Category: Transcript Samples

Transcript: TWIS.org Nov 4, 2010

Kirsten: This show was brought to you by listeners like you and your contributions. We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks.

Justin: Disclaimer. Disclaimer. Disclaimer. The following hour of programming is not a part of a clandestine operations sponsored by secretive governmental departments or intelligence agencies to covertly strengthen the scientific awareness and critical thinking capabilities of freedom loving people.

It is not funded by any nation’s military or insurgent guerillas with the intention of making you a more secure person and you’re understanding of the world. Listening is not enforced by or mandated by any law, statute, or men with guns.

No part of this program was conducted by or supported through a charitable organization of citizens concerned with the state of science literacy in this country. What the following hour is not says as much about what it is, as we will say on This Week in Science. Coming up next.

Justin: Hello and good morning Kirsten!
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Transcript: TWIS.org Oct 13, 2009

Justin This show is brought to you by you, the listener, and other people like you who listen. We couldn’t do this show if it wasn’t for you listening because then we’d just be talking to ourselves. So thank you.

Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

There are, by my own account, only two ways of being in the world: as though it is the first day or as if it is the last. If it is the last day, then what we do now has little consequence for tomorrow never comes. Our debt is reasonable, we can spend well beyond our means; for tomorrow never comes. Our use of natural resources does not need to be sustained beyond today for tomorrow never comes.

The climate of the earth, pfft! If it’s suitable today is all that you’re concerned with; for tomorrow never comes. And there’s little reason to learn that which will only be useful tomorrow for tomorrow never comes. But if you see this day as the first day, that can have unreasonable consequence.

Natural resources are precious commodity to be managed and sustainably watched over, not squandered. And the environment is something worth stewarding. And any knowledge gained is useful. However intangible, its benefit is in the now.

And while being a sustainably squandered commodity – much like the following hour of programming – does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors; be it the first day or the last, the choice is always yours: to be at the beginning of your life or near the end.

To give you a little perspective today, we’ll let you in on a few things that started many yesterdays ago and will continue to develop over many tomorrows. Here on This Week in Science coming up next.
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Transcript: TWIS.org Sept 22, 2009

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer! In all the world, there is perhaps no greater display of what is possible under the definition of life than that which we can find beneath the surface of the sea. Underneath the waves, there’s an atmosphere so dense with life, blanketed in a nutrient rich environment that openly thrives upon itself.

The oceans are not only alive, they’re abundantly so. Making the air breathing world above look deserted by comparison as though land above the surface air were just so much sun bleached rock and dried sand.

For all the wonder that can come from gazing up at the stars, for all the excitement in the study of varied creatures that crawl upon the surface of the earth, there is even more to see and beneath the frothing wave and choppy sea.

Life in abundance variation across several oceans, enough life forms in fact to populate the solar system a galaxy or perhaps even multiple galaxies complete with diverse ecosystems redundant in survival solutions and resplendent in evolutionary potential, all here quietly brewing in a potent primordial stew below 70% of our planet’s surface.

And while brewing with frothy potential, much like the following hour of programming, does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors, for species as curious as ours, as interested in life among the stars as we are, we are fortunate to have such an irrefutably fantastic proximity to life in space situated on a perfect platform from which to launch our exploration of this life without ever having to traverse the cold radiation filled expanses between suitable solar systems in search of such a place.

My goodness. And with galactic magnitudes of life forms abounding all around us, while reflecting upon our good fortune, we take a moment now to tune in to what else we are lucky enough to be researching into instead of stuck out searching for, here on This Week In Science, coming up next. This is the one.
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Transcript: TWIS.org Aug 18, 2009

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

What we say has meaning even if that meaning is lost on others. When other people speak, it has meaning to us even if it is not what they intended to convey.

Whether our words are chosen wisely or allowed to escape before being carefully thought through, the impact of those words will depend more on who is hearing them than on what we have said. Such is the case even now as I say these words.

For whatever point I intended by saying them in the beginning has already left my ability to control and has been made irrelevant by the fact that you are interpreting what I’m saying and associating meanings that I couldn’t possibly have imagined let alone intended.

Or perhaps you understand exactly what I intended to say and have thought these thoughts to yourself making what I’m saying now just a reminder of your own thoughts which are ultimately what I’m talking about even though I have no idea what those thoughts may be.

And while a thought-filled confusion much like this disclaimer in the following hour of programming do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California Davis, KDVS or its sponsors, one thing should remain perfectly clear. What that one thing is, we will surely not agree upon. So instead, we will drop the subject all together and instead turn our attentions to This Week in Science, coming up next.

Good morning, Kirsten!
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Transcript: TWIS.org Oct 6, 2009

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

It is written that Socrates had no use for the written word. Newton did all those calculations without the aid of the calculator. Michael Faraday unified electricity and magnetism without computer modeling. Einstein discovered the Theory of Relativity long before anyone thought of googling space time.

All these great minds were stripped of the information technology we enjoy today and yet, they managed great feats of informational mental gymnastics. And while comparing the intellect today with that of the past, maybe a bit of downer in light of our huge advantages, the comparison – much like the following hour of our programming – does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of University of California at Davis KDVS, or its sponsors.

Still we can imagine that if through some trick of time, by some outrunning of the laws of physics in some flipped switch of possibility, even greater accomplishments may have been possible if the great minds of history could spend just one hour a week listening to This Week in Science coming up next.

Good morning Kirsten.
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Transcript: TWIS.org Dec 1, 2009

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

Without the darkness, there can be no light. Without light, there is no energy, no quark. Without the quark, there can be no atom. Without the atom, there would be no matter and no mass, no gravity. Without gravity, there’d be no way to get down with our bad selves.

And while getting quarky within the dark – much like the following hour of our programming does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors – the more you look, the more it becomes clear.

The universe is an intricate, complicated place where even the most basic components are far from intuitive to our human perspective. Without this unintuitive complication, we would not be here. Without science, we wouldn’t know where here is or even where or when here is. And so, we couldn’t be possibly saying, This Week in Science, coming up next.

Good morning, Kirsten!
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Transcript: TWIS.org Sept 8, 2009


Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

Nature in all its splendorific glory cannot answer the fundamental question asked by mankind, “Why are we here? Why are we here?”

Nature does offer answers of course, we are to eat, to reproduce and to survive for another day. This would be fine if the opposite were not just as true, that we are here to be eaten, to die and to fertilize the soil – The Cycle of Life.

Appealing at first, seemingly unfair later, is perhaps the greatest driving behind all of human knowledge, what we learn of the world, what we teach our children, what we discover in the darkness of the unknown and light the torch of the future generations to blah, blah, blah, see clearly.

Is knowledge part of ourselves that outlives flesh and bone, propels our minds beyond the limitations of nature’s life cycle? And while propelling reproductive questions – much like the following hour programming – does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.

Think deeply from the fountain of immortality knowing that knowing will connect you not only to the here and now, but to the past and the future as well. For it is knowing that allows us to live in happiness on This Week in Science. Coming up next.

So check it out. I’m going to release this new album.
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Transcript: TWIS.org Oct 27, 2009

Kirsten: This show is brought to you by listeners like you and your contributions. We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks!

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

The full extent of the changes to come from the Earth’s atmospheric alteration are becoming increasingly clear. The question now is what to do about it.

“Is there a solution?” asked the masses of the world. “Yes, there are many,” say the scientific elite. “If we act immediately to change the way we’re living we may…”

“Wait. Wait. Is there a solution that does not require action?” interrupt the masses. “No,” say the scientists. “But if we act soon, we will have a chance to…”

“Wait. Wait. Wait. When you say ‘we act soon,’ you mean ‘you,’ right?” The scientists sigh and softly mumble something about the irrational having become the norm.

And while the majority of those softly mumbling scientists agree with the following hour of programming, they do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.

Mankind gains knowledge of the world only through reason. If knowledge is to be shared with the masses, the masses must be reasonable as well. We will not make the ground-breaking discoveries of the future based on the impulses or opinions of an irrational world.

Science does not make up a democratic decision nor does an ideology, this objective, reasoned methodical calling of the intellect. And it’s about to be broadcast live to the rational masses here on This Week in Science, coming up next.
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Transcript: TWIS.org Jan 19, 2010

Kirsten: This show is brought to you by listeners like you and your contributions. We couldn’t do it without you. Thanks!

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

The following hour of programming does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.

Despite this, we have come to know much about the world that we live on – how it was formed, how it was changed and how best we might live upon it. But despite all of our understanding, the earth still holds much of its workings as mystery.

We can predict with great certainty the arrival of a storm front, can foresee how this will affect us, can prepare ourselves for the severity of such an event. Yet, we have no notice in the event of a major tectonic event and are at the mercy of our ability to respond after the fact.

While we witness once again the powerful force of nature and the devastation that she can impart on Haiti, we also remember that this sort of destruction is prevented daily by the work of scientists around the world to foresee the storm, to resist the pandemic, to maximize our production of food and energy.

And though we cannot yet predict tectonic events, we can build structures that withstand their fury. As our hearts go out to the people of Haiti, we recognize the hard work that is being done by the rescue workers there. And let us also acknowledge that without dedication to scientific study of nature, an earthquake is but one devastation we would be heir to here on This Week in Science, coming up next.

Good morning, Kirsten!
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Transcript: TWIS.org Mar 30, 2010

Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!

The age of reason is rapidly approaching, tearing down institutions born in less illuminated times. As the light of reason brightens the proponents of the old way are shouting loudly against the winds of change.

Not willing to go quietly into the darkness of unexamined philosophies, they scream, that any change will result in death, in ethical, financial, ideological apocalypse that will destroy the fabric of society as if it heralds the falling of a modern Babylon.

Fear ye! Fear ye! For alas the end is nigh. And in a way, they are correct. This is the end of the world as they have known and profited from it. And while (unintelligible) of old world financial theory in new seeds of reason, sprouting up from the national health care scene, they, much like the following hour of programming and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors, we will endure every complaint of the old world looters with still older wisdom of their plight.

For every complaint that man has waged against change has always come from two places — his fear of death or his fear of losing his grip upon the lives of others. And when we take away the HMO’s whip, we will find that the change has left us truly free. Free from fear of debt’s fortune and the influence of the fortune maker’s commission upon our health.

And as many have found, when we are free of fear, we feel more inclined to think freely as I think you will find here on This Week in Science, coming up next.
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