Seirian Sumner speaks to us about her terrific book Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps.  In this Science Report we learn why wasps often have a bad reputation. 

The growing understanding of electricity over the past 200 years has dramatically changed our understanding of the universe, including, you might say, the universe inside our bodies.  I had the pleasure of speaking on our podcast, AMSEcast, with Sally Adee, author of We Are Electric: Inside the 200 Year Hunt for Our Body’s Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds.  In this fascinating book, Sally explores the ways our bioelectrical makeup is central to our lives.  Still, our understanding of the electricity in our bodies, and how the nervous system works, are relatively recent discoveries. 

Noted physicist John Butterworth discusses the world of particle physics, including the findings made in recent years regarding the Higgs Boson.  Here’s Jon explaining what the Higgs Boson is.

Kate Winkler Dawson, author of American Sherlock: Murder, Forensics, and the Birth of American CSI is an amazing resource. The Sherlock she is talking about is the incredible Oscar Heinrich who utilized for the first time many of the forensic tools and methods we know today. Kate noted that when Heinrich first started using those tools they were not trusted by many people, including those serving on juries.

Noted sci-fi writer, Andy Weir, author of books such as The Martian, Project Hail Mary, and Artemis discusses which science fiction writers had influenced him the most. 

Andrew Knoll talks about his terrific book, A Brief History of Earth: Four Billion Years in Eight Chapters.  To start I asked Andy to explain how we know our planet came into existence about 4.6 billion years ago.  He explained how that is calculated using meteorites and an element we know a lot about in Oak Ridge, Uranium. 

I recently spoke with my good friend, Guru Madhavan, on our podcast, AMSEcast. Guru, the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and Senior Director of Programs at the National Academy of Engineering, was in Oak Ridge to accept the AMSE Foundation’s inaugural National Award of Excellence given at our annual Gala. In our conversation we focused on his newest book titled Wicked Problems: How to Engineer A Better World.

In this episode, Mr. Lowe interviews Mr. Kean about his 2010 book, The Disappearing Spoon: and Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. Mr. Kean begins by deciphering the complex origins of the table in the 1860s and early 1870s and perfected by Russian chemist Dimitri Mendeleev.  Since its development and evolution over the past 150 years, the Periodic Table of the Elements continues to be one of the most important achievements to science.  This conversation helps illustrate the usefulness of understanding the basic science of the Periodic Table, an...

In this Science Report we speak with Giulio Boccaletti about his book, Water: A Biography which shows how water has helped shape our lives and our civilizations. This has always been the case as seen vividly in the example of ancient Egypt and the mighty Nile River.

Our home of Oak Ridge, and indeed all East Tennessee, is a hotbed of innovation. To learn more about the history of innovation and how it has been cultivated in the past, I spoke on our podcast, AMSEcast, with Jon Gertner about his book, The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation. We discussed some of the amazing breakthroughs that Bell Labs produced - just to name a few, those included the transistor, semiconductors, integrated circuits, lasers, photovoltaic cells, fiber optic and satellite communications, even modern information theory.

Jon shared how Bell Labs...

Doctor Saul David is a graduate of Edinburgh and Glasgow University's were obtained his masters and PhD degrees in history. He's an award winning author now of 15 books, including just for example, history such as The Indian Mutiny 1857 and Victorious Wars The Rise of Empire, as well as three historical novels. He is also a sought after broadcaster, as well appearing often on channels such as the BBC and that barometer of true success, Netflix, and he is a popular lecturer and history tour guide. On top of all that and more. He served as Professor of Military History...

On this episode Sally Adee, a science and technology journalist based in London joins us. Sally has written for publications like the Economist, the New York Times and BBC Future, and was the technology, features and news editor at New Scientist. Today we're going to talk with her about her wonderful book, We Are Electric The New Science of Our Bodies, Bioelectric Code and What the Future Holds.

This episode welcomes award winning science writer Steve Olson. Having written for publications such as Science, The Atlantic, Wired, and Scientific American, just to name a few. Additionally, he has been a consultant writer for organizations like the National Academy of Sciences and the President's Council of Advisors on Science. Continuing his writing acumen Steve includes a collection of books, including Mapping Human History, genes, race, and Our Common Origin. Countdown. Six Kids Vie for glory at the World's Toughest Math Competition. And Anarchy, Evolution, Faith, Science and Bad Religion in a World without God, Eruption the Untold story...

As part of our STEM of History series, done with support from Humanities Tennessee and the National Endowment for the Humanities, I interviewed Dr. Ernest Freeberg about his book The Age of Edison: Electric Light and the Invention of Modern America. We first talked about why America during Edison’s time was a hotbed of invention.

Thanks to a grant from Humanities Tennessee and the National Endowment for the Humanities, we created a series of interviews at the AMSE Foundation about the connections of science, engineering, and history, suitably called The STEM of History. One guest I interviewed was Steve Olson, the author of many terrific books including Mapping Human History: Genes, Race and our Common Origins.

Host of @buriedbonespod, @tenfoldmorewicked, Wicked Words on @exactlyright. Author of All That Is Wicked and American Sherlock.

Welcome to the AMSE Science Report.  It seems that we are bombarded every day with a lot of statistics, but for many of us, the meaning of all those numbers, and how they were compiled, can be a bit mysterious.  That’s why I was glad to speak on our podcast, AMSEcast, with Charles Wheelan about his book Naked Statistics: Stripping the Dread from the Data.  Charles makes the complicated world of statistics quite understandable and relatable. For example, we often hear the terms median and mean, or average.  But what is the difference between those terms?

Welcome to The AMSE Science Report. What is nothingness?  Why is there something rather than nothing?  I spoke on our podcast, AMSEcast, with Jim Holt, the author of Why Does the World Exist? An Existential Detective Story, about those mind-bending questions. They have been responded to many ways over the years – answers were found in God, in philosophy, in mathematics.
Some say that the universe came into existence due to the laws of quantum physics, but then the whole idea of the nature of laws comes into question.

In Rivers of Power, geographer Laurence C. Smith explores the timeless yet underappreciated relationship between rivers and civilization as we know it. Rivers are of course important in many practical ways (water supply, transportation, sanitation, etc). But the full breadth of their influence on the way we live is less obvious. Rivers define and transcend international borders, forcing cooperation between nations. Huge volumes of river water are used to produce energy, raw commodities, and food. Wars, politics, and demography are transformed by their devastating floods. The territorial claims of nations, their cultural and economic ties to each other, and...

Ben Goldfarb is an independent conservation journalist. The author of Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet, named one of the best books of 2023 by the New York Times, and Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter, winner of the 2019 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

Speaking to us during a visit for our Energy and Elements 2024 Gala the  Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and Senior Director of Programs, National Academy of Engineering spoke to us about his most recent book: Wicked Problems: How to Engineer a Better World.

Dr. Angela Creager is the Thomas Siebel Professor in the History of Science at Princeton University and a member of AMSEF's National Advisory Committee.  She spoke with us about her book Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine.

AMSE Science Report David Rooney

David chairs the Electrical Timekeeping group and acts as pass steward of the Worship- ful Company of Clockmaker.  David has authored several books, including Spaces of Congestion and Traffic, Politics and Technologies in 20th Century London Mathematics How It Shaped Our World.

Dan Falk is an award winning freelance writer and broadcaster specializing in science stories, and was a 2011/12 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.

Acclaimed science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin has written extensively about our exploration of space including his book, A Man on the Moon, which became the basis for HBO’s miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon.

I grew up watching the Big Red Machine, the wonderful Cincinnati Reds of the 1970’s, and have kept my love of baseball since those glory days. I was excited to talk on an episode of AMSEcast, our podcast, with Will Carroll about his books The Science of Baseball: The Math, Technology, and Data Behind the Great American Pastime, and The Science of Football: The Math, Technology, and Data Behind America’s Game. One area we talked about was the use of data in sports, including the incredible detail now possible in analyzing each and every baseball pitch.

Remember playing with magnets when you were a kid and wondered what brought the opposite poles together and especially what kept the like poles apart. It turns out the force experienced is one of the most fundamental in the universe – electromagnetism. Along with gravity and the strong and weak nuclear forces, it comprises the foundation for, well, everything. We spoke about this topic on the podcast, AMSEcast, with Alanna Mitchell, author of The Spinning Magnet: The Electromagnetic Force that Created the Modern World – and Could Destroy It.

Welcome to the AMSE Science Report. I’m Alan Lowe, Executive Director of the American Museum of Science and Energy, and the K-25 History Center, both located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. On an episode of our podcast, AMSEcast, I had the pleasure of talking with Bethany Brookshire about her book Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains. In our discussion Bethany emphasized that defining a creature as a pest, whether it is something smaller like a rat or snake, or larger, like a coyote or an elephant, is based in large part on our culture. It is a subjective perspective, an...

Today I want to discuss mathematics! I’m sure some of you love math and see not only its usefulness but also its beauty. I have not counted myself among that number. Ever since bouts with trigonometry and calculus, I have steered as clear as possible from math. But as the executive director of two museums devoted to teaching STEM, I feel hypocritical in not embracing the last part of that acronym. So I calculated that by talking to experts on our podcast, AMSEcast, about this topic, I would find a new appreciation of math and that was indeed th...

Working at Oak Ridge National Laboratory McCarthy works on the integration and deployment of next-generation fission technology, from concept to industry and regulatory adoption.

Peter Alagona is a professor of environmental studies, with an affiliation in Geography, at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He received his Ph.D. from UCLA and completed postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard and Stanford. His work explores what happens when humans share their space and resources (habitats) with other species: how we interact with non-human creatures, how we make sense of these interactions, why we fight so much about them, what we can learn from them, and how we might use these lessons to foster a more just, humane, and sustainable society.

A pediatric surgeon for over three decades Catherine Musemeche is also the award winning author of Hurt The Inspiring Untold Story of Trauma, Small Life and Death on the Frontlines of Pediatric Surgery. Our discussion covers her book is Lethal Tides, Mary Seers and the marine scientist who helped win World War Two.

AMSE Science Report with Matt Richtel

AMSE Science Report with Michael Hiltzik

AMSE Science Report with Doug Tallamy

AMSE Science Report with Sam Kean

AMSE Science Report with Heino Falcke

AMSE Science Report with Stephen Heard

AMSE Science Report with Simon Winchester

AMSE Science Report with Clifton Truman Daniel

AMSE Science Report with Andrew Maynard

AMSE Science Report with Stefano Sandrone

ASME Science Report with John Tresch

AMSE Science Report with Gino Segre

AMSE Science Report with Brian Clegg

AMSE Science Report with Paul Sen

AMSE Science Report with James Poskett

Charles King is a professor of international affairs and government at Georgetown University. His writings and commentary have been featured in The New York Times, Foreign Affairs, NPR, the BBC and CNN. He is an award-winning author of multiple books. Today we discuss his most recent work, Gods of the Upper Air.

Ben Goldfarb is a conservation journalist who's writing has appeared in publications like The Atlantic, National Geographic and The New York Times, among many others, is also the author of the award winning book we're going to discuss today titled Eager The Surprising Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.

An award winning writer who has contributed to the Smithsonian, Time and Vanity Fair Mark Wortman has also contributed to NPR and the History Channel. He's taught at several universities, including his alma mater, Princeton, and he served as an advisor for the film The Millionaires Unit, U.S. Naval Aviators in the First World War.
He's the author of several terrific books, including 1941 Fighting the Shadow War A Divided America in a World at War, The Millionaires Unit, The Aristocratic Flyboys Who Fought the Great War, and American Airpower. The Bonfire, the Siege and Burning of Atlanta...

A professor of environmental studies at the Department of Earth, Environmental and Planetary Sciences at Brown University, Laurence Smith is the author of over 150 articles and essays. Today we discuss his book, Rivers of Power, how our Natural Force, Race, Kingdoms Destroyed civilizations and Shapes Our World.

Ray Smith a Historian, Author, Newspaper Columnist and Photographer in Oak Ridge, TN and Alan Carr, Senior Historian/Program Manager at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Both men sit down with Executive Director and AMSEcast host: Alan Lowe to discuss the  Manhattan Project and its long term benefits.

As President of the East Tennessee Economic Counsel (ETEC) Tracy works to create economic growth by engaging business and public policy leaders towards opportunities created by our region’s federal assets while enriching public and private investments. 

Working to advance fusion science and engineering Rick Lee works at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility operated by General Atomics for the Dept. of Energy. Sharing a passion for fusion Rick leads several outreach teams for students.

As Deputy for Laboratory Operations Dr. Alan Icenhour until recently retiring coordinated overall operations and support functions at ORNL: facilities operations; environment, safety, and health; business operations; security; human resources; communications; and technology transfer.

Morgan Giuggio is a Nuclear Engineer at Radiant Nuclear - responsible for shielding design and implementation for the portable micro modular reactor, Kaleidos. Morgan primarily utilizes serpent, mcnp, and Attila4MC to conduct the necessary analyses, and inform her design decisions. Additionally, Morgan educates children of all ages in the ways on innovative nuclear design.

In this episode of the AMSE's Science Report we speak with Dr. Karen Lloyd, an associate professor of microbiology and head of the Lloyd Lab at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville about her research into the very smaller of organisms in our planet's subsurface.

Caroline Anderson is Manager for Outreach at the Fusion Industry Association. In previous work she coordinated economic empowerment and conflict resolution programs in the Middle East and North Africa. She also worked at a think tank in Washington D.C. that specializes in international conflict resolution, foreign trade policy, and security. Caroline graduated with honors from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she earned degrees in Economics and Peace, War & Defense. She lives in Washington, DC.

The National Museum of Nuclear Science & History is congressionally chartered to represent all aspects of nuclear history and science. It is an intriguing place to learn the story of the Atomic Age, from early conception, the Manhattan Project and Cold War, to today's peaceful uses of nuclear technology. Jennifer Hayden has been a port of this museum since 2013 beginning in communications and marketing. Today Jennifer shares her first hand experience as President & Chief Executive Officer at National Museum of Nuclear Science & History.

This interview was recorded live at the Nuclear Science Week Expo at the Fleet Science...

An instructor and researcher in artificial intelligence and advanced statistical techniques applied to process diagnostics, condition based maintenance, and prognostics at the University of Tennessee.

This interview was recorded live at the Nuclear Science Week Expo at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, CA.

A nuclear engineer at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She is campaign manager for the 252-Californium Campaign and was involved with the discovery of Tennessine.

This interview was recorded live at the Nuclear Science Week Expo at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego, CA.

Today we hear from the award-winning science writer Brian Clegg about his terrific book titled Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World: How Physicists Transformed Everyday Life. We can take for granted how our lives have benefited from revolutionary changes in physics over the past 150 years. Our growing knowledge of fields from thermodynamics and electromagnetism to superconductivity and information theory have made our lives very different from generations past.

Teaching at the University of Oregon with a specialty cultural and intellectual history and how institutions have been impacted by the spread of ideas Ian McNeely has written several books. Today we discuss a book written with his wife, Lisa Wolverton titled, Reinventing Knowledge from Alexandria to the Internet.

Currently teaching public policy at Dartmouth College Dr. Charles Wheelan has created the organization Unite America. Having written for The New York Times, the Economist and The Wall Street Journal and a number of books. We're going to discuss today, Naked Statistics Stripping the Dread from the Data for All.

A professor of science at Harvard University and was the longest serving chair of Harvard's Depart- ment of Astronomy and founded Harvard's Black Hole Initiative. Today, he is director of the Institute for Theory and Computation in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and serves as the head of the Galileo Project.

Once holding the title of "curator of timekeeping" David Rooney has served in museums since the mid-nineties. David chairs the Electrical Timekeeping group and acts as pass steward of the Worshipful Company of Clockmaker.  David has authored several books, including Spaces of Congestion and Traffic, Politics and Technologies in 20th Century London Mathematics How It Shaped Our World.

With twenty years as an editor at Military Review at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth Dennis Giangreco  has written many award-winning books on U.S. military and political history. Here we'll discuss the books, Hell to Pay: Operation Downfall and the Invasion of Japan and Truman and the Bomb: The Untold Story.

Dr. Avi Loeb is a professor of science at Harvard University. He Avi obtained his Ph.D. in physics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He led the first international project supported by the Strategic Defense Initiative and was a member for many years of the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. He was the longest serving chair of Harvard's Department of Astronomy and founded Harvard's Black Hole Initiative. Today he serves as the director of the Institute for Theory and Computation in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and serves as the head of the Galileo Project. Avi has b...

AMSE Science Report with guest David Kaiser

AMSE Science Report with guest Lydia Kang

Will Carol serves as the director of bio Analytics at Northstar as an advisory board member for Long Ball Labs and lead writer of Under the Knife and past years, he's held a number of roles in institutions like GM, Cox Media, Bleacher Report and Sports Illustrated. He's the author of Saving the Pitcher Preventing Pitcher Injuries and Modern Baseball The Juice The Real Story of Baseball's Drug Problems. And the two books are going to discuss today The Science of Baseball, the Math technology and data behind the Great American pastime and the science of football, the math...

Nina Kraus is the Hugh Knowles professor of communication Sciences, neurobiology and otolaryngology at Northwestern University with her B.A. from Swarthmore College and her Ph.D. in neuroscience from Northwestern.

Nina directs the Brain Bolts Laboratory. She's written over 400 articles and is the author of the book We're going to discuss today of Sound Mind how Our Brain Constructs a Meaningful Sonic World. 

Dr. Lydia Kang is a physician with degrees from Columbia University and the New York University School of Medicine, but making me feel extraordinarily lazy. On top of all that, she is a prolific author of young adult fiction, poetry and nonfiction, and with the latter with nonfiction. She has written several books, including Pseudoscience A Strange History of How Not to Think Quackery, A Brief History of the Worst Cures for Everything, and the book we're going to discuss today that she co-wrote with Nate Peterson, titled Patient Zero A Curious History of the World's Worst Diseases.

AMSE Science Report with guest Marilyn Johnson

AMSE Science Report with guest Jack Riggs

This week's guest: Kit Chapman. The AMSE Science Report delves into the latest issues of science and engineering, featuring interviews and discussions with scientists, engineers, science policy experts, and others. Tune in every Saturday morning this summer on WUOT.

The AMSE Science Report delves into the latest issues of science and engineering, featuring interviews and discussions with scientists, engineers, science policy experts, and others. Tune in every Saturday morning this summer on WUOT.

The AMSE Science Report delves into the latest issues of science and engineering, featuring interviews and discussions with scientists, engineers, science policy experts, and others. Tune in every Saturday morning this summer on WUOT.

Tune in to WUOT every Saturday morning at 9:35am, during Weekend Edition, as we bring you the latest from American Museum of Science and Energy’s science series, the AMSE Science Report.

Robert is a forensic engineer and a member of the National Academies of both Forensic and Professional Engineers, an adjunct professor of technology who has also served over the years as vice president of technology and engineering for several transportation companies. Robert now has entered the world of writing historical novels with his wonderful novel, The Armageddon Secret.

a discussion of Jaime's book, The Possibility of Life, Science, Imagination and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos

Allen is a journalist, playwright and writer. She started her career as an award winning journalist in Canada at the Financial Times and the Globe and Mail. After 17 years in journalism, she turned to sign writing, where again, her efforts have been award winning. She has  contributed to articles in publications such as National Geographic and The New York Times. She has written the following books, Seasick The Global Ocean and Crisis, a book. She's also turned into a play Malignant Metaphor for Confronting Cancer Myths, a Memoir Franklin's Lost Ship, The Historic Discovery of HMS Erebus. Invisible Plastic. W...

Dana has a Ph.D. in Animal cognition and has written both fiction and nonfiction for kids in publications such as Highlights for Children and the Canadian Wildlife Federation's Wild magazine. But now she's published a book for all of us Big Kids, too, titled The Beekeeper's: How Humans Change the World of Bumblebees.

Widely published and working as a research science associate at UT-Austin's Institute for Geophysics Marcy works with field science teams that travel all around the world. Today, we discuss her book, Roadside Geology of Tennessee.

After obtaining her Ph.D. from MIT, a 2016 fellow of the American Geophysical Union, 2018 member of the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2021, she was elected to the National Academy of Sciences. As a professor she also serves as the principle investigator for NASA's mission to the asteroid psyche.
Today we discuss her book latest book, Portrait of the Scientist as a Young Woman.

Dr. Angela Creager is the Thomas Siebel Professor in the History of Science at Princeton University and a member of AMSEF's National AdvisoryvCommittee. She spoke with us about her book Life Atomic: A History of Radioisotopes in Science and Medicine.

A neuroscientist, researcher, award winning author and a senior teaching fellow at Imperial College, London, Stefano's attendance of the 64th Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting in 2014
was part of the inspiration to his latest book, Nobel Life: Conversations with 24 Nobel laureates on their life stories,
advice for future generations and what remains to be discovered.

In this episode of AMSEcast we speak with David Kaiser author of "How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival.

This episode features Jim Rogers. With a background at NASA, NOAA, U.S. Air Force and the Defense Intelligence Agency we welcome the computing and facilities director  for the National Center for Computational Science at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to discuss the ever-expanding world of exascale super computers. 

Having graduated Harvard and MIT with studies in physics and post- doctoral work at CERN. Gino is a professor of physics and the author of four books discussing the greater world of physics including the topic of our discussion today, the Pope of Physics, Enrico Fermi and the Birth of the Atomic Age. 

This episode of AMSEcast features Dan Levitt, an award-winning maker of science and history documentaries for organizations such as National Geographic, Discover, Science, and the History Channel. We discuss his first and most excellent book, “What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms, from the Big Bang Through Last Night's Dinner”

On this episode of AMSEcast we talk with acclaimed science journalist and space historian Andrew Chaikin. Our discussion revolves around his writing about our exploration of space including his book, A Man on the Moon, which became the basis for HBO’s miniseries, From the Earth to the Moon.

Steve Brusatte, a paleontologist and evolutionary biologist at the University of Edinburgh, joins us to discuss his book, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals. 

Award-winning journalist, broadcaster and author Dan Falk discusses the connections between the great bard, William Shakespeare, and the Scientific Revolution, as detailed in his book, The Science of Shakespeare.

A professor in the history of science and technology at the University of Warwick, James Poskett joins us to discuss his book, Horizons: A Global History of Science.

From his sailboat, Rocinante, author and biologist Bill Streever talks with us about his books detailing amazing stories of weather, wind, heat, cold, and the depths of the ocean.

The chief editor of Jane's Inter- national Defense Review, and head of Jane's America's News, Dan Wasserbly spoke to us about his book, The 300, and the critically important but frightening world of missile defense.

An award-winning British science writer and public speaker who has written over 40 popular science books and a growing range of novels.

Creativity in its many guises is the topic of our conversation with Pulitzer- Prize winning journalist and author, Matt Richtel.

Dr. Kimberly Budil talks with about the vitally important work she oversees as the Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory including recent fusion experimentation and break- through known as "fusion ignition."

A member of the National Academy of Engineering and the Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Fame, Dr. Chandrakant Patel serves as HP’s Chief Engineer and Senior Fellow.

An internationally respected biomedical systems engineer and author, Dr. Guru Madhavan is the Norman R. Augustine Senior Scholar and senior director of programs at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering. This conversation runs a wide path.

We chat with the author of THE GREAT INDOORS: THE SURPRISING SCIENCE OF HOW BUILDINGS SHAPE OUR BEHAVIOR, HEALTH, AND HAPPINESS

The Hugh and Hazel Darling Chair in Law at Pepperdine University, Pulitzer Prize winning Edward J. Larson is one of the world's foremost scholars on evolution and Darwin.  He joined us on AMSEcast to discuss his books Evolution:  The Remarkable History of A Scientific Theory; Evolution’s Workshop:  God and Science on the Galapagos Islands; and Summer for the Gods:  The Scopes Trial and America’s Continuing Debate Over Science and Religion.

In this episode Mr. Lowe and Mr. Olson focus their discussion on Olson’s book, Mapping Human History, Genes, Race, and Our Common Origins. Their conversation ranges broadly over the intersection of genetics and the story of human history. Olson’s work shows how historians can benefit from marshalling the tools of genetics, and how in turn geneticists can at times better analyze their findings with a sound knowledge of history. We begin to understand how the complexity of human history and human biology can literally be mapped to common origins.

Dr. Stephanie Drumheller-Horton

Tore Olsson_SoH

Dr. Earnest Freeberg

Dr. Daniel Vivian

A professor in Behavioral Ecology at University College London, Seirian Sumner focuses her research on social insects, and is especially passionate about the world of wasps.  She talks with us about her book, Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps.

The construction and legacy of the Manhattan Project is discussed

Kai Bird is the executive director and distinguished lecturer at the CUNY Graduate Center’s Leon Levy Center for Biography.  The author of best-selling books such as The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames and The Outlier: The Unfinished Presidency of Jimmy Carter, Kai spoke with us about the Pulitzer Prize winning book he co-authored with the late Martin J. Sherwin, American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer.

A discussion showing casing how science fiction mirrors real life or perhaps the other way around.

Steve Brusatte is an American paleontologist who teaches at the University of Edinburgh. Widely published in journals such as Scientific American and Science, Steve served as the paleontology advisor on the very successful Jurassic World film franchise. We spoke with him about his terrific book, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World.

"Dinosaurs diversified and some became colossal and so much bigger really than anything else that had ever lived at that point in time and those dinosaurs still are the biggest animals that have ever lived on land."

Michael Hiltzik is a Pulitzer-Prize winning author and journalist who writes for the Los Angeles Times. We spoke with him about his books Dealers of Lightning: Xerox Parc and the Dawn of the Computer Age; Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century; Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention that Launched the Military-Industrial Complex; and Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads, and the Making of Modern America.

"The whole idea of “Big Science” which required so much funding really started with [Ernest] Lawrence and his work at the Manhattan Project and it survived and t...

For 15 years, Linda Deck has served as the Director of the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Prior to her service there, she was, among other roles, Director of the Idaho Museum of Natural History, and Exhibit Developer and Project Manager at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

An award-winning historian and biographer, Matthew Parker spoke with us on AMSEcast about his book Panama Fever: The Epic Story of One of the Greatest Human Achievements of All Time - the Building of the Panama Canal.

Randy Cerveny is a professor of geographical sciences at Arizona State University, and Rapporteur on Extreme Records for the World Meteorological Organization.  He talks with us about all kinds of fascinating weather.

A staff scientist and cosmochemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Greg Brennecka joined us on AMSEcast to talk about his terrific new book, Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture and Donkey Kong.

Giulio Boccaletti, an inter- nationally acclaimed expert on geophysical and ecological science, discusses his book, Water: A Biography, which examines the fascinating history of the connection between water and human society.