Episodes

  • Episode 292-The Lessons of History

    Episode 292-The Lessons of History
    Jul 24 2025
    This essay contains an important story for the ages. Given current events, and the absolute truth that history does repeat, the lesson is plain, and chilling. 1492 and the years leading up to it in Medieval Spain, were times that should not be repeated. And yet…
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    14 mins
  • Episode 291-The Dance of Curiosity, Awe and Wonder

    Episode 291-The Dance of Curiosity, Awe and Wonder
    Jul 24 2025
    Sometimes, curiosity, awe and wonder are the only tools we have. But when it comes to the majesty and magnitude of the night sky, of all the things about it we can’t possibly comprehend, they’re actually the best tools we can have. In this episode we talk about the magic and wonder that happens late at night, when it’d just you, the sky, and pure awe.
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    23 mins
  • Episode 290-The Research Myth

    Episode 290-The Research Myth
    Jul 24 2025
    I recently had a conversation about technology’s impact on research today. It’s an argument I could make myself—that technology has resulted in access to more data and information. For example, before the invention of moveable type and the printing press, the only books that were available were chained to reading tables in Europe’s great cathedrals—they were that rare and that valuable. BUT: Does technology give me access to BETTER data and information? I believe the answer to that is no, for a very specific reason: It leaves out the all-important human element in the knowledge molecule, the element that makes sense of the data and then converts it to information. Have a listen.
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    8 mins
  • Episode 289-The Generational Blame Game

    Episode 289-The Generational Blame Game
    Jul 6 2025
    It’s human nature for each generation to criticize the generation that preceded it, often using them as a convenient scapegoat for all that’s wrong in the world. The current large target is my own generation, the Baby Boomers. I recently overheard a group of young people—mid-20s—complaining at length about their belief that the Boomers constitute a waste of flesh who never contributed much to society. Respectfully, I beg to differ; this is my response, along with a plea to ALL generations to think twice about that conclusion.
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    23 mins
  • Episode 288-The Wonderful, Terrible Gift of Science

    Episode 288-The Wonderful, Terrible Gift of Science
    Jul 1 2025
    Musings on science, philosophy, and the limits of human knowledge.
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    36 mins
  • Episode 287-When in the Course of Human Events

    Episode 287-When in the Course of Human Events
    Jun 22 2025
    Short and Sweet: A challenge to our government and our politicians--all of them--to do their jobs. In good conscience, I can't NOT post this audio essay.
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    24 mins
  • Episode 286-Conversation with Science Writer Amorina Kingdon

    Episode 286-Conversation with Science Writer Amorina Kingdon
    Jun 6 2025
    I read something the other day that had a reference in it to a new book that had just come out. The book’s called, “Sing Like Fish,” and it’s written by author and science writer Amorina Kingdon. Needless to say, I immediately ordered the book, and I have to tell you, I burned through it in three days. The subtitle is, “How Sound Rules Life Underwater,” which you can imagine, as a wildlife sound recordist, really caught my attention. Actually, a few things in the book caught my attention, including this quote: “For all the wonders and worries of this subject, the truth is that noise does not match the deep threat posed to the oceans by climate change. And yet, neither issue is monolithic or exists in a vacuum. Warming or acidifying waters will conduct sound differently: Sound’s effect on ecosystems like reefs or Arctic food webs will ricochet into animals’ responses to climate change. Yet I believe that it is never a waste to examine the world though a new lens, through a new sense.” That’s powerful writing. So, as I tend to do, I went looking for the author, and I found her north of the border in British Columbia. Amorina and I had a nice chat, discovered that we have a lot of common interests, including, of all things, the acoustic work done by Bell Laboratories, and she agreed to be on the program. Our conversation wandered all over the landscape—I recorded more than three hours of tape—but I edited it down to the most important points. Here's Amorina.
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    31 mins
  • Episode 285-Conversation with Wildlife Biologist Bethany Ostrom

    Episode 285-Conversation with Wildlife Biologist Bethany Ostrom
    Jun 6 2025
    On a warm fall day in eastern Nebraska, I met up with wildlife biologist Bethany Ostrom of the Crane Trust. As we talked, we took a long walk along the banks of the Platte River, watching as small grasshoppers by the hundreds boiled out from under our feet like popcorn, listening to meadowlarks and bobolinks calling from the scrubby brush along the river. The Crane Trust monitors the health and welfare of North America’s population of both migratory sandhill cranes, which number in the hundreds of thousands, as well as the highly endangered whooping cranes, which number less than a thousand in the entire migratory population. The health of the crane population is a bellwether for other species, and underlines the importance of the work done by Bethany and her colleagues.
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    24 mins