This week, Science for the People is talking about weapons: both the ones that evolve in nature, and those created by humanity. We’ll talk about the arms races that spur the development of horns and claws, warships and nuclear weapons, with Doug Emlen, Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Montana, and author of Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle.
*Josh provides research help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.
No one does the long form science interview like Science for the People does the long form science interview*. If you have time to listen to Science for the People, then you have time to complete the mere ten questions that make up the Science for the People Listener Survey (if you want, you can save time by skipping the credits where they say I am marginally useful).
Think of it as your civic obligation to keep great science programming coming at your earholes – like voting, except that here your opinion actually matters.
*Probabilistically speaking, this is quite likely to be literally true.
This week Science for the People is learning more about the fossil fuel that powered humanity’s first industrial age, and helpedset us on a course for a looming climate crisis. We’ll speak to Richard Martin, energy editor at the MIT Technology Review, about his book Coal Wars: The Future of Energy and the Fate of the Planet. We’ll also explore the environmental impact of coal with Jeff Deyette, assistant director of energy research in the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
*Josh provides research & social media help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.
Back in May, Ben Lillie made the suggestion,in the context of the ongoing debate about telescope construction on the sacred volcanic peak of Mauna Kea, that we set aside time from 8:15AM on 6 August to 11:02AM on 9 August to reflect on the dark history that can underlie scientific advancement. These dates and times recall the 70th anniversaries of the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As Ben wrote in his Slate article:
So here is my thought. What if we took a few days each year to reflect on the dark parts of our history, on the terrible things that were done, and are still done, that benefit our science? What if we took this time to read and talk with the people who know of these things? (They are many.) What if we took this time to ask what harm we have done, what we can do to correct it, and what we can do to make sure it never happens again? We constantly reflect on and try to minimize the errors in our data; we should do the same in ourselves.
I think the most significant time to do this, the time when it is clearest that evil was done, is from 8:15 a.m. on August 6 to 11:02 a.m. on August 9, the times when Little Boy and Fat Man were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Let us call this time the Days of the Enola Gay, after the aircraft—named for a loving mother—that flew the fruits of our joyous and universal science to the mass destruction of humanity.
–Ben Lille in Slate
We decided then to add the Days of the Enola Gay to The Finch & Pea‘s calendar of special days. This is us starting to remember that commitment. A fitting start to the Days of the Enola Gay would be to listen to Science for the People’s recent episode on research ethics. Not only does it discuss the lengthy history of ethical missteps in the name of scientific advancement, but it talks about how we can learn from that past and do better.
We here at The Finch & Pea live by the idea that a scientific approach to life makes things more interesting, but are often forced to reckon with the reality that the application and conduct of science has not always made the world a better place – in the hope by doing so we can make it a better place.
This week we’re looking at the science – and surprising sophistication – of the instincts we serve in the pursuit of pleasure. We’re joined by science writer and journalist Zoe Cormier to talk about her book Sex, Drugs and Rock n’ Roll: The Science of Hedonism and the Hedonism of Science. We’ll also indulge our passion for nerdy gift giving with Simon Saval, co-founder of GeekWrapped.
*Josh provides research & social media help to Science for the People and is, therefore, completely biased.
The Finch and Pea 