Interview - Bret Stetka on his new book, "A History of the Human Brain - from the Sea Sponge to CRISPR, How Our Brain Evolved"

Listen Now to Bret Stetka on How are Brain Evolved

Brain evolution is a very labyrinthian topic taking us back to the dawn of life itself and the lowly common sea sponge, with their crude cellular communications, through the reptilian, mammalian, and chimp brains, and on to the hominids, ending with our species spending inordinate amounts of time interacting with little rectangles of metal and glass. What a long strange trip it continues to be. Bret makes the case that by studying the history of the brain, we can begin to piece together what it truly means to be human.

Bret Stetka is an editorial director of Medscape.com, the professional division of WebMD.com. He is a former neuroscienceAuthor Bret Stetka researcher, a nonpracticing physician, a freelance health and science journalist, and a regular contributor to NPR and Scientific American, writingh about neuroscience, psychology and evolution.

Future News - Iceland Eruption Live, Starship 11 Explodes, Spaceship 3 debuts, "Voltswagen" leaked, Lilium eVTOL going public

Listen Now to Future News 3.30.2021

Boy, lots of shiny new vehicles this week, such as Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship 3, and the Lilium eVTOL air taxi from Germany, never mind the yet-to-be revealed, “Voltswagen,” the leaked name of VW’s electric car efforts. Curiously enough, we had a caller who claims her dad converted a 1970’s VW fastback to electric 40 years ago, and had called it “Voltswagen.” It looks like the Starship program of Space-X had another explosion on the landing, the third Starship in a row to blow up, this time in thick fog, giving it more of a pastel appearance to those watching.  Why it blew? Currently under investigation.  

And speaking of explosions you must check out the live feed of the Iceland Volcano currently spewing lava from new vents simlutaneously, creating a lava lake close to the town of Reykjavik, and has become quite the tourist attraction.  Nature at her most primal, creating land before our very eyes. Enjoy!

Interview - Volcanologist Jess Phoenix on her new memoir, "Ms. Adventure - My wild explorations in science, lava, and life"

Listen Now to Jess Phoenix

Jess is a volcanologist, an extreme explorer, and a professional field scientist who has dedicated her life to scientific exploration and to making science more inclusive and accessible to us all. She loves all things volcano Photo by Nicholas Frend.and shares some of her amazing adventures with us in her new memoir, “Ms Adventure.”

We had a lot of fun with her in our interview, touching on such topics as what it’s like being inside Hawaii’s active Kilahuea volcano, the sounds emanating from lava lakes, generating energy from the extreme heat, respecting native traditions, volcano weather, daring drone shots, CO2 emissions and climate change, the Explorer’s Club new mission, meeting Buzz Aldrin, and eruptions throughout the solar system. 

A joy to speak with, she has great enthusiasm in sharing her stories and science with us. In our hour we barely touched on what she has covered in her first memoir. What’s the frontier on Mother Earth to explore, touch, feel, and grok? Just ask Jess..

Future News - Mars update: Copter, Cliff City, Earth Orbit Sweeper, New Viagra use, Search & Rescue Drone Swarms, Robot arm tattoo artist

Listen Now to Future News 3.23.2021

It’s Springtime and lots of activitiy, both on planet and off.  NASA just had a press conference on Ingenuity, their Mars helicopter, soon to set a new record on Mars, our first attempt at flying a craft in the atmosphere of an alien world.  Also this week, plans for a Martian cliff city were released, the city of Nüwa, with a population of 250,000 humans.  Closer to home, we look at Astroscale’s “Orbital Debris Removal Satellite,” the world’s first space sweeper, designed to clear valuable orbit space of dead sats.  A caller suggested we check out the new Netflix series “Space Sweeper,” a comedy about the people who clean space for us in the future.

Also of interest this week is a new use for Viagra, which seems to extend the life span of men, and is of special interest to those subject to heart attacks and strokes.  Drone Swarms are now being considered as a more effective way of ‘sweeping’ a disaster area for survivors, and a tattoo artist in Holland  has successfully performed a remote inking using a robotic arm. Enjoy!

Future News - Ancient Greek Computer Exposed, Lunar Seed Vault Proposed, Here Comes the 3-D Printed Neighborhood, Hydro-foiling the America's Cup, Shielding your Phone, Red Light for Vision Boost, Anti-matter Neutrinos

Listen Now to Future News 3.17.2021

Another very interactive show with our callers, with lots of juicy future news! In this episode we explore new info on the ancient Antikythera Mechanism, the world’s oldest computer, a proposed lunar seed vault storage facility for a planetary backup, a 3D printed neighborhood, wooden skyscrapers, the tech at America’s Cup, shielding your phone from trackers with a potato chip bag, how deep red light everyday for a few minutes can improve your vision, and the mysterious world of neutrinos and the even stranger anti-matter neutrino. Enjoy!

Antikythera Mechanism re-imagined