Off to the Traces

Big Picture Science

Science, Technology

4.5 • 1K Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2010

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

If a tree fell on another planet, would we be able to detect it? Not quite yet – but we might be able to tell if the planet was habitable. A living-planet is the promise of newly-discovered Gliese 581g. But does the planet exist at all? Discover how we learn a planet’s geology and chemistry from afar. Also, what we learn about a civilization from what it discards, beginning with our own sloppy habits. Plus, the hunt for derelict alien spaceships… and a man who sketches alien creatures for a living - based on real science. Guests: Lisa Kaltenegger - Astronomer, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Brad Bebout - Biologist, NASA Ames Research Center Robin Nagle - Anthropologist, New York University Robin Hanson - Economist, George Mason University Joel Hagen - Computer graphics instructor, Modesto Junior College Descripción en español Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You're listening to an airwave media podcast.
0:05.0	Get ready to geek out.
0:07.0	The Wired Science Podcast explores all the latest and greatest in science,
0:12.0	everything from strange diseases and biological breakthroughs
0:15.6	to interesting tech and mysteries in outer space.
0:18.7	Listen to Wired Science today
0:20.5	wherever you get your podcasts.
0:22.2	That's Wired Science, wherever you get your podcasts. That's Wired Science wherever you get your
0:24.5	podcasts. The world is filled with many questions such as did giants exist?
0:29.7	What is junk DNA? Does it mean that you're trash?
0:33.0	Do you ever wonder if aliens have underwater bases in our oceans and that's why there are so many
0:38.3	UFO sightings off the coast of islands all over the world? How serious even is climate change and when should we start building our rafts?
0:47.0	Hello everyone, you may recognize me as Gabby from the History of Everything podcast.
0:51.0	And my name is Brenna, and you don't recognize me from anything yet.
0:55.0	Together we're two scientists who explore the answers to these questions and many
0:59.0	many more in our new podcast Mystery of Everything available everywhere you get your podcasts.
1:04.0	As I sit in this studio, I can tell that someone has been in here eating,
1:10.0	maybe a peanut butter
1:14.5	cup or something. You can smell that? Yeah I can, peanut. Okay well it wasn't me but
1:19.6	without seeing any crumbs or telltale signs that someone's been eating in here you Seth
1:24.4	can deduce that someone was. That's called indirect observation and we do this
1:28.8	with planets Molly there's a lot of interest in detecting
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Big Picture Science, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Big Picture Science and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.