Podcast Episodes
Back to SearchAnn Vileisis, "Abalone: The Remarkable History and Uncertain Future of California's Iconic Shellfish" (Oregon State UP, 2020)
Episode 75
From rocky coves at Mendocino and Monterey to San Diego’s reefs, abalone have held a cherished place in California culture for millennia. Prized for …
4 years, 9 months ago
Mariska van Sprundel, "Running Smart: How Science Can Improve Your Endurance and Performance" (MIT Press, 2021)
Episode 65
Conventional wisdom about running is passed down like folklore (and sometimes contradicts itself): the right kind of shoe prevents injury—or running …
4 years, 9 months ago
Collin Rice, "Leveraging Distortions: Explanation, Idealization, and Universality in Science" (MIT Press, 2021)
Episode 262
Most of us agree that science aims to tell us what is true about the world. But how do we get at the truth by using theories and models that delibera…
4 years, 9 months ago
Katy Borner, "Atlas of Forecasts: Modeling and Mapping Desirable Futures" (MIT Press, 2021)
Episode 81
To envision and create the futures we want, society needs an appropriate understanding of the likely impact of alternative actions. Data models and v…
4 years, 9 months ago
Silvia Casini, "Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Makers, Bricolage, and Reinvention in Magnetic Resonance Technology" (MIT Press, 2021)
Episode 80
Our bodies are scanned, probed, imaged, sampled, and transformed into data by clinicians and technologists. In Giving Bodies Back to Data: Image Make…
4 years, 9 months ago
Stephen J. Pyne, "The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next" (U California Press, 2021)
Episode 39
Stephen J. Pyne's new book The Pyrocene: How We Created an Age of Fire, and What Happens Next (U California Press, 2021) tells the story of what happ…
4 years, 9 months ago
Emily O'Gorman, "Wetlands in a Dry Land: More-Than-Human Histories of Australia's Murray-Darling Basin" (U Washington Press, 2021)
Episode 40
In the name of agriculture, urban growth, and disease control, humans have drained, filled, or otherwise destroyed nearly 87 percent of the world's w…
4 years, 9 months ago
Joanna Haigh, “Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun” (Open Agenda, 2021)
Episode 41
Solar Impact: Climate and the Sun is based on an in-depth filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Joanna Haigh, Professor Emerita of Atmospheri…
4 years, 9 months ago
Anil Seth, "Being You: A New Science of Consciousness" (Dutton, 2020)
Episode 57
Anil Seth's quest to understand the biological basis of conscious experience is one of the most exciting contributions to twenty-first-century scienc…
4 years, 9 months ago
Jennifer Groh, “Knowing One’s Place: Space and the Brain” (Open Agenda, 2021)
Episode 39
Knowing One’s Place: Space and the Brain is based on an in-depth, filmed conversation between Howard Burton and Jennifer Groh, Professor of Psycholog…
4 years, 9 months ago