PODCAST · education
The Scientific Odyssey
by Dr. Chad Davies
An examination of scientific inquiry through a discussion of the history and philosophy of the scientific endeavor.
Episodes
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The Scientific Odyssey Unscripted-The Muon g-2 Experiment Results
In this unscripted episode, we take a look at the announced results from the Muon g-2 experiment recently performed at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. We examine what it means for the Standard Model of Particle Physics along with the importance of doing science with the goal of...
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Episode 1.10: Science, Pseudoscience, and Snake Oil
A look at pseudosciences and their characteristics through the lenses of critical thinking and inquiry.
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Episode 5.12: Boundaries of Empire
In this episode, we begin our exploration of the Chinese cartographic tradition.
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Solstice 2020
In this special solstice episode fo the podcast, we embark on a winter journey through the writings of John Muir and David Henry Thoreau among others.
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Episode 5.11: Itineraries
In this episode, we conclude our examination of cartography in the Roman Empire by looking at the development of itineraries and travel maps from the period of the late Antonines to the Byzantine Empire.
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Special Episode 1: Silverado Squatters-Part 1
For many of the crew of the Scientific Odyssey, the next couple of weeks promises to be stressful with the coming US Presidential elections, a rising number of CoVID-19 cases, and many difficult decisions related to school, work, and family. To help give folks a respite from the stormy seas…
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The 200th Episode
In this anniversary celebration of our journey, we turn the canvas over to other voices to explore the intersection between inquiry in the sciences and the humanities.
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Episode 1.9: Understanding Conspiracy Theories
In this episode, we look at applying the tools of good critical thinking and skepticism to analyzing conspiracy theories.
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Episode 1.8: Barriers to Good Critical Thinking
In this episode of our series on "Science as Inquiry" we look at those things that keep people from engaging in good critical thinking practices and how to overcome them.
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Episode 1.7: Characteristics of Good Critical Thinking
"The fox knows many little things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing."-Archilochus We trace this quote from the Archaic Greek poet through the work of the philosopher Isaac Berlin to see how it applied to create good practices of critical thinking. Characteristics include having an inquiry...
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Episode 1.6: Introduction to Critical Thinking
In this episode we broaden our focus to consider critical thinking in a more comprehensive way by looking at what it is, why its such a valuable habit of mind to have and what types of activities contribute to making it such a powerful process.
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Episode 5.10: Surveying an Empire
One of the pillars of the Roman Republic and Empire was its ability to survey, divide, assign and tax land. In this episode of the podcast, we look at processes, people and tools that made such precise surveying possible.
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The Scientific Odyssey Unscripted: The CoVID-19 Global Pandemic
Wherein your Navigator discusses the CoVID-19 virus, the global pandemic, how public health and public policy response is formulated, and how to engage with the information and misinformation that's coming through various media channels.
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Episode 5.9: All Roads Lead to Somewhere
In this episode, we trace the development of roads from their pre-historic roots (or routes) to the development of the massive arterial network of the Roman Empire.
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The Scientific Odyssey Unscripted: Betelgeuse-Is He Going to Blow?
Some recent media accounts have speculated that the red supergiant star in the constellation of Orion is about to explode in a cataclysmic supernova based on recent observations of the star's dimming brightness. We examine the evidence and offer a different explanation.
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Episode 5.8: Heaven and Earth
In this episode, we trace the development of Hellenistic geography from the work of Polybius, through Strabo, to its conclusion with Claudius Ptolemaeus.
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Episode 5.7: How Big is Our World?
In this episode we examine the development of a more empirically based geography in the Hellenistic period from the voyage of Pytheas to the map of Eratosthenes.
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Episode 5.6: Ocean Around a Wine-Darkened Sea
Beginning with Homer's Iliad, we look at the development of Greek geographical models of the Earth through the Classical Period.
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Episode 3.53: The Cassini Dynasty
For 220 years, the Cassini family was among the most powerful and influential scientific dynasties of Europe. In we look at their work and lives in the period of Louis XIV, the sun King, through the end of the Bourbon monarchy.
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Episode 5.5: The Centered Universe
In this episode we look at cartography in the ancient cultures around the Mediterranean Basin with an eye to understanding the role and purpose of maps and mapping.
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Episode 5.4: Emerging From Connections
We explore the connection between maps and other cultural ideas and technologies such as language, writing and time to see how the physical artifacts arise out of abstract conceptual constructs.
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Episode 5.3: Dead Reckoning
In this episode, we discuss the development and use of basic navigational tools and how they lead to map knowledge in ancient cultures.
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Episode 5.2: Defining Space
Wherein we look at mapping as a human activity and begin our exploration of the evidence of the earliest maps known.
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Episode 3.52: Interview with Todd Timberlake
In this episode we interview Dr. Todd Timberlake about the book he co-authored with Dr. Paul Wallace: Finding Our Place in the Solar System, A Scientific View of the Copernican Revolution (Available March 28th, 2019 from Cambridge University Press). Dr. Timberlake's teaching materials can be…
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Episode 5.1: Uncharted Waters
Wherein we prepare to once again slip our lines in search of new knowledge. We discuss the effects of modern technologies and what is gained and lost in their use.
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Episode 4.7: William Whewell-A Victorian Debate
In the years between 1840 and 1866, a debate took place between William Whewell and the philosopher and politician John Stuart Mill over the nature of scientific inquiry and moral philosophy at a time of great social change in Britain.
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Episode 4.6.1: Supplemental-William Whewell on the General Bearing of the Great Exhibition
Our 2018 Christmas episode: In 1851, Dr. William Whewell gave the inaugural lecture of a series reflecting on the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London. This is a reading of that lecture.
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Episode 4.6: William Whewell-A Potent Life Forgotten
An examination of the scientific contributions of William Whewell through the early and middle parts of his career.
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Episode 4.5: William Whewell-Leaving Home
A look at the early life of the scholar and natural philosopher William Whewell.
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Episode 4.4: Out of the Doldrums
Wherein the Navigator discusses the state of the podcast going forward.
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Episode 4.3: Probability and Pragmatism
In this episode we consider additional solutions to the Problem of Induction include those which rest on determining the certainty of inductively acquired knowledge.
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Episode 4.2: Hypothetically Speaking
In this episode we consider several possible solutions to Hume's Problem of Induction including William Whewell's description of scientific inquiry, the hypothetico-deductive methods and Karl Popper's falsifiability criterion.
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Episode 4.1: The Problem of Induction
In our new Science and Certainty mini-series, we take a look at what is known as the Problem of Induction in the junction between epistemology and philosophy of science. We review what induction is and then look at various historical statements of the problem culminating with the work of Scottish...
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Episode 3.51: Epilogue, Finding our Place
Wherein we reach the end of our journey.
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Episode 3.50.12: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, War and Peace
In our final episode of the biographical series on Albert Einstein, we look at the last twenty years of his life in the United States. We consider his conversations with the mathematician Kurt Godel, the letters to Franklin Delano Roosevelt that helped initiate what would become the Manhattan...
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Episode 3.50.11: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, Coming to America
In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey, we delve more deeply into Einstein's religious views and recap the months up to his emigration to the United States to take a position at the Institute of Advanced Study.
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Episode 3.50.10: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, Politics and Exile
In 1930, Albert Einstein wrote, "I believe that the most important mission of the state is to protect the individual and to make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality." This concise statement of his political philosophy would guide his actions through much of the 1920's and...
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Episode 3.50.9: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, Entanglement
In the words of physicist John Wheeler, "In all the history of human thought, there is no greater dialogue than that which took place over the years between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein about the meaning of the quantum." In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey we explore the relationship...
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Episode 3.50.8: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, The Price of Fame
In this episode we look at Einstein's rise to international fame and what it cost him.
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Episode 3.50.7: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, The Best and Worst of Times
When Einstein moved to Berlin in 1914, he entered into a period of intense turmoil, both in his scientific work and in his personal life. In this episode, we take a look at the factors that led him to Berlin and what transpired once he got there.
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Episode 3.50.6: Supplemental-Einstein's Angels
This week we look at the period of Albert Einstein's life from 1905-1913 as he moved from one position to another on his rise among the European physics community
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Episode 3.50.5: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, A Most Miraculous Year-Special Relativity
In the second half of 1905, Albert Einstein published tow papers that refined humanity's understanding of space and time as well as the relationship between mass and energy. In this episode, we examine the factors that led to these discoveries.
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Episode 3.50.4: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, A Most Miraculous Year-Light and Atoms
In 1905, Albert Einstein published five papers that changed the course of physics and the modern world. In this episode, we look at the first three of those works including his paper on the photoelectric effect, his derivation of Avogardo's number and his analysis of Brownian motion that more or...
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Episode 3.50.3: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, The Bourgeois Bohemian-Part 2
In this second part of our examination of Einstein's life before the Miracle Year of 1905, we examine the period between his graduation from the Zurich Polytechnic and his being hired at the Swiss patent office. We discuss his scientific work as well as his relationship with Mileva Maric and the...
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Episode 3.50.2: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, The Bourgeois Bohemian, Part 1
In 1896, Albert Einstein enrolled in the teacher preparation program for physics and mathematics at the Zurich Polytechnic. We look at the events that brought him to that point and what transpired while he was a student there, including the beginning of his romantic relationship with Mileva Maric.
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Episode 3.50.1: Supplemental-Albert Einstein, A Fine Young Swabian
In this first episode of our biographical series on Albert Einstein, we look at his childhood growing up in Munich and the various influences that would shape him in many ways.
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Episode 3.49.3: Supplemental-Eddington and Chandrasekhar
In this episode, we look at the dispute between British astrophysicist Arthur Eddington and Indian prodigy Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar over white dwarf objects and the fate of higher mass stars.
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Episode 3.49.2: Supplemental-Arthur Stanley Eddington, The Seeker's Journey
For A. S. Eddington, the most important thing a think ing person could do, whether they be a scientist or a person of faith, was to follow a path of inquiry that sought to uncover new insights and new truths. In this episode, we look at how this value influenced Eddington's work in stellar...
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Episode 3.49.1: Supplemental-Arthur Stanley Eddington, Science and Faith
In this episode we consider the question of whether a person can be both religious and a scientist by looking at the early life of the British Astrophysicist and lifelong Quaker, Arthur Stanley Eddington.
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Episode 3.49: The Present Puzzle
In our final narrative episode of this series, we encounter the last piece of the cosmological puzzle-dark energy. We look at the way in which is was discovered and what it means for the ultimate fate of our universe.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Scientific Odyssey have?
The Scientific Odyssey currently has 206 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Scientific Odyssey about?
An examination of scientific inquiry through a discussion of the history and philosophy of the scientific endeavor.
How often does The Scientific Odyssey release new episodes?
The Scientific Odyssey publishes regularly with 206 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to The Scientific Odyssey?
You can listen to The Scientific Odyssey on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Scientific Odyssey?
The Scientific Odyssey is created and hosted by Dr. Chad Davies.
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