Sciencentric

Mark Williams is a professor of cognitive neuroscience with over 25 years’ experience conducting behavioral and brain imaging research. He regularly runs programs on the neuroscience of learning, the neuroscience of emotions, how our brains create our reality, and the impact of modern technologies on our brains. His latest book "The Connected Species: How the Evolution of the Human Brain Can Save the World" explores how humanity's ability to connect and cooperate has made us a successful species, but is also responsible for many of society's chronic problems. **SUPPORT** Show your support and help us create more outstanding content! - Become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/sciencentric - Subscribe to our free newsletter: https://sciencentric.com/newsletter/ - Check out our merch: https://sciencentric.com/store/ - Browse the recommended books in our reading room: http://sciencentric.com/reading - Collaborate with us at flowspark.com/digital **LINKS** -Mark's Book: "The Connected Species: How the Evolution of the Human Brain Can Save the World" https://sciencentric.com/product/mark-williams-connected-species/ -Follow Mark on LinkedIn: https://au.linkedin.com/in/mark-williams-4b401354 -Explore Marks's website: https://www.drmarkwilliams.com/ **ABOUT THE HOST** Eric R Olson is a filmmaker, podcaster, science communicator, and creative entrepreneur. Eric was Scientific American's first full-time video producer and served as the lead digital producer for the long-running NATURE on PBS. He holds degrees in biochemistry from the University of Washington and science journalism from New York University. Eric now operates his own video production company and agency, FLOWSPARK MEDIA, which is the driving force behind Sciencentric. Connect with Eric on Instagram: http://instagram.com/erikthacreator **TELL US WHAT YOU THINK** We value your feedback! Leave a comment or reach out to us at feedback@sciencentric.com. **FOLLOW US** Stay connected with us across various platforms: - YouTube: http://youtube.com/sciencentric - Instagram: http://instagram.com/sciencentric - Facebook: http://facebook.com/sciencentric - Twitter/X: http://twitter.com/sciencentric

Do you want to be more creative? Learn how you can unlock your own natural powers of creativity as Norwegian author and journalist Hilde Østby discusses her latest book "The Key to Creativity: The Science Behind Ideas and How Daydreaming Can Change the World." **SUPPORT** Show your support for our community and help us create more outstanding content! - Subscribe to our free newsletter: https://sciencentric.com/newsletter/ - Become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/sciencentric - Browse the recommended books in our reading room: http://sciencentric.com/reading - Collaborate with us at flowspark.com/creative **LINKS** -Hilde’s book: "The Key to Creativity: The Science Behind Ideas and How Daydreaming Can Change the World”: https://www.amazon.com/Creativity/dp/1771648309 -Explore Hilde's website (in Norwegian): https://www.forfatterhilde.com/ **ABOUT THE HOST** Eric R Olson is a filmmaker, podcaster, and journalist with a passion for science and the natural world. Eric was Scientific American's first full-time video producer and served as the lead digital producer for the PBS show NATURE. He holds degrees in biochemistry from the University of Washington and science journalism from New York University. Eric now operates his own video production company and agency, FLOWSPARK MEDIA, which is the driving force behind Sciencentric. Follow Eric on Instagram: http://instagram.com/erikthacreator Follow Eric on X (formerly known as Twitter): http://twitter.com/ericrolson **TELL US WHAT YOU THINK** We value your feedback! Leave a comment or reach out to us at feedback@sciencentric.com. **FOLLOW US** Stay connected with us across various platforms: - YouTube: http://youtube.com/sciencentric - Instagram: http://instagram.com/sciencentric - Facebook: http://facebook.com/sciencentric - Twitter/X: http://twitter.com/sciencentric

Have you ever wondered what happens when you hit the like button on Facebook or other social media apps? Come take a journey with us into the massive hidden infrastructure that supports all of our online activities. In this episode, journalist and documentary filmmaker Guillaume Pitron discusses his new book “The Dark Cloud: how the digital world is costing the earth”, which is all about the environmental and social costs of living in an increasingly digitized world. **SUPPORT** Show your support for our community and help us create more outstanding content! - Become a Patreon member: https://www.patreon.com/sciencentric - Browse the recommended books in our reading room: http://sciencentric.com/reading - Collaborate with us at flowspark.com/creative **LINKS** -Digital clean up day: https://www.digitalcleanupday.org/ -Guillaume’s book: "The Dark Cloud: how the digital world is costing the earth” ": https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Cloud-digital-world-costing-ebook/dp/B0BTJP9BD3 -Follow Guillaume on X: x.com/guillaumepitron -Explore Guillaumes website: https://www.guillaumepitron.com/ **ABOUT THE HOST** Eric R Olson is a filmmaker, podcaster, and journalist with a passion for science and the natural world. Eric was Scientific American's first full-time video producer and served as the lead digital producer for the PBS show NATURE. He holds degrees in biochemistry from the University of Washington and science journalism from New York University. Eric now operates his own video production company and agency, FLOWSPARK MEDIA, which is the driving force behind Sciencentric. Follow Eric on Instagram: http://instagram.com/erikthacreator **TELL US WHAT YOU THINK** We value your feedback! Leave a comment or reach out to us at feedback@sciencentric.com. **FOLLOW US** Stay connected with us across various platforms: - YouTube: http://youtube.com/sciencentric - Instagram: http://instagram.com/sciencentric - Facebook: http://facebook.com/sciencentric - Twitter/X: http://twitter.com/sciencentric

Host Eric R Olson and guest Michael Mills discuss the most interesting science stories of the day.

Video version available here: https://youtu.be/dxHaxpF3Zgc

**SUPPORT**

Help support this channel so we can create more great science content!

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**

Are rats disease sponges or not? https://www.sciencealert.com/rats-aren-t-deadly-disease-sponges-like-we-think-and-scientists-explain-why

Robot can chew and taste food (cool/weird video) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/may/04/robot-chef-imitates-human-chewing-process-create-tastier-food

2 out of 3 kids ages 1 to 4 have had coronavirus https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01231-y

Disappearing Insects in the UK- https://www.scotsman.com/news/environment/squashed-bugs-on-number-plates-suggests-terrifying-scottish-insect-declines-3680043

Pterosaurs had brightly-colored feathers. https://www.salon.com/2022/04/26/pterosaurs-had-brightly-colored-feathers-like-toucans-according-to-a-new-study/

**ABOUT OUR GUEST** 

Michael Mills is an actor, host, and science communicator based out of New York City. His passionate pursuit of different ways to educate audiences about the world of science has led him to roles as host of Tha L-Spot show, a bi-monthly round table styled talk-show catering to urban audiences on Brooklyn Access TV. Michael has also hosted videos from a diverse range of clients ranging from top scientific publishers such as the American Chemical Society to mainstream science publications such as INSIDER Science. While communication of science to marginalized communities is his main focus, Michael also spends time nurturing his talents as an illustrator, trained vocalist and performer, and avid video game lover.

You can

Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michealmills/

**ABOUT THE HOST**

Eric R Olson is a filmmaker and  podcaster with a passion for science and the natural world. He was Scientific American's first full-time video producer and lead digital producer of the long-running PBS television show NATURE. Eric currently runs his own video-based media company, FLOWSPARK MEDIA LLC, which is the producer and publisher of this podcast.

Follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ericrolson

**TELL US WHAT YOU THINK**

We’d love to hear from you...leave a comment below! Or email us at feedback@sciencentric.com

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**MORE GREAT EPISODES**

How to Use Your Brain with Neuroscientist Henning Beck: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C56CkDhRtgw

Sex and Monogamy with Biologist Carin Bondar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=533TuktX3Tw

Eating Right for Your Microbiome with Journalist Katherine Courage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql5gEnQBzPY

In our inaugural episode, we spoke with science and environmental journalist Rachel Nuwer about her book "Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking." We spoke about her process for writing the book, the time she spent with actual wildlife traffickers, and what can be done to stop the illegal wildlife trade--particularly in Asia.    

Help support this podcast on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sciencentric 

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**  

Poached: Inside the Dark World of Wildlife Trafficking
http://www.rachelnuwer.com/poached

**ABOUT THE HOST**
Eric R Olson is a filmmaker, podcaster, and producer with a background in molecular biology and genetics. He was formerly Scientific American's full-time video producer and lead digital producer of the long-running PBS television show NATURE. He currently runs his own production company, FLOWSPARK MEDIA, which produces this podcast.    

**TELL US WHAT YOU THINK**     
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In this episode, we’re delving into some controversial topics. In fact, I really couldn’t think of more controversial topics than sex and gender and how the two relate.

Much like religion or politics, how we understand sex and gender are fundamental to how we operate in the world and inspire a whole range of opinions--often in conflict with each other.

But in the last five years or so, I’ve noticed some rather unusual ideas taking root.

Number one is that distinct biological sexes don’t exist; sex categories like male and female are arbitrary and socially constructed and sex exists on some kind of “spectrum”,

Number two is that gender is completely divorced from biology. Meaning that the gender you identify with and your outward expression of it, aren’t influenced by the sex you were born with.

In my mind, denying these biological realities around sex and gender is to engage in science denialism. Most troubling is that these ideas are finding a mainstream voice in scientists who also moonlight as gender activists, giving them scientific credibility.

And, unfortunately, denying science that’s inconvenient to ideology makes it impossible to reach any kind of consensus on public policy issues, particularly thorny ones like transgender rights or gender disparities in certain career fields.

Diving headfirst into these issues is our guest Zach Elliot. Zach isn’t a scientist or a professional journalist, but rather an architecture student who sees himself as an educator. Zach has written a short book on sex and gender called the Gender Paradox. And he has also started producing videos about these subjects for YouTube. I actually first became aware of him on Twitter because of his activity debunking misinformation about intersex conditions, also known as Disorders of Sexual Development.

Zach and I spoke about how he got interested in this topic as a non-scientist, how intersex conditions are misused in discussions of transgender rights, and his step-by-step guide for writing an article that muddies the water around these controversial topics.

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**

The Paradox Institute
https://www.theparadoxinstitute.com/pi.html

Gamete competition, gamete limitation, and the evolution of the two sexes (Lehtonen & Parker)
https://academic.oup.com/molehr/article/20/12/1161/1062990

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In this episode, we’re speaking to award-winning French journalist and documentary filmmaker Guillaume Pitron.  For the last decade or so, Guillaume has been following the global trade in rare earth metals. There are around 30 of these metals and they can be found in virtually all of our electronic devices and in green technologies like solar panels and electric cars. 

Unfortunately, mining these materials come with heavy environmental and social costs. Mining generates massive amounts of polluted wastewater, which left untreated, poisons crops and makes people sick.  Guillaume documents these issues in his 2018 book "Rare Metals War', which has recently been translated into English. 

I spoke to Guillaume about why rare earth metals are so important for consumer electronics, why the U.S. outsourced the mining of these metals mostly to China, and how companies like Apple and Tesla can make their products, which rely heavily on rare earth metals, more environmentally-friendly.

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**

Rare Metals War (book)
https://scribepublications.co.uk/books-authors/books/the-rare-metals-war

Guillaume's website
https://www.guillaumepitron.com/about-guillaume

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George Zaidan is the executive producer for the American Chemical Society and a former co-host of CNBC's “Make Me a Millionaire Inventor.” Most recently, he authored the book, “Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put in Us and On Us”.  

As the title suggests, “Ingredients” is about the chemistry of the food we eat and the products we use, but it’s more than that. It’s actually a crash course in epidemiology and epistemology. Epidemiology tells us if something is good or bad for us and epistemology looks at how we know what we think we know. 

Those topics may sound a little dry, but George has packed this book with his own brand of humor that will have you laughing from cover-to-cover.   George and I spoke about understanding risk in both long-term and short-term scenarios, whether eating more processed foods really shortens our lifespans, and how a self-professed chemistry nerd ended up in the quagmire of nutritional epidemiology. 

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 **DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE** 

 Ingredients: The Strange Chemistry of What We Put In Us and On Us
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/599202/ingredients-by-george-zaidan/ 

Eating Processed Foods Tied to Shorter Life (NY Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/12/well/eat/eating-processed-foods-longevity-death-mortality.html

Ingredients Website  
http://ingredientsthebook.com  

**TELL US WHAT YOU THINK**  

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Facebook: http://facebook.com/sciencentric Twitter: http://twitter.com/sciencentricA useful model or not?

In this episode, we speak with Carin Bondar, a biologist, writer, TV host, and public speaker. Carin is probably best-known for covering the topic at the forefront of everyone’s mind: sex. In various forms, she has documented all the strange and fascinating ways that animals approach enterprise reproduction--including us.  

As a presenter, Carin has appeared in shows for Discovery, Netflix, and an independent online video series “Wild Sex”, which has reached millions of people worldwide. She’s also authored several books. “Wild Sex”, which shares the same name as her video series, looks at all the weird and wacky ways that animals mate and rear their young, drawing parallels to our own human condition. Her most recent book, “Wild Moms”, published in 2018, focuses on the post-coital side of reproduction, which is all about the survival of offspring, a responsibility that falls most heavily on the shoulders of females.   

And if she wasn’t busy enough, she still holds an adjunct professorship at the University of Fraser Valley in British Columbia and leads expeditions to Borneo to help citizen scientists discover new species.   In our interview, we spoke about how she went from a crayfish biologist to stay-at-home mom to television host, what humans can learn about sex from animals, whether humans were designed for monogamy and much more.

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**  

Wild Sex (Book) https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Sex-Science-Behind-Kingdom/dp/1681771667  

Wild Sex (YouTube series) https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLprl6grN2nB2DhNqJccISirm7KdZQ30o1   

Wild Moms  https://www.amazon.com/Wild-Moms-Motherhood-Animal-Kingdom/dp/1681776650/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=wild+moms&qid=1585503565&sr=8-2  

Sex At Dawn  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B007679QTG/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1  

Carin's Website http://carinbondar.com  

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Anthony David is Director of the University of College London Institute of Mental Health. For twenty-eight years he was a consultant psychiatrist at the Maudsley Hospital in London. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and the Academy of Medical Sciences. His new book, "Into the Abyss: A Neuropsychiatrists Notes on Madness", explores several of his most challenging cases and examines the biological, psychological and sociological roots of mental illness.   

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE** 

 Into the Abyss: A Neuropsychiatrists Notes on Madness https://www.amazon.com/Into-Abyss-neuropsychiatrists-notes-troubled-ebook/dp/B07XYFZ2QB/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=into+the+abyss+anthony+david&qid=1582817823&sr=8-1 

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Brian D. Earp is a cross-disciplinary academic whose work draws on philosophy, cognitive science, psychology, history of science and medicine, and ethics. He is the Associate Director of the Yale-Hastings Program in Ethics and Health Policy at Yale University and Research Fellow in the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics at the University of Oxford. His new book, "Love Drugs: The Chemical Future of Relationships", builds a case for conducting research into drugs that affect the emotion we call love and explores the ethical implications for individuals and society.   

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**  

Love Drugs: The Chemical Future of Relationships https://www.amazon.com/Love-Drugs-Chemical-Future-Relationships/dp/0804798192  

An un-consenting child, an unnecessary, invasive surgery: is there any moral difference between male and female circumcision? https://aeon.co/essays/are-male-and-female-circumcision-morally-equivalent  

A quick intro to the Integral Theory of philosopher Ken Wilber  
https://www.dailyevolver.com/theory/  

Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World" (video summary): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raqVySPrDUE  

Parental Investment Theory and Sexual Selection (Trivers, 1972)  http://www.roberttrivers.com/Robert_Trivers/Publications_files/Trivers%201972.pdf  

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Mark Changizi is an evolutionary theorist, author, and entrepreneur. His work focuses on the ultimate foundations underlying why we think, feel and see as we do. He has made important discoveries such as why we see in color, why we see illusions, why we have forward-facing eyes, why the brain is structured as it is, why animals have as many limbs and fingers as they do, why the dictionary is organized as it is, why fingers get pruney when wet, where emotional expressions came from, and how we acquired writing, language and music.  He has authored more than three dozen scientific journal articles and written three other books on his research, "The Brain from 25,000 Feet", "The Vision Revolution", and "Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man." He is working on his fifth non-fiction book on emotions and facial expressions, called "The Poker Origins of Emotional Expressions."   

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**DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE**  

Mark's paper on pruney fingers
https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/328223  

Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man
https://www.amazon.com/Harnessed-Language-Mimicked-Nature-Transformed-dp-1935618539/dp/1935618539/  

Language acquisition device (LAD)  
https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803100051869  

Evolution of red-green color vision (link to Mark's TEDx talk)  
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MWl58r4ZBk  

Vino Optics  
https://www.vino.vi/

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David A. Steen is a wildlife biologist who specializes in snakes and other "creepie crawlies." He is the author of the award-winning science blog Living Alongside Wildlife where he writes about natural history, ecology, and his own research. He's also been called the "best biologist on Twitter", using his presence on the platform to help people identify reptiles in their environment and debunk common wildlife myths, particularly about snakes. He explores many of these myths in his new book, "Secrets of Snakes" published this fall by Texas A&M Press.   

In this episode, we spoke to David about how to ID venomous snakes, the top three myths he’d like to dispel and whether daredevil personalities like Coyote Peterson and Steve Irwin help or hurt wildlife....and much more!    

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**RELATED LINKS**  

David's Website  
https://davidasteen.com   

Living Alongside Wildlife blog  
https://livingalongsidewildlife.com/  

David on Twitter  
https://twitter.com/AlongsideWild  

"Secrets of Snakes" book  https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Snakes-Science-Natural-History/dp/1623497973   

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A little over a week ago, Google announced they had achieved something called “quantum supremacy”, a powerful new way of computing that makes use of quantum principles. 

Google claims it's quantum processor can tackle a really difficult computational problem in about two and a half minutes--a task that would take the fastest classical supercomputer about 10,000 years. 

Researchers at IBM have contested that estimate and dialed it back to only two and half days. Whatever the true number is, we know Google’s processor is really fast--faster than any other computer preceding it and powered by quantum technology.

Our guest in this episode, science writer George Musser, helps us unpack what quantum means and how quantum computing works. George has been writing about astronomy and physics, for over 25 years. He’s a contributing editor at Scientific American magazine and author of the book “Spooky Action at a Distance” all about the strange phenomena called quantum entanglement. 

**More to explore**

George's article on AI and quantum computing for Quanta
https://www.quantamagazine.org/job-one-for-quantum-computers-boost-artificial-intelligence-20180129/

George's website
http://spookyactionbook.com 

Quantum entanglement videos for Scientific American
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z34ugMy1QaA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM3GOXaci7w

The Integral Theory of Ken Wilber 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integral_theory_(Ken_Wilber)

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There is a growing body of scientific literature about video games. Not how their made, but how they impact our brains and our lives. Researchers are looking at questions like: do violent video games make us more violent in real life? Can games be addictive? Or, how much time sitting in front of the screen is really good for us?

Our guest in this episode, psychology professor Pete Etchells, has taken an in-depth look at the research around video games in his new book, “Lost In a Good Game: Why We Play Video Games and What They Can Do for Us.”

We talked about some common concerns parents, in particular, have about so-called screen time. The positive impact video games can have on our lives, including a touching personal story of Pete’s. And we spent a good deal of time talking about the common pitfalls of psychology research, which not only affect the study of video games, but literally every other sub-discipline of psychology.

Links:

Pete's website: https://www.peteetchells.com/

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