Big Picture Science is an independently-produced national radio show and podcast that draws listeners into the world of science through surprising, even playful, conversations with scientists and science journalists within themed one-hour episodes.
Join astronomer Seth Shostak and science journalist Molly Bentley each week for a smart and accessible take on emerging scientific research.
Our Backstory
Big Picture Science is an independent science radio show and podcast. We broadcast and release a podcast weekly.
But it wasn’t always so! The program began as a production of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California with the title Are We Alone? in 2002. It was originally a commercially-supported call-in show distributed to a handful of stations on Radio America by Bill Oxley and Seth Shostak, who actually broadcast from their respective living rooms in San Diego and Mountain View. In 2004, Molly Bentley joined AWA as an editor and executive producer, and about that time, support from the NASA Astrobiology Institute allowed us to build our own radio studio and move away from single interview call-ins, to a thematic multi-interview produced show.
Barbara Vance joined AWA at that time and kept us organized and hitting program deadlines until 2016. Bill left the show in 2005 to pursue other interests and Gary Niederhoff joined us with his considerable voice talent and editing skills.
After a short stint on the Discovery Channel’s outlet on Sirius Satellite Radio, we began distributing Are We Alone? on the Public Radio Satellite System (PRSS) and the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). The name of the program was changed from Are We Alone? to Big Picture Science in July, 2011.
Theme Music
In 2021, we added new music from two amazing composers. Much of the interstitial music heard throughout each new episode is composed by Dewey Dellay.
Our new opening theme, “Kinematics” is composed arranged, programmed and produced by Jun Miyake. Musicians: Jun Miyake (Rhodes, keyboards) , Andy Bevan (clarinet), Bob Zung (clarinet), Atsuki Yoshida (violins and violas), Masahiro Itami (guitars) Mixing engineer: Philippe Avril.
Support comes from
Our Skeptic Check episodes are presented thanks to a donation from the Trimberger Family Foundation.
If you would like to sponsor Big Picture Science, email us at bigpicturescience@gmail.com
