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.


330 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Light, the Universe, and Everything
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Light, the Universe, and Everything, Credit: Seth Shostak
Universe, cosmology, technology, invention, Big Bang, dark matter, dark energy, time

Bought by Cove Mountain Educational Broadcasting, KSKQ, WRGY, KREV-LP, and Yellowstone Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 21, 2014
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 5
Wired for Thought
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Wired for Thought, Credit: Seth Shostak
A cup of coffee can leave you wired for the day, but a chip in your brain could wire you to a machine forever; the future of brain-machine interfaces.

Bought by KREV-LP, Yellowstone Public Radio, and KUNM


  • Added: Jan 16, 2012
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 3
Aware am I?
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Aware am I?, Credit: Seth Shostak
From food to sex to fine art, humans are pleasure-seekers - discover the surprising motivation behind our desires.

Bought by KSJD


  • Added: Feb 13, 2012
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 1
Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Saucer's Apprentice, Credit: Seth Shostak
UFO sightings are as common as flies at a picnic, but proof of visitation is alien – find out why belief persists.

Bought by KTSW 89.9, KSKQ, KMUN, KREV-LP, and KSJD


  • Added: Feb 20, 2012
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 5
Skeptic Check: Prog-Not-Stication
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Prog-Not-Stication, Credit: Seth Shostak
From psychics to the Mayan end-of-world prophesy to computer forecasts: who can divine the future?

Bought by KREV-LP and KSJD


  • Added: Mar 05, 2012
  • Length: 54:00
  • Purchases: 2
Seth's Cabinet of Wonders
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Seth's Cabinet of Wonders, Credit: Seth Shostak
A potpourri show: from Sealab … to the next Cosmos series… to software to replace scientists, you never know what you’ll find when you root around ...

Bought by KREV-LP, Yellowstone Public Radio, and KSJD


  • Added: Mar 12, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
Found in Space
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Found in Space, Credit: Seth Shostak
From Google to GPS – how modern mapping is reshaping our world view.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Mar 26, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 1
Second that Emotion
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Second that Emotion, Credit: Seth Shostak
Why flies in milk gross you out and other voyages through human emotion.

Bought by KSKQ and KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 09, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Humans Need Not Apply
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Humans Need Not Apply, Credit: Seth Shostak
It’s silicon vs. carbon as intelligent, interactive machines out-perform humans in tasks beyond data-crunching – find out what jobs are left for hu...

Bought by WBWC and KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 16, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 2
Early Adapters
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Early Adapters, Credit: Seth Shostak
How Homo sapiens can wield technology to adapt to the onslaught of climate change, a growing population, and the blitz of hi-tech.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Apr 23, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
That's So Random!
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: That's So Random!, Credit: Seth Shostak
We crave order in things, but we can’t iron out every chaotic crease, nor would we want to: from brain cell activity to the evolution of species, ...

Bought by WVTF, KSKQ, KREV-LP, and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 14, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 4
To Earth and Back
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: To Earth and Back, Credit: Seth Shostak
Meet the NASA officer whose task is to keep Earth, Mars - and the entire solar system - free of hitchhiking bacteria.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: May 21, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Mass Transits
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Mass Transits, Credit: Seth Shostak
On June 5, our sister planet Venus will slowly slide across the face of the sun, the last transit of Venus until 2117; join us for a special episod...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KZYX


  • Added: May 28, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 2
Better Mousetrap
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Better Mousetrap, Credit: Seth Shostak
How inventors get their ideas, what happens when their creations spawn entire new industries, and how the inventor of a squirt gun might just have ...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Jun 04, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 2
Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: OMG, GMO?, Credit: Seth Shostak
You are what you eat – the science –and the controversy - of genetically engineered foods, plus synthetic biology on Mars.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jun 18, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Seth's Storm Shelter
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Seth's Storm Shelter, Credit: Seth Shostak
A mélange of surprising subjects from why humans are more like ants than are chimpanzees … to Jonah Lehrer on the creative brain.

Bought by KFOK-LPFM, KREV-LP, and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jun 25, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
Nano Nano
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Nano Nano, Credit: Seth Shostak
"Think small to solve big problems" is, in a nutshell, the mantra of nanotechnology - we’ll look at the promise and the peril of this new science.

Bought by KREV-LP and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Jul 02, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Olympics for the Rest of Us
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Olympics for the Rest of Us, Credit: Seth Shostak
It’s easy to praise the extraordinary abilities of the athletes. Let’s celebrate the extreme averageness of the rest of us. From beer bellies to...

Bought by KSKQ, WRIR, WRST-FM Oshkosh, KHEN-LP, KVSC and more


  • Added: Jul 23, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 6
Fuel's Paradise
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Fuel's Paradise, Credit: Seth Shostak
From corn to algae to garbage: the race is on to find a fuel source that can replace petroleum.

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Aug 06, 2012
  • Length: 54:14
  • Purchases: 1
A Martian Curiosity
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: A Martian Curiosity, Credit: Seth Shostak
The hard part is over: we landed on Mars (again!). Let the science begin. Here’s the latest in the hunt for evidence of life off Earth, and one m...

Bought by KREV-LP and KVSC


  • Added: Aug 13, 2012
  • Length: 54:14
  • Purchases: 2

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