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: Attack of the Mutants, Credit: Seth Shostak
The omicron variant is surging. More contagious than delta, omicron demonstrates how viruses use mutations to quickly adapt. Mutations drive evolut...

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


  • Added: Dec 20, 2021
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 13
Caption: Mycology Education, Credit: Seth Shostak
Beneath our feet is a living network just as complex and extensive as the root systems in a forest. Fungi, which evolved in the oceans, were among ...

Bought by WMUU-LP, WVTF, KTXK, CHSR-FM 97.9, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass. and more


  • Added: Dec 27, 2021
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 18
Caption: Bare Bones, Credit: Seth Shostak
Without your skeleton, you’d be a limp bag of protoplasm, unable to move. But bones are also time capsules, preserving much of your personal histor...

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


  • Added: Jan 31, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: You Are Exposed, Credit: Seth Shostak
There is no place like “ome.” Your microbiome is highly influential in determining your health and the course of disease. But it’s not the only “om...

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


  • Added: Mar 07, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: Identity Crisis, Credit: Seth Shostak
DNA is the gold standard of all identification methods. Except when it’s not. So, while we refine our ability to work with the double helix, scien...

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


  • Added: Mar 14, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: Nuclear Worries, Credit: Seth Shostak
The nuclear threat is back, and the Doomsday Clock is almost at midnight. How did we end up here again? In the 1930s, German physicists learned tha...

Bought by WMUU-LP, CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KBBI Alaska, KNCT FM and more


  • Added: Mar 21, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Piece image
Solid materials get all the credit. Don’t get us wrong, we depend on their firmness for bridges, bones, and bento boxes. But liquids do us a solid...

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


  • Added: Apr 04, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: Skeptic Check: Dr. Oz, Credit: Seth Shostak
Dr. Oz’s personable and folky approach when talking about difficult health subjects has made him a trusted source for medical information. But some...

Bought by WVTF, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KBBI Alaska, KZUM and more


  • Added: May 02, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: For the Birds, Credit: Seth Shostak
Birds have it going on. Many of these winged dinosaurs delight us with their song and brilliant plumage. Migratory birds travel thousands of miles ...

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


  • Added: May 30, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: DNA is Not Destiny, Credit: Seth Shostak
We used to think that the genes you inherited didn’t change. You were stuck – or blessed – with what you got. Now we know that’s not true. Epi...

Bought by Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KTSW 89.9, CHSR-FM 97.9, WRGY, KZUM and more


  • Added: Jun 06, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Caption: Flush with Excitement, Credit: Seth Shostak
The toilet: A ubiquitous appliance that dates to the time of Shakespeare. But billions of people around the world still lack modern sanitation infr...

Bought by WMUU-LP, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KUCR 88.3 fm Riverside, Calif., WRGY, KZUM and more


  • Added: Jul 11, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: Sci-Fi From the Future, Credit: Seth Shostak
Polls show that most Americans are uneasy about the unchecked growth of artificial intelligence and genetic engineering. We all hope to guide socie...

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


  • Added: Jul 18, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: Skeptic Check: Shared Reality, Credit: Seth Shostak
One of the many shocking aspects of the Capitol attack was that it revealed how thoroughly the nation had cleaved into alternate realities. How did...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., WLPR , WGBH Radio Boston, KCPW Salt Lake City, WVTF and more


  • Added: Jul 25, 2022
  • Length: 54:04
  • Purchases: 21
Caption: Rip Van Winkle Worm, Credit: Seth Shostak
Your shower pipes are alive. So are your sinks, books, and floorboards. New studies of our homes are revealing just what lives there, from bacteria...

Bought by WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, KZUM and more


  • Added: Aug 15, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 14
Caption: Platypus Crazy, Credit: Seth Shostak
They look like a cross between a beaver and a duck, and they all live Down Under. The platypus may lay eggs, but is actually a distant mammalian co...

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


  • Added: Aug 22, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: Heal Thyself, Credit: Seth Shostak
Do we need doctors? There are umpteen alternative sources of medical advice, including endless health tips from people without medical degrees. Wh...

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


  • Added: Aug 29, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: De-Permafrosting, Credit: Seth Shostak
Above the Arctic Circle, much of the land is underlaid by permafrost. But climate change is causing it to thaw. This is not good news for the plane...

Bought by KUHF, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY, WHCP-LP Cambridge, KZUM and more


  • Added: Sep 19, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 17
Caption: Data Bias, Credit: Seth Shostak
Sexist snow plowing? Data that guide everything from snow removal schedules to heart research often fail to consider gender. In these cases, “refe...

Bought by KZYX, WVTF, CHSR-FM 97.9, Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, WRGY and more


  • Added: Sep 26, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16
Caption: Phreaky Physics, Credit: Seth Shostak
It was a radical idea a century ago, when Einstein said space and time can be bent, and gravity was really geometry. We hear how his theories inspi...

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


  • Added: Oct 03, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 15
Caption: Animals Being Jerks, Credit: Seth Shostak
They’re cute and cuddly. But they can also be obnoxious. Science writer Mary Roach has numerous tales about how our animal friends don’t always bow...

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


  • Added: Oct 10, 2022
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 16