PLUS EPISODE 0020 DOOMSDAY SCENARIOS Richard welcomes an author and creator of a popular website which provides its audience with insights on how things work.  They discuss the science behind some of the numerous existential threats facing humanity. Guest: Marshall Brain is most widely known as the founder of HowStuffWorks.com, an award-winning website that offers clear, objective and easy-to-understand explanations of how the world around us actually works. The site, which he created as a hobby in 1998 and took through several rounds of venture funding totaling approximately $8 million, was purchased for $250 million by Discovery Communications in 2007. As a well-known public speaker with the ability to deliver complex material in a way that is easily understood by audiences of all types, Brain is a regular guest on radio and TV programs nationwide. He has been featured on everything CNN and Good Morning America to The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2008 and 2009, he was the host of the National Geographic Channel's Factory Floor With Marshall Brain, a series of one-hour factory tours taking the viewer on a journey into the world of product design, engineering and manufacturing. Brain is also the author of more than two dozen books as well as a number of widely known web publications including How to Make a Million Dollars, Robotic Nation and Manna. His latest book is The Doomsday Book, which focuses on the science behind 25 of humanity’s most imminent threats.