Tag Archives: Science / Technology

First, scientists have made fascinating discoveries on how animals communicate. Birdsongs are more than music; they are warnings of danger understood by many species. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Erick Greene, Professor of Biological Sciences at University of Montana. He has published numerous papers in ornithology, the latest in collaboration with the Cornell labs of Ornithology

Then, companies like Uber, Google and AirBnb claim to be civil rights leaders, but they are introducing a new form of corporate lawlessness? [ dur: 28 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Siva Vaidhyanathan, Professor of Media Studies at University of Virginia. Author of “The Googlization of Everything: (And Why We Should Worry)“. His articles at Slate can be found here. He co-authored an opinion piece on Guardian UK newspaper with Frank Pasquale ( author of Black Box Society: The Secret Algorithms that Control Money and Information (Harvard University Press, 2015) Uber and the lawlessness of ‘sharing economy’ corporates

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Big Science insight -/- Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen – August 13, 2017

August 13, 2017 host

The birth of what we know as big science. The big money supported, cross institution collaborations that have supported both medicine and weaponry. How did science and government get so entrenched with industry, and one another? And what have been the results? Michael Hiltzik is the author of Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military Industrial Complex. [ dur: 28 mins. ]

Michael Hiltzik is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author. He has been writing for the Los Angeles Times for three decades and is currently the Times’ Business Columnist. He is the author of many books including, The New Deal: A Modern History; The Plot Against Social Security, and his latest Big Science: Ernest Lawrence and the Invention That Launched the Military Industrial Complex.

Yemen is facing one of the worst humanitarian crisis on earth. How did it get to this? And what should be done? [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Charles Schmitz is professor of Geography at Towson University in Baltimore, Maryland. He is an Affiliated Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington DC. He has authored articles “Negotiating Yemeni Peace: Deep Divisions and Hard Realities”, “No Winners in Yemen” and co-authored Historical Dictionary of Yemen.
Hammoud Salhi is Professor and Dean of Undergraduate Studies at Cal State Dominguez Hills. He is a host of SWANA Region Radio on KPFK in Los Angeles. He is a commentator for Arabic media.

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Promoting GMO to Mexico by US State Department Diplomats -/- Effects of UK and France Elections – June 18, 2017

June 17, 2017 host

Is the US State Department using its diplomatic efforts to push genetically modified foods into other countries? Our guest says yes. She traced US multi-pronged effort to persuade Mexico to allow genetically modified foods.[ dur: 23 mins. ]

Yadira Ixchel Martínez Pantoja, PhD candidate in Politics and International Relations at the University of Auckland. Her recent paper is titled, United States promotion of GM foods: the use of public diplomacy strategies and instruments to target government agencies in Mexico.

Then, what will the elections in UK and France mean for the geopolitics with the US and the world? We’ll explore what may be in the global political forecast. [ dur: 35 mins. ]

Jeroen Dewulf is Associate Professor in the Department of German, Director of the Institute of European Studies, and Director of the Dutch Studies Program at University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of The Pinkster King and the King of Kongo: The Forgotten History of America’s Dutch-Owned Slaves and Spirit of Resistance: Dutch Clandestine Literature during the Nazi Occupation.
Patrick Chamorel is Senior Resident Scholar at the Stanford University Center in Washington DC. He is the author of article Now it’s France’s Turn, Aspirations and Reality: French foreign policy and the 2012 elections, and the book chapter Anti-Europeanism and Euroskeptisicm in the United States
Mark Amsler is Director of the Europe Institute at the University of Auckland and Professor of Languages. He is the author of Affective Literacies: Writing and Multilingualism in the Later Middle Ages.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Discoveries about x and y chromosomes -/- Celebrity Industrial Complex – May 28, 2017

May 28, 2017 host

First, scientific discoveries about x and y chromosomes are challenging what we know about what makes us male or female. [ dur: 16 mins. ]

Jeremy Nathans is Professor of molecular biology and genetics, neuroscience and ophthalmology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. His discoveries have changed our understanding of how humans see the world. link to Professor Jeremy Nathan’s lab
Melissa Wilson Sayres is Professor in the School of Life Sciences and The Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University. Her research interests are in sex chromosome evolution, sex-biased processes, population genetics, and comparative genomics. Melissa Wilson Sayres research papers

Then, on the Scholars’ Circle panel, what is the celebrity industrial complex? How does it impact our democracies, our culture and society? [ dur: 43 mins. ]

Joshua Gamson is a Professor of Sociology at the University of San Francisco. He is the author of The Fabulous Sylvester: The Legend, The Music, The Seventies in San Francisco, Freaks Talk Back: Tabloid Talk Shows and Sexual Nonconformity and Claims to Fame: Celebrity in Contemporary America.
David Gilles is a Professor in Media Psychology at the University of Winchester. He is the author of Psychology of the media, Media psychology and Illusions of immortality: A psychology of fame and celebrity.
P. David Marshall is a Professor and Chair in New Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Deakin University, Australia. He is the author of Celebrity and Power: Fame in Contemporary Culture, New Media Cultures and The Celebrity Culture Reader.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Solutions to Climate Change -/- Ways Biology affects Free Will – April 16, 2017

April 15, 2017 host

With unprecedented global warming, wealth disparities and peak everything, we need to act now to meet the power, heating and transportation needs of growing populations, and to do so sustainably, equitably and democratically. What are the obstacles? What are possible solutions? How do we build resilient communities? [ dur: 44mins. ]

Steve Matthewman is a professor of sociology at the University of Auckland. She is the author of Disasters, Risks and Revelation: Making Sense of Our Times and Being Sociological.
Julie MacArthur is a senior lecturer in politics and international relations at the University of Auckland. She is the author of Empowering Electricity: Co-operatives, Sustainability, and Power Sector Reform in Canada (Sustainability and the Environment).
Prue Taylor is a senior lecturer in environmental and planning law at the University of Auckland, Deputy Director of the New Zealand Centre for Environmental Law. She is the author of An Ecological Approach to International Law: Responding to the Challenges of Climate Change
Manuel Vallee is a lecturer in environmental sociology at the University of Auckland. He is a co-author of Resilience, Environmental Justice and the City

We end with the question, is our behavior free will or is it partly due to parasites? New science shows how parasites change behaviors throughout the animal kingdom. What does that mean for human behavior? [ dur: 14 mins. ]

Dr. Dickson Despommier is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University. He is the author of The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century and People, Parasites, and Plowshares: Learning From Our Body’s Most Terrifying Invaders.
Patrick House is Neuroscientist at Stanford University. He is the co-author of Predator Cat Odors Acdivate Sexual Arousal Pathways in Brains of Toxoplasma Gondii infected Rats.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – 7 Earth like planets detected -/- Secret heroes in American history -/- UN during Donald Trump Presidency – March 5, 2017

March 4, 2017 host

In first for 3 segments, we speak with James G. Ingalls a Staff Scientist at the Spitzer Space Telescope / Science Center, and a member of the InfraRed Spectrograph Instrument Support Team that discovered the seven earthlike planets orbiting a dwarf star. [ dur: 12mins. ]

James G. Ingalls is Staff Scientist at the Spitzer Space Telescope / Science Center, and a member of the InfraRed Spectrograph Instrument Support Team. He is co-author of Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1.

Then, secret heroes. We know the role of presidents and other leaders in shaping history, however we hear little about the unsung heroes; many who have risked their lives to liberate and rescue others. Who might some of those secret heroes be? We are joined by Paul Martin author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World. [ dur: 14mins. ]

Paul Martin is writer, editor and journalist., He is the author of Secret Heroes: Everyday Americans Who Shaped Our World and Villains, Scoundrels, and Rogues.

Finally, what does the election of Trump mean for the United Nations? [ dur: 33mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Stephen Hoadley is a Professor of Politics and International Relations at The University of Auckland. He is the author of, Asian Security Reassessed, New Zealand and France: Politics, Diplomacy and Dispute Management, and Soldiers and Politics in South East Asia.
Mark Eugene Amsler is a Professor in Cultures, Languages and Linguistics and Director of the Europe Institute at the University of Auckland, He is the author of Effective Literacies: Writing and Multilingualism in the Later Middle Ages.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Melting glaciers and ice sheets -/- Insight into Addiction and it’s treatment – February 26, 2017

February 24, 2017 host

First, climate change, receding glaciers and melting ice sheets are causing the oceans to rise dramatically. What does that mean for the world’s coastal cities? [ dur: 15mins. ]

Andrea Dutton is a Professor of Geological Sciences at the University of Florida. She is the co-author of Tropical Tales of Polar Ice:Evidence of Last Interglacial Polar Ice Sheet Retreat Recorded by Fossil Reefs of the Granitic Seychelles Island published in Quaternary Science Reviews.
Brian Fagan is Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is the author of The Attacking Ocean: The Past, Present, and Future of Rising Sea Levels, Elixir: A History of Water and Humankind and The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations

Then, on The Scholars’ Circle panel, science contradicts long held societal myths about addiction. What are the most effective means of addressing addiction? [ dur: 43mins. ]

Dr. Lance Dodes is a former Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. He is the author of The Heart of Addiction: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors, Breaking Addiction: A 7-Step Handbook for Ending Any Addiction and The Sober Truth: Debunking the Bad Science Behind 12-Step Programs and the Rehab Industry.
Dr. Jeffrey Foote is the Co-founder and Clinical Director of the Center For Motivation and Change. Previously, he was the Deputy Director of the Division of Alcohol Treatment and Research at Mt. Sinai Medical Center and a Senior Research Associate at The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. He is the co-author of Beyond Addiction: How Science and Kindness Help People Change.
Dr. Adi Jaffe is a lecturer at UCLA and the Co-Founder and Executive Director at Alternatives Addiction Treatment.

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Consumer Choice -/- Earth, Science and Religion – February 12, 2017

February 11, 2017 host

First, how most of what we buy and consume helps create wars, prop up dictatorships and systems of oppression, and some ways to start changing this. [ dur: 27 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Leif Wenar is Chair of Philosophy and Law at King’s College London. He is the author of Blood Oil: Tyrants, Violence and the Rules That Run the World. Leif Wenar website

Then, how might Big History change our thinking about the role of humanity in the history of the earth and the convergence of science and religion. [ dur: 30 mins. ]

Jonathan Markley is Associate Professor of History at California State University, Fullerton. He is part of the Big History movement and has been featured in many television episodes related to it. Big History Project website

Find book authored by our guest scholars on this Book Shelf .

This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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Scholars' Circle Interviews

Scholars’ Circle – Propaganda in democratic society -/- Silencing science, how and why – January 22, 2017

January 21, 2017 host

First, how does propaganda work, particularly in democratic settings? This is part 1 of 2 part interview with Professor Jason Stanley. ( Hear Part 2 )[ dur: 26 mins. ]

Jason Stanley is Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of How Propaganda Works , Know How and Knowledge and Practical Interests (Lines of Thought).

Then, what are the ways that science is being silenced? and to what end? We get insight from Professor Shaun Hendy. [ dur: 32 mins. ]

For a transcript of this interview, please visit: TheBigQ

Shaun Hendy, Professor of Physics at University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of Silencing Science.

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This program is produced with generous contribution from Ankine Aghassian, Melissa Chiprin, Tim Page, Mike Hurst and Sudd Dongre.

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The Scholars' Circle Interviews

Tag Archives: Science / Technology

Scholars’ Circle – Bird Songs -/- New Form of Corporate Lawlessness – August 27, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Big Science insight -/- Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen – August 13, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Promoting GMO to Mexico by US State Department Diplomats -/- Effects of UK and France Elections – June 18, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Insight into Solutions to Climate Change -/- Ways Biology affects Free Will – April 16, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – 7 Earth like planets detected -/- Secret heroes in American history -/- UN during Donald Trump Presidency – March 5, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Consumer Choice -/- Earth, Science and Religion – February 12, 2017

Scholars’ Circle – Propaganda in democratic society -/- Silencing science, how and why – January 22, 2017

By Maria Armoudian