Science

Dr. Mark Pickering: Human Euthanasia is Here

September 4, 2023 Tim 1:08:51 Comments Off

Dr. Mark Pickering joins Tim to talk about the disturbing spread of and interest in human euthanasia throughout western cultures, particularly in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Mark is a general practitioner of family medicine. He focuses his work on prisons and other similarly secure facilities. In addition, he is the head of the Christian Medical Fellowship in the United Kingdom. In this conversation, we talk about the myths and the realities of assisted suicide.

Encore: Seth Shostak – Is There Life in Outer Space?

August 21, 2023 Tim 0:52:47 Comments Off

Seth Shostak joins Tim to talk about the serious scientific search for intelligent life beyond Earth. Seth is the senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, which was created by NASA and is located in Silicon Valley. It is dedicated to the search for life beyond Earth. In this episode, Seth talks about what we’re learning about the potential for finding intelligent life, not only within our solar system, but well beyond it. This episode was first released on November 21, 2021.

Encore: NASA’s Jim Green – Revealing the Secrets of Mars

July 31, 2023 Tim 0:49:56 Comments Off

NASA’s Chief Scientist Dr. Jim Green joins Tim to talk about big plans for the red planet, Mars. Jim has had a long and distinguished career on some of the agency’s major research projects and missions that have explored the rest of our solar system, from Mars to Pluto. In this episode, Jim gets into detail on what we have learned, can learn and will learn from Earth’s next door neighbor. He uncovers some of the secrets of Mars. This episode was originally released on September 27, 2021.

Encore: The Baby Story

June 5, 2023 Tim 00:38:59 Comments Off

Dr. Lori Buzzetti joins Tim to talk about one of the most magical stories of all time, one we all think we know, but it’s amazing what we don’t. Lori is a board-certified physician in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She has served in private practice, and at a large medical center, where she was on the teaching faculty. Today, she is the founder and president of a nonprofit organization that serves expectant mothers called So Big. In this episode we’re going to talk about one of the most basic questions you can think of. What actually happens in those nine months before we meet our babies? This episode was originally released August 16, 2021.

Peter Gray: Do Kids Really Play Anymore?

May 22, 2023 Tim 00:59:22 Comments Off

Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College, joins Tim to talk about whatever happened to free play among children. This is a problem in society. The fact that kids aren’t playing in the same ways or as much as they used to. And what it all means. Peter has conducted and published groundbreaking research in the area of play in human evolution.

Jerry Burger: Why You Obey

May 8, 2023 Tim 00:54:29 Comments Off

Leading social psychologist Jerry Burger joins Tim to talk about landmark experiments on human obedience conducted by Stanley Milgram, and how decades later Jerry did a similar study that only validated Milgram’s earlier disturbing findings. Jerry describes his own research project in 2006 that re-affirmed some of the conclusions from a landmark obedience research project from 45 years earlier. Will people do what they’re told even if it harms someone else? We find out.

Encore: She Pioneered Directed Evolution

January 30, 2023 Tim 00:26:16 Comments Off

Nobel Prize recipient Frances Arnold joins Tim to talk about winning a Nobel Prize honor for her pioneering work in “directed evolution,” which harnesses the power of evolution to enhance products throughout society – from biofuels and pharmaceuticals, to agriculture, chemicals, paper products and more. Directed evolution was in the news this week tied to Covid jab research. We talk with Frances about her journey and her work that is changing the world for the better. This episode was originally released November 5, 2018.

John Abramson: Behind the Curtain at Big Pharma

October 3, 2022 Tim 01:17:18 Comments Off

Author, doctor and college professor John Abramson joins Tim to talk about his book called, “Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We can Repair It.” John has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for over 25 years, and prior to that spent many years in private practice. In this episode, John about America’s healthcare system, which often traces its roots to how drugs are approved for use and marketed to both doctors and consumers.

Josh Chin: The Emerging Surveillance State

September 26, 2022 Tim 01:07:11 Comments Off

Wall Street Journal Deputy Bureau Chief for China and author Josh Chin joins Tim to talk about his new book he co-authored with fellow WSJ journalist Liza Lin. It’s called “Surveillance State: Inside China’s Quest to Launch a New Era of Social Control.” Josh tells about how China has led the way into a new era of mass surveillance on a scale the world has never seen. And it’s not limited to China.

Neuroscientist Karl Friston on Intelligence and Free Energy

August 29, 2022 Tim 01:07:55 Comments Off

Pioneering neuroscientist Karl Friston joins Tim to talk about a concept he’s developed called the free-energy principle, which may hold the key to advancing the understanding human intelligence as we know it. Karl is a theoretical neuroscientist. He’s an authority on brain imaging. His work has advanced mankind’s understanding of schizophrenia, among other things. At the moment, he’s becoming better known as the originator of the free-energy principle for human action and perception. In this episode, we’ll talk with Karl about that free-energy principle, what it is, what it means and what it can mean for the future.

Neuromarketing: Getting Inside Your Head

May 2, 2022 Tim 01:03:34 Comments Off

Uma Karmarkar joins Tim to talk about neuromarketing. It’s a leading-edge way scientists have developed to get inside your head to understand your attitudes, preferences and perhaps future behavior when it comes to marketing to you. Uma is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of California at San Diego. Her work takes a closer look at the things that consciously and unconsciously influence how people make decisions. More deeply, she studies how people make buying decisions when they don’t have all of the information or when bias may come to play.

Encore: How the Nuclear Bomb Came to Be

March 28, 2022 Tim 01:00:36 Comments Off

Richard Rhodes won a Pulitzer Prize for his definitive book on the development of nuclear weapons called “The Making of the Atomic Bomb.” It’s one of 26 books he’s written, several of them focused on the world in the nuclear age. He joins Tim to talk about the wartime effort that changed everything, The Manhattan Project. This Encore Episode was first released November 4, 2019.

Barry Schwartz: Freedom and Choice

February 14, 2022 Tim 00:56:05 Comments Off

Psychologist, author, researcher and professor Barry Schwartz joins Tim to talk about his landmark book called Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less. While Barry has written several books and is a popular public speaker, this book is about how having more choice may not be all it’s cracked up to be. In this episode, he discusses the balance between having the freedom of choice and the potential to be held captive by having too much choice.

Megan Bruck Syal: Incoming! Can We Really Intercept Asteroids?

January 31, 2022 Tim 00:55:58 Comments Off

Dr. Megan Bruck Syal joins Tim to talk about something that until now was just the stuff of science fiction and Hollywood movies…defending Earth against deadly collisions with asteroids and comets. Megan is a planetary defense investigator at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. She and a large team of scientific experts are actively working to establish ways to prevent an asteroid from making impact with earth and threatening life as we know it.

Transplant Surgeon: Doctor of Second Chances

December 13, 2021 Tim 01:05:02 Comments Off

Dr. David Weill joins Tim to talk about those life-saving transplant surgeries, the patients, the system for care and the challenges it faces, and what it’s like to be a doctor of second chances. Dr. Weill was the Director of the Center for Advanced Lung Disease, and the Lung Transplant Program at Stanford. Today he operates the Weill Consulting Group, where he focuses on improving the delivery of transplant care.