Don Murphy
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Our podcast explores nature and science by following the personal journeys of individuals who have dedicated their lives to nature and science. We talk with theoretical physicists, park rangers, conservation biologists and anyone who loves nature and science.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Don Murphy turns specialist interviews into practical accounts of how scientific evidence shapes decisions, treatment, technology, and daily life.
Don Murphy builds each episode around a guest's knowledge, then keeps asking until the science connects with a consequential decision. Conversations move from the practical limits of detecting extraterrestrial radio signals to early attachment and trauma, prenatal genetic…
Don Murphy can take you from Fermi's paradox to pig manure if your curiosity has range.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical math conversation that makes abstraction feel usable.
This episode treats math less like a school filter and more like a working language for making sense of the world. Don Murphy and Dr. Craig Hayne move from early counting to axioms and postulates, then widen the lens to astronomy and major mathematical ideas.
A steady look at disaster psychology that stays grounded in what actually helps.
This episode treats the psychological toll of disasters with care and keeps its attention on what helps people cope. Don Murphy speaks with Dr.
A steady account of skill, scrutiny, and the risk of underestimating people.
Debbie Friedman tells a straightforward story about becoming one of the first women lifeguards on the beaches of Southern California, and the draw is in the details.
CRISPR is framed as practical crop science with clear consumer and grower stakes.
CRISPR is treated as a practical food-and-farming tool, with Dr. Tom Adams and Pairwise anchoring the discussion in plant editing meant to make familiar crops more usable and appealing.
A grounded look at deepfake creation, detection, and provenance.
Deepfakes are the subject, but the larger concern is how to judge what can still be trusted when images, audio, and video are easy to forge. The episode works best when it treats detection as part of platform design, newsroom routines, and partnerships with nonprofits, human…
A careful public-health discussion of H5N1, mutation, and the risk of a new pandemic.
The discussion keeps its focus on H5N1 and avian flu, with Dr. Jesse Goodman laying out what a virus is, how viruses cross from animals to people, and why a new pandemic deserves serious attention.
An obscure cell mystery becomes easier to follow through a clear visual explanation and a patient scientific conversation.
A small protein capsule inside the cell gives this conversation a clear center, and the discussion does a good job of making an old cell-biology puzzle feel understandable. Dr.
A grounded look at farming that starts with the soil and stays with the work.
This episode follows Lindsay and Sean as they talk through a family farm in Cotacachi, Ecuador, and keeps the focus on farming as routine work rather than a slogan.
Steven Novella and a rotating panel dissect weekly science news and debunk pseudoscience claims.
Bob McDonald anchors weekly multi-segment interviews on new research, from cricket courtship to moon missions.
Vox reporters trace how Botox, brain-speech implants, and scientific disputes actually happened.
Don Murphy welcomes Debbie Friedman back for a conversation about how a strong swimmer found lifeguarding through patience, a beach tryout, and a summer job, then later turned that experience into a book about women, water, and rescue work.
Don Murphy speaks with Dr.
Nature and Science Podcast follows Don Murphy as he traces Vic Maris’s career from a 14-year-old visitor to Red Rock Canyon to a California State Parks ranger working there in 1974.
Sean explains that he came to Ecuador in late 2008 after visiting a Peace Corps friend in 2005, then tried to buy a chicken farm that was not really “turnkey.” Lindsay describes arriving through couch surfing and Workaway, with a message from Sean offering “a space for you to sleep” if she did not mind sharing with two kittens.
Don Murphy welcomes Daniel Toshin, or Dan, and introduces his background in stem cell biology, general biology, and exercise research.
Public golf in D.C.
Don Murphy opens by welcoming Dan Ariely, then sketches his Duke role in psychology and behavioral economics, his books on irrationality and dishonesty, his advice column, and his research on decision making.
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Don Murphy interviews Dr.
Don Murphy welcomes astrophysicist J.
Don Murphy opens by suggesting that early attachment can shape mental health across a lifetime.
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Kira Deneen, a certified genetic counselor with a master's degree in human genetics, joins Don to demystify DNA, genetic testing, and counseling.
Take a breath, be aware, and take a walk - why this climate journalist says now is an exciting time to be alive.
Host Don Murphy is interviewed by his daughter about founding Keyorda, an educational startup that aims to transform how students learn complex subjects like organic chemistry.
Don Murphy opens by framing deepfakes as a growing problem for anyone trying to tell what is real.
Nature and Science Podcast sits down with Dr.
Nature and Science Podcast centers on Dr.
Don Murphy interviews Dr.
Don Murphy's A Journey Through Nature and Science features Santa Fe medical doctor Erica Elliott, whose book From Doctor to Healer: The Mountain Lion's Gift links a 1971 Utah mountain-lion encounter to her medical life.
Nature and Science Podcast host Don Murphy talks with Dave Harmon, Executive Director of the George Wright Society, about how scientific research shaped U.S.
John Gertz says the usual SETI search has looked at “probably certainly over a million stars” and still come up dry, including work tied to Berkeley, the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Breakthrough Listen, Penn State, UCLA, Italy, South Africa, and China’s FAST telescope.
Nature and Science Podcast centers this episode on Dr.
Don Murphy speaks with Steve Gershmeisner, who says he has imaged microbes, cancer cells, and invertebrates for about 50 years and created more than 10,000 scanning electron microscope images.
Don Murphy's Nature and Science Podcast brings together Dr.