Big Picture Science

Series produced by Big Picture Science

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Big Picture Science is a weekly one-hour science magazine that connects ideas in surprising and humorous ways to illuminate the origins and evolution of life and technology on this planet… and beyond.

From free-thinking robots... to the recipe for dark matter... to the mix-and-match genes of synthetic biology, we have it all! One episode a month, Skeptic Check, is devoted to critical thinking.

Produced at the SETI Institute and hosted by Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley.

Big Picture Science can be found on iTunes and other podcast sites. Radio stations carrying the program are listed on our "listening" page at radio.seti.org

The program is freely available to radio stations for broadcast.

The show began with the title Are We Alone? in 2002.


305 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Skeptic Check: Do Your Own Research
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Do Your Own Research, Credit: Seth Shostak
Scientists are increasingly finding their expertise questioned by non-experts who claim they’ve done their own “research.” Whether advocating Iverm...

Bought by KMRE-LP Bellingham, Wash., WMUU-LP, WHCP-LP Cambridge, KIYU-FM, RadioFreePalmer and more


  • Added: Mar 20, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 9
Flower Power
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Flower Power, Credit: Seth Shostak
Before everything could come up roses, there had to be a primordial flower – the mother, and father, of all flowers. Now scientists are on the hunt...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], KZUM and more


  • Added: Mar 13, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Lady Parts
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Lady Parts, Credit: Seth Shostak
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Roe has ignited fierce debate about bodily autonomy. But it’s remarkable how little we know about female physiology. ...

Bought by KAZU Seaside, Calif., Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WHCP-LP Cambridge, KBBI Alaska and more


  • Added: Mar 06, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Waste Not
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Waste Not , Credit: Seth Shostak
Why create more landfill? Resist the urge to toss those old sneakers or last year’s smart phone. Instead, let global junk entrepreneurs repurpose ...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KBBI Alaska and more


  • Added: Feb 27, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Post Social Media
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Post Social Media, Credit: Seth Shostak
Before you check your social media feeds today. And post. And post again. And get into an argument on Twitter, lose track of time and wonder where ...

Bought by KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM and more


  • Added: Feb 20, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Fungi Fear
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Fungi Fear, Credit: Seth Shostak
The zombie eco-thriller “The Last of Us” has alerted us to the threats posed by fungi. But the show is not entirely science fiction. Our vulnerabi...

Bought by KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KBBI Alaska and more


  • Added: Feb 13, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Math's Paths
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Math's Paths, Credit: Seth Shostak
If you bake, you can appreciate math’s transformative properties. Admiring the stackable potato chip is to admire a hyperbolic sheet. Find out why ...

Bought by KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Feb 06, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 13
Skeptic Check: Understanding UAPs
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Understanding UAPs, Credit: Adobe Stock free image
The newest Pentagon report on UAPs – or Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon – reflects long standing public interest about what’s in our skies. Now, NAS...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Jan 30, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 13
Headed for Trouble
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Headed for Trouble, Credit: Seth Shostak
The stone heads on Easter Island are an enduring mystery: why were they built and why were they abandoned and destroyed? The old ideas about cultu...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], KZUM and more


  • Added: Jan 23, 2023
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 12
Testing Your Metal
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Testing Your Metal, Credit: Seth Shostak
Catalytic converters are disappearing. If you’ve had yours stolen, you know that rare earth metals are valuable. But these metals are in great dema...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, WVTF, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Jan 16, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Melting Down
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Melting Down, Credit: Seth Shostak
Climate change isn’t waiting for us to act. We’ve missed several deadlines to mitigate the dangers of this existential threat, which suggests we pr...

Bought by WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM, KAZU Seaside, Calif., KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio] and more


  • Added: Jan 09, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Coming to Our Animal Senses
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Coming to Our Animal Senses, Credit: Seth Shostak
Animals experience the world differently. There are insects that can see ultraviolet light, while some snakes can hunt in the dark thanks to their ...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio] and more


  • Added: Jan 02, 2023
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 12
Webb Feat
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Webb Feat, Credit: Seth Shostak
The James Webb Space Telescope has turned its golden eye on the cosmos. The largest, most sensitive telescope put in space since the Hubble Space T...

Bought by WLPR , CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KZUM and more


  • Added: Dec 26, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Skeptic Check: 5G
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: 5G, Credit: Seth Shostak
5G, the latest mobile network standard, is coming. As new cell towers sprout around the world, do we know enough to confidently claim that this new...

Bought by Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KZUM, RadioStPete Florida, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Dec 19, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Tomb with a View
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Tomb with a View, Credit: Seth Shostak
A century ago, British archaeologist Howard Carter opened the only surviving intact tomb from ancient Egypt. Inside was the mummy of the boy king T...

Bought by WUFT, WRGY, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM, KCNP and more


  • Added: Dec 12, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Keeping Humans in the Loop
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Keeping Humans in the Loop, Credit: Seth Shostak
As our world becomes more challenging, can we maintain control of our own future? Threats arise not just from climate change or inventions such as...

Bought by KTXK, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KZUM, WRGY, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Dec 05, 2022
  • Length: 54:30
  • Purchases: 16
Vaccine Inequity
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Vaccine Inequity, Credit: Seth Shostak
A radical plan could solve a historic global health inequity. Countries in the global south who waited for more than a year for ample supplies of C...

Bought by KZYX, KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], KMUN, CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and more


  • Added: Nov 21, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Your Inner Tree
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Your Inner Tree, Credit: Seth Shostak
Declining biodiversity is a problem as fraught as climate change. Loss of habitat, monoculture crops, and the damming of waterways all lead to mass...

Bought by KTAL-LP [Las Cruces Community Radio], Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KMUN, KZUM and more


  • Added: Nov 14, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Fuhgeddaboudit
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Fuhgeddaboudit, Credit: Seth Shostak
A thousand years ago, most people didn’t own a single book. The only way to access knowledge was to consult their memory. But technology – from pap...

Bought by CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KMUN, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Nov 08, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Skeptic Check: AI Comes Alive
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: AI Comes Alive, Credit: Seth Shostak
When a Google software engineer claimed that a piece of chatbot software was sentient, it was a major story. Just like your dog is sentient, could ...

Bought by WVTF, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KZUM, WMUU-LP and more


  • Added: Oct 24, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15

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