We have guest Carl Zimmer returning to the show, with his new book Life’s Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive. He first joined on episode 207 of the show to discuss his previous book She Has Her Mother’s Laugh, and has written numerous books in the science category.
Carl is “a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. The author of many books, he contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times, Discover, and National Geographic. He is a fellow at Yale University’s Morse College and adjunct professor of molecular biophysics and biochemistry at Yale University. Zimmer also gives frequent lectures and has appeared on many radio shows, including National Public Radio’s Radiolab, Fresh Air, and This American Life.”
What kind of power does ethics hold, and does the law lag behind where ethics can be in the current moment? What kind of ethical questions should we ask ourselves before making important decisions? Dr. Susan Liautaud covers these topics in her latest book The Power of Ethics: How to Make Good Choices in a Complicated World.
Dr. Susan Liautaud teaches cutting-edge ethics courses at Stanford University, serves as Chair of Council of the London School of Economics and Political Science, and is the founder of the nonprofit platform The Ethics Incubator. She is also the founder and managing director of Susan Liautaud & Associates Limited, which advises clients from global corporations to NGOs on complex ethics matters.
She holds a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science; a JD from Columbia University Law School; a M.A. in Chinese Studies from University of London School of Oriental and African Studies; and a M.A. and two B.A.s from Stanford University. Susan also serves on the advisory board of the McCoy Family Center for Ethics in Society at Stanford.
Can we as people come together to think beyond the short term? Do we have the capacity to make a decade or two from now as important as next week? It is up to us to go “Beyond a Near-term Orientation”, and that is what Bentoism is about. It was created by Yancey Strickler, co-founder of Kickstarter, and author of This Could Be Our Future: A Manifesto for a More Generous World.
“Yancey is a Distinguished Fellow at the Drucker Institute and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. He cofounded the artist resource The Creative Independent, the record label eMusic Selects, and is an angel investor in startups including Hopin, Mati, Realtime, System, and Wren. Yancey began his career as a music critic in New York City writing for Pitchfork, Spin, and The Village Voice, and grew up on a farm in Clover Hollow, Virginia. He lives with his family in Vancouver, British Columbia.”
Welcome to episode 295 of the show, the first of 2021, with Professor Mauro F. Guillén. As a future-oriented person, discussing the upcoming trends leading us toward 10 years from now is something I am interested in. These trends are covered in 2030: How Today’s Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything.
Professor Guillen is “a Spanish/American sociologist, political economist, management educator, Zandman Professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Director of the Penn Lauder Center for International Business Education and Research.”
As well, “An expert on global market trends, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic, and technological developments. His online classes on Coursera and edX have attracted over 100,000 participants from around the world.”
Welcome to episode 293 of the show, with Professor Richard Coss of the University of California, Davis. From his educational transitions to life transitions, he has covered a variety of disciplines, and looks at key elements of animal behavior and predator activity.
Of his biography, “Dr. Coss is an emeritus professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, and a faculty member of UC Davis’ Graduate Group in Animal Behavior and Graduate Group in Ecology. Dr. Coss serves as a member of a number of professional organizations, including the Animal Behavior Society, the International Society for Ecological Psychology, and the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology. Dr. Coss also served on the Editorial Advisory Board for Behavioral and Neural Biology.”
From his description, “Dr. Coss has two primary research interests, both of which emphasize evolutionary constraints on perceptual and cognitive processes in humans and other species. The first research area examines issues in the behavioral ecology of small mammals. His research typically examines population differences, predator-prey relations, habitat perception, and social communication. Behavioral development in field and laboratory conditions is a consistent theme throughout his experimental studies; Pthis developmental theme is sometimes complemented with neuro-biological measures. The second program of study concentrates on the development of aesthetic preferences and how these preferences are constrained by human evolutionary history. Research on this topic emphasizes visual perception and creativity and often includes cross-cultural comparisons.”
Hello to all of you, and welcome to episode 292 of the show, with Professor John Harte of The Harte Lab at UC Berkeley. Focusing on biodiversity, climate change, complex systems, ecology, and policy analysis, Professor Harte and his lab members tackle a range of issues.
Professor Harte is an ecologist and Professor of the Graduate School in the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. “Harte received his B.A. from Harvard University in 1961 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Wisconsin in 1965. He was an Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University from 1968-1973. During his time at Yale, he transitioned into the study of theoretical ecology, and joined the UC Berkeley faculty as an ecologist in the Energy and Resources Group in 1973.”
“His work spans a range of scales, from plot to landscape to global, and utilizes field manipulation experiments, the study of patterns in nature, and mathematical modeling. Two specific goals are to understand the nature and causes of patterns in the distribution and abundance of species and to understand the extent to which ecosystem responses to climate change may result in feedbacks to climate that can either ameliorate or exacerbate global warming. An overarching goal of his research is to understand the interdependence of human well-being and the health of ecosystems.”
Where will virtual therapeutics take healthcare in upcoming years? Dr. Brennan Spiegel, MD, MSHS, gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai, writes about this in his book VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine. Directing the Center for Outcomes Research and Education at Cedars, he guides investigation of the application of digital health technologies, which include wearable biosensors, smartphone applications, virtual reality and social media.
Dr. Spiegel is editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Gastroenterology, the leading clinical gastroenterology journal in North America. He has also published “numerous best-selling medical textbooks, editorials and more than 200 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is listed in the Onalytica ‘Top 100 Influencer’ lists for digital health (No. 13) and virtual reality (No. 14). His digital health research has been featured by major media outlets, including NBC News, PBS, Forbes, Bloomberg, NPR and Reuters.”
Fear is a driving force for much of the population, and Dr. Daniel T. Blumstein speaks about fear in his book The Nature of Fear: Survival Lessons from the Wild, released by Harvard University Press. Looking at marmots, snakes, and a variety of animals, in regards to their fear responses and biochemical adjustments, allows us to understand and manage our own fears.
Professor Blumstein runs the Blumstein lab at UCLA in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology College. Project topics at the lab include evolution of social behavior and communication, antipredator vigilance, climate change and population biology, conservation behavior, biological impacts of tourism, and many more.
From Wikipedia, Professor Blumstein is also “… a professor for the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability [at UCLA]. He has authored or co-authored over 300 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals. Furthermore, he authored the book The Failure of Environmental Education (and How We Can Fix It) with Charles Saylan, which was featured in the 2011 “Summer Reading: 7 Education Books to Take to the Beach” in Time Magazine. Because of his work in conservation and education, he was invited to join the panel at the first ever United States White House conference on environmental education.
Blumstein earned a PhD in animal behavior in 1994 and a MS in animal behavior in 1990, both from the University of California, Davis. He earned a BA in environmental, population, and organismic biology as well as environmental conservation from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1986.”
We spoke about marmot research, fear response, nonlinearities in sound, projects his lab is working on, sections from the book, how fear response is looked at, and more.
Past guests mentioned in this episode, and the topic with which they were brought up:
We are joined on episode 286 of the show by guest Robert Bilott. He is an environmental attorney at Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP. He is the author of Exposure: Poisoned Water, Corporate Greed, and One Lawyer’s Twenty-Year Battle against DuPont, which was then turned into the 2019 film Dark Waters.
From his bio, Robert is “A seasoned and internationally-recognized litigator, advocate, and author, Rob represents a diverse range of clients on a wide variety of matters involving federal, state, and local environmental laws. For more than 29 years, he has handled environmental issues of regulatory compliance, permitting, and corporate/real estate transactions, as well as all aspects of litigation arising from such issues, from administrative hearings to multi-party, complex multi-district litigation, mass torts, and class actions.”
Show notes:
Robert’s background becoming an environmental attorney and progressing in the field
Dark Waters and its representation of Robert’s extended battle with Dupont regarding PFOAs and related chemicals
the difference in impact of his book and the film
the details of the case against Dupont
some personality traits that match with being an environmental attorney
Glad to have you all on here for episode 285 – this one is a treat because it includes visuals of the paintings, sculptures, clothing, and crystals created and procured by Dr. Robby Gordon, who has created the Hollywood Gallery and Sculpture Garden. These entities are packed with artistic works of his own, along with those of many others who he knows of.
Dr. Robby Gordon studied art at the University of California Irvine, Irvine Valley College, and Golden West. He also studied at the University of Bologna and UCLA. He spent his first 21 years in Israel, subsequently moving to Europe, where he studied and became increasingly involved in the art world.
The Hollywood Sculpture Garden as seen at night
Show notes:
Robby’s background as an artist, and some of the various works he has created
how long it took him to set up his gallery in the form that it is, and how he has kept at it daily
some of the countries he has been to, and the culture and artistic sense acquired from those regions
the things he looked for in the residence he would later use to host the gallery, and how it is necessary to pin down what is important to you in life
keeping things varied in terms of types of artistic works made, and how Robby has created in so many styles, such that he takes on a category until he feels like it is on to the next one
the many crystals and rocks that he showcases in his facility
a video walk-through of his gallery, narrated by Robby and recorded by myself
Having Robby on the show, and recording the episode in person, was a nice change of pace for the content. You can check out the Hollywood Gallery and Sculpture Garden website.
