Science writer David Quammen joins us to talk about why an animal-to-human zoonotic transmission happens and what the risk is, now and in the future.
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An Astrophysicist Searches The Cosmos For Meaning
Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics and director of Columbia University’s Center for Theoretical Physics, joins us to talk about the many ways we contemplate our existence.
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The Mathematics of Luck
Wall Street Journal sports reporter Ben Cohen joins us to talk about the algorithms that can keep us on a roll, and the myths that prove they can’t.
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The Function (And Dysfunction) Of Fear
Chapman University sociology professor Christopher Bader joins us to talk about the anxiety we’re feeling and how social ties are severed when we fear too much.
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How VR Connects Us To Real Feelings
Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips joins us to talk about how we should think about using social media – and about the pluses and minuses of substituting in-person connections for virtual ones.
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The Man Who Invented CSI
UT-Austin journalism teacher Kate Winkler Dawson joins us to talk about an early criminologist who developed the forensic science we still use today: blood splatter evidence and fingerprinting, among other techniques.
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Pandemics: Then And Now
Frank M. Snowden, the Andrew Downey Orrick Professor Emeritus of History and History of Medicine at Yale University, joins us to talk about how infectious outbreaks — both terrifying and romanticized — have shaped our world.
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Wrapping His Head Around a Defective Heart
Gabriel Brownstein joins host Krys Boyd to talk about his complicated relationship with his own heart.
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Life Is Better with Bugs
John Hainze, an entomologist and ethicist with Seattle University Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability, joins us to talk about his evolution from pesticide designer to insect advocate.
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How Judges Decide Who’s A Scientific Expert
Reporter Peter Andrey Smith joins us to talk about the standards by which courts decide what scientific evidence is admissible.
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Listen to This Before You Do a DNA Test
Journalist Libby Copeland joins us to talk about the pluses and minuses of opening a door into who is really related to whom.
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The Wild West Of Deep-Sea Mining
Journalist Wil S. Hylton joins us to talk about the dangerous and unregulated push to pull resources from the depths of the Earth.
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