Welcome to The Conjectural.
This experiment began in July, 2015 and ran through June, 2017, during which time our host, Robert Frederick, became digital managing editor of American Scientist. He's employing the lessons learned from this experiment to the American Scientist Podcast, which he re-launched in 2016.
Further announcements on this show's future will be here.
(Got your JavaScript turned on? Click for a dynamic page.)
Subscribe via iTunes or via something else.
June, 2017
It's called "computational propaganda" -- it's how fake news gets around and some social-media attacks happen -- and it's affecting public life.
Speaker and Interviewee
- Philip N. Howard, Principal Investigator, The Computational Propaganda Project
Note: Robert Frederick attended the 2017 European Conference for Science Journalists, where Howard spoke, because of a travel grant from the conference itself and with support of Sigma Xi (publishers of American Scientist), but neither funding source required covering conference events.
May, 2017
How does seeing natural things in the outside world positively affect how you feel in your inner world? Could be fractals.
Guest
- James Schirillo, professor of psychology specializing in psychophysics at Wake Forest University
April, 2017
Leveraging religious support: What's Star Wars got to do with the Paris Climate Agreement?
Speakers
- Katherine Hayhoe, Texas Tech University
- Reverend Fletcher Harper, Episcopal priest and Executive Director of GreenFaith
- Matthew Nisbet, Northeastern University
Audio for this podcast was captured at a session held 19 February 2017 at the AAAS annual meeting in Boston, Massachusetts.
March, 2017
It's pretty clear—the President of the United States resists facts. Changing how we talk about science: from facts to values.
Speakers
- Gretchen Goldman, Union of Concerned Scientists
- John Holdren, Former Senior Advisor to President Obama on Science & Technology
- Naomi Oreskes, Harvard University
February, 2017
With the aging population, there just aren't enough people to care for the elderly. Enter robots.
Speakers
- Maja Mataric, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
- Ruzena Bajcsy, University of California, Berkeley
- Marjorie Skubic, University of Missouri, Columbia
January, 2017
A story about monitoring our water and environment, and the increasingly important role of citizen scientists.
Speakers
- LeeAnne Walters, resident of Flint, Michigan
- Siddhartha Roy, Virginia Tech
- Curt Guyette, ACLU of Michigan
December, 2016
A story about lizard sex, behavioral evolution, muscle size, and how science generates knowledge even when the hypothesis turns out to be wrong.
Speaker
- Michele Johnson, Trinity University
November, 2016
With this past November's election, all of a sudden in America, it's a strange time for science and for journalism. I spoke with Dr. Kiki Sanford, host of This Week in Science, about her work as a science translator and how that's going to change.
Guest
- Kiki Sanford, This Week in Science
Transcript coming soon.
October, 2016
How being moved by science also moved me to become a person of faith.
Speaker
- Sian Beilock, The University of Chicago
September, 2016
In this show, a story about how your handedness can influence your choice and so, quite possibly, influence your vote
Speaker
- Daniel Casasanto, The University of Chicago
August, 2016
In this show, a story about how your ability to act can change what you see.
Guest
- Jessica Witt, Colorado State University
July, 2016
In this show, a story about a source of discoveries about our past... for the next 16,000 years.
Guests
- Shawn Haugrud, East Tennessee State University
- Jarod Duckworth, a high-school student
June, 2016
In this show, a story about the illegal ivory trade, poaching elephants—which are in serious decline—and telling science stories differently.
Speakers
- Samuel Wasser, University of Washington - Seattle
- William Clark, Honorable Warden, Kenya Wildlife Service
- Allan Thornton, Environmental Investigation Agency
May, 2016
In this show, a story about the effects of noise on children, from preemies in the hospital to kids learning in the classroom.
Speakers
- Lori Leibold, Boys Town National Research Hospital
- Amir Lahav, Harvard Medical School
- Rochelle Newman, University of Maryland
April, 2016
In this show, a story about nature's most violent storms and how they've changed over the past forty years.
Guest
- Harold Brooks, National Severe Storms Laboratory, NOAA
March, 2016
In this show, a story about the science of taking the public's opinion.
Speakers
- John Besley, Michigan State University
- Ted Cruz, U.S. Senator
- Cary Funk, Pew Research Center
- Peter Muhlberger, National Science Foundation
- Lydia Saad, The Gallup Organization
February, 2016
In this show, a story about the world's largest rainforest, and how scientists don't really know what will happen to it with a warming climate.
Guest
- Scott Denning, professor of atmospheric science at Colorado State University
January, 2016
In this show, a story about the mind-body connection, and putting your best face forward.
Guest
- James Schirillo, professor of psychology specializing in psychophysics at Wake Forest University
December, 2015
In this show, an interview about the audience that most science journalists are writing for, and what distinguishes the reports and stories audiences prefer.
Guest
- David Grimm, online news editor of Science magazine
November, 2015
In this show, an essay about science news and a story about baby-boomer homelessness.
Guest
- Margot Kushell, doctor and professor of medicine at UCSF
October, 2015
In this show, a story about what just might be the most important part of the human genome.
Guest
- Ting Wu, geneticist at Harvard Medical School
License a radio-friendly version (4:28)
Note: In the piece, the phrase "Wu and her colleagues" may insufficiently distinguish Nadav Ahituv et al for their work, Deletion of Ultraconserved Elements Yields Viable Mice as a separate team from Wu's. Hopefully, each team considers the other as colleagues, as indeed Ahituv et al do cite Wu's work as motivation for carrying out their study. We regret any irritation this choice of language may have caused, especially to Ahituv et al.
September, 2015
In this show, a story about an infectious disease that's gotten better and worse thanks to modern medicine.
Guests
- Archie Clements, infectious disease epidemiologist at Australian National University
- Joy Greene, assistant dean of experiential education at High Point University
License a radio-friendly version (6:44)
August, 2015
In this show: a story about confidence, making mistakes, learning from them, and moving on with scientific research.
Guest
- Eric Stone, cognitive psychology professor at Wake Forest University
License a radio-friendly version (4:42)
July, 2015
This show's experiment: what's a news story about science like without a conclusion?
Guests
- Fenella Saunders, managing editor of American Scientist
- Ben Santer, climate scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Lab (U.S.)
Download a transcript.
License two radio versions: Affecting the Seasons (2:24)
and It's Not Just The Sun (4:02)
"The proved is evident, the conjectural is splendid." —Victor Hugo
