19 Kari Byron - How to Safely Blow Stuff Up When You're Pregnant

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 31 January 2014

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Most expecting women ask their doctors whether it's okay to eat blue cheese, or have the odd glass of wine, while they're pregnant. Or maybe whether to stay away from fish, because of the mercury. When she was pregnant with her daughter several years ago, though, MythBusters' Kari Byron took her maternal Q & A to a whole different level."I'd be going to my doctor saying, 'All right, so, when do I have to stop shooting guns because she has ears?'" recalls Byron on this week’s episode. "And the doctor would say, 'Hmm, I have never, ever had that question before. I'll get back to you.' I come back a little later: 'How far away do I need to be from an explosion of this much C-4?' 'Huh, I've never had that question asked. I have no idea, I don't even know where to refer you right now, I'll get back to you.'"As a co-host of arguably the most successful science-based show on television, Byron has developed a reputation as a courageous and fun-loving guide to testing the truth behind so many ideas that we take for granted.On Inquiring Minds this week, we talk to Byron about Mythbusters, bear repellents, zombie escapes, and how an artist can make you love science.This episode also features a report by Mother Jones' Brett Brownell on our growing ability to detect extra-solar planets, and a discussion of, yes, the myth that antioxidant vitamins protect against cancer.iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/inquiring-minds/id711675943RSS: feeds.feedburner.com/inquiring-mindsStitcher: stitcher.com/podcast/inquiring-mindsSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Friday, January 31st, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.
0:05.8	I'm Chris Mooney.
0:06.7	And I'm Indravis Gontas.
0:08.1	Each week, we bring you a new in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.
0:14.0	We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.
0:18.0	You can find us online at climatedest.org, and you can follow us on Twitter
0:21.9	at Inquiring Show and on Facebook at slash Inquiring Minds podcast.
0:32.1	This week, I have the pleasure of interviewing Carrie Byron. She's one of the firecracker
0:37.3	hosts of the popular Discovery Channel show Mythbustersron. She's one of the firecracker hosts of the popular
0:38.4	Discovery Channel show MythBusters. And she's one of the few female visible science entertainers
0:45.2	that is also a fellow artist. She's a sculptor, which in my opinion is probably the most
0:50.9	badass of all the arts. You know, you get to wield fire and make things that
0:55.3	are massive and potentially blow up, which we've seen in her show. And so with her great
1:00.5	experience of blowing things up for science, she has a sense of adventure that is unmatched.
1:05.6	Along with the other co-hosts, she successfully put the curiosity back into science education.
1:10.6	The whole idea behind the show is that we're not scientists.
1:14.1	We're using science as a tool, and it's not, you know, a talking head telling you facts.
1:19.7	It's watching regular Joe's kind of experience the problem.
1:24.9	And it just happens to be that the best way to explore myth is, well, the
1:30.3	scientific method. It's the perfect narrative. Andrea, I loved listening to this interview.
1:34.3	I loved her enthusiasm. It's very infectious. And maybe it had me thinking the success of
1:40.9	MythBusters has something to do with the collision of these great personalities
	...

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