Big Picture Science

Series produced by Big Picture Science

Series image

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.


329 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: The Big Picture, Credit: Ly Ly
How did life begin, what makes up the universe and the true nature of consciousness are some of the biggest puzzlers in science, but answers are in...

Bought by KZUM, KUCR 88.3 fm Riverside, Calif., WRGY, WHCP-LP Cambridge, KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and more


  • Added: Jul 11, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 26
Caption: Know Laughing Matter, Credit: Seth Shostak
Why we evolved to laugh plus side-splitting jokes about electrons and relativity.

Bought by WMUU-LP, KICI Iowa City, KMUN, KCSB-FM, KAZU Seaside, Calif. and more


  • Added: Aug 18, 2014
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 11
Caption: Water the Chances, Credit: Seth Shostak
Getting the salt out: the most promising technologies for desalination… how astronauts filter “water-closet water” to drink… and, turning salt pond...

Bought by WVTF, WRIR, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 25, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Cell! Cell!, Credit: Seth Shostak
The story of Henrietta Lacks who unwittingly donated her tissue to science in 1951 and whose cells still grow in laboratories around the world today.

Bought by KSKQ, WRIR, WRST-FM Oshkosh, and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Aug 01, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Written in Code, Credit: Seth Shostak
Genes aren’t worth much unless they’re turned on – find out what factors influence gene expression and how to unleash your inner-Einstein

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Aug 08, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Skeptic Check: Plotting Along, Credit: Seth Shostak
Why conspiracy theories persist – from 9-11 to UFOs to fluoride in our water.

Bought by WVTF, WRIR, and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Aug 15, 2011
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Swarm in Here, Credit: Seth Shostak
Collective intelligence is what makes bees and ants so successful – find out how researchers are helping humans to get their collective act together.

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Aug 22, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Into the Unknown, Credit: Seth Shostak
From voyages to the bottom of the sea, to the edges of space: join us on treks of modern exploration.

Bought by KSKQ and WRIR


  • Added: Aug 29, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Seth's Tool Shed, Credit: Seth Shostak
A scheme for finding life on Mars, adopting to climate change, and a new moon of Pluto.

Bought by WRIR


  • Added: Sep 05, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Rend Me Your Ears, Credit: Seth Shostak
Our buzzing, humming, whirling, machine-driven world is a poster child for technological progress, and has driven one man to search for silence; we...

Bought by KSKQ and WRIR


  • Added: Sep 26, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: What's Your Poison?, Credit: Seth Shostak
“Aspirin and Old Lace?” Okay, you’d need a bottle of pills in a cup of elderberry wine, but aspirin can be deadly – hear why dose is key in toxicol...

  • Added: Oct 10, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: Skeptic Check, Beast Of, Credit: Seth Shostak
Zombies, aliens, Bigfoot, oh my - we've covered - or rather uncovered - them all and more on Skeptic Check, our monthly look of critical thinking, ...

Bought by KZUM, KMUN, KREV-LP, and WRIR


  • Added: Oct 03, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Bug Off!, Credit: Seth Shostak
Humans have been battling viruses and bacteria since the beginning of time; stories from the frontier of epidemiology.

Bought by WVTF, KSKQ, and KREV-LP


  • Added: Oct 31, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: NASA or What?, Credit: Seth Shostak
NASA in motion: the GRAIL mission takes us back to the moon, and – can you dig it? The rover Curiosity can. It’ll hunt for evidence of Martian lif...

Bought by KZUM


  • Added: Nov 07, 2011
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Blame it on Bacterio, Credit: Seth Shostak
Think small! Microbes are tinier than the dot at the end of this sentence, yet they can make humans sicker than dogs, dogs sicker than humans, jum...

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Nov 20, 2014
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: We've Got You Made, Credit: Seth Shostak
Computers are not only a part of your life, they may soon be a part of you - We’ll hear from the world’s first cyborg as to why we should make nice...

  • Added: Nov 21, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
Caption: Skeptic Check: Dubiology, Credit: Seth Shostak
From earthquake-predicting cats to dangerous "pox parties" - instances of questionable biology and the history of American scientific literacy.

Bought by WVTF and KREV-LP


  • Added: Nov 28, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Science's Alliances, Credit: Seth Shostak
A particle physicist-turned-U.S. Congressman, Muppets teach toddlers engineering, and other unique science pairings.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Dec 05, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Sensor Sensibility, Credit: Seth Shostak
“Ubiquitous sensing” aims to blanket the world in tiny sensors, the out-of-this world detection system that discovered a possibly Earth-like planet...

Bought by Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting and KREV-LP


  • Added: Dec 19, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Skeptic Check: Superstition, Credit: Seth Shostak
From fears of Friday the 13th to shattered mirrors - find out why our brains are wired for supernatural belief.

Bought by KPIK-LP, KREV-LP, and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Dec 26, 2011
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3