Category: Conversations on Science and Society

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

Standard Podcast [ 28:03 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

If you’re intending to wander in to an electronics or appliance store this
holiday season, you may think that they speak a different language there –
and they do: it’s called acronymeze. Don’t worry, though, with your handy
copy of this version of the Electronic Cottage, you’ll be able to decipher
what all those acronyms mean. Sadly, you’ll still have to haggle about the
price yourself.

Standard Podcast [ 29:37 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Producer/host: Jim Campbell

Do you always reach for the “anti-bacterial” dish soap at the supermarket? If so, that might not be such a great idea. There are many kinds of bacteria, and many of those are of great use to us humans. Those that cause us trouble are only helped by our overuse of antibacterial drugs and substances. Kate Boettcher knows all about such things, and so will we after listening to this edition of Conversations on Science and Society.

Standard Podcast [ 27:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Topic:
Have you ever gone on an airplane trip to a place many time zones away, and for a few days after you arrived, felt a bit out of sync with your surroundings?
Or maybe you have a difficult time adjusting to the vastly different amounts of light available in a Maine summer and winter – and this is the time of year you really begin to notice it.
These feelings are a natural physical result of biological clocks built into our systems. Alan Rosenwater is our guest, and he has spent decades studying the phenomenon of circadian rhythms in animals and people.

Producer/Host: Jim Campbell
Topic: Although it isn’t true that “on the Internet, no one knows you’re a dog”, many people think it is. So how does the sense of anonymity affect how people act online? Do people have different ethical standards for online and in-person behavior? That is a question that Sissela Bok begins this program with, and her reflections are sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing. She is the author of a number of books on contemporary moral issues, and none is more contemporary than this one.

Excerpts from a presentation on China’s energy use made by Matt Simmons at the Camden Conference in Maine in February 2006. Simmons is an investment banker specializing in energy, founder and Chairman of Simmons and Co. International, a board member of the Atlantic Council of the USA and member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He has studied China and travels there frequently.

He gives his analysis of the development of China’s energy “appetite” and the impacts it will have on us all.

Host: Jim Campbell

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