Something You Should Know about Science

October 9, 2012

Interview with Lawrence Joseph, author of the book Solar Cataclysm: How the Sun Shaped the Past and What We Can Do to Save Our Future

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Mike Carruthers:
The sun is seemingly a constant in our lives but on closer examination it’s really anything but. In fact…

Lawrence Joseph:
The sun is good for us the sun is bad for us. The sun sustains us the sun destroys us.
 

May 22, 2012

Interview with Paul J. Zak, author of the book The Moral Molecule: The Source of Love and Prosperity

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Mike Carruthers:
Oxytocin it’s a hormone released by the brain that promotes care and connection with others.

Paul J. Zak:
Turn up the oxytocin and all of a sudden I’m treating strangers like family and by and large they’re going to reciprocate with me - turn it down and all of a sudden I get a selfish behavior, aggressive behavior.
 

January 30, 2012

Interview with Winifred Gallagher, author of the book New: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change

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Mike Carruthers:
Unlike any other species on the planet human beings crave novelty and change.

Winifred Gallagher:
We are natures novelty specialists who are primed both biologically and psychologically to engage with the new and different and to adjust to change.
 

August 16, 2011

Interview with Mark Changizi, author of the book Harnessed: How Language and Music Mimicked Nature and Transformed Ape to Man

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Mike Carruthers:
Humans have excellent color vision and it’s long been thought we have that to help us find food in the wild in order to survive.

Mark Changizi:
And I was able to provide evidence that “no” your color vision is in fact really peculiar and it’s turned out to be optimized for seeing blood in the skin.