What role should Nuclear Power play in energy production? This episode of the podcast explores the case for Nuclear Energy. I speak with Rachel Slaybaugh, who was an Associate Professor of Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Division Director at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. She also served as a Program Director at the Department of Energy’s ARPA‑E, where she created the nuclear fission program. She is currently a partner at DCVC. We discuss three of the main problems that people have with nuclear power: (i) The risk of plant meltdowns, (ii) the st ..read more

On this episode of the podcast I speak with UCL Honorary Professor of Economics and ISRS Distinguished Research Fellow Steve keen. Steve famously predicted the 2008 market crash. He is also known for his criticism of modern economic theory, which he views as being inconsistent, unscientific, and empirically unsupported. He is currently working on a new science of economics built upon incontrovertible facts. We discuss the history of economic theory, the problems with neoclassical economics, and the way that our economic theory causes environmental destruction.  ►Watch on YouTube:  ht ..read more

On this episode of the Podcast I speak with economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs. Jeffrey is Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University and President of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. He served as Special Advisor to the UN Secretary General for almost two decades, and is co-founder and chief strategist of the Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger. In this conversation we cover the question: "Is Capitalism Responsible For the Environmental Destruction We are Seeing Today ..read more

What is narcissism, and why do so many successful people seem to be narcissists? In this conversation I speak with Professor Mitja Back from the university of Muenster, who is one of the worlds leading experts on the topic of Narcissism. We discuss narcissism as a personality trait, how narcissistic traits develop (nature vs nurture), relationship breakdown, narcissism on social media, and the link between narcissism and success. ►Watch On YouTube: https://youtu.be/JXDs3TbIiEk   ►For more information about Mitja's work see: https://www.uni-muenster.de/PsyIFP/AEBack/members/mitja-back.html ..read more

In this conversation I speak with Professor Kerstin Göpfrich, who works at Heidelberg University at the Center for Molecular Biology (ZMBH), and who is also leading the Max Planck Research Group for the Biophysical Engineering of Life. Kerstin is attempting to construct living cells from scratch, piece by piece from non-living materials. So far she has created cell membranes, cytoskeletons, linkers for connecting cytoskeletons to the cell membrane, a mechanism for cell division, microscopic channels for ion transport in and out of cell membranes, an artificial 'mitochondria' analog, and more ..read more

NOTE: From 0:01:07-0:02:36 the sound quality is lower than the rest of the episode as you are hearing the backup recording.    This conversation is about democracy and scientific literacy. In 2023 Germany shut down the last of its nuclear plants, and is now bringing back several mothballed coal plants to keep the lights on over winter. Was this a smart decision given the scientific consensus that we need to cut carbon emissions? Similar questions can be asked about the banning of GMO crops, or government handling of Covid. More and more, the decisions being made in western democracie ..read more

In this conversation I speak with Dr. Gary Linkov about the ethics and practice of plastic surgery. Gary is a double board certified facial plastic surgeon who specializes in lip lift surgeries and hair restoration. He is also renowned for carrying out complex nasal surgery for US war veterans in need, and for teaching rhinoplasty procedures to the NYU head and neck surgery residents.   Plastic surgery is controversial. On the one hand critics claim that it leads to unhealthy beauty standards, and that aggressive marketing preys upon people who are already under enormous pressure the alte ..read more

In this conversation I discuss distributed and decentralized organizations with Jean-Philippe Vergne, who is an associate professor of strategy at University College London. We focus on the development of blockchain technology, which at least in theory should allow for new forms of organization that don't rely on centralized authorities to function. The initial dream was that blockchain technology would drive innovation, provide transparency, limit abuses of power, and provide access to financing for people living in dysfunctional states. Crypto currencies based on the technology might also ac ..read more

What is the future of our oceans? On this episode of the Podcast I speak with Dr. Shawn Robinson about marine ecology, aquaculture, and the politics and economics of what ends up on your plate. Shawn is a marine ecologist who did his graduate work at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia on the giant Pacific octopus (MSc) and at the University of British Columbia on biological oceanography off Vancouver Island (PhD). He began his career as a research scientist in 1988 with the Dept. Fisheries and Oceans at the Biological Station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada, one of Canada’s olde ..read more

In only 250 years since colonization, Australia has seen the extinction of 38 species of mammals. Much of the devastation to Australia's native wildlife has been caused or exacerbated by the introduction of invasive pests like cats, dogs, cane toads, camels, and rabbits. A key question is whether science will one day be able to return Australia to its original state? In this conversation I speak with Dr. Stephen Frankenberg about genetic biocontrol and de-extinction. We focus on the use of gene drives, which are genetic tools that can be used to increase the likelihood that a suite of genes wi ..read more