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Archive for the ‘podcasts’ Category

There’s now an easy way to download as many of the archived episodes as you like of this podcast. Just click here and download the mp3 files you’ll see listed there.

Enjoy!

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Where’s the audio?

From this date (15 Oct.) forward, if you want to download episodes of the Missing Link, please e-mail me, and I will be happy to send them to you. I am no longer maintaining the account where the audio files were housed.

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This month, guest Daniel Goldberg gives a provocative look into the world of pain without lesion. How do – and should – doctors handle patients’ pain when there’s no visible cause?

Guest essay – Daniel S. Goldberg, “Where Does It Hurt?”

for further reading:

Daniel S. Goldberg received his B.A. with honors in philosophy from Wesleyan University, his J.D. magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center, and is currently a Ph.D student in the medical humanities at University of Texas Medical Branch. He is also a health policy fellow at Baylor College of Medicine’s Chronic Disease Prevention & Control Research Center, and a Research Professor at Baylor College of Medicine’s Initiative on Law, Brains, and Behavior. His work focuses on a variety of issues, including conflicts of interest, neuroethics, disabilities, and the social determinants of health. His forthcoming dissertation will use the lenses of the medical humanities to address the root causes of the widespread under-treatment of pain in the U.S. He is also interested in assessing the role of the medical humanities for health policy.

On the Shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Dartmouth today

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Today we alight in Devonshire, England. The beaches in this gorgeous, southwestern coastal county have long been a major summer tourist destination. In this episode, we’ll learn about how Devon’s seaside resorts transformed from health spas into centers of epidemic disease. We’ll also discover just what kinds of behaviors could land you in the insane asylums of Victorian Devonshire.

This episode is the second in our periodic “On Location” series. (Click here for the first episode in this series, on Berlin.)

For further reading:

On the shelf:

Other links:

  • I can recommend very highly the B&B where we stayed in Devon: The Old Rectory in Diptford. Gorgeous. Delicious. Friendly. Give their dog, Danny, a pat from me.
No Text

Philip Gosse's aquarium

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Warning: This episode contains frank discussions of human anatomy and some violence.

Ever wondered why wonder is so important in science? We’re taught from an early edge that science is a world of wonder, and encouraged to indulge our natural curiosity as a first step to achieving scientific rationality. Today, we’ll investigate the fascinating history of wonder, including times when wonder was not in fashion and times when it led grown men to kick old women in the stomach. (Yes, you will need to listen to find what that refers to.)

Guest voice: Many thanks to Tim Ralphs of the Room Behind the Bookcase podcast for playing Ambroise Paré.

For further reading:

On the shelf:

Other links:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Most of us encounter science through the the world of popular science: the books, TV shows, museum exhibits, kits, and toys that are packaged for general consumption. Today, we explore the early days of mass-produced popular science, particularly the books written for women and children.

Guest essay – Michal Meyer, “No Place for a Lady”

  • Michal Meyer is a graduate student in the history of science at the University of Florida. She is writing her dissertation on Mary Somerville, focusing on the influences of empire and Romanticism on Somerville’s books aimed at a general audience. In a previous life she worked as a journalist in Israel and a meteorologist in New Zealand. You can contact her at michal AT hssonline DOT org.

Host essay – “Fun for the Whole Family”

For further reading:

On the shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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German Jesuit mathematician and astronomer Christopher Clavius (1538-1612)

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Creationism and intelligent design are widely understood as the province of American Protestants. Today’s episode explores how people in some of the world’s other religious traditions – particularly Jews, Catholics, and Muslims – have positioned themselves in the evolution-intelligent design debate.

First guest essay – Emily Jenkins, “Why Genesis Doesn’t Mean Creationism for (Most) Jews”

Second guest essay – David Squires, “The Jesuits: Between Science and Faith”

  • This segment includes an interview with Father George Coyne, an astrophysicist and former director of the Vatican Observatory.
  • David Squires is a junior majoring in history and philosophy at Southwestern University. After graduation, he plans to attend law school.

For further reading

On the shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Sputnik

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How did the Civil War and the Cold War affect the acceptance of evolution in the United States? Tune in to today’s program to find out. This is the second episode in a three-part series on the history behind the evolution-intelligent design controversy.

First guest essay – Caitlin McShea, “Atomic Bombs and Evolutionary Mushroom Clouds

  • Caitlin McShea is a sophomore majoring in biology and philosophy at Southwestern University. After graduation, she hopes to pursue a career in bioethical law.

Second guest essay – Kate Peteet, “Evolution Is Not a Dirty Word”

  • Kate Peteet is a sophomore studying art history, architecture, and design at Southwestern University. She plans to attend graduate school as well, perhaps to study pre-Columbian South American art.
  • Additional voices in the essay provided by fellow students Jennifer Pitzen and Marco Duran.

For further reading:

On the Shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Susan Epperson, an Arkansas teacher who challenged her state's anti-evolution law in 1968Listen to this episode.

This episode inaugurates our series on the history behind the evolution-intelligent design controversy. Today, we examine the deep history of scientific method, and how the rules evolved to the point where intelligent design cannot follow them.

Guest essay – John Burchfield and Shalane Giles, “The Evolution of Scientific Method”

  • for further reading:
    • A. J. Ayer, Logical Positivism (Free Press, 1959).
    • William A. Dembski, Design Revolution: Answering the Toughest Questions about Intelligent Design (InterVarsity Press, 2004).
    • William A. Dembski and Michael Ruse, eds., Debating Design: From Darwin to DNA (Cambridge UP, 2004).
    • Barry Gower, Scientific Method: A Historical and Philosophical Introduction (Routledge, 2002).
    • Malachi Haim Hacohen, Karl Popper, the Formative Years, 1902-1945: Politics and Philosophy in Interwar Vienna (Cambridge UP, 2000).
    • David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers, eds., When Science and Christianity Meet (University of Chicago Press, 2003).
    • Ronald L. Numbers, The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design (Harvard UP, 2006).
    • Michael Ruse, The Evolution-Creation Struggle (Harvard UP, 2006).
    • Sergio Sismondo, Introduction to Science and Technology Studies (Blackwell, 2004).
    • The TalkOrigins Archive: an online collection of articles on the evolution-intelligent design controversy, including documents from the McLean v. Arkansas case.

  • John Burchfield and Shalane Giles are both seniors at Southwestern University. John is studying political science and has ambitions of becoming a writer. Shalane is studying religion and biology; after graduation, she plans to travel and may attend graduate school.

On the Shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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Caracol - “The Observatory” in Chichén Itzá

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This month, guest essayist Scott Lough concludes his exploration of time’s strange behavior, this time focusing on how early human societies understood and measured it.

Guest essay – Scott Lough, “The Weirdness of Time” (part 2)

  • for further reading:
    • Abel, K. Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene History. Montreal and Kingston: McGill and Queen’s UP, 2005.
    • Aveni, A. F. “Old and new world naked eye astronomy.” In Brecher, K., Feirtag, M., (eds.), Astronomy of the Ancients (pp. 61-89). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1979.
    • Aveni, A. F. Empires of Time: Calendars, Clocks, and Culture. New York: Basic Books, 1989.
    • Aveni, A. F. Conversing with the Planets: How Science and Myth Invented the Cosmos. New York: Times Books, 1992.
    • Barbour, J. B. The End of Time. New York: Oxford UP, 1999.
    • Cobo, Bernabé. Inca Religion and Customs. Hamilton, R. (ed. and trans.), Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.
    • Ferris, T. Coming of Age in the Milky Way. New York: Doubleday, 1988.
    • Galison, P. L. Einstein’s Clocks, Poincaré’s Maps: Empires of Time. New York: W. W. Norton, 2003.
    • Gleick, J. Faster. New York: Vintage, 2000.
    • Hawking, S. W. A Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes. New York: Bantam, 1998.
    • Hesiod. Works and Days. Tandy, D. W., Neale, W. C. (eds. and trans.). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996.
    • Krupp, E. C. In Search of Ancient Astronomies. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978.
    • Krupp, E. C. Echoes of the Ancient Skies. New York: Meridian, 1983.
    • Krupp, E. C. Beyond the Blue Horizon: Myths and Legends of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Planets. New York: Harper Collins, 1991.
    • MacDonald, J. The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore, and Legend. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum/Nunavut Research Institute, 2000.
    • Massie, P. “Time and Contingency in Duns Scotus.” The Saint Anselm Journal 3, no. 2 (2006): 17-31.
    • Smith, A. A., II. “Time and the Medieval World.” Philosophy Now Magazine 62 (July/Aug. 2007): 18-20.
    • Smolin, L. The Life of the Cosmos. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
    • Staley, K. M. “Omniscience, Time, Eternity: Is Aquinas Inconsistent?” The Saint Anselm Journal 3, no. 2 (2006): 9-16.
    • Urton, G. At the Crossroads of the Earth and the Sky: An Andean Cosmology. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1981.
  • Scott Lough is a husband, father, Montessori teacher trainer, educational consultant, science writer, lay preacher and resident of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, in Canada.

On the Shelf:

Audio credits:

All music on this program courtesy of the Podsafe Music Network, except where noted.

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