High Science

Kat leads the way as we explore how science research is conducted and presented. We follow the progression of a research paper and discuss important concepts found in each section. The goal is to give everyone the tools they need to find and critically analyze science from the primary source. Kudos to Kat for running a great episode! (Mistake correction: When talking about the statistical tests, we misspoke about the p value. A p value of 0.05 corresponds to a 5% chance the null hypothesis is true or a 95% chance that the results are significant.) Major Topics Covered: Important adjectives to describe science (measurable, falsifiable, etc) Types of variables Where to find research papers How to read and analyze research papers Validity Sample sizes Types of studies Blinds Statistical Analysis and Tests (chi squared, T-test, etc) Theoretical science vs. experimental science General discussion on the topic

It's time to inch up to a touchy subject. This week we follow the history of science and religion along with their intersection throughout human history.  From ancient serpent gods to the scopes monkey trial, we explore the clashes of science and religion. Here are a list of topics that we cover throughout the episode: The life of early humans Ancient religions and why they emerged Philosophical razors and a bit of Ancient Greece Copernicus, heliocentrism, and the church's reaction Galileo and his conflict with religion The age of the Earth and the literal interpretation of the bible Darwin and evolution Why religion is still around in the age of science Our personal relationship with religion The Scopes Monkey Trial: Science and religion go to court Epilogue: Random discussions  

Oh boy this is a long one. This week we have Jake the space guru talking about all things beyond our atmosphere. Many topics are covered ranging from cosmology to star life cycles to the voyager spacecraft. We spend time freaking out about black holes and potential alien life. We finish off the discussion with an existential discussion about creating meaning in a meaningless universe.

Mr. Dr. Sean comes to visit and we talk about quantum gravity and deep physics concepts! Sean is working on the front lines of theoretical quantum gravity research. We pick his brain about physics in general, his research, symmetries, quantum mechanics, and general relativity. Sean has a knack for explaining difficult concepts in simple terms. We tackle topics from causality to entropy and debauchery ensues every step of the way.

We're talking about the brain! It's important to note that we are talking neuroscience here and not psychology. Neuroscience is the study of the brain while psychology is the study of the mind. So what is the brain? How did it evolve? How does it work? Evolution and Structure of the Brain The first nervous system evolved in a group of animals known as cnidaria. Jellyfish are a part of this group. This simple nervous system is known as a "nerve net". Our centralized nervous system evolved in steps. First the medulla oblongata was present and this structure controls involuntary actions like heartbeat, digestion, etc. This part is located at the top of your spinal cord. Another structure near the medulla is known as the cerebellum. This is a bulb above the back of your neck. This structure controls balance and coordination. It also plays an important role in motor control. You can thank your cerebellum whenever you pick up a glass of water and don't crush it in your grip. The midbrain is the next structure that

After about two minutes of bullshitting and talking about episode introductions, the crew gets into talking about the philosophical field of argumentation. This episode focuses on the structure of arguments, validity of arguments, and logical fallacies. Types and Structure of Arguments There are two types of arguments: deductive and inductive. Deductive arguments attempt to guarantee the truth of the claim being provided. In other words, if all the premises are true and logical, it would be impossible for the conclusion to be false. An inductive argument attempts to arrive at a conclusion that is likely to be true. If all the premises are true, it is unlikely that that conclusion will be wrong. Examples for both are given in the episode. It is important to remember that a sound argument can lead to a wrong conclusion and a ridiculous argument can lead to a correct conclusion. The study of argumentation is meant to maximize the probability of attaining the truth. Logical Fallacies Logical Fallacies are common

Getting Small Particle physics attempts to answer two questions: What is the smallest unit of everything? What are the most fundamental building blocks of the universe? How do those building blocks interact to create everything around us? In order to get to the foundation we need to start here, on our scale. Imagine we have a cup of water, and we want to get to the smallest unit of water. So we stick our finger in and take out a drop. We start flicking away water until we're left with a wet finger. Where is the smallest unit? If we zoom into the wet finger, we will find the smallest lump of water. This lump is a molecule: the smallest unit of water that still has the properties of water. Things get weird at this scale, for example, temperature does not exist. So we found the smallest unit of water. But is there something smaller? (Hint: yes) Getting Smaller So the smallest unit of water is actually a combination of two hydrogen atoms and an oxygen atom. The thing is, once we break up this combination,

What is the Essence of You? ...... Musky Where are you right now? Are you the all the meat sitting down listening to this episode? Are you behind your eyes? Just the jelly in your skull? If I took your head and put it on another body, would you still be you? John, James, Kat and special guest Greg explore different ideas of personal identity. Are we our bodies? Our brains? Our memories? If our memories got wiped tomorrow, would we still be us moving forward? How many sentences are going to end in a question mark? What if John and James got hooked up to a machine. This machine left all the cells in their original bodies and only the information of John and James gets transferred? Memories, personality, and dreams get transferred from one person to another. Is James John or is James still James? Does your head hurt yet? Teleportation Goes Horribly Wrong Let's go to the future! Teleportation is a thing now. This is how it works: you walk in a room, you hit a button, the the room destroys the original version of

In this special episode John interviews two scientists over Skype. Sam is a biochemistry/biophysics student studying the protein(s) involved in bringing nutrients to the transparent lens of your eye. Sirius Jay is a chemistry student studying the degradation products of turpenes. Turpenes are oily molecules that are found in nature and are responsible for many odors. Terpenes have many applications but the most interesting of which may be in vaporizing cannabis oils. Jay has taken history's first quantitative dab. Both of these guys are wicked smart and the conversation hits topics such as electron microscopes, quantum physics, and fact that teleportation is happening in our stomachs. We also talk about the history of chemistry back to the Greeks (love those Greeks) and some philosophy of science. We talk about some space travel possibilities such as solar sails and the alcubierre drive (incorrectly stated on the episode that the drive started with an "L"). We freak out over gravitational waves, stars, and su

What Even is Light? We know for sure it's not dark. How do light bulbs work? Are they small suns inside a glass circle? James and special guest Greg stumble around as they try to explain light fundamentally. Kat and John enjoy their struggle. How can we explain light to a five year old? In order to handle the the complex question about what light is, it is best to start by exploring what light does. What Does Light Do? Mirrors are weird. We know light can reflect or bounce off things. So is light made up of bouncy stuff? We also know light refracts or it's path can bend. Imagine a straw in a glass of water. The water half of the straw looks disconnected from the top half. This is because light bends as it travels from water to air (or vice versa).  Light has to bounce and bend. What kind of thing does this? History of Our Understanding of Light Always starting with the Ancient Greeks. They understood light as straight lines called "rays". But how do these rays move? Some Greeks (example: Pythagoras) thought t

What Makes Something "Alive"? The meat of our second episode begins with John, James, Kat, and special guest Robbie exploring the essence of life. They all struggle in determining the explicit qualities that makes something living and applying these qualities to examples such as trees and fire to determine if they fit the criteria for life. The traits listed are as follows: Organization - Living things are organized. All living things are made of tiny structures known as cells. In multi-cellular organisms, cells organize into tissues, tissues organize into organs and so on. Reproduction - Living things make other living things (of the same species). Growth - Living things grow. Response to Stimuli - Living things will adjust to a change in their environment. Metabolism - Living things carry out chemical processes to maintain a state of living. Evolution - Living things evolve (explained later in the episode). Homeostasis - Living things maintain equilibrium regarding properties such as temperat

Intro Here it is! The inaugural episode of High Science: the podcast where we explore the mysteries of the universe, one joint at a time. As we figure out this whole recording business, we explore special relativity and the philosophy of science. The show notes for this episode and all episodes forward will provide you with a brief summary of our conversations. They will also give you some links to follow if you would like to read up on these ideas further. Any video, web-comic, book, etc will also be linked if it was mentioned in the episode. Special Relativity We start by exploring the mind-bending theory of special relativity. Galilean Relativity is first established (Driving 10 mph, throw a ball at 5 mph, relative to the ground the ball moves at 15 mph) along with frames of reference. The constant speed of light is discussed along with the implications of a moving object emitting light. It's worth taking a step back and noting that our hosts are getting ripped while slugging through these heady concepts s