Big Picture Science

This Land Is Island

24 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

There are many kinds of islands. There’s your iconic sandy speck of land topped with a palm tree, but there’s also our home planet – an island i...

Sounds Abound

03 Nov 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The world is a noisy place. But now we have a better idea what the fuss is about. Not only can we record sound, but our computers allow us to analyze ...

Skeptic Check: Friends Like These

27 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We love our family and friends, but sometimes their ideas about how the world works seem a little wacky. We asked BiPiSci listeners to share examples ...

What's the Difference?

06 Oct 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We make split second decisions about others – someone is male or female, black or white, us or them. But sometimes the degrees of separation are inc...

As You Were

22 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We all want to turn back time. But until we build a time machine, we’ll have to rely on a few creative approaches to capturing things as they were –...

Skeptic Check: Is It True?

15 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We often hear fantastic scientific claims that would change everything if true. Such as the report that algae is growing on the outside of the Interna...

A Sudden Change in Planets

08 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

A planet is a planet is a planet. Unless it’s Pluto – then it’s a dwarf planet. But even then it’s a planet, according to experts. So what was...

Welcome to Our Labor-atory

01 Sep 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Hi ho, hi ho … it’s out with work we go! As you relax this holiday weekend, step into our labor-atory and imagine a world with no work allowed. So...

ZZZZZs Please

25 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve all hit the snooze button when the alarm goes off, but why do we crave sleep in the first place? We explore the evolutionary origins of sleep ...

De-Extinction Show

11 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Maybe goodbye isn’t forever. Get ready to mingle with mammoths and gaze upon a ground sloth. Scientists want to give some animals a round-trip ticke...

Eye Spy

04 Aug 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Who’s watching you? Could be anyone, really. Social media sites, webcams, CCTV cameras and smartphones have made keeping tabs on you as easy as tapp...

Skeptic Check: About Face

14 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Face it – humans are pattern-seeking animals. We identify eyes, nose and mouth where there are none. Martian rock takes on a visage and the silhouet...

Deep Time

07 Jul 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Think back, way back. Beyond last week or last year … to what was happening on Earth 100,000 years ago. Or 100 million years ago. It’s hard to fat...

Time for a Map

30 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It’s hard to get lost these days. GPS pinpoints your location to within a few feet. Discover how our need to get from A to B holds clues about what ...

What Do You Make Of It?

23 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

You are surrounded by products. Most of them, factory-made. Yet there was a time when building things by hand was commonplace, and if something stoppe...

A New Hope for Life In Space

02 Jun 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Alien life. A flurry of recent discoveries has shifted the odds of finding it. Scientists use the Kepler telescope to spot a planet the same size and ...

We Can Rebuild It

19 May 2014

Contributed by Lukas

What goes up must come down. But it’s human nature to want to put things back together again. It can even be a matter of survival in the wake of som...

Our Tasteless Show

28 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine biting into a rich chocolate donut and not tasting it. That’s what happened to one woman when she lost her sense of smell. Discover what sci...

That's Containment!

14 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

We all crave power: to run laptops, charge cell phones, and play Angry Birds. But if generating energy is easy, storing it is not. Remember when your ...

Since Sliced Bread

07 Apr 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Happy Birthday, World Wide Web! The 25-year-old Web, along with the Internet and the personal computer, are among mankind’s greatest inventions. But...

Do the Math

24 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

One plus one is two. But what’s the square root of 64, divided by 6 over 12?* Wait, don’t run for the hills! Math isn’t scary. It helps us descr...

We Heart Robots

10 Mar 2014

Contributed by Lukas

The machines are coming! Meet the prototypes of your future robot buddies and discover how you may come to love a hunk of hardware. From telerobots th...

Before the Big Bang

24 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one of the biggest questions you can ask: has the universe existed forever? The Big Bang is supposedly the moment it all began. But now scienti...

Gene Hack, Man

10 Feb 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Computers and DNA have a few things in common. Both use digital codes and are prone to viruses. And, it seems, both can be hacked. From restoring the ...

Skeptic Check: Zombies Aren't Real

13 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

Zombies are making a killing in popular culture. But where did the idea behind these mythical, cerebrum-supping nasties come from? Discover why they m...

Can We Talk?

06 Jan 2014

Contributed by Lukas

You can get your point across in many ways: email, texts, or even face-to-face conversation (does anyone do that anymore?). But ants use chemical mess...

Animal Instinct

30 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We ma...

Group Think

23 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

If two is company and three a crowd, what’s the ideal number to write a play or invent a new operating system? Some say you need groups to be creati...

Some Like It Cold

16 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

We all may prefer the goldilocks zone – not too hot, not too cold. But most of the universe is bitterly cold. We can learn a lot about it if we’re...

Math's Days Are Numbered

02 Dec 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a world without algebra. We can hear the sound of school children applauding. What practical use are parametric equations and polynomials, any...

Skeptic Check: Science Blunders

25 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve all had an “oops” moment. Scientists are no exception. Sometimes science stumbles in the steady march of progress. Find out why cold fusio...

The Heat is On

18 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

After the winds and water of Typhoon Haiyan abated, grief and hunger swept though the Philippines, along with the outbreak of disease. Are monster sto...

Life Back Then

04 Nov 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Time keeps on ticking, ticking … and as it does, evolution operates to produce remarkable changes in species. Wings may appear, tails disappear. Sea...

Shutting Down Science

28 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

“Sorry, closed for business.” That sign hung on doors of national laboratories when the US government shut down. What that meant for one Antarctic...

Skeptic Check: War of the Worlds

21 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

It was the most famous invasion that never happened. But Orson Welles’ 1938 “War of the Worlds” broadcast sure sounded convincing as it used new...

Emergence

14 Oct 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Your brain is made up of cells. Each one does its own, cell thing. But remarkable behavior emerges when lots of them join up in the grey matter club. ...

You Say You Want an Evolution?

16 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine: Your pint-sized pup is descended from a line of predatory wolves. We have purposefully bred a new species – dogs – to live in harmony wit...

Skeptic Check: Follywood Science

09 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The Day After. 2001. Prometheus. There are sci-fi films a’plenty … but how much science is in the fiction? We take the fact checkers to Hollywood ...

Catch a Wave

02 Sep 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Let there be light. Otherwise we couldn’t watch a sunset or YouTube. Yet what your eye sees is but a narrow band in the electromagnetic spectrum. Sh...

Rife with Life

22 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

“Follow the water” is the mantra of those who search for life beyond Earth. Where there’s water, there may be life. Join us on a tour of watery ...

Getting a Spacelift

15 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

I need my space… but oh, how to get there? Whether it’s a mission to Mars or an ascent to an asteroid, we explore the hows of human spaceflight. A...

Material Whirl

08 Jul 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What’s the world made of? Here’s a concrete answer: a lot of it is built from a dense, knee-scraping substance that is the most common man-made ma...

Exoplanets

17 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

You may be unique, but is your home planet? NASA’s Kepler spacecraft has uncovered thousands of planetary candidates, far far beyond our solar syste...

Cosmos: It's Big, It's Weird

03 Jun 2013

Contributed by Lukas

It’s all about you. And you, and you, and you and you… that is, if we live in parallel universes. Imagine you doing exactly what you’re doing no...

Skeptic Check: Hostile Climate

20 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

It’s a record we didn’t want to break. The carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere hits the 400 parts-per-million mark, a level which some ...

Stomach This

06 May 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Not all conversation is appropriate for the dinner table – and that includes, strangely enough, the subject of eating. Yet what happens during the t...

Skeptic Check: Forget with the Program

15 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Just remember this: memory is like Swiss cheese. Even our recollection of dramatic events that seem to sear their images directly onto our brain turn ...

Seth's Wine Cellar

08 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

There are always surprises when we sort through Seth’s wine cellar – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped cavern, tucked between boxes of ...

Anthropocene and Heard

01 Apr 2013

Contributed by Lukas

What’s in a name? “Holocene” defines the geologic epoch we’re in. Or were in? Goodbye to “Holocene” and hello “Anthropocene!” Yes, sci...

Happy Daze

04 Mar 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Calling all pessimists! Your brain is wired for optimism! Yes, deep down, we’re all Pollyannas. So wipe that scowl off your face and discover the ev...

Whodunit, Who'll Do It?

18 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

The tools of forensics have moved way beyond fingerprint kits. These days, a prosecutor is as likely to wave a fMRI brain scan as a smoking gun as “...

Say La Vie

11 Feb 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Researchers have discovered life in a buried Antarctic lake. But we’re not surprised. Life is amazingly adaptive. Expose it to any environment – h...

Skeptic Check: Science Blunders

28 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

We’ve all had an “oops” moment. Scientists are no exception. Sometimes science stumbles in the steady march of progress. Find out why cold fusio...

Whither the Weather?

14 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

We all talk about the weather. And now scientists are doing something about it: providing more accurate warnings before big storms hit. Discover how s...

Ultimate Hook Up

07 Jan 2013

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine moving things with your mind. Not with telekinesis, but with the future tools of brain science. Meet a pioneer in the field of computer-to-bra...

Skeptic Check: They're Baack!

31 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Could you have had a past life? Is it possible that some part of you is the reincarnation of a person – or maybe an animal – that lived long ago? ...

Remembers Only

24 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

You must remember this… wait, wait... I had it… on the tip of my tongue… (Memory is a tricky thing and most of us would like to improve it)… o...

Before the Big Bang

17 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

It’s one of the biggest questions you can ask: has the universe existed forever? The Big Bang is supposedly the moment it all began. But now scienti...

Doomsday Live, Part 2

03 Dec 2012

Contributed by Lukas

If there is only one show you hear about the end of the world, let it be this one. Recorded before a live audience at the Computer History Museum on ...

Doomsday Live, Part I

26 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

If there is only one show you hear about the end of the world, let it be this one. Recorded before a live audience at the Computer History Museum on O...

No Expiration Date

19 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

We all have to go sometime, and that final hour is the mother of all deadlines. But scientists are working to file an extension. Discover how far we c...

Going Global

05 Nov 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The Internet is not the only globally-uniting phenomenon. Viruses and bacteria can circle the globe as fast as we can, and the effects can be devastat...

Space Archaeology

22 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Indiana Jones meets Star Trek in the field of space archaeology. Satellites scan ancient ruins so that scientists can map them without disturbing one ...

As the Worlds Turn

15 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

If you’re itching it get away from it all, really get away from it all, have we got some exotic destinations for you. Mars … Jupiter’s moon Euro...

[Rectangular Container] Thinking

08 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

By thinking different, scientists can make extraordinary breakthroughs. Learn about the creative cogitation that led to the discovery of dark matter a...

Skeptic Check: Mysterious Illness

01 Oct 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Stuttering speech and facial tics are among the strange symptoms that swept through a New York high school. Discover what’s behind the odd outbreak,...

Big Data

24 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

It’s all in the numbers. The trick is, finding what you’re looking for. But that’s the name of the game with big data. We have a giga-gigabyte o...

Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex

17 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

"I feel your vibe!” Well, that describes a number of fabled locales that claim to pulse with mysterious energy – perhaps prompting books to fly ac...

Oh, Rats!

10 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Before you chase it with a broom, consider this – without the rat, we might miss critical insights into the nature of stress, cancer … and even lo...

The Invisible In-Between

03 Sep 2012

Contributed by Lukas

To need air is human. Our lungs thank us for each breath we take. But air is more than a transporter of O2. It shapes our weather, keeps birds aloft ...

Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music

27 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

If Bigfoot walks through a forest and no one sees him, does he exist? It’s the job of paranormal investigator Joe Nickell to find out! Discover whet...

A.I. Caramba!

20 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

When the IBM computer, Watson, snatched the “Jeopardy” title from its human competition, that raised the question of just how smart are machines? ...

A Martian Curiosity

13 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

We dig the Red Planet! And so does Curiosity. After a successful landing, and a round of high-fives at NASA, the latest rover to land on Mars is on th...

Fuel's Paradise

06 Aug 2012

Contributed by Lukas

You know the joke about the car and the snail. Look at that escargot? Well, snails may be the only thing not powering the automobiles of the future. T...

Olympics for the Rest of Us

23 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Let the games begin! The mad dash to the phone … the sudden spring out of bed … the frantic juggling of car keys, grocery bags and a cell phone! O...

Animal Instinct

09 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Mooooove over, make way for the cows, the chickens … and other animals! Humans can learn a lot from our hairy, feathered, four-legged friends. We ma...

Nano Nano

02 Jul 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Think small to solve big problems. That, in a nutshell, is the promise of nanotechnology. In this barely visible world, batteries charge 100 times fas...

Seth's Storm Shelter

25 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Expect the unexpected when we go digging in Seth’s storm shelter – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped never-never land, tucked between p...

Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?

18 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

You are what you eat. But what does that mean if your food is genetically engineered? And the chances are good that it has been engineered if you munc...

Can We Talk?

11 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

You can get your point across in many ways: email, texts, or even face-to-face conversation (does anyone do that anymore?). But ants use chemical mess...

Better Mousetrap

04 Jun 2012

Contributed by Lukas

It’s the perennial dream: build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door. We go to San Jose’s famed Tech Museum to learn wh...

Mass Transits

28 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

On June 5, our sister planet Venus will slowly slide across the face of the sun. This will be the last transit of Venus until 2117, so there’s no su...

To Earth and Back

21 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

We are all Martians … or could be, if, billions of years ago, Red Plant microbes fell to Earth and eventually evolved to us. Okay, that one’s a bi...

That's So Random!

14 May 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Random is as random does… makes sense doesn’t even that anyway in tune hear to randomness how lives rules. Brain chaos the drives, restoration rol...

Early Adapters

23 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The times are a’changing – rising temperatures, growing population, and new technology coming at us faster than a greased cheetah. So how will hum...

Humans Need Not Apply

16 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

You are one-of-a-kind, unique, indispensible… oh, wait, never mind! It seems that computer over there can do what you do … faster and with greater...

Second That Emotion

09 Apr 2012

Contributed by Lukas

So you weep at sappy commercials and give drivers the bird. Have no regrets: emotion is what makes us human! Discover the survival value in feeling di...

Found in Space

26 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

If someone asks where you get off, you can now respond with precision. Satellites and computers spit out coordinates accurate to a few paces. And digi...

Seth's Cabinet of Wonders

12 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

It’s always a surprise to sort through Seth's cabinet of wonders – who knows what we’ll find! In this cramped cupboard, tucked between shelves o...

Skeptic Check: Prog-Not-Stication

05 Mar 2012

Contributed by Lukas

The future is no mystery … according to psychics who say they have special access to tomorrow’s events. For example, adherents to the Mayan doomsd...

Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice

20 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

They’re here! About one-third of all Americans believe we’re being visited by extraterrestrial spacecraft. But wait, you want evidence? UFO sighti...

Aware Am I?

13 Feb 2012

Contributed by Lukas

Humans are pleasure-seekers – from food to sex to fine art. But do we know why we crave what we do? Discover the surprising motivation behind our de...

Wired for Thought

16 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

A cup of coffee can leave you wired for the day. But a chip in your brain could wire you to a machine forever. Imagine manipulating a mouse without mo...

Light, the Universe, and Everything

02 Jan 2012

Contributed by Lukas

What’s it all about? And we mean ALL. What makes up this vast sprawling cosmos? Why does it exist? Why do we exist? Why is there something rather th...

Skeptic Check: Superstition

26 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Wait! Before you step outside... is it Friday the 13th? Any black cats prowling around? Broken a mirror lately? Homo sapiens are a superstitious lot. ...

Sensor Sensibility

19 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Have you lost your senses? You’ll find them everywhere you look. Sensors respond to external stimuli – light, sound, temperature and much else –...

Going Viral

12 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

The term “bird flu” is a misnomer, scientists say, because almost all human influenza originates in our feathered friends. How it lands in you and...

Science's Alliances

05 Dec 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Mom and apple pie. Computers and silicon. Martians and death rays. Some things just go together naturally. But how about science and politics? Science...

Skeptic Check: Dubiology

28 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

There’s no harm talking to your houseplant, but will your chatter really help it grow? We look at various biological claims, from whether plants fee...

We've Got You Made

21 Nov 2011

Contributed by Lukas

Wish you could ditch computers? There’s no escape button for that. Computers are not only a part of your daily grind, they may soon be a part of you...