Space-Age Sanitation

Guest: Brendan Niemira, Research Leader, Agricultural Research Service, US Department of Agriculture

Cold plasma is an alternative method of sanitation that is effective in killing both bacteria and viruses, and it can be used safely on food.

 

Copper: An Ancient Antimicrobial

Guest: Michael Schmidt, Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, Medical University of South Carolina

Could copper’s bacteria- and virus-killing superpower make hospitals a safer, cleaner place for patients? The ancients knew all about its germ-busting capabiities.

Listen to more of Michael Schmidt here

A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything

Guest: Helen Scales, marine biologist, diver, surfer, broadcaster and author, “Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything”

With more than 30,000 species, the world of fish is more beautiful and strange than you can imagine. 

Soul of an Octopus

Guest: Sy Montgomery, author, “The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness”

The octopus is a smart, social creature and each has a distinctive personality. In fact, each arm has a "mind" of its own.

A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything

Guest: Helen Scales, marine biologist, diver, surfer, broadcaster and author, “Eye of the Shoal: A Fishwatcher’s Guide to Life, the Ocean and Everything”

With more than 30,000 species, the world of fish is more beautiful and strange than you can imagine. 

 

Soul of an Octopus

Guest: Sy Montgomery, author, “The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness”

The octopus is a smart, social creature and each has a distinctive personality. In fact, each arm has a "mind" of its own.

CIA Disguises

Guest: Jonna Mendez, former Chief of Disguise, CIA, and co-author, "The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics that Helped America Win the Cold War"

The US President couldn't detect her disguise until she unmasked in the Oval Office, before Tom Cruise made the face peel famous. But there's even more to going undercover than a great mask. Find out some of the tools of the spy trade.

The Hollywood Producer Who Became a Cold War Double Agent

Guest: Jonathan Gill, Professor, American History and Culture, University of Amsterdam, and author, "Hollywood Double Agent: The True Tale of Boris Morros, Film Producer Turned Cold War Spy"

Hollywood film producer Boris Morros was a useful tool for Soviet intelligence operations—that is until he turned himself in to the FBI and became a double agent. At least that's what we think happened. His ex-wife said his memoir was full of lies, and his true history has been difficult to unravel.

CIA Disguises

Guest: Jonna Mendez, former Chief of Disguise, CIA, and co-author, "The Moscow Rules: The Secret CIA Tactics that Helped America Win the Cold War"

The US President couldn't detect her disguise until she unmasked in the Oval Office, before Tom Cruise made the face peel famous. But there's even more to going undercover than a great mask. Find out some of the tools of the spy trade.

 

The Hollywood Producer Who Became a Cold War Double Agent

Guest: Jonathan Gill, Professor, American History and Culture, University of Amsterdam, and author, "Hollywood Double Agent: The True Tale of Boris Morros, Film Producer Turned Cold War Spy"

Hollywood film producer Boris Morros was a useful tool for Soviet intelligence operations—that is until he turned himself in to the FBI and became a double agent. At least that's what we think happened. His ex-wife said his memoir was full of lies, and his true history has been difficult to unravel.

A People in Flux

Guest: Robert Hitchcock, Professor, Evolutionary Anthropology, University of New Mexico

The San people of Southern Africa are one of the most studied on the planet—you may know them from their famous Click language—but they have many of the same challenges we all face, including how to respond to Covid-19.

Viking Board Games

Guest: David Petts, Associate Professor, Archaeology, Durham University, and Member, Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

A crowd-sourced dig team unearthed a board game piece on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the UK, connecting early Christianity with the Vikings.

The Strategic Importance of Guano Islands

Guest: Daniel Immerwahr, Associate Professor, History, Northwestern University, and author, "How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States"

Guano Islands are just what they sound like—tiny rocks in the ocean covered with bird droppings. And nothing more. But nations fought over them, or at least diplomatically elbowed each other. Because they were worth enormous amounts—for fertilizer. Guano was a powerful natural source of nitrogen. This is the story of how America built its guano island empire.

A People in Flux

Guest: Robert Hitchcock, Professor, Evolutionary Anthropology, University of New Mexico

The San people of Southern Africa are one of the most studied on the planet—you may know them from their famous Click language—but they have many of the same challenges we all face, including how to respond to Covid-19.

 

Viking Board Games

Guest: David Petts, Associate Professor, Archaeology, Durham University, and Member, Institute of Medieval and Early Modern Studies

A crowd-sourced dig team unearthed a board game piece on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the UK, connecting early Christianity with the Vikings.

 

The Strategic Importance of Guano Islands

Guest: Daniel Immerwahr, Associate Professor, History, Northwestern University, and author, "How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States"

Guano Islands are just what they sound like—tiny rocks in the ocean covered with bird droppings. And nothing more. But nations fought over them, or at least diplomatically elbowed each other. Because they were worth enormous amounts—for fertilizer. Guano was a powerful natural source of nitrogen. This is the story of how America built its guano island empire.

Is a New Ocean Forming?

Guest: Erik Klemetti, Volcanologist and Associate Professor, Geosciences, Denison University

Continental rift in East Africais splitting the continent in two, and one day there may be a new ocean in the gap. It would only take a few million years to form. 

Pangea Ultima

Guest: Christopher Scotese, Emeritus Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, and Director, PALEOMAP Project

Thanks to modern technology, we can see just what the Earth's continents used to look like, and predict where they might move next.

Ötzi the Iceman

Guest: Patrick Hunt, Archaeologist, Stanford University; Expeditions Expert, National Geographic; and Research Associate, Archaeoethnobotany, Institute for the Ethnomedicine

Found half-burried in the Italian Alps, Ötzi the Iceman is among the oldest human beings ever discovered—dating back 5,300 years. Since his initial discovery in 1991, researchers have been piecing together his mysterious life and death. Alpine archaeologist and Ötzi expert Patrick Hunt weighs in on his compelling history.

Is a New Ocean Forming?

Guest: Erik Klemetti, Volcanologist and Associate Professor, Geosciences, Denison University

Continental rift in East Africais splitting the continent in two, and one day there may be a new ocean in the gap. It would only take a few million years to form. 

 

Pangea Ultima

Guest: Christopher Scotese, Emeritus Professor, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of Texas at Arlington, and Director, PALEOMAP Project

Thanks to modern technology, we can see just what the Earth's continents used to look like, and predict where they might move next.

 

Ötzi the Iceman

Guest: Patrick Hunt, Archaeologist, Stanford University; Expeditions Expert, National Geographic; and Research Associate, Archaeoethnobotany, Institute for the Ethnomedicine

Found half-burried in the Italian Alps, Ötzi the Iceman is among the oldest human beings ever discovered—dating back 5,300 years. Since his initial discovery in 1991, researchers have been piecing together his mysterious life and death. Alpine archaeologist and Ötzi expert Patrick Hunt weighs in on his compelling history.

How a Hungarian Physician Saved Women from Childbed Fever and Became the ‘Savior of Mothers’

Guest: Anthony Valerio, editor and teacher, author of “Semmelweis”

Wash your hands isn’t just the best way to prevent COVID-19 in 2020–it was also the rallying cry of Ignaz Semmelweis, a young Hungarian doctor trying to end the scourge of childbed fever and lower maternal mortality rates in the 1840s, well before germ theory entered scientific thought.

When the Cure is the Cause

Guest: Jeanne Lenzer; medical investigative journalist; author of "The Danger Within Us: America's Untested, Unregulated Medical Device Industry and One Man's Battle to Survive It"

When people in the ‘60s started developing hairy green tongues, blindness, and paralysis, doctors thought it was a strange new infectious disease. They turned to a specific drug, clioquinol, in hopes of a cure, but what they found was shocking. The so-called remedy was causing the disease.