American Museum of Natural History Podcast

How and why do the same genes work differently in different people? What causes a gene to be turned “on” or “off” and how can that affect disease risk? In this SciCafe, join geneticist Tuuli Lappalainen from the New York Genome Center to understand how genetic variants shape how our genes are expressed, and how her lab is seeking to uncover the “rules” of human variation. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on June 3, 2015.

“Not too hot, not too cold” is how scientists typically describe an ideal planet for life as we know it. Finding so-called Goldilocks planets and evidence of life beyond Earth is a goal of science agencies worldwide. Launched in March 2009, NASA's Kepler Spacecraft is exploring the diversity of planets and planetary systems orbiting other stars. In this podcast, Kepler mission scientist Natalie Batalha describes the endeavor’s latest discoveries and the possibilities for finding inhabited environments in the not-so-distant future. This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on May 11, 2015.

Does the fact that we're humans bias the way we look at our fossilized ancestors? In this podcast, Curator emeritus Ian Tattersall argues that a long tradition of "human exceptionalism" in paleoanthropology has distorted the picture of evolution. He leads us through a world of discoveries, beginning with Charles Darwin 150 years ago, continuing through the Leakey dynasty in Africa, and concluding with the latest astonishing findings in the Caucasus. With tact and humor, Tattersall concludes that we are not the perfected products of natural processes, but rather the result of substantial doses of random happenstance. This lecture took place at the Museum on June 9, 2015.

During the Revolutionary War, Colonel Louis Cook was both the highest-ranking African American officer and Native American officer, yet his name is not often one we associate with those battles. In this podcast, join curator Peter Whiteley for an exploration of the life of this exceptional man, who deserves a more prominent place in American history. This lecture took place at the Museum on April 14, 2015.

Normally, when you think of venomous things, you imagine snakes, spiders, or scorpions - not snails. But in this SciCafe, Mandë Holford, a research associate at the Museum and Associate Professor of chemical biology at Hunter College, discusses her research into the relatively unknown predatory marine snails, such as cone snails, the toxins they produce in their venom, and how those toxins are being used in the search for new medicines for pain and cancer. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on May 6, 2016.

Black holes are the most exotic objects thought to exist in the universe, but no one has ever seen one. In this podcast, Shep Doeleman, scientist and Assistant Director of the Haystack Observatory at MIT, will explore the evidence for black holes, and describe an effort to link radio dishes around the world to form an Earth-sized virtual telescope that will make the first images of the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way. This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on April 13, 2015.

Earth is the only place in our solar system with liquid water on its surface. Even though water makes up only 0.03 percent of the Earth’s total mass, it covers 70 percent of the planet’s surface. Where did this water come from? Why is it mostly in liquid form? Is water essential to all life in the universe—or just to life on Earth? Will we ever run out? In this podcast, listen in on a discussion between a panel of experts, including Heidi Hammel, Executive Vice President of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy; Tess Russo, a hydrologist at Pennsylvania State University; Ellen Stofan, planetary geologist and Chief Scientist of NASA; Kathryn Sullivan, a geologist at NOAA; and Charles Wald, a retired general from the U.S. Air Force. Host and moderator Neil deGrasse Tyson, Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, leads this lively conversation on the past, present, and future of water.The 2015 Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate took place at the Museum on April 28, 2015.

In the fall of 2014, a team of vertebrate specialists from the Museum headed to one of the most remote areas in the world in search of new species and specimens on the Explore21 Papua New Guinea expedition. In this SciCafe, Brett Benz, Paul Sweet, and Christopher Raxworthy talk about the discoveries they made, as well as the adventures they had along the way. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on March 3, 2015.

In the fall of 2014, a team of vertebrate specialists from the Museum headed to one of the most remote areas in the world in search of new species and specimens on the Explore21 Papua New Guinea expedition. In this SciCafe, Brett Benz, Paul Sweet, and Christopher Raxworthy talk about the discoveries they made, as well as the adventures they had along the way. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on March 3, 2015.

What happens when a star explodes? How do we study a phenomenon that happens huge distances away in space and far back in time? In this podcast, Alicia Soderberg, an astronomer at Harvard University, reviews new results from Harvard’s Supernova Forensics team that increase what we know about supernovas, using new techniques that mine Earth for data, as well as studying the stars themselves. This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on March 9, 2015.

Every year, scientists are learning more and more about the human microbiome, the collection of microorganisms and bacteria that live in and on our bodies. But what about our “macrobiomes” – the microorganism communities that live in our environments? In this SciCafe, geneticist Chris Mason talks about his desire to get the gene sequence of every thing and place he sees, and the ways in which we can use the information we get from our bodies as well as our environments. This SciCafe took place at the Museum on February 4, 2015.

How did Charles Darwin develop his theory of evolution by natural selection? Now you can follow the thought process that gave rise to the field of modern biology through rare documents made accessible online. The Museum's Darwin Manuscripts Project is in the final phase of digitizing the naturalist's notes and manuscripts written between 1835 and 1882, a body of work that traces how the theory took shape from his voyage on the Beagle to shortly before his death. In this podcast, listen to a presentation on Darwin's manuscripts and legacy, with Darwin's great-great grandson Randal Keynes, James Costa, a field biologist and historian of evolution from West Carolina University, and David Kohn, director of the Museum's Darwin Manuscripts Project. This program took place at the Museum on February 10, 2015.

Astronomers are investigating the new frontiers of dark matter and dark energy, critical to understanding the cosmos but of uncertain economic promise to society. Astrophysicist and scholar Martin Harwit addresses these current challenges in view of competing national priorities - and he proposes alternative new approaches to the search for the true Universe. This lecture took place at the Hayden Planetarium on December 8, 2014.

What does it take to defeat infectious diseases in the 21st century? In this podcast, former President Jimmy Carter and Museum Curator Mark Siddall join Dr. Jane Carlton, director of the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology at New York University, and Dr. Donald Hopkins, vice president of health programs at The Carter Center for a dynamic conversation about the science and politics of disease eradication. Learn more about the elimination of diseases in the Museum exhibition Countdown to Zero: Defeating Disease, which opened at the Museum on January 13, 2015. This lecture took place at the Museum on January 12, 2015.

America's most popular spectator sport, football, has never been more under "the microscope." In this SciCafe, scientist and author Ainissa Ramirez explores the science behind football, touching on topics that range from how Vince Lombardi was a game theorist to why woodpeckers don't get concussions.This SciCafe took place at the Museum on January 7, 2015.