Bloomberg News technology reporter Sarah Frier joins us to talk about the fierce Silicon Valley competition to create a dominant social media platform and the ways Instagram has changed our lives in an unexpected way.
Read more
The Man Who Revolutionized The Way The World Grows Food
Rob Rapley joins us to talk about Norman E. Borlaug, who won praise for his work on disease resistance crops – which also came with unintended consequences.
Read more
Aquariums Care For Animals- And The Planet
Julie Packard, executive director of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, joins us to talk about how aquariums foster ocean life and contribute to a healthy environment.
Read more
An Astronaut’s Guide To Sheltering In Place
Mike Massimino, a NASA astronaut, joins us to talk about how he learned to adapt to a confined space while in space.
Read more
Our 100-Year Battle With Pandemics
Medical historian Mark Honigsbaum joins us to talk about why bacterial and viral disasters continue to take us by surprise.
Read more
Vaccine Science, Race And Mathematical Modeling
On today’s show, experts explain some of the more mysterious elements of the coronavirus, including what it will take to develop a vaccine, how epidemiological models work and why black and Latino patients are disproportionately affected.
Read more
Why There’s Not Enough Public Transit
Aaron W. Gordon, senior writer for Motherboard, joins us to talk about why public transportation is broken and how, especially now, it’s time to rethink how people get places.
Read more
The Trial And (Mostly) Error Of Medieval Science
Jack Hartnell, lecturer in art history at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, joins us to talk about the physical body in the medieval worldview and the fantastical tales created to justify medicinal practices.
Read more
The Role Of Animals In Human Pandemics
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more