Big Picture Science

Just because something is invisible doesn’t mean it isn’t there. We can’t see gases in our atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide, oxygen, and nitrogen, but we benefit from their presence with every breath we take. From the bubbles that effervesce in soda to the vapors that turn engines, gases are part of our lives. They fill our lungs, give birth to stars, and… well, how would we spot a good diner without glowing neon? In this episode, a materials scientist shares the history of some gaseous substances that we don’t usually see, but that make up our world. Guest: Mark Miodownik – Professor of materials and society at the University College London and the author of “It’s a Gas: The Sublime and Elusive Elements That Expand Our World.” Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Originally aired December 9, 2024 Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Amazon is often described as an ecosystem under dire threat due to climate change and deliberate deforestation. Yet there is still considerable hope that these threats can be mitigated.  In the face of these threats, indigenous conservationists are attempting to strike a balance between tradition and preserving Amazonia.  Meanwhile, two river journeys more than 100 years apart – one by a contemporary National Geographic reporter and another by “The Lewis and Clark of Brazil”— draw attention to the beauty and diversity of one of the world’s most important ecosystems. Guests: Cynthia Gorney – Contributing writer at the National Geographic Society, former bureau chief for South America at The Washington Post Larry Rohter – Reporter and correspondent in Rio de Janeiro for fourteen years for Newsweek and as The New York Times bureau chief. Author of Into the Amazon: The Life of Cândido Rondon, Trailblazing Explorer, Scientist, Statesman, and Conservationist João Campos-Silva – Brazilian researcher and conservationist, and cofounder of Instituto Jura, a conservation organization.  His work, along with that of other conservationists, is featured in the National Geographic issue devoted to the Amazon. Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The worry about whether H5N1 will trigger a human pandemic has concealed a startling reality. Avian influenza has already taken an enormous toll on the lives of other animals. Since 2005, the number of wild and domesticated birds killed is greater than the combined human populations of the United States and Russia. Bird flu is burning through wild flocks, poultry farms, and mammal populations, including those of sea mammals. We look at the places where the virus can recombine and mutate, and why this version is not simply dying out as it has in years past. At a squawking live poultry market in Brooklyn, and on a Long Island duck farm, we hear about the difficult experience of euthanizing 100,000 birds and whether a farm can recover from such a devastating loss. And finally, we ask, why poultry vaccines that could curb the spread of H5N1 aren’t being used. But we begin our episode with descriptions of the soaring global migrations of birds whose feats of endurance help us understand why H5N1 is widespread in birds worldwide. Guests: Scott Weidensaul – Ornithologist, bird migration researcher, and author of "A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds" David Swayne – Bird flu veterinarian Doug Corwin – Farmer and owner of Crescent Duck Farm, Aquebogue, New York Jon Cohen – Senior correspondent with Science Magazine, where you can find his recent article, “The Pandemic Next Time,” and author of "Planning Miracles: How to Prevent Future Pandemics" Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The idea that the universe is made of tiny vibrating strings was once the science theory du jour. String theory promised to unite the disparate theories describing particles and gravity, and many people, not just scientists, were optimistic that a theory of everything might be within our grasp. But here we are, many years later, and string theory doesn’t seem to have delivered on its initial promise. What happened? We consider the science around string theory in this episode of Skeptic Check. Guest: Brian Greene – Physicist and mathematician at Columbia University, and author of The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory. Descripción en español Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Originally aired October 14, 2024 Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Brazil, leaders from across the globe are gathering for COP30, the premier climate summit in the world. For the first time, the U.S. is sitting it out, after exiting the Paris Agreement. There is, however, a ray of hope in the global efforts to reduce fossil fuel emissions. Bill McKibben, an environmentalist and journalist who describes himself as a “professional bummer-out-of-people,” has good news about the solar energy industry, after years of his repeated, and alarming, reports about our failure to address climate change. For the first time ever, solar energy production is outpacing the fossil fuel industry. Momentum is gathering in surprising places. The state with the fastest growing clean energy sector is the oil and gas country, Texas. And, when energy analysts investigated Pakistan’s sudden drop in energy demand, they saw “solar panels spreading across rooftops like mushrooms after a rainstorm.” Guests: Bill McKibben – environmentalist, journalist and author of “Here Comes the Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization”  Jon Gertner – journalist, editor, and author of “The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation” Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support! Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact [email protected] to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices