage took off like a Saturn V ...
Skeptic Check: Science Breaking Bad (rebroadcast)
28 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The scientific method is tried and true. It has led us to a reliable understanding of things from basic physics to biomedicine. So yes, we can rely o...
After The Plague
21 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone is familiar with the immediate consequences of a pandemic – sickness and death. But the long-term ramifications can be just as dramatic: a ...
Flush With Excitement
14 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infrast...
The Ears Have It (rebroadcast)
07 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the difference between a bird call and the sound of a pile driver? Not much, when you’re close to the loudest bird ever. Find out when it...
Air Apparent (rebroadcast)
31 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you yawn, gasp, sniff, snore, or sigh, you’re availing yourself of our very special atmosphere. It’s easy to take this invisible chemical ...
Feet Don't Fail Me
24 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Standing on your own two feet isn’t easy. While many animals can momentarily balance on their hind legs, we’re the only critters, besides birds, f...
Skeptic Check: Rational Lampoon (rebroadcast)
17 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Two heads may be better than one. But what about three or more? A new study shows that chimpanzees excel at complex tasks when they work in groups, ...
For the Birds
10 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in...
End of Eternity
03 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles in...
Skeptic Check: Flat Earth (rebroadcast)
26 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Earth is not round. Technically, it’s an oblate spheroid. But for some people, the first statement is not even approximately correct. Flat Ear...
Waste Not (rebroadcast)
19 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Why create more landfill? Perhaps you should resist the urge to toss those old sneakers, the broken ceiling fan, or last year’s smart phone. Instea...
Venom Diagram (rebroadcast)
12 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We all get defensive sometimes. For some animals, evolution has provided a highly effective mechanism for saying “back off!”. A puncture by a pa...
Volcanic Mind Melt
05 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Earth’s surface is dappled with more than a thousand volcanoes. They mark the edges of tectonic plates, spewing hot gas and ash, and boiling ove...
Skeptic Check: Useful Delusions
29 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Can self-deception be useful? During the pandemic, it has been fashionable to say that we’re “following the science,” and that our behavior is d...
Neanderthal in the Family
22 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Back off, you Neanderthal! It sounds as if you’ve just been dissed, but maybe you should take it as a compliment. Contrary to common cliches, our Pl...
DecodeHer (rebroadcast)
15 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
They were pioneers in their fields, yet their names are scarcely known – because they didn’t have a Y chromosome. We examine the accomplishments ...
In Living Color
08 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The world is a colorful place, and human eyes have evolved to take it in – from vermillion red to bright tangerine to cobalt blue. But when we do, a...
Eclectic Company
01 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We present a grab bag of our favorite recent science stories – from how to stop aging to the mechanics of cooking pasta. Also, in accord with our ec...
Creature Discomforts (rebroadcast)
22 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Okay you animals, line up: stoned sloths, playful pandas, baleful bovines, and vile vultures. We’ve got you guys pegged, thanks to central casting. ...
Granting Immunity (rebroadcast)
15 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
“Diversity or die” could be your new health mantra. Don’t boost your immune system, cultivate it! Like a garden, your body’s defenses benefit ...
Mars Attracts
08 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Earth invades Mars in February. In a historic trifecta for space exploration, spacecraft of three countries will arrive at Mars, and for two of those ...
Iron, Coal, Wood
01 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Maybe you don’t remember the days of the earliest coal-fired stoves. They changed domestic life, and that changed society. We take you back to that ...
Skeptic Check: Shared Reality
25 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
One of the many shocking aspects of the Capitol attack was that it revealed how thoroughly the nation had cleaved into alternate realities. How did we...
Supercomputer Showdown (rebroadcast)
18 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Do you have a hard-to-answer question? The Summit, Sierra, Trinity, Frontier, and Aurora supercomputers are built to tackle it. Summit tops the peta...
Skeptic Check: Betting on Pseudoscience (rebroadcast)
11 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Psychics may not be able to predict the future or sense your thoughts. Nonetheless, they rake in hundreds of millions of dollars every year. But the...
Headed for Trouble (rebroadcast)
04 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The stone heads on Easter Island are an enduring mystery: why were they built and why were they abandoned and destroyed? The old ideas about cultural ...
For Good Measure (rebroadcast)
28 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The reign of Le Grand K has come to an end. After 130 years, this hunk of metal sitting in a Parisian vault will no longer define the kilogram. The ne...
Handling the Holidays (rebroadcast)
21 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The stress of the holidays can make you want to hide under the covers with a warm cup of cocoa. From gift buying to family gatherings, the holidays c...
Fire Clouds and Ice-teroids
14 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Small bodies will hit the big time next year; a sample return from asteroid Bennu and the launch of both the DART and Lucy missions could unravel puzz...
Skeptic Check: Shroom with a View
07 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Magic mushrooms – or psilocybin - may be associated with tripping hippies and Woodstock, but they are now being studied as new treatments for depres...
Bare Bones
30 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
You may not feel that your skeleton does very much. But without it you’d be a limp bag of protoplasm, unable to move. And while you may regard bone...
Into the Deep
23 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever heard worms arguing? Deep-sea scientists use hydrophones to eavesdrop on “mouth-fighting worms.” It’s one of the many ways scienti...
Sex Post Facto (rebroadcast)
16 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Birds do it, bees do it, but humans may not do it for much longer. At least not for having children. Relying on sex to reproduce could be supplanted ...
Time Travel Agents (rebroadcast)
09 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hey, let’s meet last week for coffee. Okay, we can’t meet in the past… yet. But could it be only a matter of time before we can? In an attempt t...
The Other Living World (rebroadcast)
02 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Reason for hope is just one thing that ecologist Carl Safina can offer. He understands why many of us turn to nature to find solace during this stres...
Skeptic Check: Stay Skeptical
26 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you call it hooey, codswallop, or malarky, misinformation is not what it used to be. It’s harder to spot now. New-school BS is often cloaked...
What's a Few Degrees?
19 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Brace yourself for heatwave “Lucifer.” Dangerous deadly heatwaves may soon be so common that we give them names, just like hurricanes. This is one...
Geology is Destiny (rebroadcast)
12 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The record of the rocks is not just the history of Earth; it’s your history too. Geologists can learn about events going back billions of years tha...
Talk the Walk
05 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Birds and bees do it … and so do fish. In a discovery that highlights the adaptive benefits of walking, scientists have discovered fish that can wal...
Mycology Education
28 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Beneath our feet is a living network just as complex and extensive as the root systems in a forest. Fungi, which evolved in the oceans, were among the...
Hubble and Beyond
21 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The universe is not just expanding; it’s accelerating. Supermassive black holes are hunkered down at the center of our galaxy and just about every o...
Life on Venus?
14 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Have scientists found evidence of life on Venus? Known for its scorching temperatures and acidic atmosphere, Earth’s twin hardly seems a promising p...
Space: Why Go There? (rebroadcast)
07 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It takes a lot of energy and technology to leave terra firma. But why rocket into space when there’s so much to be done on Earth? From the practical...
Home Invasions
31 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As we struggle to control a viral invader that moves silently across the globe and into its victims, we are also besieged by other invasions. Murder h...
The X-Flies (rebroadcast)
24 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Insect populations are declining. But before you say “good riddance,” consider that insects are the cornerstone of many ecosystems. They are dinne...
Skeptic Check: Worrier Mentality (rebroadcast)
17 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Poisonous snakes, lightning strikes, a rogue rock from space. There are plenty of scary things to fret about, but are we burning adrenaline on the ri...
Math's Paths (rebroadcast)
10 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
If you bake, you can appreciate math’s transformative properties. Admiring the stackable potato chip is to admire a hyperbolic sheet. Find out why...
On Thin Ice (rebroadcast)
03 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Water is essential for life – that we know. But the honeycomb lattice that forms when you chill it to zero degrees Celsius is also inexorably intert...