Cynthia Barnett wrote that poet Conrad Aiken called rain “the syllables of water”. Today’s conversation was all about water and rain and all of the syllables we could fit into one tiny hour.
Our guests were Cynthia Barnett, author of “Rain : A Natural and Cultural History”, and Alok Jha, author of “The Water Book : The Extraordinary Story of our Most Ordinary Substance”. Do I even need to say by now that the discussion was wide ranging and filled with interesting facts and ideas?
Nicola Davies is a prolific author of picture books for children, and non-picture books for older kids. She likes telling stories about science to younger people, and she does it very well.
We discussed her recent book, Tiny Creatures : The World of Microbes, beautifully illustrated by Emily Sutton, and used it as a jumping-off point to talk about her other books, the joy of writing about science for kids, and the sometimes mysterious process of writing itself.
Nicola Davies is a prolific author of picture books for children, and non-picture books for older kids. She likes telling stories about science to younger people, and she does it very well.
We discussed her recent book, Tiny Creatures : The World of Microbes, beautifully illustrated by Emily Sutton, and used it as a jumping-off point to talk about her other books, the joy of writing about science for kids, and the sometimes mysterious process of writing itself.
Humans are complicated things, but we are understanding our human-cell biology better with each passing year. How our DNA works becomes clearer, the role of epigenetics becomes clearer, and so does our microbiological relationship with the enormous number of bacteria and viruses that inhabit our bodies. With increased understanding comes increased potential for altering those interactions, and potential taking a role in our own evolution as a species.
That was the framework for our conversation today with Steve Gullans, co-author with Juan Enriquez of the book Evolving Ourselves : How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth.
Humans are complicated things, but we are understanding our human-cell biology better with each passing year. How our DNA works becomes clearer, the role of epigenetics becomes clearer, and so does our microbiological relationship with the enormous number of bacteria and viruses that inhabit our bodies. With increased understanding comes increased potential for altering those interactions, and potential taking a role in our own evolution as a species.
That was the framework for our conversation today with Steve Gullans, co-author with Juan Enriquez of the book Evolving Ourselves : How Unnatural Selection and Nonrandom Mutation are Changing Life on Earth.
For the first episode of our third year, our subject was cancer, a topic we’ve discussed before and we’ll likely discuss again.
Our guests are the authors of two notable recent books on the topic: Sue Armstrong, author of p53 : The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, and George Johnson, author of The Cancer Chronicles : Unlocking Medicine’s Deepest Mystery.
We enjoyed a fast-paced, engaging conversation filled with interesting stories and insight into the complicated workings of cancer, and the remarkable advances in understanding that have come from cancer research in the last few decades. Sometimes an hour is just not long enough for everything that comes to mind to talk about.
For the first episode of our third year, our subject was cancer, a topic we’ve discussed before and we’ll likely discuss again.
Our guests are the authors of two notable recent books on the topic: Sue Armstrong, author of p53 : The Gene that Cracked the Cancer Code, and George Johnson, author of The Cancer Chronicles : Unlocking Medicine’s Deepest Mystery.
We enjoyed a fast-paced, engaging conversation filled with interesting stories and insight into the complicated workings of cancer, and the remarkable advances in understanding that have come from cancer research in the last few decades. Sometimes an hour is just not long enough for everything that comes to mind to talk about.
In our conversation with Chris Impey, author of Beyond : Our Future in Space, we discussed more things than you can shake a Saturn V rocket at, including the history of the Apollo mission and why Americans lost interest in space exploration, a possible new space race with the Chinese, commercialized efforts to get the US back into space, and the basic urge of humans to explore. There was some mention of sex in space in there, too.
In our conversation with Chris Impey, author of Beyond : Our Future in Space, we discussed more things than you can shake a Saturn V rocket at, including the history of the Apollo mission and why Americans lost interest in space exploration, a possible new space race with the Chinese, commercialized efforts to get the US back into space, and the basic urge of humans to explore. There was some mention of sex in space in there, too.
With this episode we celebrated several firsts: our biggest hangout to date (all 6 of us in one little video), our first return guest (Suzi), and our first guest joining us from Africa (Laurie, from her office at the Cheetah Conservation Fund, in Namibia). To celebrate we had a very stimulating conversation about extinction and animal conservation, featuring the passenger pigeon and the cheetah. As so frequently happens, we ran out of time long before we ran out of fascinating things to talk about.
Today’s guests were Dr. Laurie Marker and Suzi Eszterhas, author and photographer of “A Future for Cheetahs”; and David Mrazek and Joel Greenberg, co-writers, co-producers, and director (David) of the documentary film, “From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction”. Let’s also mention Joel’s book, “A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction”.
Learn about the Cheetah Conservation Fund, and order “A Future for Cheetahs”, at their website: http://cheetah.org/ .
With this episode we celebrated several firsts: our biggest hangout to date (all 6 of us in one little video), our first return guest (Suzi), and our first guest joining us from Africa (Laurie, from her office at the Cheetah Conservation Fund, in Namibia). To celebrate we had a very stimulating conversation about extinction and animal conservation, featuring the passenger pigeon and the cheetah. As so frequently happens, we ran out of time long before we ran out of fascinating things to talk about.
Today’s guests were Dr. Laurie Marker and Suzi Eszterhas, author and photographer of “A Future for Cheetahs”; and David Mrazek and Joel Greenberg, co-writers, co-producers, and director (David) of the documentary film, “From Billions to None: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction”. Let’s also mention Joel’s book, “A Feathered River Across the Sky: The Passenger Pigeon’s Flight to Extinction”.
Learn about the Cheetah Conservation Fund, and order “A Future for Cheetahs”, at their website: http://cheetah.org/ .
Published on 17 February 2015.
Streamed live on 17 February 2015.
In this episode we talked with Corey S. Powell, former editor-in-chief of “American Scientist” and “Discover” magazines, author of the Discover blog “Out There”, and editor of the book Undeniable : Evolution and the Science of Creation, by Bill Nye.
As usual, our conversation was wide ranging, from debating with creationists to GMOs, science journalism, and the human need for exploration.
Published on 17 February 2015.
Streamed live on 17 February 2015.
In this episode we talked with Corey S. Powell, former editor-in-chief of “American Scientist” and “Discover” magazines, author of the Discover blog “Out There”, and editor of the book Undeniable : Evolution and the Science of Creation, by Bill Nye.
As usual, our conversation was wide ranging, from debating with creationists to GMOs, science journalism, and the human need for exploration.
David Quammen, Ebola : The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus
W.W.Norton & Company, inc., 2014 & 2012 ; extracted from Spillover : Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic, updated and with additional material.
Published on Oct 16, 2014
Streamed live on 16 October 2014.
In this episode we talked everything molecules: organic and inorganic chemistry, honey & high-fructose corn syrup, pigments, sodium ducks, and knitted sheep butts. Our guests were Theodore Gray, author, and Nick Mann, photographer, of the beautiful, informative, and entertaining book Molecules : The Elements and the Architecture of Everything.
