Science Friday - podcast review

A fellow blogger by the name of Micheal Barton, from the blog The Dispersal of Darwin, sent me a comment containing his list of scientific and history of science podcasts. Many of the podcasts in this list, such as The Missing Link and In Our Time are well known to readers of this blog. An NPR classic on the list, Science Friday, had not yet appeared on my blog yet - in spite of wide acclaim I have been aware of since my early listening days. Time to take a pick out of their archive.

I tried six episodes, two of which I left rather swiftly. A recent issue about nanotubes went over my head and another one about crystal skulls in archeology had me irritatedly feel the program was riding the publicity wave of a movie sequel (the skulls are a scam, needless to say). Four others had me glued to my earphones though.

My favorite, though not the easiest listen was about the Sahara, since I am in an Africa mood so much lately. I had a vague notion the Sahara had not always been dry, but this program taught me some of the background. It dried up in about 6000 years time. I thought that was quick, but actually this is slower than previously assumed. There is still a huge reservoir of ancient water left, deep in the ground. Tapping into that is neither easy nor necessarily good.

Another good subject was HIV research, which 'celebrated' a 25 year anniversary. Interviews are done over the phone and one of the connections was absolutely terrible, full of echoes, bad sound and overlapping tracks; it practically spoils the episode. Nevertheless it is very interesting to learn where the research stands today.

Two other items were about food. One on Food and methane. Methane is a bad greenhouse gas and your choice of food correlates to methane emissions. The advice is to eat less red meat and diary. Will that stop cow flatulence?

The other food item is not about what you eat, but rather when your eat. Your internal clock is set at lunch time. This could be a recipe against jet lag: have lunch when you need to re-adjust to the time zone you are in.

More Science:
Domestic Science,
Human rights and the body,
The dialectic of knowledge and culture,
The brain,
Life and bio-engineering.

Repairing Failed States

What we look for as the unity we live in, the law-giver, the protector of rights and obligations, the sovereignty to rule economy, organize infrastructure and education and the agent in foreign relations is that flailing fiction the state. No matter how unrealistically imagined, the state is still what we look for and if we want to have national and international order, we'd better have functioning states.

Too many states are failing though. It has been the topic of many other podcasts, also reviewed below, and it came up again at LSE (and possible will in due time be re-published at UChannel) where Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart were invited to speak. The subject was the repair of failing states, as was the subject of their recently published book: Fixing Failed States; A Framework for Rebuilding a Fractured World. Ghani and Lockhart are claimed specialists on the nuts and bolts of state - what makes states succeed. From that insight they have drawn conclusions as to what are the recipes for repairing failed states.

The lecture is not terribly accessible, if not for the slightly dull speakers' tone than for the rather technical nature of the subject. The bottom-line is, what make states succeed is healthy finances and proper infrastructure and the way states can be helped is by programs that build these, but not any which way - the change must be sustainable. The importance is huge though, needless to say.

More LSE:
Europe and the Middle East,
Nuts and bolts of empire,
Islam and Europe - LSE podcast review,
Beyond the genome.

More on states and international politics:
The State in The International System,
A century of geopolitics,
Global Geopolitics - Martin Lewis,
History of the International System.

Sargon of Akkad and Ramses II

TPN's The Biography Show has picked up speed and after a two month drought churned out three biographies in a month. The first was about Helen of Troy. Can you make a biography of a fictional character? TPN did it and I reviewed it some two weeks ago. The next two are historical figures though. Sargon of Akkad and Ramses II.

Hosts Cameron Reilly and David Markham do their usual dialog, where Reilly throws the questions and remarks and Markham explains and relates the historical overview. The greatest charm of this show is that you get your basic facts and outline delivered on an entertaining platter. Forty minutes of podcast to bring you back up to speed with these great historical figures. A good formula, well executed.

More TPN:
Helen of Troy,
Alexander the Great - Biography Show,
TPN Napoleon 1O1.

Africa - Global Geopolitics podcast review

There is a quest going on on this blog, the quest for Africa. The drive to listen to educational podcasts is the drive to knowledge and understanding. Since I detected a gaping hole in my knowledge about Africa, both contemporary and historically, I am especially on the lookout for podcasts that shed some light on the large continent. Few do, which explains why this search turns to quest.

The next stop in this uncertain journey is the Global Geopolitics podcast (feed) by Stanford's professor Martin Lewis. Lectures 7 and 8 are dedicated to North-Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Especially lecture 8 on what we used to call 'dark' Africa, fills some of the gaps. Look at this map of the various empires, states and cultures who reigned in Africa over the centuries.



Little is said about these, but seeing them on the map and having them named, at least gives some pointers to more research. The podcast however, since it's main purpose is not to dwell on history, but rather on showing modern geopolitics in maps, continues with the various points of interest. The process of decolonization, the various wars and civil wars and the current hot spots. Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan (also featured in North-Africa), Uganda, Central Africa, Kenya, Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Give or take another country - the gaps remain enormous.

More:
The Kingdom of Ghana,
World history outside the European box,
Thinking Outside the European Box,
Descriptive and prescriptive mapping,
Global Geopolitics - Martin Lewis,
A listener's guide to Geography of World Cultures,
Geography of World Cultures by Martin W. Lewis
Podcast Review: Africa Past and Present,
Africa - Stanford Travel,
Africa - Counsel for Foreign Relations.

Europe and the Middle East

A recent lecture on the LSE Podcast (not, or not yet, available on UChannel) asks the question whether the Middle-East is Europe's business. The speaker is Ghassan Salamé, professor of International Relations and former minister and ambassador of Lebanon.

Professor Salamé begins his speech with a counter-argument - why would the Middle-East be unimportant, globally and therefore, also for Europe. Regardless of the oil, the Middle-East is insignificant economically and intellectually. It is, in other words, a peripheral part of the world and when one adds oil into the equation, it must be said that having one trump card in your hand is a poor basis for strategy to importance and power. However, in five or six arguments, Salamé will try to show the Middle-East is important and especially so for Europe.

Ghassan Salamé uses an argument that I have also heard in the podcast by Stanford professor James Sheehan about the history of the international system (review). For Europe, the Cold War ended in 1989, but in the Middle-East there were signs, as early as 1979, it was about to end. Like Sheehan, Salamé mentions the revolution in Iran, but in his opinion also the peace between Egypt and Israel was such a sign. Also there, the geopolitics took a turn that was neither dictated by the Cold War, nor following the logic of the Cold War. This is part of Salamé's point that the Middle-East is the breeding ground (at least today) of world history, of what is about to become the fate of Europe as well. Add to that the proximity of the Middle-East to Europe, Europe must take it as its business and close itself off.

Relevant posts:
Nuts and bolts of empire,
Islam and Europe,
Islam meets Europe,
The denials of yesterday,
The State in The International System,
A century of geopolitics,
Global Geopolitics - Martin Lewis,
History of the International System.

Domestic Science

What happened to the Evolution Creation Divide? Has The Missing Link Podcast given up on this subject? Host Elizabeth Green Musselman makes a remark at the beginning of the latest podcast, (which handles a different subject) suggesting the series about the Divide is done. I suppose more could be said and who knows whether it is going to be back. For now, The Missing Link is back to normalcy.

In this episode, attention is turned to science in 19th century Britain. There is a guest essay about Mary Somerville, the science writer and Musselman herself ponders on popular science, science education to children and how this was handled in those days. Lastly there is also the regular rubric 'on the shelf', which contains reviews of accessible science books on the market right now.

The Missing Link has a splendid mix of academia and radio to be a very effective podcast in science and history. Some improvement of the sound quality in the guest essays could be hoped for, but other than that, a well balanced, much recommended podcast.

More about The Missing Link on this blog:
Missing Link with monotheists,
Missing Link with Popper,
An evolved controversy,
Time's Arrow,
On Time and on Counting.