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.


330 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Space Archaeology
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Space Archaeology, Credit: Seth Shostak
Why modern archaeologists forsake digging in the dirt in favor of a satellite view, and how we might track extraterrestrials from the trash they le...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Oct 22, 2012
  • Length: 54:01
  • Purchases: 2
As the Worlds Turn
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: As the Worlds Turn, Credit: Seth Shostak
If you’re itching to get away from it all, really get away from it all, have we got some exotic destinations for you. From Mars to Jupiter’s moon...

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Oct 15, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
[Rectangular Container] Thinking
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: [Rectangular Container] Thinking, Credit: Seth Shostak
Discover the original thinking that led to the discovery of dark matter and the invention of a.c. power grids, disinfectant, and the Greek “death r...

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


  • Added: Oct 08, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
Skeptic Check: Mysterious Illness
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Mysterious Illness, Credit: Seth Shostak
The strange case of stuttering in Le Roy, N.Y. and an update on the cellphone cancer debate.

Bought by WRST-FM Oshkosh and KREV-LP


  • Added: Oct 01, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Big Data
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Big Data, Credit: Seth Shostak
Big data is revolutionizing research. Learn how it might cure disease, or find ET. But is it a threat to our privacy?

Bought by WERA-LP, WMUU-LP, WMUU-LP, KUNM, WRST-FM Oshkosh and more


  • Added: Sep 24, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 6
Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Energy Vortex, Credit: Seth Shostak
The science behind “mysterious energy,” from magnetic poles to haunted houses, and just what the heck is an “energy vortex” anyway?

Bought by KSKQ and WRST-FM Oshkosh


  • Added: Sep 17, 2012
  • Length: 54:03
  • Purchases: 2
Oh, Rats!
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Oh, Rats!, Credit: Seth Shostak
Before you chase it with a broom, consider this: Without the rat, we might miss critical insights into the nature of stress, cancer … and even love...

Bought by KVSC and KREV-LP


  • Added: Sep 10, 2012
  • Length: 54:32
  • Purchases: 2
The Invisible In-Between
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: The Invisible In-Between, Credit: Seth Shostak
To need air is human. Catch a skydiver in action and discover what’s in supposedly empty interstellar space.

Bought by KSKQ and KREV-LP


  • Added: Sep 03, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 2
Skeptic Check: Monsters, Magic, and Music
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: Skeptic Check: Monster, Magic, and Music, Credit: Seth Shostak
A combo of critical thinking; from tracking Bigfoot and magic’s ability to fool the brain to whether a study about music supports the “Mozart Effec...

Bought by KSKQ, KREV-LP, and KVSC


  • Added: Aug 27, 2012
  • Length: 54:02
  • Purchases: 3
¡A.I. CARAMBA!
From: Big Picture Science
Series: Big Picture Science
Caption: A.I. Caramba!, Credit: Seth Shostak
When the IBM computer, Watson, snatched the “Jeopardy” title from humans, that raised the question: could artificial intelligence ever beat humans ...

Bought by KREV-LP


  • Added: Nov 20, 2014
  • 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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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

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