Wild Thing
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A podcast (and now a book series) about science and society, from Laura Krantz & Foxtopus Ink.
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What do Spiderman, the Hulk, and the Fantastic Four all have in common? They’re mutants! Thanks to a radioactive run-in (and the imagination of writers & artists), comic book heroes tackled the sticky questions around the earlier days of the nuclear age. In this week’s bonus episode (available to premium subscribers), learn how pop culture dealt with our atomic ambivalence. And if you’re not already, you can become a subscriber here: https://wildthing.supportingcast.fm/
Nuclear power is a shrinking part of America’s energy picture; accidents and fear have tarnished it, and the old reactor fleet is reaching its end. But there's an argument that nuclear energy could provide a bulwark against the looming threat of climate change. Is it something we can make work for us, in spite of ourselves? Are the costs worth it in the long run? Sixty years on, what do we know—and are we better prepared? That and more on this final episode of Wild Thing: Going Nuclear.
These containers don’t look all that interesting, but they contain big problem: spent nuclear fuel. We don’t currently have a plan for how to deal with that long term. In fact, we’ve struggled to come up with one for decades. But it’s a question we need to find an answer to. Can we safely contain these materials? Should the waste be in one location, or many? How do we warn future generations about the dangers these materials pose? That's on today's episode of Wild Thing.
Does your hometown have an atom in its official seal? Mine does. And I’d never really thought much about it until I started doing the research for this season. Turns out that atomic energy has been a through-line for the city’s history—and may very well be an important part of its future. But as I learned more about the 60-year-old accident at the SL-1 reactor, I started to wonder about what that future looks like. We may have unlocked the potential of the atom but given our nature and our history with are we really responsible enough to use it? Because as we think about our future with nuclear energy, it won’t just be about the scientific elements but also about the human ones. . . . #nuclear # atomic #nuclearenergy #humanelement #science #physics #history #idaho #reactor #legend #atom #wildthingpod #idahofalls
At 9:01 pm on a frigid January night, the alarm for the SL-1 nuclear reactor went off for the third time that day. The firefighters at the station 8 miles away likely had no desire to suit up and go out into the cold night to reset a malfunctioning button. Again. But this time, when they arrived, something felt off... Welcome to the third season of @wildthingpod - the first episode "Close To Home" kicks off Wild Thing: Going Nuclear as we get down to the atomic level. We’re torn between the peril and possibility of nuclear energy and—truth be told—endlessly fascinated by both outcomes (raise your hand if you've watched the HBO series Chernobyl or the Netflix series Meltdown). So are the risks worth the rewards? Have we learned from past mistakes? No doubt our technology is significantly better than it was—but are we humans any more responsible than we were sixty years ago? Listen on @applepodcasts (which is featuring the show this week!)
With season 3 of Wild Thing coming in less than a month, we figured it would be a good time to revisit some of our favorite clips. This conversation with Sheri Wells-Jensen back in season 2 felt extra relevant with NASA'a recent news about updating the message we're sending out into space. In the original Arecibo message we transmitted back in the 70s, we included depictions of math. And in our updated message, we're including waaaay more math. But.... why does that make any sense?? Well, as Sheri explains, if anything is smart enough to receive our message, they must have some math going on in those big alien brains of theirs already.
Life on other planets could have different biochemistries, ways of using energy, bodies. But on today’s episode, zoologist Arik Kershenbaum argues that evolution is universal—meaning it would be as important in ET life as it has been for life on earth. You can hear more about his ideas on today's interview!
UFOs, aliens, other-worldly beings—all have appeared in art over the centuries (including, possibly, in Renaissance-era paintings). But some of the most recent depictions appear in the works of Frank Buffalo Hyde, an Onondaga and Nez Perce artist who uses UFOs to talk about Native Americans, in both historical and modern contexts. We’ll hear from him on this next bonus episode of Wild Thing. And for more of his artwork, go to frankbuffalohyde.com Captions (all photos courtesy of the artist): 1) Photo of Frank Buffalo Hyde 2) “Buffalo Fields Forever - Renegades” 3) “Sightings” 4) “Night Rider” 5) "Close Encounters of the Selfie Stick Kind"
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