The Rational View podcast with Dr. Al Scott

In this episode I’m continuing in a bit of a ‘space science’ theme to interview Professor Emeritus Don Gurnett, the Primary Investigator on the plasma wave instruments onboard both Voyager spacecraft. These amazing nuclear-powered spacecraft were launched in 1977 and are now the most distant manmade objects known, having recently left the solar system on their way into interstellar space.   Prof. Gurnett started his science career by working on spacecraft electronics design as a student employee in The University of Iowa Physics Department in 1959. After completing his B.S. in electrical engineering at Iowa in 1962, he transferred to physics, where he received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in 1963 and 1965. He was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Iowa in 1965 with subsequent promotions to Associate Professor and to Full Professor in 1968 and 1972. Prof. Gurnett is considered by many to be the founder of the field of space plasma wave physics and has participated in over 30 spacecraft projects, most notably the Voyager 1 and 2 flights to the outer planets, the Galileo mission to Jupiter, and the Cassini mission to Saturn. Prof. Gurnett has received numerous awards for his research spanning two millenia. These include the 1978 John Howard Dellinger Gold Medal from the International Scientific Radio Union, to the 2005 Hannes Alfven Medal from the European Geosciences Union. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.   Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com   Join the Facebook discussion @TheRationalView   Instagram @The_Rational_View   Twitter @AlScottRational   #therationalview #podcast #science #astrophysics #voyager #exploration #space #plasmawaves #physics #nuclearpower #thermoelectric 

This episode wraps up my exciting two-part interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium. We discuss climate change mitigation, public perceptions and misperceptions of nuclear power and society's progress towards decarbonizing the economy. We chat about the imminent launch of the James Webb Space Telescope and justifications for funding of big space astronomy projects. I hope you enjoy it! Subscribe to my podcast at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @TheRationalView Instagram @The_Rational_View Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #science #evidencebased #climatechange #netzeroneedsnuclear #greenenergy #cleanenergy #space #astronomy #neildegrassetyson #nuclearenergy

The Rational View is proud to present an interview with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. This is the first in a two-part series.  Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist, and witty director of the Hayden Planetarium,  is joining Dr. Scott.  Selected as one of the 100 most influential persons in the world by Time magazine in 2007, Dr. Tyson was awarded the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication in 2017. In this interview we discuss communicating complex scientific issues with a polarized public. Dr. Tyson addresses his non-judgemental approach to spreading rational evidence-based perspectives to inform public policy.  Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @TheRationalView Instagram @The_Rational_View Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #neildegrassetyson #science #TOK #evidencebased #outreach #rational #skepticism

This episode includes a talk I gave to the Canadian Association of Physicists at their annual conference, in a special session focused on industrial physicists. It discusses the responsibility of scientists to communicate their work to the public and engage with society. Society sees scientists as disconnected elites who are isolated in academic ivory towers. We need to counter this opinion and show that we are also people who fight similar issues. We also need child care. We also worry about how to put food on the table. To communicate effectively and get society to a 'Star Trek' future we all need to listen and empathize and step out of our social media echo chambers. Also, please stay tuned for an upcoming episode where I will be interviewing the famous Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson! Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @therationalview Instagram @the_rational_view Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #science #evidencebased #ecomodernism #homeopathy #flatearth #nuclearpower #greenenergy #renewableenergy #startrek

This episode is full of Cool Science. The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s next flagship observatory, is now scheduled for launch on December 18th of 2021. This infrared observatory with a 6.5 metre segmented deployable primary telescope will rocket off to a distant Lagrange point where it will deploy a tennis-court-sized multi-layer foil sunshield to allow it to cool to -223 degrees Celsius. The mission cost over $10 Billion to put together. René Doyon obtained his PhD in astrophysics from the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medecine in 1990. He is a full professor at the physics Department of the Université de Montréal, Director of the Institute for Research on Exoplanets and the Mont-Mégantic Observatory. His research activities focus on the search and study of exoplanets, young stars and the development of state-of-the-art astronomical instruments for ground- and spaced-based observatories. He is principal investigator of the Canadian-built instrument onboard the James Webb Space Telescope, to be launched in 2021. His research team led the development of novel imaging techniques that contributed, in 2008, to obtain the first images of a multiple planetary system outside the Solar system. His distinctions includes the 2009 Polanyi award, and prize from the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and more recently the 2018 Killam Research Fellowship. Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @TheRationalView Instagram @The_Rational_View Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #science #JWST #spacetelescope #astronomy #astrophysics #exoplanets #SETI #spectroscopy #firstlight

In this episode Dr. Scott discusses society's apparent need to spend wads of money performing security theater. Security theater is an insidious phenomenon whereby people are pressured into pointless and irrational acts of theater in the name of security. This inevitably happens as a result of a seemingly preventable tragedy, followed by a politician or security official who feels pressured to act. Society spends billions of dollars on out-of-proportion security theater every year. The entire US TSA is one example of a security theater that makes people feel safe to fly. Another common example is the driving need to cycle through arcane passwords that nobody can remember every couple months. How about the hygiene theater of scrubbing down everything with disinfectant to supposedly prevent the spread of COVID-19? How does one fight security theater when it is so easy to cast opponents as monsters who don't care about the safety of children? The answer is that we all need to ask our elected representatives to engage in a rational public policy discussion before we give away our money and our freedoms in pointless acts that are unlikely to provide the desired results. Follow me at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @therationalview Instagram @the_rational_view Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #securitytheater #TSA #COVID #freedom #rational #sciencebased 

The Rational View welcomes Edgardo Sepulveda back to discuss the interactions between social inequality and COVID-19. Edgardo has co-authored a paper on the topic providing evidence that societies with higher inequity also suffer higher COVID-19 mortality rates. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352827321001798?dgcid=rss_sd_all It is not immediately clear why this might be the case, and it is difficult to tease out a correlation amidst all of the other confounding factors. This discussion is an interesting exploration of the application of statistics and the scientific method. Edgardo Sepulveda has been a telecommunications economist for 25 years, the last 15 with his consulting firm in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Chile and has an MA in Economics. As part of his civic policy-related engagement, he also writes about electricity, inequality, COVID-19 and other issues, including at the Progressive Economics Forum, where he wrote the blog that we’ll be discussing on this episode. Edgardo has been the guest on a number of other energy-related podcasts. His Twitter handle is @E_R_Sepulveda. “The Spirit Level” by UK social epidemiologists Picket and Wilkinson is the book that came out in 2009 and popularized the idea that social and economic inequality negatively affects individual and population health.  It has its own Wikipedia entry here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_Level_(book and is highlighted in the Equality Trust (a social NGO set up by them) here:  https://equalitytrust.org.uk/resources/the-spirit-level The Economist covered some of the COVID-inequality work in an article in its July 31, 2021 edition in the Finance section titled: “Why have some places suffered more covid-19 deaths than others? Income inequality is a big part of the answer”.  https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2021/07/31/why-have-some-places-suffered-more-covid-19-deaths-than-others Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the Facebook discussion @therationalview Instagram @the_rational_view Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #covid #inequity #inequality #pandemic #science #evidencebased #statistics 

As part of my series leading up to the Stand Up for Nuclear events coming up in September I'm interviewing another Canadian organizer and a nuclear industry professional. We discuss the controversy over Canada's Deep Geological Repository. One of the leading options for long-term mitigation of nuclear waste hazards. Sheila Whytock is a nuclear operator at Bruce Power, in Ontario Canada. Sheila got her BA at Laurentian University, her Bachelor of Education at Wilfrid Laurier University, and completed a power operator apprenticeship while working for Bruce Power. She was raised on a beef farm in Orillia, and now resides in Teeswater, one of the potential host sites for Canada’s deep geological repository.
 Sheila is co-founder of “Willing to Listen”, a grassroots group interested in pursuing the facts and benefits associated with potentially hosting a DGR in their community. Along with this, she is also host of the podcast “Willing to Listen”, board member of Canadians for Nuclear Energy, local contact for Mothers for Nuclear Canada and local organizer of Stand Up for Nuclear events within Ontario. Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the discussion on Facebook @theRationalView Instagram @the_rational_view Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #nuclearenergy #greenenergy #atomicenergy #nuclearreactor #nuclearwaste #netzeroneedsnuclear #cleanenergy #chernobyl #radiation #atomic

In this episode I am excited to interview an economist to investigate the market dynamics associated with energy transitions and provide insights on what is needed to electrify our economy and get us to net zero carbon. Edgardo Sepulveda has been a telecommunications economist for 25 years, the last 15 with his consulting firm in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Chile and has an MA in Economics. As part of his civic policy-related engagement, he also writes about electricity, inequality, COVID-19 and other issues, including at the Progressive Economics Forum, where he wrote the blog that we discuss on this episode (https://t.co/oLW4gBeD7Y?amp=1). Edgardo has been the guest on a number of other energy-related podcasts; his Twitter handle is @E_R_Sepulveda. Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the discussion on Facebook @theRationalView group Twitter @AlScottRational Instagram @the_rational_view #therationalview #podcast #climate #energy #greenenergy #netzero #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy #netzeroneedsnuclear

On this episode I’m interviewing Paris Ortiz Wines: Global Director of Stand Up For Nuclear  As the Global Director of Stand Up, Paris oversees all of the organization’s outreach and engagement efforts. She has spearheaded in-person demonstrations and social media campaigns around the world, growing Stand Up from a single event to 67 events across 28 countries.   `Paris began her career at Environmental Progress, an environmental non-profit organization that fights to protect nuclear plants around the world from premature closure. In 2 years she went from being an Executive Assistant to a Junior Analyst, revising energy analysis reports, leading research groups, and organizing international conferences. It was during her time at EP that she fell in love with nuclear and committed herself to fight for the development of sustainable energy. Wanting to concentrate on growing a grassroots movement for nuclear power, she left EP and transitioned into her role at Stand Up for Nuclear. Paris continues to mobilize and assist allies around the world in building their network and developing their strategy.  Paris graduated from the University of California-Santa Cruz with a degree in Environmental Studies. Standupfornuclear.org Subscribe at https://therationalview.podbean.com Join the discussion on Facebook @therationalview discussion group Instagram @the_rational_view Twitter @AlScottRational #therationalview #podcast #nuclear #greenenergy #cleanenergy #standupfornuclear #netzeroneedsnuclear #nuclearenergy #atomicenergy