Is there really a toothbrush orbiting the Earth? And does Earth really have a ring - made of copper? Dr. Lisa Ruth Rand joins us on the podcast today to talk about space junk, the Cold War, trash and the Moon landing, and how debris in space may outlive us all.

Today we talk to Brother Guy Consolmano, the Pope's Astronomer, on meteorites and why, as humans, we are drawn to do pure science. We discuss science and religion, find out if they really are at odds, and whether or not he would baptize an extraterrestrial.

Is color just a physical property of objects? If it is, how would we explain why so many people got in arguments about the color of the infamous "dress"? It turns out, color is not just in the world - it's also in our minds. Today we talk to Dr. Mazviita Chirimuuta about how much our brains are involved in understanding the colorful world around us.

Can AI be creative? Today we talk with Dr. Maya Ackerman about AI creativity in the form of songwriting, and even listen to a song composed with artificial intelligence!

Have you ever been deceived by fake news? Couldn’t resist that click-bait? With more and more news sources, it sometimes becomes hard to tell the truth from the lies. Today we are joined by Dr. Victoria Rubin and her group, who discuss using Natural Language Processing to detect various types of deceptive news.

What is the self? Is the self an entity, or is it a process, continually being created? In today’s podcast, Dr. Evan Thompson joins me to discuss how two very different schools of thought - neuroscience and Eastern spirituality - grapple with the concept of the self.

SparkDialog Podcasts is currently on break until February 6th with Season 3.  In the meantime, enjoy this best of episode about how religious groups are responding to climate change.

SparkDialog Podcasts is currently on break until February 6th with Season 3.  In the meantime, enjoy this best of episode about 3D printing in space.

SparkDialog Podcasts is currently on break until February 6th with Season 3.  In the meantime, enjoy this best of episode about the ethics of CRISPR.

SparkDialog Podcasts is currently on break until February 6th with Season 3.  In the meantime, enjoy this best of episode about the Star of Bethlehem.