SparkDialog

Are science and religion compatible?  For some, the answer is a resounding yes!  Others see nothing but conflict, especially, it seems, around evolution.  Today, we talk about science, religion, and evolution, from the points of view of a Jewish rabbi, a Humanist chaplain, a Christian pastor, and a Buddhist sensei.  We also talk about The Clergy Letter Project, and international collaboration of clergy from several different religious denominations that speak out in support of good biology education, which includes evolution.  These clergy encourage their congregations to see the importance of learning and doing good science, and why children in schools should be taught evolution.  Every year, they sponsor an event called Evolution Weekend, where thousands of congregations around the globe come together to do their own events, showing how science and religion can be in harmony.

We are joined by Dr. Michael Zimmerman.  Michael has a PhD in biology, and is the founder and director of the Clergy Letter Project.  We are also joined by Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman, the founding director of Sinai and Synapses.  He discusses how religious and scientific world views can coexist.  Sinai and Synapses is an organization that urges communication between science and religion.  Next, we are joined by Dr. Jason R. Wiles, a biology professor at Syracuse University and a Humanist Celebrant and Chaplain.  Jason speaks from his unique point of view on what it was like to receive a biology degree in the deep south, where evolution was not part of the curriculum.  Reverend Lori Bievenour, Senior Pastor of St. Peter’s United Church of Christ in Carmel, Indiana then speaks about what she and her congregation think about science and religion.  Finally,  Sensei Tony Stultz, a Buddhist teacher and the Director of the Blue Mountain Lotus Society speaks on the Buddhist perspective, as well as historical context as to why Darwin’s theory of evolution was so controversial to begin with.  Tony is also the founder of the Four Directions System of Mindfulness.

You can follow Michael on Twitter at @mzclergyletter, Rabbi Geoffrey A. Mitelman at @RabbiMitelman, and Sensei Tony Stultz at @SenseiTony1.

Background music you hear are clips from Today’s Special: Jam Tomorrow by Doctor Turtle licensed under CC BY 4.0, Chalet by Meydän licensed under CC BY 4.0, Appalachian Coal Mines {120 & 4/4} by Mid-Air Machine licensed under CC BY 4.0, Home At Last by John Bartmann licensed under CC0 1.0, peaceOut by airtone featuring KungFu licensed under CC by 3.0, and Forest Frolic by Kevin MacLeod licensed under CC0.

The post Ep 60: Science, Religion, and Evolution appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

The Earth is not the only planet to undergo radical changes in its climate.  Even if we look at the nearby solar neighborhood, we can see that Venus and Mars underwent significant changes in their climate in the past.   Venus is a textbook example of the greenhouse effect gone haywire.  Mars most likely had flowing water on its surface.  Why did these planets change?

Even on Earth, we are not the first species to radically change the climate of the entire planet.  The Earth of the past was a very different place.  We, as humans, wouldn’t have liked it very much.

Today, we welcome Dr. Adam Frank on the podcast.  Adam is a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester. His has written for Scientific American, The New York Times, and NPR, where he co-founded the blog 13.7: Cosmos and Culture. Most recently, he is the author of Light of the Stars: Alien Worlds and the Fate of the Earth.  We talk about how climate change on alien worlds can give us insights to the climate change we are creating on Earth, how likely it is we will survive this climate change, and what the fate of our own Earth may be.

You can follow Adam on Twitter at @adamfrank4.

Background music you hear are clips from Time Train by PC III licensed under CC BY 4.0, Out of the Fog at Podsummit licensed under CC0 1.0, Thunderbird  and Floating Cities by Kevin MacLeod licensed under CC by 3.0. 

The post Ep 59: Climate Change on Alien Worlds: with guest Dr. Adam Frank appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

Millions of people worldwide are suffering from the brain diseases Alzheimer’s and dementia.  These diseases take a toll not just on the patients, but also their loved ones.  These spouses, children, and friends  may be forgotten, left by themselves to question where this leaves their relationship.  In some cases, they might even think that their loved one is no longer the person they spent so many years with.  They have changed, and the old husband, wife, or parent is no more.

But does dementia and Alzheimer’s change who you are?  Today we talk to Dr. Nina Strohminger, an  Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.  Nina is also a psychologist, and studies what it means when someone says their loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia is a “different person”.  Surprisingly, this leads us to get at what exactly is so important when we form relationships with people in the first place.

Remember, if your loved one is suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, know that you are not alone.

Background music you hear are clips from Hidden Truth by Rafael Krux licensed under CC0,  Dark Hallway by Kevin MacLeod licensed under CC0, Foam Rubber by Alexander Nakarada licensed under CC0,  Brotherhood by Monplaisir licensed under CC0 1.0 Public Domain, True by Nctrnm licensed under CC BY 4.0, and Modum by Kai Engel licensed under CC BY 4.0.

The post Ep 58: Who Are You Anyways? Does Dementia and Alzheimer’s Change Who You Are?: with guest Dr. Nina Strohminger appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

Everything changes. Even the stars, that seem so constant, will one day burn out. The sky will change. Today, we’re going on a journey to the very distant future of the Universe to see what is in store for us all.

The time scales we will be talking about are truly mind-blowing. We’ll see what will happen to the Earth when the sun expands to be a red giant, and eventually becomes a white dwarf. We’ll see a spectacular explosion of star formation when our Galaxy, the Milky Way, collides with the nearby Andromeda Galaxy. Then we’ll go even farther into the future of the Universe and ask – what will happen when the stars burn out? What will the Universe look like without stars? Will black holes last forever? And what is the future of life when the Universe will have changed so drastically?

Today we are joined by Dr. Avi Loeb and Dr. Ethan Siegel. Avi is the Chair of Harvard’s Department of Astronomy and the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science. He’s an expert on topics from black holes to the first stars, publishing 4 books and over 700 papers. Ethan is a theoretical astrophysicist and the well-known writer of his blog Starts With A Bang, found on Forbes. He has published two books: Beyond The Galaxy and Treknology: The Science of Star Trek from Tricorders to Warp Drive. His third book on the topic of the Universe before the Big Bang will be out in early 2020. You can follow Ethan on twitter at @startswithabang.

Music you hear on this podcast are clips from Harbor by Kai Engel ( 2017 ) licensed under CC BY 4.0, To Fail by Monplaisir licensed under CC0 1.0 Public Domain, Impact Lento by Kevin MacLeod licensed under CC BY 3.0, and Quiet Hours by onlymeith licensed under CC BY 3.0.

The post Ep 57: The Future of the Universe: with guests Dr. Avi Loeb and Dr. Ethan Siegel appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

What is time?  We may not fully understand it, but we do know this: time has some very odd qualities.  Today, we discuss our current understanding the philosophy of time.

So what makes time so strange?  It’s not like the other dimensions.  It only flows in one direction.  We can go forward into the future, but we can never step backwards into the past.  Some people experience time slower or faster than others. Philosophers have been thinking about the nature of time for centuries.  How do these ideas stand up to modern physics?  Do things in the past, like dinosaurs and Abraham Lincoln, exist, or are just the things around us in the now part of reality?  What came before the Big Bang?  What determines how fast clocks run?  And if nothing happens, does time even pass at all?  Is how we experience time a fundamental characteristic of the Universe, or is it unique to us, the finite humans that we are?  

Today we are joined by Dr. Jonathan Tallant, a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Nottingham to discuss the science and philosophy of time.

It’s about time we had this podcast. 

The post Ep 56: It’s About Time – A Podcast in the Fourth Dimension: with guest Dr. Jonathan Tallant appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

Building any type of infrastructure is challenging, whether it be a house or a skyscraper.  The difficulty is only compounded when you are building in the remote desert, a coastal town recently hit by a hurricane, or even an observatory on a high mountain.  In some locations, it is difficult and downright expensive to bring in building materials.  

What if, instead, you could use a 3D printer and print a building, using the dirt and soil that’s already found at your build site?  Then, you wouldn’t have to lug costly building materials for miles.  3D printed buildings may not be that far off.  In fact, today we’re talking to Keegan Kirkpatrick, the founder and CEO of RedWorks Construction Technologies Inc.  RedWorks is a startup seeking ways to produce construction material, and eventually an entire building, using a 3D printer.  This would this dramatically reduce building costs.  All sorts of architectural styles could be imagined.  And buildings could go up even in the most remote of locations.

And what’s more remote than Mars?  It’s possible to use this same technology to construct 3D printed buildings on the Red Planet, allowing astronauts and first colonists to not have to rely on resupply missions for materials, making life there more feasible.

This image is of a concept of a 3D printed house on Mars.  It has a honeycomb structure, and is made of entirely Martian dust.

You can follow RedWorks at @RedWorksCTI.

The post Ep 55: 3D Printed Buildings – From Earth to Mars: with guest Keegan Kirkpatrick appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

Agriculture in Africa has its share of challenges. Sometimes it’s the drought, other times, it’s soil quality. Things like climate change and unpredictable rainfall has made things worse.  

However, it’s possible that agriculture in Africa can be revolutionized through the use of technology. From drones used to monitor farms to apps on cell phones, farmers are using new and clever ways to improve the success of their farms.

But there is still a long way to go. Today, we are joined by Samantha Salimu, who is a recent graduate of Agricultural Economics at the University of Zimbabwe. Samantha has several ideas on how agriculture can improve in her own country and across Africa. She is also passionate about empowering women and youth.  Together, we see how agriculture and farming can move from simply subsistence farming to farming that can bring in income, and how science can help increase the quality and nutrition of crops.

You can follow Samantha on Twitter at @samanthaslimj.  

The post Ep 54: Transforming Agriculture in Africa: with guest Samantha Salimu appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

When you think of ways general science is communicated to the public, you probably think of a PBS documentary, a fun youtube video, the science section of Barnes and Nobel, or maybe even your favorite podcast (wink wink). But can scientific comics be an equally effective way at communicating science?  

Matteo Farinella thinks so.

Matteo is a PhD neuroscientist and a talented artist.  He is also a Presidential Scholar in Society and Neuroscience at Columbia.  One day, he and a friend came up with the idea of communicating complicated concepts of neuroscience in graphic novel form. The result, Neurocomic, changed his career, and led people to learn science through a perhaps unconventional medium: comics.

Since then, his scientific comics have shown up in another graphic novel, The Senses, and in other articles and comics.  He uses narrative components, metaphor, and interesting characters to make science more relatable and understandable.  We talk about science communication and how scientific comics might be a very unique and even powerful way to communicate scientific concepts in a way that a textbook or even documentary could never do.

You can find Matteo’s comics at matteofarinella.com and follow him on Twitter @matteofarinella.

The post Ep 53: Down the Rabbit Hole: Scientific Comics and Storytelling – with guest Dr. Matteo Farinella appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

I’m sure you heard about the debate, and you probably have an opinion about it.  Should genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, be part of our food supply?  Have you ever refused to buy a product because it was labeled “Partially produced with genetic engineering”?  What exactly does GM mean?  What is the benefit of GMOs in the developing world?

Similar to the climate change debate or the anti-vax movement, there is a lot of misinformation out there about GMOs.  So let’s get the facts: are GMOs safe?  What products that you buy contain GMOs?  And how can GMOs change how we do agriculture?

Today we talk to Dr. Sarah Evanega, the Director of the Alliance for Science, based at Cornell University. We discuss how a GM crop is created, if they are safe, and how GMOs help us with problems in our changing world, such as climate change, sustainability, and helping us feed the near ten billion people that the world is projected to have in 2050.  Sarah also talks about how  GMOs in the developing world are viewed.  There, agriculture is much more integrated with the average person’s life.  We discuss how GMOs are helping people in these areas of the world overcome hunger, drought, the effects of climate change, and diseases.  Among these are farmers such as Md. Milon Mia, an eggplant farmer in Bangladesh, or Selma Njukwage, who farms maize in Tanzania.

You can follow Sarah at @sarah_evanega and the Alliance for Science at @scienceally.

Md. Milon Mia discusses his crop of genetically engineered eggplant.

The post Ep 52: To GM or not to GM: GMOs in a Changing World – with guest Dr. Sarah Evanega appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.

It may not seem like it when you glance at your Roomba, but robots are influencing gender roles, family, and even religion.  From Rosie to RoboCop, robots and gender have a connection in both science fiction and reality.  “Female” robots are often small, with almond shaped eyes and light colors, while “male” robots are burly, with angular shoulders and jaws.  Their jobs are different too.  “Female” robots often show up in hospitality and interactions with children or the elderly, while “male” robots are seen in security or military applications.  With these pronounced differences, these robots are reinforcing gender stereotyping in society.

Beyond gender roles, robots are also showing up in various aspects of our culture.  Even religion.  Some would consider them “part of the family”.   This is especially apparent in Japan, where robots have a much more “human” role within society.  Robots have officiated over weddings and have their own funerals.  Some robots can even be reincarnated – as long as it’s within their 90 day warranty window.

Today we talk to Dr. Jennifer Robertson, an expert on robots, particularly robots in Japan.  Jennifer is Professor of Anthropology and History of Art at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.  She has lived for two decades in Japan, and had a chance to see first hand the difference between robots in Japan and robots in the United States.  Her latest book is Robo Sapiens Japanicus: Robots, Gender, Family, and the Japanese Nation.  We discuss robots and gender, sexism, religion, and culture, and how robots are influencing how we see ourselves as humans.

The post Ep 51: Rosie to RoboCop: Gender, Religion, and Robots – with guest Dr. Jennifer Robertson appeared first on Elizabeth Fernandez.