{"id":117,"date":"2019-08-22T02:10:06","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T02:10:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/?p=117"},"modified":"2019-08-22T02:10:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T02:10:06","slug":"08-20-19-the-monolith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/2019\/08\/22\/08-20-19-the-monolith\/","title":{"rendered":"08.20.19. The Monolith"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"powerpress_player\" id=\"powerpress_player_8756\"><!--[if lt IE 9]><script>document.createElement('audio');<\/script><![endif]-->\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-117-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/gralienreport\/082019_The_Monolith.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/gralienreport\/082019_The_Monolith.mp3\">http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/gralienreport\/082019_The_Monolith.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_links_mp3\">Podcast: <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/gralienreport\/082019_The_Monolith.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_pinw\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Play in new window\" onclick=\"return powerpress_pinw('https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/?powerpress_pinw=117-podcast');\" rel=\"nofollow\">Play in new window<\/a> | <a href=\"http:\/\/traffic.libsyn.com\/gralienreport\/082019_The_Monolith.mp3\" class=\"powerpress_link_d\" title=\"Download\" rel=\"nofollow\" download=\"082019_The_Monolith.mp3\">Download<\/a><\/p><p class=\"powerpress_links powerpress_subscribe_links\">Subscribe: <a href=\"https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/feed\/podcast\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_rss\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"Subscribe via RSS\" rel=\"nofollow\">RSS<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/subscribe\/\" class=\"powerpress_link_subscribe powerpress_link_subscribe_more\" target=\"_blank\" title=\"More\" rel=\"nofollow\">More<\/a><\/p><p>This week on\u00a0<em>The Micah Hanks Program<\/em>, we lead off with news of law enforcement in New York City collecting DNA from a number of individuals without their knowledge or permission, and the controversy that has ensued since news reports about the operation came to light. While on the subject of genetics, we also look at the controversial studies conducted by Spanish scientists in China where the successful initial stages of hybridizing a human-monkey chimera were achieved. What are the ethical considerations here, and why does the news have some members of the scientific community concerned?<\/p>\n<p>Then for the latter portion of the program, we shift our attention over to the landmark film\u00a0<em>2001: A Space Odyssey<\/em> as we seek answers to how science fiction influences engineering, scientific discoveries, and the future of space travel. At the center of the conversation is the eerie &#8220;monolith&#8221; depicted in the film, the appearance of which marks changes in human evolution over millennia by a mysterious, &#8220;alien&#8221; force. Arguably, many of the greatest discoveries in the history of science drew initial inspiration from creativity; much like the monolith itself, we explore questions like whether the mere interest humans have in the possible existence of extraterrestrial life is enough to drive our innovation and discoveries in the direction of profound new technologies&#8230; perhaps such advancements could one day even reshape our idea of what it means to be &#8220;human.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Below are links to stories discussed on this week&#8217;s program:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/futurism.com\/the-byte\/police-dna-database\"><span>Police are collecting DNA from people without telling them<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2019\/08\/15\/nyregion\/nypd-dna-database.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">N.Y.P.D. Detectives Gave a Boy, 12, a Soda. He Landed in a DNA Database<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2019\/08\/world-s-biggest-frogs-build-their-own-ponds\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/elpais.com\/elpais\/2019\/07\/31\/inenglish\/1564561365_256842.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Spanish scientists create human-monkey chimera in China<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2019\/08\/world-s-biggest-frogs-build-their-own-ponds\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/reasons-to-believe-life-on-mars.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6 Reasons Astrobiologists Are Holding Out Hope for Life on Mars<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/europa-clippers-mission-to-jupiter-s-icy-moon-confirmed\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Europa Clipper&#8217;s Mission to Jupiter\u2019s Icy Moon Confirmed<\/span><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencemag.org\/news\/2019\/08\/world-s-biggest-frogs-build-their-own-ponds\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/02\/opinion\/2018-hals-odyssey-to-reality.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Michael Benson: \u201cWhat 2001 Got Right.\u201d<\/span><\/a><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2018\/04\/05\/opinion\/2001-a-space-odyssey-broken-glass.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keir Dullea on \u201cThe Broken Glass\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gralienreport.com\/x\">Become an X Subscriber and get even more great podcasts and monthly specials from Micah Hanks.<\/a><\/h3>\n<div class=\"ezAdsense adsense adsense-midtext\">Sign up today and get access to the entire back catalog of<strong> The Micah Hanks Program, <\/strong>as well as &#8220;classic&#8221; episodes of\u00a0<em>The Gralien Report Podcast,<\/em> weekly \u201cadditional editions\u201d of the subscriber-only <em><strong>X Podcast,<\/strong><\/em> the monthly\u00a0<strong>Enigmas\u00a0<\/strong>specials, and much more.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li class=\"ezAdsense adsense adsense-midtext\">Like us on <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GralienReport\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Facebook<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<li class=\"ezAdsense adsense adsense-midtext\">Follow <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/MicahHanks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">@MicahHanks<\/a> <\/strong>on Twitter<\/li>\n<li>Follow Micah on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/micah_hanks\/?hl=en\"><strong>Instagram<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week we look at how the concept of the &#8220;monolith&#8221; featured in the film &#8220;2001: A Space Odyssey&#8221; has shaped the future of space travel and the scientific search for alien life.<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/micahhanks.com\/podcast\/2019\/08\/22\/08-20-19-the-monolith\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":118,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[14,19,17,23,21,20,22,18,15,16],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>08.20.19. 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