Dr. Kiki: This is Twis. This Week in Science episode number 653 recorded on Wednesday, January 10th, 2018. The 2018 prediction show.
Hey, everyone, I’m Dr. Kiki and tonight, on This Week in Science, we are going to fill your heads with predictions from last year, predictions for this year and yeah, actually, some science news. But first, TWIS is supported by listeners like you. We thank you for your support. We really couldn’t do it without you.
Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!
Those who can not remember the past, it has been said, are condemned to repeat it. As if the past were only a thing to avoid. Many good things have come from the past. Every good thing, in fact, has its origins in the past. Much of it worth repeating. So, it’s just as well to point out, those who don’t remember the past will have a hard time replicating the positive results that they’ve received at some point before.
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: 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. Continue reading “Transcript: TWIS.org Sept 22, 2009”
How do we judge the quality of life? Some would say it is by whether or not that life is a life lived well. But what is a life lived well? Is it an accomplishment or an affect, a way of being in the world?
This is to say that a life lived well could simply be a life lived in accordance with an individual’s ideals. The life lived well of a painter being very different perhaps in the life lived well of a pro football player or microbiologist.
And there could, by this measure, be as many ways of living the life well-lived as there are people living lives, leaving it up to each of us to decide if the life we’re living is living up to our own standard of wellness.
While equality of life issues, much like the following hour of our programming, do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.
The question being interjected into your brain frames at this moment in time is, “Are you living your life the way you, yourself, would judge a life to be well-lived?” Forget about champagne wishes and caviar dreams. I’m talking about you, being the best you. Are you?
If your answer is anything other than, “Hells yeah,” make time this week to invite your ideal you over for a coffee and ask yourself, “What you might do to be more you like?” Just like you, we want to be the best we as we can be, which we couldn’t do without you turning into This Week in Science, coming up next. Continue reading “Transcript:TWIS.ORG Jan 26, 2010”
The following hour of programming contains language of a scientific nature, which may be considered offensive to some people. If you believe that evolution is an attempt to undermine your creation; if you are sure that the moon landing was a government hoax; if you are certain of the age of the earth and that it is less than 10,000 years; if you know global warming is fake because of an email you have never read; if you think developing cures to human disease from ten-cell blastocysts shatters human dignity – then you are listening to the right show.
And while offending, undermining, hoaxing and faking and shattering the world views of certain minded people — much like the following hour of programming — does not represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors, if you listen, you will gain knowledge and will become powerful because knowledge is intellectual power.
If you listen long enough, that power will corrupt you. Once corrupted, you will realize that you are still as good or rotten a person as you were before having been corrupted by a powerful intellectual content; that knowledge in fact does not corrupt people but that it is people that can corrupt knowledge; that the same can be said of truth, money, power and This Week in Science, coming up next. Continue reading “Transcript:TWIS.ORG Dec 08, 2009”
Here we are, ten years into the 21st century and a few things are absolutely abundantly clear, problems of mankind continue to be the problems of mankind. Generally speaking, things aren’t getting any easier and life on Earth is not getting any simpler. Still, as we have zoomed ahead another decade in time, much has changed and most of it for the better.
We are a smarter planet for one thing, having added to our mental databases of knowledge, tremendous petaflops of information about the complexities of the universe. We have answered some age-old questions and have posed new questions to be worked on in the decades to come.
Science, we seek to unravel the mysteries, overcome the obstacles and create a better future for us all. While science is a major focus of the University of California at Davis, it does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the next hour of our programming, KDVS or its sponsors.
And while science continues to pursue a more perfect future, we’ll take a few moments now to look back at the year of new findings, here on This Week in Science, coming up next. Continue reading “Transcript:TWIS.ORG Dec 29, 2009”
Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer! It’s a new day, a new year and a new decade. A time of resolutions and commitments to a better you in the future to come. With all of the things real or invented that we worry about in the course of making our way through a day, this year, let’s agree together – that the best way in which we can improve ourselves is to create a balance between the need for survival and the act of enjoying our lives.
Let us dedicate the coming year to doing those things that bring us joy, pleasure and peace of mind. While the Epicurean philosophy of tempered enjoyment 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, we hope that you enjoy your time with the conversations to come on This Week in Science. Coming up next.
Synopsis: Science and Celebrities pronuncements, Predictions for 2009, Mars Alive with carbon deposits, Bacteria Support Groups that form biofilms, Bird Songsters sing out competition for breeding, Favoring Orangutans due to token trading, and TWIS Question of the Month about geological activity that releases sequestered carbon!
Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!
This TWIS-mas, I was visited by three ghosts! Whisking me through time and space the ghost of TWIS-mas past, showed me beyond any doubt what humble beginnings science began with. What great heights it has soared to since and how heavily our modern civilization rests on the shoulder of giants, giants not only of intellectual prowess but giants of dedication, courage and sacrifice as well.
What we enjoy today are not the fruits of the modern era at all but the combined harvest of all of human history. The bounty of culture and intellectual pursuit that has been going on since the first great conversation took place outside of some cave and some now long forgotten language lost to time.
I was then visited by a second ghost who wanted to remind me that while all of human history had a hand in our high tech harvest it, like the following hour of our programming at present does not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the University of California at Davis, KDVS or its sponsors.
I then found the third ghost haunt my TWIS-mas eve. A dark and looming specter this was, I felt the chill run down my spine, unsure for a moment of the phantom’s intention until at least at last the phantom spoke. “Hey, big fan of the show, just want to stop by”, the dark minion said. We high-fived and popped the rock.
“These are the things I’ve seen.” The minion hinted. “Are you ready for the future?” “Ready”, I said. It’s already in the show notes for, This Week in Science coming up next. Continue reading “Transcript-TWIS.ORG Dec 30, 2008”
Synopsis: Potential Purposes of Prions as inter cell glue, No Snakes In Greenland due to lack of land bridge and cold spell, Insect Memory in Caterpillars, Science Pop-Quiz, Catching The Higgs, Geo-centrism and Global Warming, Japanese Robots on the Catwalk, Dark Matters protecting some galaxies, and the Sand Worms.
Justin: Disclaimer! Disclaimer! Disclaimer!
Depending on your point of view in the life you happen to be living at the moment, the world is either a boring or interesting place. Your day is routine or full of stress. The week ahead planned out are left to chaos, the past year of joyful celebrations or mindless regret.
You have every right to be happily complacent — cannot be faulted if you are restlessly unsatisfied and may even find yourself happily unsatisfied with restless joy amidst the complacent chaos of an interesting routine. With so many ways of being in the world, it seems strange at times that the world we live in is the same one that is lived in by everybody else.
And while your life, your point of view and this moment in time, 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.
If we pause here, take the snapshot of the world around us and just this moment and consider the billions of other mental still shot picture frames out there, each with their own unique view of the same universe, we may wonder if there is an actual reality beyond the subjective, a truth that is unfiltered by the perspective itself. Don’t be silly. Of course there is and we’ll share it with you here next on This Week in Science, coming up next. Continue reading “Transcript-TWIS.ORG March 17, 2009”
Dr. Kiki: This is Twis. This Week in Science episode number 653 recorded on Wednesday, January 10th, 2018. The 2018 prediction show.