Social Science Bites - Victor Buchli on Life in Low-Earth Orbit
As an anthropologist, Victor Buchli has one foot in the Neolithic past and another in the space-faring future. A professor of material culture at University College London, his research has taken him from excavations of the New Stone Age site at Çatalhöyük, Turkey to studies of the modern suburbs of London to examinations of life on -- and in service to -- the International Space Station.
It is in that later role, as principal investigator for a European Research Council-funded research project on the "Ethnography of an Extraterrestrial Society," that he visits the Social Science Bites podcast. He details for interviewer David Edmonds some of the things his team has learned from studying the teams -- both in space but more so those on Earth -- supporting the International Space Station.
Buchli describes, for example, the "overview effect." The occurs when which people seeing the Earth without the dotted lines and map coordinates that usually color their perceptions. "When you look down," he explains, "you don't see borders, you just see the earth in its totality, in a sense that produces a new kind of universalism."
He also reviews his own work on material culture, specifically examining how microgravity affects the creation of things. "It is the case within the social sciences, and particularly within anthropology, that gravity is just assumed. And so here we have an environment where suddenly this one single factor that controls absolutely everything that we do as humans on Earth is basically factored out. So how does that change our understanding of these human activities, these sorts of human institutions?"
Buchli has written extensively on material culture, serving as managing editor of the Journal of Material Culture, founding and managing editor of Home Cultures, and editor of 2002's The Material Culture Reader and the five-volume Material Culture: Critical Concepts in the Social Sciences. Other books he's written include 1995's Interpreting Archaeology, 1999's An Archaeology of Socialism, and 2001's Archaeologies of the Contemporary Past.
Marketplace All-in-One - From “How We Survive”: The Death of ESG
Hey Smarties! Today we’re passing the mic to our friends over at “How We Survive,” Marketplace’s climate solutions podcast. Their latest season digs into the rise and fall of environmental, social and governance-based investing, or ESG. In this episode, host Amy Scott and the team dig into how one Texas law spurred a right-wing movement against ESG.
Audio Poem of the Day - Wild
By Chiagoziem Jideofor
Federalist Radio Hour - Were These American Wars Worth It?
You can find Eland's book Domestic Causes of American Wars: Economic & Political Triggers here.
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WSJ Minute Briefing - Kraft Heinz Is Splitting Up
Plus: Activist investor Elliott Investment Management is pushing for changes at PepsiCo. And a federal judge rules that President Trump’s deployment of troops in Los Angeles was illegal. Alex Ossola hosts.
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CoinDesk Podcast Network - Gold Hits Record $3.5K as Whales Dump Bitcoin | CoinDesk Daily
Host Jennifer Sanasie breaks down the latest news in the crypto industry as gold surged to a record high of $3,500 an ounce.
Gold surged to a record high of $3,500 an ounce earlier, driven by growing expectations of Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts, a worsening fiscal outlook for major economies, and increased political pressure on central bank policies. Can bitcoin catch up to the momentum? CoinDesk’s Jennifer Sanasie hosts “CoinDesk Daily.”
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This episode was hosted by Jennifer Sanasie. “CoinDesk Daily” is produced by Jennifer Sanasie and edited by Victor Chen.
Focus on Africa - Barrier built around Sudan’s el-Fasher city
An extensive earthen wall is being built around the besieged Sudanese city of el-Fasher. Researchers from Yale University say it is intended to trap people inside.
Why is there a rapidly growing demand for solar panels in Africa?
And we meet Iris- the teaching robot in South Africa.
Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Charles Gitonga in Nairobi, Mark Wilberforce, Yvette Twagiramariya and Sunita Nahar in London. Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Technical Producer: Jonathan Greer Editors: Maryam Abdalla, Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
Marketplace All-in-One - What role should AI play in therapy?
People are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence for therapy — raising concerns among mental health professionals. Illinois legislators have responded by banning therapists from using AI, other than for administrative tasks. Today, we’ll explore the benefits and pitfalls of generative AI tech that’s used for mental health support. But first, we'll read some market tea leaves with Julia Coronado of MacroPolicy Perspectives.
The Commentary Magazine Podcast - State Capitalism and the Tariffs
Now that an appeals court has ruled against most of Trump's emergency tariffs, we may get some sense of how the economic future is going to be managed—once the Supreme Court weighs in. But even so, the administration's hunger to take stock positions in U.S. companies poses a different kind of threat. We talk about this and about what's about to happen in Gaza. Give a listen.
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