Cool Science Radio

Sabrina Sholts, curator of biological anthropology at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and author of the new book, “The Human Disease: How We Create Pandemics, from our Bodies to our Beliefs,” talks about humans' role and responsibility in diseases and pandemics. Then, Roberto Casati, director of the Jean Nicod Institute and professor at the School of Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences in Paris, shares more about maps, what they are and how they work in his new book “The Cognitive Life of Maps."

Acclaimed physicist Sean Carroll makes the most complicated ideas in physics accessible for anyone who wants to learn.And innovator and entrepreneur, Charles Loughheed, explains how the intersection of technology and healthcare leads to happier, healthier and more successful outcomes for doctors and their patients.

John Lin, Associate Director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science and Policy at the University of Utah, talks about the center and its Climate Solutions Launch Prize.Then, professors at LUISS University, Rome, Cristina Alaima and Jannis Kallinikos talk about the role that digital revolution plays in today’s market economy and highlight their book “Data Rules: Reinventing the Market Economy.”

Ophthalmologist Dr. Barbara Wirostko, co-founder and medical director of MyEyes, a local company that helps glaucoma patients with new technology, talks about the latest advances in the treatment of glaucoma.Then, author Jennifer Holland talks about her new book, "Dog Smart: Life-Changing Lessons in Canine Intelligence," a cutting-edge science narrative that outlines Holland’s quest to learn the true meaning of dog intelligence.

Astronomy professor, Adam Frank, and philosophy professor, Marcelo Gleiser, talk about their book, "The Blind Spot: Why Science Cannot Ignore Human Experience."Then, Rob Zellem, Exoplanet Astronomer with NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, highlights the new telescope which is scheduled to launch by 2027, and previews the Annual Astronomy Festival in Bryce Canyon National Park on June 5-8.

Dr. Arturo Casadevall from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health talks about a potential fungal epidemic in his new book, "What if Fungi Win?"Then, what if there was one overarching theory that could help explain much of our modern-day daily lives? Science journalist Tom Chivers explores the concept of the predictability of everything, based on a theorem developed by Thomas Bayes, an 18th-century Presbyterian minister and statistician.

Shawn Shan, project lead of The Glaze Project at the University of Chicago, a research effort that develops technical tools with the explicit goal of protecting human creatives against invasive uses of generative artificial intelligence, talks about their program helping to protect human generated art from AI.Then, Mark Wolverton tells the story of the scientific feud between physicists Robert Millikan and Arthur Compton over the nature of cosmic rays in his new book, “Splinters of Infinity, Cosmic Rays and the Clash of Two Nobel Prize-Winning Scientists over the Secrets of Creation.”

Lee Billings, senior editor of "Scientific American" magazine, talks about the many fascinating elements of space: from solar storms, to space junk, and even to the possibility of a new planet.Then, local resident and CEO of TRS Group, Brett Trowbridge, tells how they use scientific innovation to clean up containments in the soil through thermal remediation. These are “forever chemical” contaminants that can be cleaned up at the site instead of being hauled away.

University of Michigan geology professor, Nathan Niemi, delves into the university's yearly summer geology field camp here in the western U.S., or what they like to call the best field trip ever. (0:57)Then, University of Utah Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Jessica Swanson, shares her research on using biological methods to remove excess methane from the atmosphere. (24:58)

Professor Jeff Karp, teaches biomedical engineering at Harvard Medical School and MIT joins the show to talk about the brain's neuroplasticity and how he adapted his brain to tackle his early learning disabilities and ADHD and shares how you can too.Then, biomedical engineer and blunt trauma specialist, Rachel Lance, explores how a team of scientists during World War II made science history by discovering how to breathe underwater, a crucial element in an eventual victory for Allied forces.