Safeguarding Sound Science from the National Center for Science Education combats misinformation, disinformation, and misconceptions with actual science. The second season of Safeguarding Sound Science examines the everyday impacts of evolution, the grand theory that informs our understanding of all life on this planet. Host Mat Kaplan talks with scientists, researchers, and other experts as they dispel common misconceptions about evolution, discuss its sometimes invisible importance in our day-to-day lives, and marvel at the wonders of ongoing scientific discovery that help us piece together more of the evolutionary puzzle.
Star Trek Meets Evolutionary Biology (And Good Things Happen)
Biologist Mohamed Noor and podcaster Benjamin Ahr Harrison explore evolutionary biology through Star Trek with host Mat Kaplan, revealing surprising scientific insights from the beloved science fiction franchise in this interview.
19 Nov 2025
Teaching Evolution: Challenges, Progress, and the Road Ahead
Amanda Townley, Wendy Johnson, and Britt Miller discuss the history of evolution education, its current challenges, and strategies for improving science curricula in an interview with Mat Kaplan.
12 Nov 2025
Darwin's Reach: How Evolution Shapes Our World Today
Author Norman A. Johnson discusses with host Mat Kaplan how evolutionary biology impacts modern life and potentially provides solutions for humanity's significant challenges in this interview.
5 Nov 2025
Are We Ready for the Next Pandemic?
Biological anthropologist Todd Disotell discusses disease ecology and pathogen adaptation with host Mat Kaplan in an interview, revealing insights into pandemic preparedness.
29 Oct 2025
Let's Talk About Sex (Scientifically)
Biologists Carin Bondar and Nathan Lents discuss the science of sex with host Mat Kaplan, exploring the importance of diversity for the success of species in this interview.
22 Oct 2025
Baked, Steamed, and Frozen: Human Body Evolution in Changing Environments
Anthropologist Libby Cowgill and Amanda L. Townley discuss human adaptation to climate change, explaining why humans won't rapidly evolve complex adaptations like gills, in an interview with Mat Kaplan.
15 Oct 2025
What Darwin Got Wrong...and Very Right!
Host Mat Kaplan interviews Joseph L. Graves Jr., Agustin Fuentes, and Holly Dunsworth, who examine Charles Darwin's lasting impact on evolutionary biology, while also exploring the limitations of his original theories and considering modern challenges like race and virology.
8 Oct 2025
Human Evolution: Uncovering our Origins
Paleoanthropologists Jeremy DeSilva and Briana Pobiner discuss the real ancestry of homo sapiens, revealing the complexities and ongoing discoveries in human evolution in this interview episode.
1 Oct 2025
Safeguarding Sound Science: Peter Hotez on Vaccines, Evolution and Your Health
Dr. Peter Hotez discusses the rise of the anti-vaxx movement and its potential harms, while Wendy Johnson explores the evolution of pathogens and its impact on vaccine development in an interview with Mat Kaplan.
26 Sept 2025
Safeguarding Sound Science Season 2: Evolution Edition
Host Mat Kaplan explores the everyday impacts of evolution with scientists and researchers, dispelling misconceptions and highlighting its importance in our lives in this interview episode.
23 Jul 2025
The New Face of Climate Denial: Online Influencers
John Cook and Samantha Harrington explore the rise of climate change denial through social media influencers and online platforms in an interview with Mat Kaplan, revealing the challenges of misinformation.
23 Apr 2025
Hope in the Face of the Climate Crisis: Youth Activism and Leadership
Though climate change represents a clear and present danger for all of us, it is young people who will suffer the most if we don't mitigate global warming. And they understand this. Nearly 70% of 16-25-year-olds are extremely worried or very worried about the climate, according to a recent global study. Faced with this mounting crisis, young people are raising their voices and actively engaging in solutions. Meet three such people in this week's episode: Cindy Le, Leilina Patel, and Jariel Ramos, all members of the Action for the Climate Emergency Youth Advisory Board. They're joined by Kelly Lê, Executive Director of Grades of Green, a nonprofit organization that supports schools in fostering environmental literacy worldwide, and NCSE's Amanda L. Townley. Host Mat Kaplan discusses with our guests their paths towards climate activism, their efforts to create systemic change, and the ways they maintain hope in the face of the climate crisis.
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16 Apr 2025
Making Every Classroom a Climate Classroom
What do teachers want and need to know about teaching climate change? And how can they best be prepared to tackle this critical topic, even in places where climate change is considered a taboo subject? Bertha Vazquez, a longtime science teacher and the education director of the Center for Inquiry, has co-written the just-published What Teachers Want to Know About Teaching Climate Change. She tackles these questions, as does guest Amanda L. Townley, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, who is also a former science teacher. Join host Mat Kaplan as he explores with Vazquez and Townley what can be — and is being — done to help every classroom become a climate classroom.
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9 Apr 2025
Today's Forecast: Climate Change, Trusted Sources, and a Sprinkling of Local Relevance
In a warming world, poison ivy is becoming bigger and itchier. That's the kind of personally relevant message that resonates with everyone, and helps make the impacts of climate change hit home, according to Edward Maibach, award-winning climate communicator and director of George Mason University's Center for Climate Change Communication. And who better to convey those messages than trusted sources, such as TV weathercasters? So says Bernadette Woods Placky, a close colleague of Maibach's and Chief Meteorologist and Vice President for Engagement at Climate Central, whose mission is to communicate climate change science, effects, and solutions to the public and decision-makers. They work with broadcast meteorologists, journalists, and other influential voices. Join host Mat Kaplan as he explores the strategies employed by Woods Placky and Maibach to generate greater understanding of the perils of a warming planet and what can be done about it.
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2 Apr 2025
Zombie Theories Must Die! A Conversation with Climate Communicator Marshall Shepherd
Nationally recognized meteorologist, scientist, and author J. Marshall Shepherd describes zombie climate theories as those that live on, no matter how much the science refutes them time and again. These zombie climate theories, which spread misinformation and misconceptions, are sticky and pernicious and need to be combated by effective science communication, Shepherd says. Join host Mat Kaplan as he explores the many strategies Shepherd uses to convey complex ideas about climate science that hit home for the general public and slay those zombie theories.
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26 Mar 2025
Miseducation in the USA: How Our Kids Are Too Often Denied Climate Facts
Award-winning journalist Katie Worth spent time in schools around the country talking to teachers and students as she attempted to understand the landscape of climate change education in US schools. She chronicles what she discovered in her book, Miseducation: How Climate Change is Taught in America's Schools. Join host Mat Kaplan as he discusses the state of climate change education with Worth and Oklahoma science teacher Melissa Lau, whose perspective is included in Miseducation.
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19 Mar 2025
A Century of Disinformation: Naomi Oreskes and the Merchants of Doubt
In her critically acclaimed books, Merchants of Doubt and The Big Myth, Harvard historian Naomi Oreskes argues that well-funded interest groups have purposely sowed doubt and confusion about climate change. Our host, Mat Kaplan, discusses these tactics with Oreskes, how these efforts mirror what's been done to obfuscate in other campaigns such as by the tobacco industry, and how these efforts to distort and misinform have been combated.
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12 Mar 2025
What Climate Change? Michael Mann and Glenn Branch on the Climate Deniers
Scientists nearly unanimously agree that the planet is warming at an unprecedented rate, and that humans are the cause. We see evidence of climate change in the increased frequency and intensity of catastrophic weather events, glacier melts, and rising sea levels. Yet climate change denial persists, hampering efforts to combat this crisis. Why? Join host Mat Kaplan as he explores the current state of climate change denial and its roots with renowned climate scientist Michael E. Mann, author of The New Climate War, and National Center for Science Education Deputy Director Glenn Branch.
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18 Feb 2025
Introducing Safeguarding Sound Science
Safeguarding Sound Science from the National Center for Science Education combats misinformation, disinformation, and misconceptions about climate change with actual science. In Season One: Climate Change Edition, Mat Kaplan (former host of Planetary Radio) talks to scientists, teachers, and other experts to explore who's behind some of the more insidious efforts to spread misinformation, how those efforts filter down to schools and classrooms, and what is being done to ensure that everyone, including students, get an accurate climate change education.
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Who has been a guest on Safeguarding Sound Science
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Mohamed Noor
Benjamin Ahr Harrison
Amanda Townley
Wendy Johnson
Britt Miller
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
20 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
5 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 22 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
23
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
51
Contact Safeguarding Sound Science
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
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