What’s all this about?
Wonder Cupboard is a podcast that asks what science is, how it works, and how it came to be.
Elena Falco and Ian Bridgeman present a new topic on the history and philosophy of science every episode.
Tell us things
You can send us feedback, questions and lovely stories about science by emailing us: hello@wondercupboard.com
We’re also on Twitter and Instagram .
Your Hosts
Elena Falco has a degree and an MA in philosophy, with a focus on philosophy of science, obtained after a long flirtation with neuropsychology. She is a PhD student and teaching assistant in Science and Technology Studies at University College London. Elena has also worked in science publishing.
Ian Bridgeman likes computers, jokes and Daim® bars. He spends most of his time writing copy and designing websites.
Previous episodes
#017
Air Conditioning
Is it me or is it hot in here? Elena and Ian try to keep their cool as they find out how A/C came to be, and the surprising ways it's changed our world.
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The References
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#016
Ice
Ice, Ice, Baby. Not just lyrics from one of history’s great musicians, but also the topic of this episode. Elena and Ian take a cold, hard look at how chilling changed the world. Cool story, bro.
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The References
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#015
Are Viruses Alive?
Not that virus. Well, yes, that one too, but not specifically. All of them, actually. Elena and Ian take a look at life and times of these vivacious virions by asking what it means to be alive at all…
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The References
The nature of life, Mark A. Bedau, in The Cambridge Companion to Life and Death
David Grinspoon, It’s Time to Take the Gaia Hypothesis Seriously, on Nautilus
Entry on Lynn Margulis, Encyclopaedia Britannica
Strange but True: The Largest Organism on Earth Is a Fungus, Scientific American
Humans Made the Banana Perfect—But Soon, It'll Be Gone, by Rob Dunn, Wired
Life’s working definition, NASA
Defining life, by Steven A. Benner, in Astrobiology
Are viruses alive?, by Nigel Brown, in Microbiology Today
To be or not to be alive: How recent discoveries challenge the traditional definitions of viruses and life, by Patrick Forterre, in Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences (2016)
Viruses as a survival strategy in the armory of life, by Sávio Torres de Farias, Sohan Jheeta, Francisco Prosdocimi, in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (2019)
On the modern cult of factish gods , Bruno Latour
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#014
Beauty Part 2
Imagine a perfect rhino. Done it? Great. Keep it in mind while Elena and Ian are joined by the Level Up Human podcast's Simon Watt, to discuss what we're really doing when we look for beauty in nature.
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The References
You can find Simon Watt on Twitter, @SimonDWatt . The excellent podcast is Level Up Human , and you can find out how to help an ugly animal at the Ugly Animal Preservation Society .
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#013
Beauty Part 1
Phwoar, that equation, huh? Look at the numbers on that! No scientist has ever said this, hopefully, so why are there so-called 'beautiful' theories? Elena and Ian peruse this polynomial pageant, joined by theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder , author of 'Lost In Math' and science blog Backreaction .
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The References
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#012
Merry Christmas
'Tis the season… for science and reason! Well, that's what the Victorians thought at least. Elena and Ian take a look at how science and Christmas became fashionable pals in the 19th Century.
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#011
Vaccines and Power
Vaccines are great, but not everyone agrees. Elena and Ian take a jab at finding out why and when we began our preoccupation with inoculation.
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The References
We hope you like homework!
Let’s start with factual resources on vaccines themselves, as accurate as humanly possible right now:
History:
Vaccine hesitancy:
Ethics:
Pop culture:
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#010
Do we live in a simulation?
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? A veritable landslide of such questions await you in this episode, which Elena and Ian wish to clarify is surprisingly, and almost entirely, Matrix-free™.
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The References
The central argument we discuss is outlined in Are We Living in a Computer Simulation? , by Nick Bostrom. The Philosophical Quarterly (2003).
Responses to Bostrom:
The simulation argument again , by Anthony BruecknerFreak observers and the simulation argument , by Lyle Crawford
The most recent book supporting a videogame theory is The Simulation Hypothesis , by Rizwan Virk. Information for this episode comes from this interview .
The discussion between physicists (and one stray philosopher) can be found here on YouTube , around minute 10. I would recommend the whole video though, it’s refreshing and educational.
A few articles about Elon Musk’s interest in the simulation argument can be found here , here , and here . Information about his funding activity comes from this , and this .
Empirical research into the possibility that we live in a simulation:
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#009
Lab Coats
When did scientists start wearing white coats? Why do doctors wear them too? And are they strictly necessary in toothpaste commercials? Elena and Ian don their most fashionable lab jackets to look at the life and times of science's iconic wardrobe.
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The References
Elena couldn’t find a comprehensive history of lab coats, so she put it together from the following bits and pieces.
Some sources on the effect of white coats on patients:
What should a doctor wear?
The stats referenced in this episode all come from the articles listed above.
That's Not How You Pipette on Tumblr, a record of incorrect pipette usage in popular culture.
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#008
Valentine’s Special: Mamie & Kenneth
Mamie & Kenneth Clark’s work in psychology was instrumental in the fight to ban racial segregation in US schools. For Valentine’s Day, Elena and Ian tell the story of one of their favourite scientific couples.
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The References
The best biography of Mamie that I could find is on Psychology’s Feminist Voices . It features a well-detailed account of the Dolls experiment.
Interesting articles on the Clarks can be found on the Smithsonian Magazine website and The New York Times .
A lot of the information about Henry Garrett and the relationship between science and racism comes from the excellent “Science in the Service of the Far Right: Henry E. Garrett, the IAAEE, and the Liberty Lobby”, by Andrew S. Winston, published on the Journal of Social Issues
The Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka provides a good overview of the trials.
Finally, travel advice! Go pay homage to one of their dolls in Topeka , and don’t forget a little detour to see the mega ball of twine in Cawker City , aka one of the 8
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#007
What Are Numbers?
What are they though? And where do they come from? Did someone invent them? Elena and Ian attempt to answer countless such questions in an episode critics are already rating Pi out of Planck.
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The References
Your philosophy fix:
For the geographically inclined:
On biology:
And finally, here's the Sesame Street animation that taught Ian everything he knows about maths.
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#006
Mesmerism
Elena and Ian find out how one man and his impressive finger sparked the genesis of hypnosis and psychotherapy.
Some waterfowl were harmed in the making of this episode.
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The References
A history of hypnotism , by Alan Gould, is a rather hefty book about the history of hypnotism in the West.For more of a beach read, you can pick up The Mesmerist , by Veronica Moore. It tells the story of John Elliotson, the British doctor who became obsessed with mesmerism. There is so much more about the Okey sisters that I couldn’t recount in the episode, and it’s all in there. Detailed and riveting.
Medical revolutionaries , by Karol Weaver, tells the fascinating story of mesmeric healers in Haiti.For an overview of everything: Henri Ellenberger, The discovery of the unconscious . *bows down to floor*
“Triage for health care in a metropolis: Paris under Napoleon”
#005
What’s the Language of Science?
Elena and Ian look at the languages science speaks… and the difficulties of writing them down. Guest starring: Galileo, Newton and the Fairy Pitta.
This episode was recorded in celebration of peer review week: the planet's premier 7-day festival of intra-field regulation.
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The References
Bad things can happen as a consequence of English being the universal language of science. For a digest, read “English Is the Language of Science. That Isn’t Always a Good Thing” , on Smithsonian.com .
“Standardization vs Diversity: How Can We Push Peer Review Research Forward?”, by Karen Shashok, Medscape General Medicine .
“Languages Are Still a Major Barrier to Global Science” , by Tatsuya Amano, Juan P. González-Varo, William J. Sutherland, Plos Biology .“A Bit of Culture”, by Joy Burrough-Boenisch, The write stuff
Michael D. Gordin, an American historian, has written a lot on the history of languages in the sciences. “Absolute English” , an essay he published on Aeon , is a good place to start. But you can look up his other works as well.
“Why is English the main language of science?” , from the Elsevier WebShop Blog .
#004
Flat Earth
And Round Earth. And Hollow Earth. And Treasure Chest Earth. Elena and Ian attempt to work out who thought the earth was shaped like what, and when. It's not as simple as you'd think.
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#003
Sexy Plants
Plants, eh? Phoar. Elena and Ian find out why botany became scandalously sexy for a whole century. Features two rude words and some extremely questionable poetry.
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The References
A great, comprehensive book on the subject is Flora Unveiled , by Lincoln and Lee Taiz. They start from prehistory and tell the story of how the understanding of plant reproduction changed over time.
On poets: Desmond King-Heele, “Erasmus Darwin: Scientific source for the Romantic poets”, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews , volume 20, number 4 (1995).the guy on Erasmus Darwin, so if you’re interested, Google away!
Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity , by Patricia Fara. She has written a lot more about the history of botany.The full text of The Loves of Plants , by Erasmus Darwin, is available here , for your delight. By the way, dinosaur erotica does exist, and you can read it for free . Two generations of Darwin-inspired titillation – don’t say we don’t treat you!
The Journal of Literature and Science has dedicated a whole issue to the topic of women and the history of botany.
#002
Why Does Science Work?
Elena and Ian take a look at why science works, before getting embroiled in a boxing/wrestling match between realists and instrumentalists. Typical.
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The References
Realism
The original no-miracles argument is formulated in Mathematics, Matter and Method , by Hillary Putnam (1975).
The guy who said structure is all that matters and might have implied that everything is mathematics: John Worrall, in Structural Realism: The Best of Both Worlds? (1989).
A physicist who weighed in: Paul Davies. I read The mind of God (1992). Go on. It’s 1p .
An overview : Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , entry on Scientific Realism authored by Anjan Chakravartty.Stathis Psillos has written extensively about these matters. You can also find his short video course on realism on YouTube .
Instrumentalism and anti-realism
The birth of the pessimistic meta-induction is in A Confutation of Convergent Realism , by Larry Laudan. Not for the faint-hearted, but very interesting. If you want to challenge yourself, it’s here, for free .
Progress of science similar to evolution , based on a feedback mechanism: Van Fraassen, The Scientific Image .
Officially, Van Fraassen’s position is called constructive empiricism. An overview from the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy can be found here , authored by Bradley Monton and Chad Mohler.
#001
Galileo
Elena and Ian don their gowns, and rebelliously take them off again, in order to discuss the life and times of Galileo Galilei: scientist, lover, and all-round renaissance man (literally).
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The References
Dava Sobel, Galileo’s daughter. A Drama of Science, Faith and Love (2009).told through their letters .
Galileo Galilei, Against the donning of the gown or Capitolo contro il portar la toga .read it here .
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , chapter on Galileo Galilei authored by Peter Machamer.Free here .
John Gribbin, Science: a history .reference book .
