From 2004, Milt talks with popular physicist and cosmologist Brian Greene about his book The Fabric of the Cosmos.

We’re joined by Virginia Morell, a science writer and author of the new book Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures. We talk with Morell about animal emotion, feeling and consciousness – and whether any of those actually exist! It’s a fascinating discussion we thoroughly enjoyed.

That title is literally true. Over 90 percent of what actually is there can’t be seen. Thus, astrophysicists and cosmologists now speak of “dark energy” and “dark matter” which together account for the continuing and eternal expansion of the universe until everything will be too far away to be seen at all. This kind of thing does, perhaps, reduce American politics and troubles to their comparative triviality. Our guide to the universe in this broadcast is Michael Turner,  the discoverer of dark energy and a man who talks about cosmology with enough excitement and lucidity to create the illusion, at least, of comprehension in his listeners.

Phillip Ball, a great British historian of science, joins us to discuss Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Hooke, Giambattista della Porta and the many others who made the Scientific Revolution. All are included in his book Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything. What moved and sustained them all was curiosity, a human compulsion that was not fully allowed until the 17th century.

We’re joined today by Jayson Lusk, a professor of agricultural economics at Oklahoma State University and author of the new book The Food Police: A Well-Fed Manifesto About the Politics of Your Plate.

In his book, Lusk looks at the emerging industry of “experts” that are hell-bent on telling you what to eat and when to eat it. Some of the topics we cover include the banning of certain types of food, eating organic, and genetically modified-foods. Enjoy!