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A podcast about the wonders of the universe and how science helps us illuminate our lives by discovering them together. A conversation about science as a creative activity at the heart of human culture. An attempt to bring science out of the ivory tower laboratory into the cafes and pubs and streets to be part of our cultural discourse.
Episodes
Wednesday Sep 23, 2015
8. Updates from the Autism Spectrum – #ScienceCandle
Wednesday Sep 23, 2015
Wednesday Sep 23, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 8: Updates from the Autism Spectrum
Airdate: 22 September 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guests: Dr. Amanda Mortimer
Topic: During last week’s Republican Presidential Primary Debate, medical science made a rare appearance in the nation’s political media discourse, when Jake Tapper raised the question about appropriate schedules for childhood vaccinations. This was triggered by candidate Donald Trump’s reassertion of a new long-discredited link between vaccines and autism. The two actual medical doctors on the panel, Ben Carson and Rand Paul did dismiss the suggestion of such a link. But Trump went on to claim that we are actually facing an epidemic of autism in this country! What do we make of this claim? Is there any semblance of truth to this?
At the next Café Scientifique meeting, on Oct 5th, we will get some Updates from the Autism Spectrum, from my friend and our guest in this episode, Dr. Amanda Mortimer. Dr. Mortimer has a dual PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from Indiana University. Interface between neuroscience and clinical psychology. She is also a licensed Clinical Psychologist. She is now an Associate Professor of Psychology at Fresno State. She is here with some Updates from the Autism Spectrum.
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Monday Aug 31, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 7: Fear and Learning in Science & Mathematics
Airdate: 25 August 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guests: Dr. Amanda Mortimer and Dr. Beth Weinman.
Topic: Are you afraid of science? Do you suffer from Maths Anxiety? And are you transferring some of these fears to your children, even as you are anxious for them to do well in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines? In this episode, neuropsychologist Dr. Amanda Mortimer from Fresno State helps us develop a better scientific understanding of how fear and anxiety affect our ability to learn and remember things, and what are good ways to address the anxiety triggered for so many by science and mathematics. Dr. Beth Weinman discusses how some of this developing understanding of learning and memory is being applied to improve the success of incoming Science majors in a new First Year Experience program in Fresno State’s College of Science & Mathematics. The program (in which Dr. Katti is a collaborator) is particularly focused on helping students who are from economically challenging backgrounds, from under-represented minorities, or are the first generation from their families to ever go to college – demographics which constitute the majority of students on our campus and indeed in the Central Valley. A better understanding of how the mind works for optimal learning should help these students break patterns of anxiety about learning science and mathematics which have held them back, and go some way towards addressing the leaky pipeline in developing a new generation of diverse scientists and science-literate citizens.
Have a listen, and do share any thoughts you might have about your perception of science and learning.
Image: Students from the incoming Freshman class of Science & Maths majors at Fresno State. Photo by Cary Edmondson, the official University Photographer.
Monday Aug 03, 2015
6: Humans and Nature in the City – Science: A Candle In The Dark
Monday Aug 03, 2015
Monday Aug 03, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 6: Humans and Nature in the City
Airdate: 28 July 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guests: Dr. Charles Nilon and Dr. Paige Warren.
Topic: This month, while the Café Scientifique is on its summer break, we bring you a wide-ranging conversation about how humans interact with nature in cities, and how scientists study this human-nature relationship. As Dr. Paige Warren notes early in the conversation, Dr. Charlie Nilon, an African American ecologist, is a pioneer in studying ecology in the context of urban systems where humans interact with nature to determine the fate of biodiversity. Both Warren and Nilon have collaborated closely with Katti over the past 15 years in developing a better understanding of the factors that influence biodiversity in cities. This field, the study of how we humans shape our immediate (and distant) environments, and in turn, how other species respond to our actions, holds a key to the future of biodiversity on our urbanized planet. More importantly, access to nature, and some degree of control on our relationship with nature may also be crucial for human wellbeing in cities, as Dr. Nilon suggests in the second half when discussing the potential environmental correlates of the urban racial unrest in Baltimore and Ferguson this year.
Have a listen, and do share any thoughts you might have about how you relate to nature in your urban (or rural) environment.
Inage: Nature in a Chicago winter. Photo © Madhusudan Katti, 2013.
Wednesday Jun 24, 2015
5: Urban Ecology – Science: A Candle In The Dark
Wednesday Jun 24, 2015
Wednesday Jun 24, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 5: Urban Ecology
Airdate: 23 June 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Special Correspondent: Stephanie Slonka
Guests: Dr. Emily Minor, Dr. Kaberi Kar Gupta, Dr. John Marzluff, and Kim Eierman.
Topic: This special summer episode explores our growing understanding of urban ecology, of all the non-human species that inhabit and adapt to urban spaces, and what we can do in our own backyards to reconcile urban development with biodiversity conservation
Image: Grass breaks through concrete on an urban sidewalk in Chicago, © Madhusudan Katti 2015.
Wednesday May 27, 2015
4: Exoplanets – Science: A Candle In The Dark
Wednesday May 27, 2015
Wednesday May 27, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 4: Exoplanets
Airdate: 26 May 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guest: Dr. Fred Ringwald
Topic: Four hundred years ago, Galileo pointed a simple telescope up at Jupiter and discovered moons orbiting around that planet. That was the first time any human had seen such a moon orbiting another planet, and it upended our entire conception of the universe and our place within it – a seminal moment in the history of the enlightenment. It took until just over two decades ago for astronomers to find a planet orbiting around another star. This episode features a conversation with astronomer Dr. Fred Ringwald, of the Department of Physics at California State University, about exoplanets, the possibility of life on some of them, and about the endarkening effect of US politicians refusing to look at facts and actively thwarting the study of our own planet for political reasons driven by short-term profit-seeking.
Image: Chart of Kepler planet candidates as of January 2014. Credit: NASA AMES
Wednesday Apr 29, 2015
3: Biology through the lens of a high-speed camera – Science: A Candle In The Dark
Wednesday Apr 29, 2015
Wednesday Apr 29, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 3
Airdate: 28 April 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guest: Dr. Ulrike Müller
Commentary: Dr. Andrew Rhys Jones
Topic: Biomechanics applies principles from physics and engineering to understand how living organisms move and function as living machines. At the same time, an engineering perspective can be quite limiting in understanding how living systems evolve, because engineers are often focused on finding and designing optimal solutions, whereas evolution rewards solutions that are just good enough. Using high-speed cameras to observe and analyze in detail the too-fast-for-the-naked-eye-to-see movements of fish, and other small organisms—insects, carnivorous bladderworts (see image above)—Fresno State biologist Dr. Ulrike Müller studies how these tiny creatures seemingly defy engineering to move in remarkably efficient ways. Dr. Müller shares insights from her research, some thoughts on the silly creationist notion of intelligent design, and on structural constraints in education systems that limit the participation of women and other minorities in science. The interview with Dr, Müller is followed by a commentary by Dr. Andrew Rhys Jones on urban water policy and what social science tells us about human behavior in the context of California’s ongoing drought, and how science can inform policy during this crisis.
Note: Pardon the slight glitch in the recording where we were unable to capture the opening few seconds of the show, so it seems as if we are jumping into the middle of it – but its only a few seconds.
Image: A bladderwort. via Dr. Ulrike Müller
Wednesday Mar 25, 2015
Wednesday Mar 25, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 2
Airdate: 24 February 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guest: Dr. Mara Brady
Commentary: Dr. Paul Crosbie
Topic: Earth sciences and the insights we have gained into the history of our planet including the evolution of life leading up to our own species. In a wide ranging discussion, Dr. Brady talks about the tools used to study the age of rocks and of the earth itself, about the history of the earth sciences, especially over the past century, and how we geology can provide a broader perspective on larger scales of space and time to help us understand our current challenges such as climate change. She then discusses the challenges of conducting research and teaching about the earth in a political climate where even presidential candidates and elected representatives in government deny the value of science and dismiss earth sciences as not a hard science. The interview with Dr, Brady is followed by a commentary by Dr. Crosbie on a rediscovered fossil of a beaked whale that got stranded in East Africa and how it now helps us reconstruct our own evolutionary story.
Monday Mar 02, 2015
1. Science: A Candle In The Dark – episode 1
Monday Mar 02, 2015
Monday Mar 02, 2015
Science: A Candle In The Dark
Episode 1
Airdate: 24 February 2015
Host: Dr. Madhusudan Katti
Guest: Dr. Doug Singleton
Topic: Particle fever: its a particle zoo inside that atom! What do we know about the structure of matter at the most fundamental level? Theoretical physicist Doug Singleton explains our current understanding of subatomic particles and the recent excitement over the discovery of the Higgs Boson particle.
For more information:
Watch Particle Fever, the wonderful documentary about the Higgs discovery, now available to rent or own via various media streaming services.
Email our host or Prof. Singleton if you have any follow-up questions.