Playlist: Device, Season 1
Compiled By: Emily T Griffiths
Device is a monthly book discussion with a science-based twist. In each episode, we discuss a novel that uses science to drive the story’s action, and dissect the plot device for scientific plausibility.
Cat's Climate
From Emily T Griffiths | Part of the Device series | 24:57
How accurate was Vonnegut when he described the end of the world? We tackle climate science with climate researchers from the Scripp’s Institute of Oceanography and discusses San Diego's climate action plan with Alex Tardy from the National Weather Service.
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- Cat's Climate
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- Emily T Griffiths
In Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, the mysterious polymorph ice-nine freezes the world’s oceans. How could that impact our climate? Meteorologist Alex Tardy from the National Weather Service speaks to us about Vonnegut’s lofty claims, San Diego’s non-weather, and the city’s Climate Action Plan. From Art Miller's lab at Scripps Institute of Oceanography, Osinachi Ajoku, Elizabeth Drenkard, and Daniela Faggiani Dias came in to discuss what their research models can tell us about climate change, current action efforts, and what a climate model may predict if all the water on Earth froze at 114.4 °F or 45.8 °C. It’s not so much about what Vonnegut got wrong about the weather, but how he asks us to think about what’s right.
Once Bitten
From Emily T Griffiths | Part of the Device series | 24:48
Jaws by Peter Benchley
Author Peter Benchley regrettably creates a cultural monster in great white sharks, which use San Diego as a nursery. Dr. Heidi Dewar from the National Marine Fisheries Service talks about shark biology and Wendy Benchley discusses what the great threats are to healthy shark populations.
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- Once Bitten
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- Emily T Griffiths
A cultural legend, the Great White Shark’s reputation as a man eater is directly linked with this blockbuster story. Something Peter Benchley heavily regretted, and spent most of the decades after Jaws’ success trying to overcome. Wendy Benchley, Peter’s wife, called in to give us the rundown on the greatest threats sharks are facing today, and from the National Marine Service in La Jolla, Heidi Dewar explains how the shallow waters of the southern California are a nursery for our protected population. Cover Art Title: "The King" by Nicholas DeNezzo. A woodburned image with acrylic paint highlights on a hand-carved wood shark fin. At nearly 2 feet tall, the fin itself was carved to be the size and shape of that on a full-grown adult white shark. Inspired by a George T. Probst photo (@iphotographsharks on Instagram). DeNezzo is a local artist and marine conservation graduate student at UCSD. This piece is part of a larger series focusing on human-shark encounters and efforts to prevent shark bites.
Loom Moon
From Emily T Griffiths | Part of the Device series | 22:43
Shane Haggard and Lisa Will from San Diego City College discuss what would happen to the Earth after a meteor knocks the moon closer to us, and what happens to Miranda Evan's family in Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer. Cover Art: The photo, by Bill Nguyen, was taken on January 31, 2018 during the "super blue blood moon"; a supermoon, blue moon, and lunar eclipse on the same night.
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- Loom Moon
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- Emily T Griffiths
Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Miranda Evans is a typical 16-year old girl when the world ends. Miranda and her family learn to cope while dealing the realistic apocalyptic scenarios Pfeffer lays out for them. Lisa Will and Shane Haggard from San Diego City College discuss what would happen to the Earth after a meteor knocks the moon closer to us. Lisa Will is also the resident astronomer for ‘The Sky Tonight” at the Fleet Science Center, where you can learn about what’s in the sky each month with our moon.
Cover Art: The photo, by Bill Nguyen, was taken on January 31, 2018 during the "super blue blood moon"; a supermoon, blue moon, and lunar eclipse on the same night! Taken with a Canon 60D camera with a Nikkor 180mm f/2.8 ED AI-S lens using a 2.5 seconds-exposure f/5 at ISO 400. The clouds rolled by the bright full moon 1-2 hours before totality which produced the ominous looking texture. Bill is an amateur astronomer and the director of the Cruzen Observatory for the San Diego Astronomy Association. The SDAA is a non-profit educational organization with the mission of fostering astronomy-related education for its members and the public. www.sdaa.org
Ants, Ants, Revolution
From Emily T Griffiths | Part of the Device series | 22:44
Kingsolver takes us to 1950s Belgian Congo via the Prices, a missionary family. David Holway from UCSD gives us the rundown on local ant species while Michael Wall from The Nat highlights insect appreciation, something Kingsolver could have been better at.
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- Ants, Ants, Revolution
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- Emily T Griffiths
<!--td {border: 1px solid #ccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver is about the Price family from 1950s Georgia who are woefully underprepared for their missionary trip to the Belgian Congo. While this novel is great historical fiction, it’s embellished scientifical fiction when a horde of driver ants attack an African Village. David Holway from UCSD gives us the rundown on local ants and the problem with introduced species while Michael Wall from The Nat highlights why insect diversity in our city deserves appreciation. Something Kingsolver could have been better at.
Cover art by Alex Wild (www.alexanderwild.com): Argentine ants (Linepithema humile), an aggressive pest species introduced by human commerce to California, attack a native Pogonomyrmex harvester ant. Native ants in many places around the world have disappeared in areas invaded by Argentine ants. Davis, California, USA
Presence Mechanism
From Emily T Griffiths | Part of the Device series | 24:08
In Time Out Of Joint, Phillip K. Dick envisioned the same future that NASA did, even if we didn't get there. San Diego Air and Space Museum provides some history, while virtual reality developer E McNeill gives us a glimpse of the future.
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- Presence Mechanism
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- Emily T Griffiths
Ragle Gumm discovers he’s living in a Simulated Reality, and is pretty sure he’s starting to "go sane". In Time Out Of Joint, Phillip K. Dick envisioned a future where we would be walking on distant planets by the 1990s, as NASA did when the US Spaceflight Program was created in 1958. The San Diego Air and Space Museum provides some history on NASA’s ambitions. Virtual Reality developer E McNeill chats with Emily and Derrick Acosta, producer for Device and Mega64, about current VR technology and how it has its roots in NASA’s exploration research.