Science for the People

This week, we’ll listen back to an episode featuring some of nature’s most accomplished materials scientists, and the amazing substance they produce. We’re joined by Leslie Brunetta, co-author of Spider Silk: Evolution and 400 Million Years of Spinning, Waiting, Snagging, and Mating. We’ll discuss the form, function and uses of the sticky wonder material, and the ways that its study can help us understand evolution. And science writer EdYong tells us about silkworms with spider genes and the hybrid silk they spin.

This week, we’re looking back at some of the most important science news of 2012. Writers Maryn McKenna and David Dobbs, BoingBoing Science Editor Maggie-Koerth Baker, and paleontology blogger Brian Switek join us to share the stories that made headlines, and others that made an impact, without receiving as much attention.

Whether you’re dropping a last-minute hint to a relative, or buying science books for the people you love, Skeptically Speaking has you covered. We’ve enlisted two dozen scientists, science writers and bloggers, including some of our favorite past guests. They’ll bring you their favorites from 2012, and some classics to help fill out anyone’s science library. Happy holidays! 2012 Science Book Suggestions Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes by Maria Konnikova Recommended by Scott Huler The Whale: In Search of the Giants of the Sea by Philip Hoare Recommended by Leslie Brunetta Gravity’s Engines: How Bubble-Blowing Black Holes Rule...

This week, we’re looking at one of the biggest science stories of 2012, and one of the largest instruments in the history of science. Guest host Marie-Claire Shanahan spends the hour with theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, author of the new book The Particle at The End of The Universe: How the Hunt for the Higgs Boson Leads Us to the Edge of a New World. They’ll discuss the search for the particle that gives all the others their mass, the story of the Large Hadron Collider, and the challenge of communicating with a broad audience about difficult topics in cutting-edge physics.

This week, we’re looking at science stories driving headlines and causing conversation. We’ll speak to particle physicist James Pinfold about recent experiments that cast doubt on a possible explanation for dark matter, and new research that he’s conducting at the world’s largest experimental facility, the Large Hadron Collider. On the podcast, molecular pharmacologist David Kroll returns to explain the connection between high-caffeine energy drinks and health complications. And we’ll get some insight on the tension between societal conceptions of gender and the more nuanced reality, from Joel Baum, Director of Education and Training at Gender Spectrum.

This week, we’re talking about a viral menace that’s one of the scariest – and deadliest – known to science. We’ll talk to WIRED editor Bill Wasik  and veterinarian Monica Murphy about their book Rabid: A Cultural History of the World’s Most Diabolical Virus. And on the podcast, we’ll speak to post-doctoral researcher Elisabeth Whyte, about a crowd-funded project to use computer games to help adolescents with autism improve social skills and face processing abilities.

This week, we’re listening back to an episode which examines the ways that society and science inform and influence each other. Frequent guest host Marie-Claire Shanahan, Professor of Science Education at the University of Alberta, and President of the Canadian Science Education Research Group, discusses how science fits into the broader framework of our common culture. And we talk to science writer Mike McRae, author of the book Tribal Science: Brains, Beliefs and Bad Ideas, which looks at how brains that evolved to maintain social connections can manage to make objective observations.

This week, we’re looking at the science of sexual orientation, where debates over nature vs. nurture have influenced law, policy and equal rights. We’re joined by neuroscientist and writer Simon LeVay, to talk about his research on the topic, and his book Gay, Straight, and the Reason Why: The Science of Sexual Orientation. And on the podcast, astrophysicist Ethan Siegel returns to the show, to tell us about a new project using the information aggregation service TrapIt to improve learning in the classroom.

In almost any discussion of space exploration and observation, one question always arises. Why should we spend the money, when there are problems here on Earth? This week, we’re going to tackle this question, with a panel of people who know just how important the science of space actually is. Penny4NASA‘s John Zeller and Noisy Astronomer Nicole Gugliucci return to the show, along with Scientific American Associate Editor John Matson, and Cynthia Phillips, Senior Research Scientist at the SETI Institute. They’ll discuss the technological, social and economic benefits of exploring space, and what it really means to all of us.

We’re taking a break from live recording this week. On the podcast, we’re looking at the lighter side of science, both real and imagined. We’re joined by Marc Abrahams, editor and co-founder of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, the father of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony and author of the new book This Is Improbable. Researcher and blogger Scicurious returns to share more of her favorite Friday Weird Science posts. And we’ll talk to Phil Edwards, author of the Fake Science blog and textbook.