Science for the People

This week, guest host Marie-Claire Shanahan spends an hour exploring knowledge and certainty, and how they change over time. She’ll speak to Samuel Arbesman, applied mathematician and fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, about his book The Half-Life of Facts: Why Everything We Khow Has an Expiration Date. And we’re joined by computer science and biology professor Mark Daley, to discuss the value of using computational thinking to better understand everything from biology to music.

This week, we’re learning about the search for strange and exotic lifeforms, in outer space, in overlooked corners on Earth, and even deep within our own tissues. We’ll speak to David Toomey, Director of the Program for Professional Writing and Technical Communication at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, about his book Weird Life: The Search for Life That Is Very, Very Different from Our Own. And ethicist and futurist George Dvorsky returns to the show to discuss the ethical issues raised by contacting a previously unknown intelligent species.

This week, it’s an hour on the evolution of language. Linguist, philosopher, author and activist Noam Chomsky joins us to discuss the concept of universal grammar, and the possibility of a human genetic capacity to create and use language. Terrence Deacon, Chair of Anthropology at the University of California Berkeley, talks about the structure of language, and how some common features might be required to make language useful. And we’ll speak to biologist Con Slobodchikoff,  Director of the Animal Language Institute, about his book Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals.

This week we’re looking at threats to science and critical thinking, and how you can sort fact from fiction. York University science librarian John Dupuis joins us to discuss what he calls the Canadian government’s War on Science. And Chris MacDonald director of the Jim Pattison Ethical Leadership Program at Ryerson University, joins us to talk about his textbook The Power of Critical Thinking, which can help you navigate the hyperbole and misinformation that happens when the media looks at science news.

This week, we’re looking at the ways that science and medicine impact specific communities. We’ll speak to biologist and science educator Danielle N. Lee about the state of science journalism at media sources that serve minority audiences. Microbiologist and public health researcher Rebecca Kreston explains why (and how) some diseases target specific groups. And Dr. Joe Henrich, Canada Research Chair in Culture, Cognition and Coevolution at the University of British Columbia, joins us to discuss his research showing how social science is drawing conclusions from a population of outliers in the Western world.

This week, we’re learning about ecology and biodiversity, and the preservation of endangered (and even extinct) species. We’re joined by Eric Dinerstein, Lead Scientist and Vice President for Conservation Science at the World Wildlife Fund, to discuss his new book The Kingdom of Rarities, about the challenges involved in studying rare and exotic animals. And we speak to Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Chair of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, about his arguments against plans to revive extinct species.

This week we’re looking at science history, with two books about the passion and perseverance that drive the pursuit of scientific discovery. We’re joined by science writer Mark Anderson, to talk about his book The Day the World Discovered the Sun: An Extraordinary Story of Scientific Adventure and the Race to Track the Transit of Venus. And science writer Jessica Wapner returns to discuss her new book The Philadelphia Chromosome: A Mutant Gene and the Quest to Cure Cancer at the Genetic Level.

This week, we’re looking at some of the less savory effects of global trade and market economies. We’ll speak to Mark Harrison, Director of the Wellcome Unit for the History of Medicine and Professor of the History of Medicine at Oxford University, about his book Contagion: How Commerce Has Spread Disease. And we speak to Nora Szech, Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Bamberg, about her research into the ways that markets influence moral decisionmaking.

This week, we’re looking at the aging process, and how science and medicine are treating it as a problem to be solved. We’ll talk to Michael Rose, Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of California, Irvine about the evolution of aging   And we’ll speak to Alex Zhavoronkov, creator of the Aging Research Portfolio, and author of The Ageless Generation: How Advances in Biomedicine Will Transform the Global Economy.

This week, we’re discussing the function, evolution and complicated social norms attached to the human female breast. Guest host Rachelle Saunders talks to freelance health and science journalist Florence Williams, about her New York Times notable book  Breasts: A Natural and Unnatural History. And researcher and blogger Scicurious returns to discuss the work of a French researcher who claims that wearing a bra can harm, rather than help, attempts to ward of the effects of gravity.