Science Magazine Podcast

Why it’s so hard to understand the tongue, a book on a revolutionary shift toward studying the female of the species, and using proteomics to find beer in a painting

First on the show this week, Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to talk tongues: Who has them, who doesn’t, and all their amazing elaborations .

We also have the first in a new six-part series on books exploring the science of sex and gender. For this month’s installment, host Angela Saini talks with evolutionary biologist Malin Ah-King about her book The Female Turn: How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females .

Finally, detecting beer in early 19th century Danish paintings. Heritage scientist Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo of the Heritage Science Laboratory at the University of Ljubljana talks about her Science Advances paper on using proteomics to dig out clues to artistic practices of the day and how they fit in with the local beer-loving culture.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Elizabeth Pennisi

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi8592

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cloning vigorous crops, and finding the first romantic kiss

First up this week, building resilience into crops. Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss all the tricks farmers use now to make resilient hybrid crops of rice or wheat and how genetically engineering hybrid crop plants to clone themselves may be the next step.

After that we ask: When did we start kissing? Troels Pank Arbøll is an assistant professor of Assyriology in the department of cross-cultural and regional studies at the University of Copenhagen. He and Sarah chat about the earliest evidence for kissing —romantic style—and why it is unlikely that such kisses had a single place or time of origin.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Erik Stokstad

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi7436

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A new approach promises to increase organ transplants but some question whether they should proceed without revisiting the definition of death, and what happens to rural lands when people head to urban centers

First up this week, innovations in organ transplantation lead to ethical debates. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and several transplant surgeons and doctors about defining death, technically . Also in this segment:

Anji Wall , abdominal transplant surgeon and bioethicist at Baylor University Medical Center
Marat Slessarav , consultant intensivist and donation physician at the London Health Sciences Centre and assistant professor in the department of medicine at Western University
Nader Moazami , surgical head of heart transplantation at New York University Langone Health

Next up, what happens to abandoned rural lands when people leave the countryside for cities? Producer Kevin McLean talks with Gergana Daskalova , a Schmidt Science Fellow in the Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, about how the end of human activities in these places can lead to opportunities for biodiversity .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy . Additional music provided by Looperman.com

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Martin Cathrae/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: partially collapsed old barn with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi6336

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Builders of the largest scientific instruments, and how cracks can add resilience to an ecosystem

First up this week, a story on a builder of the biggest machines. Producer Kevin McLean talks with Staff Writer Adrian Cho about Adrian’s dad and his other baby: an x-ray synchrotron.

Next up on this episode, a look at self-organizing landscapes. Host Sarah Crespi and Chi Xu , a professor of ecology at Nanjing University, talk about a Science Advances paper on how resilience in an ecosystem can come from the interaction of a plant and cracks in the soil.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, assistant editor for custom publishing, discusses challenges early-career researchers face and how targeted funding for this group can enable their future success. She talks with Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies and Aleksandar Obradovic, this year’s grand prize winner of the annual Michelson Philanthropies and Science Prize for Immunology .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Hong’an Ding/Yellow River Estuary Association of Photographers; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: red beach from above with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Adrian Cho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/science.adi5718

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Science’s editor-in-chief and an award-winning broadcast journalist discuss the struggles shared by journalism and science, and we learn about what makes something stand out in our memories

First up on the show this week: Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp talks with Amna Nawaz , an award-winning broadcast journalist and host of the PBS NewsHour , about the value of new voices in science and journalism and other things the two fields have in common.

Next up, what makes something stand out in your memory? Is an object or word memorable because it is unique or expressive? Are there features of things that make them memorable, regardless of meaning? Wilma Bainbridge , an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Chicago, joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her Science Advances paper on teasing apart the features of memorability .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: madabandon/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: array of lemons with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Holden Thorp

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi4383

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What does it mean that we have so many more seamounts than previously thought, and finding REM sleep in seals

First up on the show this week: so many seamounts. Staff News Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a study that mapped about 17,000 never-before-seen underwater volcanoes. They talk about how these new submarine landforms will influence conservation efforts and our understanding of ocean circulation.

Next up, how do mammals that spend 90% of their time in the water, get any sleep? Jessica Kendall-Bar , the Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is here to talk about her work exploring the sleep of elephant seals by capturing their brain waves as they dive deep to slumber.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, assistant editor for the Custom Publishing office, interviews Friedman Brain Institute Director Eric Nestler and Director of Drug Discovery Paul Kenny , two experts on addiction from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This segment is sponsored by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Rob Oo/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: two female elephant seals looking at the camera with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi3256

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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Anchoring radiocarbon dates to cosmic events, why hibernating bears don't get blood clots, and kicking off a book series on sex, gender, and science

First up this week, upping the precision of radiocarbon dating by linking cosmic rays to isotopes in wood . Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Online News Editor Michael Price about how spikes in cosmic rays—called Miyake events—are helping archaeologists peg the age of wooden artifacts to a year rather than a decade or century.

Next on the show, we have a segment on why bears can safely sleep during hibernation without worrying about getting clots in their blood. Unlike bears, when people spend too much time immobilized, such as sitting for a long time on a flight, we risk getting deep vein thrombosis—or a blood clot. Johannes Müller-Reif of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry talks with host Sarah Crespi about what we can learn from bears about how and why our bodies decide to make these clots and what we can do to prevent them.

Stay tuned for an introduction to our new six-part series on books exploring science, sex, and gender. Guest host Angela Saini talks with scholar Anne Fausto-Sterling about the books in this year's lineup and how they were selected.

We’ve been nominated for a Webby! Please support the show and vote for us by 20 April.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Thomas Zsebok/iStock/Getty; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: brown bear lying in a cave with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Mike Price; Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi2236

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why some countries, such as China, vaccinate flocks against bird flu but others don’t, and male ants that are always chimeras

First up this week, highly pathogenic avian influenza is spreading to domestic flocks around the globe from migrating birds. Why don’t many countries vaccinate their bird herds when finding one case can mean massive culls? Staff News Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the push and pull of economics, politics, and science at play in vaccinating poultry against bird flu.

Next up, a crazy method of reproduction in the yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes ). Hugo Darras , an assistant professor in the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution at Johannes Gutenberg University, talks about how males of this species are always chimeras —which means their body is composed of two different cell lines, one from each parent.

Read a related perspective .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: The Wild Martin; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Queen and worker yellow crazy ants with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jon Cohen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0665

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On this week’s show: How people in the past thought about their own past, and a detailed look at how Braille is read

First up this week, what did people 1000 years ago think about 5000-year-old Stonehenge? Or about a disused Maya temple smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood? Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how Mesoamerican sites are revealing new ways that ruins were incorporated into past peoples’ lives.

Next up on this week’s show is a segment from the AAAS meeting on reading science and Braille . We hear from Robert Englebretson , an associate professor of linguistics at Rice University, about filling in a gap in reading science research when it comes to how Braille is read, written, and learned.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: S. Crespi/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Maya building with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Lizzie Wade

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0106

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Earth’s youngest impact craters could be vastly underestimated in size, and remaking a plant’s process for a creating a complex compound

First up this week, have we been measuring asteroid impact craters wrong ? Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about new approaches to measuring the diameter of impact craters. They discuss the new measurements which, if confirmed, might require us to rethink just how often Earth gets hit with large asteroids . Paul also shares more news from the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.

Next up, pulling together all the enzymes used by a plant to make a vaccine adjuvant—a compound used to boost the efficacy of vaccines—in the lab. Anne Osbourn , a group leader and professor of biology at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, talks about why plants are so much better at making complex molecules, and an approach that allows scientists to copy their methods .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: NASA/JPL; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Itturalde crater in Bolivia with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh9195

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Spotting volcanic activity on Venus in 30-year-old data, and giving context to increases in early onset colon cancer

First up this week, a researcher notices an active volcano on Venus in data from the Magellan mission—which ended in 1994. News Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how to find a “fresh” lava flow in 30-year-old readings.

Next up, a concerning increase in early onset colon cancer. Kimmie Ng , director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is here to talk about how these early colon cancers—those diagnosed before age 50—are different from those diagnosed later in life . We also talk about what needs to be learned about diet, environment, and genetics to better understand this condition.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: NASA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Maat Mons volcano on Venus with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh8158

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Compassion fatigue will strike most who care for lab animals, but addressing it is challenging. Also, overturning ideas about ocean circulation

First up this week: uncovering compassion fatigue in those who work with research animals—from cage cleaners to heads of entire animal facilities. Host Sarah Crespi and Online News Editor David Grimm discuss how to recognize the anxiety and depression that can be associated with this work and what some institutions are doing to help.

Featured in this segment:

Preston Van Hooser
Megan LaFollette
Anneke Keizer

Next up on the show, a segment from the annual meeting of AAAS (which publishes Science ) on overturning assumptions in ocean circulation . Physical oceanographer Susan Lozier , dean of the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, talks with producer Kevin McLean about the limitations of the ocean conveyor belt model, and how new tools have been giving us a much more accurate view of how water moves around the world.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Global sea surface currents and temperature with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh4938

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Researchers are finding new ways to mitigate implicit bias in medical settings, and how toothed whales use distinct vocal registers for echolocation and communication

First up this week: how to fight unconscious bias in the clinic. Staff Writer Rodrigo Pérez Ortega talks with host Sarah Crespi about how researchers are attempting to fight bias on many fronts —from online classes to machine learning to finding a biomarker for pain.

Next up on the show: a close look at toothed whale vocalization. Though we have known for more than 50 years that toothed whales such as orcas, sperm whales, and dolphins make diverse and useful sounds, how these noises are produced by their bodies has not been well understood. Coen Elemans , a professor in biology and head of the sound communication and behavior group at the University of Southern Denmark, joins Sarah to talk about using endoscopy and high-speed cameras as well as tissue samples and tracking data to learn how they achieve such amazing feats of sound .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Thumy Phan; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: looking through glasses at a distorted face in what looks like a medical setting with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh3706

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Portable MRI scanners could revolutionize medical imaging, and pheromones offer a way to control flies that spread disease

First up this week: shrinking MRI machines . Staff Writer Adrian Cho talks with host Sarah Crespi about how engineers and physicists are teaming up to make MRI machines smaller and cheaper.

Next up on the show, the smell of tsetse fly love . Producer Kevin McLean talks with Shimaa Ebrahim , a postdoctoral researcher in the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University, about understanding how tsetse flies use odors to attract one another and how this can be used to prevent the flies from transmitting diseases such as African sleeping sickness.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: GEOFFREY ATTARDO/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: tsetse fly with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Adrian Cho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh3128

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: The hunt for natural hydrogen deposits heats up, and why we need a space mission to an ice giant

First up this week: a gold rush for naturally occurring hydrogen. Deputy Editor Eric Hand joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss drilling for hidden pockets of hydrogen , which companies are just now starting to explore as a clean energy option.

Next up, big plans for a mission to Uranus. Kathleen Mandt , a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, shares what a mission to Uranus could tell us about the formation of our Solar System and all these exoplanets we keep finding.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Austin Fisher; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Uranus illustration with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Eric Hand

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh1873

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Shark tags to measure ocean deoxygenation, and zircons and the chemistry of early Earth

First up this week: using sharks to measure ocean deoxygenation. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins us to talk about a group of researchers putting data logging tags on sharks in order to study how climate change is affecting oxygen levels in some of the ocean’s darkest depths.

Next up, what can 4-billion-year-old minerals teach us about chemistry on early Earth? Producer Meagan Cantwell talks to geochemist Dustin Trail about using minerals called zircons to deduce the chemical properties of the early hydrothermal pools where life began.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: David Salvatori/VWPICS/Alamy Stock Photo; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Underwater photo of mako shark with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall; Meagan Cantwell

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: New clues to the chemicals used for mummification, and the benefits and barriers to smart toilets

First up this week: What can we learn from a mummy factory ? Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry talks with host Sarah Crespi about mummy chemistry and why we don’t know much about what was used to preserve these ancient bodies. Online News Editor Michael Price makes a special appearance.

Next up, how having a smart toilet can contribute to your health. Seung-Min Park, an instructor in the Department of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote this week in Science Translational Medicine about the powers of data-collecting toilets to improve health and the psychological and ethical barriers to adopting a smart toilet of your very own.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Portugal2004/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: toilet with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Andrew Curry; Michael Price

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg9654

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: When deer are scarce these wolves turn to sea otters, and chemical weathering of silicates acts as a geological thermostat

First up on this week’s show we have a story about a group of Alaskan wolves that has switched to eating sea otters as deer populations have dwindled. Science journalist Jack Tamisiea tells host Sarah Crespi about some of the recently published work on this diet shift, and wildlife biologist Gretchen Roffler weighs in on the conditions on the island where this is happening.

Also on this week’s show: Chemical weathering and the global carbon cycle. Sarah speaks with Susan Brantley , Evan Pugh university professor in the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, about how weathering of silicates in rocks pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . They talk about how this temperature-sensitive process could increase as Earth warms, as well as the potential and limitations of this effect on the global carbon budget.

Take the podcast audience survey here .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Landon Bazeley; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Wolf pup pulling a sea otter carcass up a rocky beach with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jack Tamisiea

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Statisticians fight bad numbers used in medical murder trials, and the state of allergy science

First up on this week’s show, we have a piece on accusations of medical murder. Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her story on how statisticians are weighing in on cases where nurses and doctors are convicted of murdering patients based on bad statistics . This segment was produced by Kevin McLean with sound design by James Rowlands.

Also on this week’s show: Allergies are on the rise and this increase is linked with climate change. Sarah speaks with Kari Nadeau , Naddisy Foundation endowed professor of medicine and pediatrics at Stanford University, about her review in Science Translational Medicine on the status of allergy science , and how recommendations have changed from when to give children peanuts to opting for sublingual exposure therapy.

Take the podcast audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: bobtphoto/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: ragweed field with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Cathleen O’Grady

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7524

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Data on hazes and clouds may be key to understanding exoplanets, and NextGen letter writers share the upside of failure

Hazes and clouds could keep exoplanets’ secrets hidden, unless researchers can re-create them here on Earth. After celebrating JWST and its ability to look far back in time and help us look for habitable exoplanets as the 2022 Science Breakthrough of the Year , News Intern Zack Savitsky talks with host Sarah Crespi about an overlooked problem with using telescopes to examine exoplanets’ atmospheres .

What was your greatest mistake? In a chat with producer Kevin McLean, Letters Editor Jennifer Sills shares stories from NextGen Voices about failures that led them in unexpected directions in their science careers.

Take the podcast audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: exoplanet with cloudy and hazy atmosphere with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jennifer Sills; Zack Savitsky

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg6078

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Keeping an eye on the largest hydroelectric project in the Amazon basin, and helping patients with deletions in their mitochondrial DNA

We are starting off the new year with producer Kevin McLean and freelance science journalist Sofia Moutinho . They discuss a controversial dam in the Brazilian Amazon and how Indigenous peoples and researchers are trying to monitor its impact.

Then, host Sarah Crespi speaks with Elad Jacoby , an expert in pediatric hematology and oncology at the Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, about the many wonders of mitochondria. In a recent Science Translational Medicine paper, his team took advantage of the fact that mitochondria are almost exclusively inherited from our mothers to transfer mothers’ mitochondria into their children as treatment for mitochondrial genome deletions.

Take our audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Dado Galdieri/Hilaea Media; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: two fishermen in a boat with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Sofia Moutinho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg5434

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: A rundown of our favorite online news stories, and some of our favorite moments on the podcast this year

This is our last show of the year and it’s a fun one! Dave Grimm, our online news editor, gives a tour of the top online stories of the year , from playful bumble bees to parasite-ridden friars.

Then, host Sarah Crespi looks back at some amazing conversations from the podcast this year, including answers to a few questions she never thought she’d be asking. Highlights include why we aren’t just shooting nuclear waste into space, and how mapping ant diversity is like mapping the early universe.

Past shows mentioned in this episode:

What saliva tells babies about human relationships

A global map of ant diversity

Gut bacteria that nourish hibernating squirrels

Securing nuclear waste for 100,000 years

Why rabies remains

Why sunscreen is bad for coral

Saving the Spix’s macaw

Waking up bacterial spores

Collecting spider silks

Don’t miss this year’s podcast series on books in food, science, and agriculture , hosted by Angela Saini.

Take our audience survey at https://www.science.org/podcasts .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Peter Trimming/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: squirrel relaxing on a branch with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg3947

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: Science ’s Breakthrough of the Year and runners-up, plus the top books in 2022

You might not be surprised by this year’s breakthrough , but hopefully you won’t guess all our runners-up. Producer Meagan Cantwell is joined by Greg Miller, who edited the section this year. The two discuss the big winner and more.

In our second segment, host Sarah Crespi is joined by Science Books Editor Valerie Thompson to chat about the best books in science from this year, and one movie.

Books mentioned in this segment:

Otherlands Review | Buy

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures Review | Buy

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Buy

A House Between Earth and the Moon Review | Buy

Is Science Enough? Forty Critical Questions About Climate Justice Review | Buy

What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care Review | Buy

Stolen Science: Thirteen Untold Stories of Scientists and Inventors Almost Written out of History Review | Buy

The Science Spell Book: Magical Experiments for Kids Review | Buy

Fire of Love (Film) Trailer

The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science (2023) Buy

Don’t miss this year’s podcast series on books in food, science, and agriculture , hosted by Angela Saini.

Take our audience survey at: https://www.science.org/podcasts

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA; ESA; CSA; STScI; Joseph DePasquale, Alyssa Pagan,

and Anton M. Koekemoer/STScI Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: the birth of a star with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Greg Miller; Valerie Thompson

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg2633

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: The impact of war on science in Ukraine, and a conversation with Anthony Fauci as he prepares to step down

Some scientists in Ukraine have been risking their lives to protect scientific facilities, collections, and instruments amid the war. Contributing Correspondent Richard Stone traveled to Kharkiv and Chornobyl earlier this year to meet researchers living and working through the conflict. He spoke with host Sarah Crespi to share some of their stories.

Then we have a conversation with Anthony Fauci , who will be stepping down from his government roles this month after more than 50 years in public service. He shares his thoughts on the ongoing challenges of communicating about science and public health, combating misinformation, and his goals for the future with Science Editor-and-Chief Holden Thorp.

Take our audience survey at: https://www.science.org/podcasts

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Rich Stone; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of rubble damaged during war in Ukraine with building spire in background]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rich Stone; Kevin McLean; Holden Thorp

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg1712

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this week’s show: A medieval German cemetery yields clues to Jewish migrations in Europe, and supercomputers help researchers estimate magma under Yellowstone

First up this week on the podcast, we explore the genetic history of Jewish people in Europe . Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry talks with host Sarah Crespi about researchers working with rabbis and the local Jewish community to apply new techniques to respectfully study remains in a medieval Jewish cemetery in Germany.

We also have a story on how much magma has accumulated inside Yellowstone National Park’s supervolcano . Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Ross Maguire , an assistant professor in the geology department at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, about using supercomputers to get a clearer picture of the volcanic system’s subsurface. Although this new study shows more magma than previous estimates, it’s still not nearly enough for an eruption anytime soon.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Eric Vaughn/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of sunset over Yellowstone National Park with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Andrew Curry

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg0498

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Meta’s algorithm tackles both language and strategy in a board game, and measuring how much water people use on a daily basis

First up this week on the podcast, artificial intelligence (AI) wins at the game Diplomacy . Freelance science journalist Matthew Hutson joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the advances needed for an AI to win a game that requires cooperation and trust between human and AI players.

Next, we hear about how much water people need to stay hydrated . It’s not the eight glasses a day recommendation we’ve heard so much about. Herman Pontzer , a professor in Duke University’s Department of Evolutionary Anthropology and the Duke Global Health Institute, talks about a study that involved recording water turnover from 5000 people around the world. It turns out daily water needs vary from person to person and place to place.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: manus1550/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of a stack of drinking water bottles with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Matt Hutson

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf8979

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: The potentially harmful effects of prehistoric ivory on present-day elephants, and replacing polymers in electronics with fungal tissue

First up this week on the podcast, we hear about the effect of mammoth and mastodon ivory on the illegal elephant ivory trade . Online News Editor Michael Price joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how as melting permafrost has uncovered fossilized ivory from these extinct creatures, more has entered the ivory trade. The question is: Does the availability of this type of ivory reduce the demand for ivory from elephants, or does it endanger them more?

Next, making electronics greener with fungus with Doris Danninger , a Ph.D. student in the Soft Matter Physics Division at the Institute of Experimental Physics at Johannes Kepler University, Linz. Doris and Sarah discuss the feasibility of replacing the bulky backing of chips and the casing of batteries with sheets of fungal tissue to make flexible, renewable, biodegradable electronics.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: RudiHulshof/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of an elephant tusk with point facing the camera with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Michael Price

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf8340

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: How sci-fi writer Kurt Vonnegut foresaw many of today’s ethical dilemmas, and 70 years of tunas, billfishes, and sharks as sentinels of global ocean health

First up this week on the podcast, we revisit the works of science fiction author Kurt Vonneugt on what would have been his 100th birthday. News Intern Zack Savitsky and host Sarah Crespi discuss the work of ethicists, philosophers, and Vonnegut scholars on his influence on the ethics and practice of science .

Researchers featured in this segment:

Peter-Paul Verbeek , a philosopher of science and technology at the University of Amsterdam and chair of the World Commission on the Ethics of Scientific Knowledge and Technology
David Koepsell , a philosopher of science and technology at Texas A&M University, College Station
Christina Jarvis , a Vonnegut scholar at the State University of New York, Fredonia, and author of the new book Lucky Mud & Other Foma: A Field Guide to Kurt Vonnegut’s Environmentalism and Planetary Citizenship
Sheila Jasanoff , a science studies scholar at Harvard University

Next, producer Kevin McLean discusses the connection between fishing pressure and extinction risk for large predatory fish such as tunas and sharks. He’s joined by Maria José Juan Jordá , a postdoc at the Spanish Institute for Oceanography, to learn what a new continuous Red List Index using the past 70 years of fisheries data can tell us about the effectiveness and limits of fishing regulations.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for custom publishing, interviews Joseph Hyser , assistant professor in the Department of Molecular Virology and Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine about his use of wide-field fluorescence live cell microscopy to track intercellular calcium waves created following rotavirus infection. This segment is sponsored by Nikon.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: richcarey/istock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: underwater photo of a swirling mass of tunas, with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Zack Savitsky

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf7398

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: How urban spaces can help conserve species, and testing a gene therapy strategy for epilepsy in mice

First up on the podcast, we explore urban ecology’s roots in Berlin . Contributing Correspondent Gabriel Popkin joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss turning wastelands and decommissioned airports into forests and grasslands inside the confines of a city.

Next, we hear about a gene therapy strategy for epilepsy . Yichen Qiu , a recently graduated Ph.D. student and researcher at University College London, talks about introducing a small set of genes into neurons in mice. These genes detect hyperactivity in the brain and respond by quieting the cell, ultimately suppressing seizures.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Maurice Weiss; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: dim photo of the forest of the Schöneberger Südgelände with old railroad tracks receding into the distance, with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Gabriel Popkin

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf6190

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Cheaper launches could make solar power satellites a reality, machine learning helps chemists make small organic molecules, and a book on the extinction of foods

First up on the podcast, space-based solar power gets closer to launch. Staff Writer Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about how reusable rockets bring the possibility of giant solar array satellites that beam down gigawatts of uninterrupted power from space .

After that, we hear about small organic molecule synthesis. Making large organic molecules such as proteins and DNA can be a cinch for chemists, but making new smaller organic molecules is tough—partially because optimized general reaction conditions are hard to come by. Nicholas Angello , a graduate research assistant and Department of Defense National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellow in the Burke group at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, talks about an approach that uses robots and machine learning to better optimize these reaction conditions .

Also in the episode: the last in our series of books on food and agriculture. This month, host Angela Saini talks with author Dan Saladino about his book Eating to Extinction: The World’s Rarest Foods and Why We Need to Save Them .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: drawing of satellite solar panels with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Dan Clery; Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf4939

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: How some snakes have adapted to the extremes of height and temperature on the Tibetan Plateau, and giving low-power sensors more processing power

First up on the podcast, tough snakes reveal their secrets . Host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Liz Pennisi about how snakes have adapted to the harsh conditions of the Tibetan Plateau.

Next on the show, Producer Meagan Cantwell talks about moving more computing power to the edges of the internet. She is joined by Alexander Sludds , a graduate student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Research Lab for Electronics. They discuss a faster, more energy-efficient approach to give edge devices—such as low-power smart sensors or tiny aerial drones—the computing power of far larger machines.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: JUN-FENG GUO; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of a Tibetan hot-spring snake near a geothermal pool with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Liz Pennisi; Meagan Cantwell

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf3782

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Rising waters and intense storms make siting high-performance computer centers a challenge, and matching up spider silk DNA with spider silk properties

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First up on the podcast this week, News Intern Jacklin Kwan talks with host Sarah Crespi about how and where to build high-performance computing facilities as climate change brings extreme conditions to current locations.

Spiders are creeping into the show this week. Kazuharu Arakawa , a professor at the Institute for Advanced Bioscience at Keio University, discusses his Science Advances paper on collecting spider silks and the genes that make them. His team used the data set to connect genetic sequences to the properties of spider silks in order to harness this amazing material for industrial use.

Visit the spider silkomes database here: https://spider-silkome.org/

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Dace Znotina/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: a spiderweb with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jacklin Kwan

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On this week’s show: A study suggests paleontological research has directly benefited from the conflict in Myanmar, and how dormant bacterial spores keep track of their environment

First up on the podcast this week, Staff Writer Rodrigo Pérez Ortega joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss links between violent conflict in Myanmar and a boom in fossil amber research .

Also on the show this week, we hear about how bacterial spores—which can lie dormant for millions of years—decide it’s time to wake up. Kaito Kikuchi , an image analysis scientist at Reveal Biosciences, joins Sarah to discuss how dormant spores act a bit like neurons to make these decisions.

In a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for the Custom Publishing Office, interviews Ramon Parsons , director of the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, about his institute’s innovative approach to cancer treatment.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: (public domain); Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: micrograph of the bacterium Bacillus subtilis with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf2050

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Protecting a body of water by giving it a legal identity, intentional destruction of methane by the oil and gas industry is less efficient than predicted, and the latest book in our series on science and food

First up on the podcast this week, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad talks with host Sarah Crespi about why Spain has given personhood status to a polluted lagoon.

Also on the show this week is Genevieve Plant , an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering. Genny and Sarah talk about methane flaring—a practice common in the oil and gas industry—where manufactures burn off excess methane instead of releasing it directly into the atmosphere. Research flights over several key regions in the United States revealed these flares are leaky, releasing five time s more methane than predicted .

In this month’s installment of books on the science of food and agriculture, host Angela Saini talks with culinary historian and author Jessica B. Harris about her book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Jeff Peischl/CIRES/NOAA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: methane flares with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini, Erik Stokstad

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf0584

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Comparing human-dog bonds with human-wolf bonds, and monitoring termite decay rates on a global scale

First up on the podcast this week, Online News Editor David Grimm talks with host Sarah Crespi about the bonds between dogs and their human caretakers. Is it possible these bonds started even before domestication ?

Also this week, Sarah talks with Amy Zanne , professor and Aresty endowed chair in tropical ecology in the Department of Biology at the University of Miami. They discuss a global study to determine whether climate change might accelerate the rate at which termites and microbes break down dead wood and release carbon into the atmosphere.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Christina Hansen Wheat; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Björk, a female wolf, with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade9777

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: NASA’s unprecedented asteroid-deflection mission, and making storage space for fresh water underground in Bangladesh

First up on the podcast this week, News Intern Zack Savitsky joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the upcoming NASA mission, dubbed the Double Asteroid Redirection Test , that aims to ram a vending machine–size spacecraft into an asteroid and test out ideas about planetary defense .

Also this week, Sarah talks with Mohammad Shamsudduha , an associate professor in humanitarian science at University College London’s Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction. He explains how millions of individual farmers in Bangladesh are creating the “Bengal water machine ,” a giant underground sponge to soak up fresh water during monsoon season.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: SW Photography/Getty; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of agricultural fields and a big river at sunset in the city of Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Zack Savitsky

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade8885

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: After years of steep declines, researchers are investigating why malaria deaths have plateaued, and testing the stability of biosignatures in space

First up on the podcast this week, freelance science journalist Leslie Roberts joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss why malaria deaths have plateaued in southern Africa , despite years of declines in deaths and billions of dollars spent. Leslie visited Mozambique on a global reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center where researchers are investigating the cause of the pause.

Also this week, producer Kevin McLean talks with astrobiologists Mickael Baqué and Jean-Pierre de Vera of the German Aerospace Center. They discuss their Science Advances paper about an experiment on the International Space Station looking at the stability of biosignatures in space and what that means for our search for life on Mars.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: enhanced-color image of Mars’ Jezero crater was taken by NASA’s Perseverance with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Leslie Roberts; Kevin McLean

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade7839

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: The U.S. government is partnering with academics to speed up the search for more than 80,000 soldiers who went missing in action, and how humans create their own “oxidation zone” in the air around them

First up on the podcast this week, Tess Joosse is a former news intern here at Science and is now a freelance science journalist based in Madison, Wisconsin. Tess talks with host Sarah Crespi about attempts to use environmental DNA—free-floating DNA in soil or water—to help locate the remains of soldiers lost at sea .

Also featured in this segment:

University of Wisconsin, Madison, molecular biologist Bridget Ladell
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution marine biologist Kirstin Meyer-Kaiser

Also this week, Nora Zannoni , a postdoctoral researcher in the atmospheric chemistry department at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, talks about people’s contributions to indoor chemistry. She chats with Sarah about why it’s important to go beyond studying the health effects of cleaning chemicals and gas stoves to explore how humans add their own bodies’ chemicals and reactions to the air we breathe.

In a sponsored segment from Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for Custom Publishing, interviews Benedetto Marelli , associate professor at MIT, about winning the BioInnovation Institute & Science Prize for Innovation and how he became an entrepreneur.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Jeremy Borrelli/East Carolina University; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: a scuba diver underwater near a World War II wreck off Saipan with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Tess Joosse

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade6771

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Monitoring summer cyclones in the Arctic, how eye movements during sleep may reflect movements in dreams, and the latest in our series of books on the science of food and agriculture.

First up on the podcast this week, Deputy News Editor Eric Hand joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the first airborne campaign to study summer cyclones over the Arctic and what the data could reveal about puzzling air-ice interactions.

Next on the show, Sarah talks with Yuta Senzai , a postdoctoral researcher in the department of physiology at the University of California, San Francisco, about his paper on what coordinated eye movement and brain activity reveal about the neurology of rapid eye movement sleep.

Also on the show this week, a fishy installment of our series of books on the science of food and agriculture. Host Angela Saini interviews writer and editor Nicholas Sullivan about his latest book The Blue Revolution: Hunting, Harvesting, and Farming Seafood in the Information Age .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA Earth Observatory image by Jesse Allen and Robert Simmon, using VIIRS data; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo from space of an epic 2012 Arctic cyclone with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Eric Hand; Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade5525

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: An analog to the Maunder Minimum, when the Sun’s spots largely disappeared 400 years ago, and measuring the energy it takes to chew gum

We have known about our Sun’s spots for centuries, and tracking this activity over time revealed an 11-year solar cycle with predictable highs and lows. But sometimes these cycles just seem to stop, such as in the Maunder Minimum—a 70-year period from 1645 to 1715 with little or no sunspot activity. News Intern Zack Savitsky joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a nearby star that appears to have entered a similar quiet period , and what we can learn from it about why stars take naps.

Also this week on the show, Adam van Casteren , a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Manchester, joins Sarah to talk about measuring how much energy we use to chew up food . Based on the findings, it appears humans have turned out to be superefficient chewers—at least when it comes to the gum used in the study—with less than 1% of daily energy expenditure being spent on mastication.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA/SDO; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of the largest sunspot from our latest solar cycle with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Zack Savitsky

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade4241

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Predators may be indirectly protecting Death Valley wetlands, and mapping odorant receptors

First up this week on the podcast, News Intern Katherine Irving joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the first photos of cougars killing feral donkeys in Death Valley National Park. They also discuss the implications for native animals such as big horn sheep, and plans to remove donkeys from the park.

Also this week on the show, Paul Feinstein , professor of biology in the department of biological science at Hunter College, discusses a Science Signaling paper on a new approach to matching up smell receptors with smells —a long-standing challenge in olfaction research.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Angel Di Bilio/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photo of a burro on a hillside near Death Valley with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Katherine Irving

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade3366

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: A special issue on grass, and revealing hot spots of ant diversity

This week’s special issue on grasses mainly focuses on the importance of these plants in climate change, in ecosystems, on land, and in the water. But for the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about their dark side: invasive grasses that feed fires and transform ecosystems .

Also this week on the show, Evan Economo , a professor in the biodiversity and biocomplexity unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, joins Sarah to discuss his Science Advances paper on creating a worldwide map of ant diversity . Such maps help us better understand where vertebrate and invertebrate diversity do and don’t overlap and what this means for conservation. If you want to explore the data, you can see them at antmaps.org .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NTPFES; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: grassland fire in Northern Australia with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade2512

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Plans to push a modern space probe beyond the edge of the Solar System, crustaceans that pollinate seaweed, and the latest in our series of author interviews on food, science, and nutrition

After visiting the outer planets in the 1980s, the twin Voyager spacecraft have sent back tantalizing clues about the edge of our Solar System and what lies beyond. Though they may have reached the edge of the Solar System or even passed it, the craft lack the instruments to tell us much about the interstellar medium—the space between the stars. Intern Khafia Choudhary talks with Contributing Correspondent Richard Stone about plans to send a modern space probe outside the Solar System and what could be learned from such a mission.

Next up on the show, Myriam Valero , a population geneticist at the evolutionary biology and ecology of algae research department at Sorbonne University, talks with host Sarah Crespi about how a little crustacean might help fertilize a species of algae . If the seaweed in the study does use a marine pollinator, it suggests there may have been a much earlier evolutionary start for pollination partnerships.

Finally, we have the next in our series on books exploring the science of food and agriculture . This month, host Angela Saini talks with biochemist T. Colin Campbell about his book The Future of Nutrition: An Insider’s Look at the Science, Why We Keep Getting It Wrong, and How to Start Getting It Right .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Johns Hopkins APL/Mike Yakovlev; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of an interstellar probe crossing the boundary of the heliosphere with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rich Stone; Angela Saini; Khafia Choudhary

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LINKS FOR MP3 META

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade1292

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Troubling signs of fraud threaten discoveries key to a reigning theory of Alzheimer’s disease, and calculating the saltiness of the ocean on one of Saturn’s moons

Investigative journalist Charles Piller joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles brought to light by a neuroscientist whistleblower.

Next, researcher Wan Ying Kang talks with Sarah about Saturn’s bizarre moon Enceladus. Kang’s group wrote in Science Advances about modeling the salinity of the global ocean tucked between the moon’s icy shell and solid core. Their findings spell bad news for potential habitability on Enceladus.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Enceladus as viewed from Cassini with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Charles Piller

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade0384

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope hint at the science to come, and disentangling the itch-scratch cycle

After years of delays, the James Webb Space Telescope launched at the end of December 2021. Now, NASA has released a few of the first full-color images captured by the instrument’s enormous mirror. Staff Writer Daniel Clery joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss these first images and what they mean for the future of science from Webb.

Next on the podcast, Jing Feng , principal investigator at the Center for Neurological and Psychiatric Research and Drug Discovery at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, discusses his Science Translational Medicine paper on why scratching sometimes triggers itching . It turns out, in cases of chronic itch there can be a miswiring in the skin. Cells that normally detect light touch instead connect with nerve fibers that convey a sensation of itchiness. This miswiring means light touches (such as scratching) are felt as itchiness—contributing to a vicious itch-scratch cycle.

Also this week, in a sponsored segment from Science and the AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for the Custom Publishing Office, interviews Paul Bastard , chief resident in the department of pediatrics at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris and a researcher at the Imagine Institute in Paris and Rockefeller University. They talk about his work to shed light on susceptibility to COVID-19, which recently won him the Michelson Philanthropies & Science Prize for Immunology. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA; ESA; CSA; STSCI; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: James Webb Space Telescope image of image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add9123

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: A shortage of tritium fuel may leave fusion energy with an empty tank, and an attempt to improve police responsiveness to violence against women

First up this week on the podcast, Staff Writer Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about a new hurdle for fusion: not enough fuel. After decades of delays, scientists are almost ready to turn on the first fusion reactor that makes more energy than it uses, but the fast-decaying fuel needed to run the reactor is running out .

Also this week, we highlight an intervention aimed at increasing police responsiveness to gender-based violence in India. Sandip Sukhtankar , an economist at the University of Virginia, talks about creating dedicated spaces for women in local police stations , staffed by trained officers. The presence of these “help desks”—when staffed by women officers—increased the recording by police of crimes against women, opening up access to social services and possibly a path to justice.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE SOURCE; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: The interior of the ITER fusion megareactor (artist’s concept) with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add8229

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: A boost in research ships from an unlikely source, and how the 2022 Tonga eruption shook earth, water, and air around the world

For decades, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society caused controversy on the high seas; now it’s turning its patrolling ships into research vessels . Online News Editor David Grimm discusses how this change of heart came about with host Sarah Crespi.

Also this week, how atmospheric waves can push tsunamis around the globe. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Emily Brodsky , an earthquake physicist at University of California, Santa Cruz, about data from a multitude of sensors showing how waves in the air drove the fast-moving tsunamis that raced around the planet after the January Hunga eruption in Tonga.

Read the related papers:

Global fast-traveling tsunamis driven by atmospheric Lamb waves on the 2022 Tonga eruption
Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA Earth Observatory; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai eruption as seen from space with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/content/podcast/former-pirates-help-study-seas-and-waves-atmosphere-can-drive-global-tsunamis

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Whether biofuels for planes will become a reality, mitigating climate change by working with nature, and the second installment of our book series on the science of food and agriculture

First this week, Science Staff Writer Robert F. Service talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about sustainable aviation fuel, a story included in Science ’s special issue on climate change . Researchers have been able to develop this green gas from materials such as municipal garbage and corn stalks. Will it power air travel in the future?

Also in the special issue this week, Nathalie Seddon , a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, chats with host Sarah Crespi about the value of working with nature to support the biodiversity and resilience of our ecosystems . Seddon emphasizes that nature-based solutions alone cannot stop climate change—technological approaches and behavioral changes will also need to be implemented.

Finally, we have the second installment of our series of author interviews on the science of food and agriculture . Host and science journalist Angela Saini talks to Jessica Hernandez, an Indigenous environmental scientist and author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science . Hernandez’s book explores the failures of Western conservationism—and what we can learn about land management from Indigenous people.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: USDA NCRS Texas; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: cows in a forest]

Authors: Meagan Cantwell; Robert Service, Sarah Crespi, Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add6320

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Tracing the roots of Long Covid, and an argument against using the same DNA markers for suspects in law enforcement and in research labs for cell lines

Two years into the pandemic, we’re still uncertain about the impact of Long Covid on the world—and up to 20% of COVID-19 patients might be at risk. First on the podcast this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to share a snapshot of the current state of Long Covid research, particularly what researchers think are likely causes.

Also this week, Debra Mathews , assistant director for science programs in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and associate professor of genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins University, talks with Sarah about why everyone using the same DNA kits —from FBI to Interpol to research labs—is a bad idea. 

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for custom publishing, interviews Bobby Soni , chief business officer at the BioInnovation Institute (BII), about what steps scientists can take to successfully commercialize their ideas. This segment is sponsored by BII .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: A. Mastin/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of potential causes for Long Covid ]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add4887

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  

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Two decades after it disappeared in nature, the stunning blue Spix’s macaw will be reintroduced to its forest home, and lessons learned from Texas’s major power crisis in 2021

The Spix’s macaw was first described in scientific literature in 1819—200 years later it was basically poached to extinction in the wild. Now, collectors and conservationists are working together to reintroduce captive-bred birds into their natural habitat in northeastern Brazil. Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt discusses the recovery of this highly coveted and endangered parrot with host Sarah Crespi.

Also this week, in an interview from the AAAS annual meeting, Meagan Cantwell talks with Varun Rai , Walt and Elspth Rostow professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, about how to prepare energy grids to weather extreme events and climate change.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: PATRICK PLEUL/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: two blue Spix’s macaws with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kai Kupferschmidt; Meagan Cantwell

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add3733

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

 

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On this week’s show: Exploring the historic Maya’s astronomical knowledge and how grasshoppers clone themselves without decreasing their fitness

First this week, Science contributing correspondent Joshua Sokol talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about the historic Maya’s sophisticated astronomical knowledge. In recent decades, researchers have set out to understand how city structures relate to astronomical phenomena and decipher ancient texts. Now, collaboration between Western scholars and living Indigenous people hopes to further illuminate the field.

Also this week, Mike Kearney, a professor at the school of biosciences at the University of Melbourne, chats with host Sarah Crespi about a species of grasshopper that can reproduce asexually. After studying the insect’s genetics, Kearney and his group didn’t find harmful mutations—or traits that made the grasshopper better adapted to its environment than the two species of grasshopper it hybridized from. Kearney and his team suggest this way of reproducing might not be rare because it’s harmful, but because most animal have safeguards in place to prevent asexual reproduction from arising.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

[Image: Sergio Montúfar/pinceladasnocturnas.com—Estrellas Ancestrales “Astronomy in the Maya Worldview”; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Meagan Cantwell; Joshua Sokol; Sarah Crespi

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add3058  

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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What we learned from a seismometer on Mars, why it’s so difficult to understand the relationship between our microbes and our brains, and the first in our series of books on the science of food and agriculture

First up this week, freelance space journalist Jonathan O’Callaghan   joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the retirement of NASA’s Mars InSight lander . After almost 4 years of measuring quakes on the surface of the Red Planet, the  lander’s solar panels are getting too dusty to continue providing power. O'Callaghan  and Crespi look back at the insights  that InSight has given us about Mars’s interior, and they talk about where else in the Solar System it might make sense to place a seismometer.

Also this week, we have a special issue on the body’s microbiome beyond the gut. As part of the special issue, John Cryan , principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, wrote a commentary piece  on tightening the connections research has made between microbes and the brain —the steps needed to go from seeing connections to understanding how the microbiome might be tweaked to change what’s happening in the brain.

Finally this week, we have the first installment of our series of author interviews  on the science of food and agriculture. In this inaugural segment, host and science journalist Angela Saini talks to Ousmane Badiane, an expert on agricultural policy and development in Africa, and a co-author of Food For All In Africa : Sustainable Intensification for African Farmers , a 2019 book looking at the possibilities and reality of sustainable intensive farming in Africa.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Illustration: Hannah Agosta; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: overlapping drawings of microbial populations]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jonathan O’Callaghan; Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science. 10.1126/science.add1406

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: The shadow of Milky Way’s giant black hole has been seen for the first time, and bottlenose dolphins recognize each other by signature whistles—and tastes 

It’s been a few years since the first image of a black hole was published—that of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy came about in 2019. Now, we have a similar image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way—our very own galaxy. Staff Writer Daniel Clery joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss why these images look so much alike , even though M87’s black hole is 1600 times larger than ours. We also discuss what’s next for the telescope that captured these shots.

Also this week, we take to the seas. Bottlenose dolphins are known to have a “signature whistle” they use to announce their identity to other dolphins. This week in Science Advances , Jason Bruck and colleagues write about how they may also recognize other dolphins through another sense: taste. Jason, an assistant professor in the department of biology at Stephen F. Austin State University, talks with Sarah about what this means for dolphin minds .

In a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor, interviews Gary Michelson , founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies , about the importance of supporting research in the field of immunology—and where that support should be directed. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Dolphin Quest ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: bottlenose dolphin peeking its head out of the water with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.add0515

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Lipid nanoparticles served us well as tiny taxis delivering millions of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, but they aren’t optimized—yet, and why we might need inflammation to stop chronic pain

The messenger RNA payload of the mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is wrapped up in little fatty packets called lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). These fat bubbles were originally designed for something much different—carrying molecules into cells to silence genes. But they were useful and we were in a hurry, so not much was changed about them when they were pressed into service against COVID-19. Science journalist Elie Dolgin talks with host Sarah Crespi about ongoing efforts to improve LNPs as a delivery system for mRNA vaccines and therapeutic treatments.

Next on the show, we hear about “pain chronification.” Have you ever thought about chronic pain? What happens in the body when it heals—no specific thing is broken—but the pain never subsides? Sarah chats with Luda Diatchenko , professor on the faculties of medicine and dentistry at McGill University, about her Science Translational Medicine paper on the need for inflammation to prevent pain chronification . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: V. Altounian/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: lipid nanoparticle illustration with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Elie Dolgin

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adc9455

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Geoscientists eye contenders for where to mark the beginning of the human-dominated geological epoch, and how sunscreen turns into photo toxin

We live in the Anthropocene: an era on our planet that is dominated by human activity to such an extent that the evidence is omnipresent in the soil, air, and even water. But how do we mark the start? Science Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about how geoscientists are choosing the one place on Earth that best shows the advent of the Anthropocene , the so-called “golden spike.”

 

Also this week, Djordje Vuckovic , a Ph.D. candidate in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, joins Sarah to talk about how sunscreen threatens coral reefs . Reefs are under a lot of stress these days, from things like warming waters, habitat destruction, and the loss of their fishy friends to voracious fishermen. Another suspected stressor is chemical sunscreens, which drift off swimming tourists. It turns out that common chemicals in sunscreen that protect skin from the Sun are modified by sea anemones and corals into a photo toxin that damages them when exposed to the Sun’s rays.

 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

 

[Image: Amanda Tinoco; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

 

[alt: photo of healthy corals at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with podcast symbol overlay]

 

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

 

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On this week’s show: How physicists are using quantum sensors to suss out dark matter, how rabies thwarts canine vaccination campaigns, and a kickoff for our new series with authors of books on food, land management, and nutrition science

Dark matter hunters have turned to quantum sensors to find elusive subatomic particles that may exist outside physicists’ standard model. Adrian Cho, a staff writer for Science , joins host Sarah Crespi to give a tour of the latest dark matter particle candidates—and the traps that physicists are setting for them.

Next, we hear from Katie Hampson , a professor in the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow, about her work contact tracing rabies in Tanzania . Her group was able to track rabies in a population of 50,000 dogs over 14 years. The massive study gives new insight into how to stop a virus that circulates at superlow levels but keeps popping up, despite vaccine campaigns.

Finally, we launch our 2022 books series on food and agriculture . In six interviews, which will be released monthly for the rest of the year, host and science journalist Angela Saini will speak to authors of recent books on topics from Indigenous land management to foods that are going extinct. This month, Angela talks with Lenore Newman , director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, who helped select the books for the series.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Suzanne McNabb; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Dogs in Tanzania with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini, Adrian Cho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/content/podcast/using-quantum-tools-track-dark-matter-why-rabies-remains-and-book-series-science-and

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On this week’s show: Saving birds from city lights, and helping astronauts inhabit robots

First up, Science Contributing Correspondent Josh Sokol talks with host Sarah Crespi about the millions of migrating birds killed every year when they slam into buildings —attracted by brightly lit windows. New efforts are underway to predict bird migrations and dim lights along their path, using a bird-forecasting system called .

Next, we hear from Aaron Pereira , a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and a guest researcher at the human robot interaction lab at the European Space Agency. He chats with Sarah about his Science Robotics paper on controlling a robot on Earth from the International Space Station and the best way for an astronaut to “immerse” themselves in a rover or make themselves feel like it is an extension of their body. 

In a sponsored segment from Science and the AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for custom publishing, interviews Alberto Pugliese , professor of medicine, microbiology, and immunology at the University of Miami, about a program he leads to advance research into type 1 diabetes. This segment is sponsored by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and nPod (the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes ).

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: M. Panzirsch et al ., Science Robotics (2022); Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: remote-controlled rover with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Josh Sokol

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq5907

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Climate change is killing critical soil organisms in arid regions, and early evidence for the Maya calendar from a site in Guatemala

Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how climate change is affecting “biocrust,” a thin layer of fungi, lichens, and other microbes that sits on top of desert soil, helping retain water and create nutrients for rest of the ecosystem. Recent measurements in Utah suggest the warming climate is causing a decline in the lichen component of biocrust, which is important for adding nitrogen into soils.

Next, Sarah talks with Skidmore College anthropologist Heather Hurst , who directs Guatemala’s San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project , and David Stuart , a professor of art history and director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas, Austin, about their new Science Advances paper. The study used radiocarbon dating to pin down the age of one of the earliest pieces of the Maya calendar . Found in an archaeological dig in San Bartolo, Guatemala, the character known as “seven deer” (which represents a day in the Maya calendar), was dated to 300 B.C.E. That early appearance challenges what researchers know about the age and origins of the Maya dating system.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Heather Hurst; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Ixbalamque painting from San Barolo, Guatemala, with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Liz Pennisi

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.abq4848

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

 

 

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On this week’s show: A new measurement of the W boson could challenge physicists’ standard model, and an abundance of marine RNA viruses

Staff Writer Adrian Cho joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a new threat to the standard model of particle physics—a heavier than expected measurement of a fundamental particle called the W boson. They chat about how this measurement was taken, and what it means if it is right.

Next, Sarah talks about the microscopic denizens of Earth’s oceans with Ahmed Zayed , a research scientist in the department of microbiology at Ohio State University, Columbus. They talk about findings from a global survey of marine RNA viruses . The results double the number of known RNA viruses, suggesting new classifications will be needed to categorize all this viral diversity.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: A. Mastin/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of three RNA viruses with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Adrian Cho

Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science. abq3391

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  

 

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On this week’s show: A journey to the center of the center of the Earth, and what was missing from the first human genome project

Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the many mysteries surrounding the innermost part of our planet —from its surprisingly recent birth to whether it spins faster or slower than the rest of the planet.

Next, Sarah chats with Adam Phillippy about the results from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium , an effort to create a complete and detailed read of the human genome. Phillippy, a senior investigator and head of the Genome Informatics Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute, explains what we can learn by topping up the human genome with roughly 200 more megabases of genetic information—practically a whole chromosome’s worth of additional sequencing.

See all the T2T papers .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: V. Altounian/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: An array of the human chromosomes showing newly sequenced parts from the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.abq1885

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Why it’s tougher than ever to be a researcher on Twitter, and a highlight from this year’s AAAS Annual Meeting

First up, Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady talks with host Sarah Crespi about the harassment that COVID-19 researchers are facing and a survey conducted by Science that shows more media exposure is linked to higher levels of abuse.

Next, producer Meagan Cantwell shares another interview from this year’s AAAS Annual Meeting . She talks with Delores Knipp , a research professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead aerospace engineering sciences department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, about what happens when our well-behaved Sun behaves badly .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: SkyLab 4/NASA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: solar flare image taken from Skylab 4]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Cathleen O'Grady

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.adb2091

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Getting pregnant people into clinical trials, and tracking when mice aren’t paying attention

First up, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how scientists can overcome the lack of research on drug safety in pregnancy .

Next, Nikola Grujic , a Ph.D. student at the Institute for Neuroscience at ETH Zürich, talks about rational inattention in mice and how it helps explain why our brains notice certain things—and miss others.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Stefan Rotter/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: rodent peering out of a hole]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.adb2037

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: We have highlights from a special COVID-19 retrospective issue on lessons learned after 2 years of the pandemic

First up, Contributing Correspondent Gretchen Vogel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what scientists have learned from scanning sewage for COVID-19 RNA . And now that so many wastewater monitoring stations are in place—what else can we do with them? 

Next, we have researcher Katia Koelle , an associate professor of biology at Emory University. She wrote a review on the evolving epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 : What have been the most important questions from epidemiologists over the course of the pandemic, and how can they help us navigate future pandemic threats?

Check out the full COVID-19 retrospective issue on lessons learned from the pandemic .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Stephan Schmitz/Folio Art; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: partially constructed bridge over water filled with giant SARS-CoV-2 viral particles]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Gretchen Vogel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.adb1867

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

 

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On this week’s show: The ins and outs of the first global treaty on plastic pollution, and why the United States has so few Black physicists

First up, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the world’s first global treaty on plastics pollution –and the many questions that need answers to make it work. Read a related Policy Forum here .

Up next, we hear from some of more than 50 Black physicists interviewed for a special news package in Science about the barriers Black physicists face, and potential models for change drawing on a 2020 report that documents how the percentage of undergraduates physics degrees going to Black students has declined over the past 20 years.

In his excerpt, Willie Rockward , chair and professor of physics at Morgan State University, describes how a study group dubbed the “Black Hole” provided much-needed support for him and four colleagues who were part of the first cohort of Black graduate physics students at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Next, Fana Mulu-Moore , a physics and astronomy instructor at Aims Community College in Greeley, Colorado, explains her ‘life-changing’ transition from research to teaching, and how it has given her a sense of purpose.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Carl Campbell/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: sheaves of plastic wrap photographed against a black background]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Erik Stokstad

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adb1765

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Finland puts the finishing touches on the world’s first high-level permanent nuclear repository, and why being good at math might make you both happy and sad

First up, freelance science journalist Sedeer El-Showk joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss his visit to a permanent nuclear waste repository being built deep underground in Finland, and the technology—and political maneuvering—needed to secure the site for 100,000 years.

Also this week, Pär Bjälkebring , a senior lecturer in the department of psychology at the University of Gothenburg, talks with Sarah on the sidelines of the 2022 annual meeting of AAAS (publisher of Science ) about the link between numeracy—math literacy—income, and life satisfaction. Bjälkebring took part in the AAAS panel Decision-Making with Large Numbers and Its Underlying Psychological Mechanisms on 19 February. Learn more about the 2022 AAAS meeting here .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Tapani Karjanlahti/TVO; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: photograph of a digging machine inside a giant cave]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Sedeer El-Showk

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ada1534

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: A giant study suggests COVID-19 takes a serious toll on heart health—a full year after recovery, and figuring out what percentage of ancient art, books, and even tools has survived the centuries 

First up, Staff Writer Meredith Wadman talks with host Sarah Crespi about a new study that looked at more than 150,000 COVID-19 patient records and found increases in risk for 20 different cardiovascular conditions 1 year after recovery .

Also this week we have Mike Kestemont , an associate professor in the department of literature at the University of Antwerp, talking about an estimate of how much of antiquity has endured . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Public domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illuminated manuscript page showing a giant R, plus a person and some writing]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman

Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ada1311

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: What we can learn from two supermassive black holes that appear to be on a collision course with each other, and the brave new online world in which social media dominates and gatekeeps public access to scientific information

First up, Staff Writer Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about the possibly imminent merger of two supermassive black holes in a nearby galaxy. How imminent? We might see a signal as early as 100 days from now. 

Also, this week we have a special section on science and social media. In her contribution, Dominique Brossard , professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, talks about the shift in the source of scientific information away from traditional publishers, newspapers, etc. to social media platforms, and what it means for the future of science communication.

Finally, we share some tweets about the relationship of social media and science communication submitted by young readers in our Letters section. You can read our picks here or check out all the submissions on Twitter at #NextGenSci .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: simulation of a pair of supermassive black holes on the cusp of merging]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery

Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.ada1028

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  

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On this week’s show: Environmental concerns over Indonesia building a new capital on Borneo, and keeping an eye on pollution as it comes out of the tailpipe

First up this week, Contributing Correspondent Dennis Normile talks with host Sarah Crespi about Indonesia’s plans for an ultragreen new capital city on the island of Borneo . Despite intentions to limit the environmental impact of the new urban center, many are concerned about unplanned growth surrounding the city which could threaten rare plants and animals.  

Also this week, John Zhou , professor of environmental engineering at the University of Technology Sydney talks with Sarah about his Science Advances paper on reducing pollution from cars and trucks by live monitoring vehicle emissions using remote sensors.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Malinda Rathnayake/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: cars on the road in a city at sunset]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Dennis Normile

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On this week’s show: A pill derived from human feces treats recurrent gut infections, and how a squirrel’s microbiome supplies nitrogen during hibernation

First up this week, Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss putting the bacterial benefits of human feces in a pill . The hope is to avoid using fecal transplants to treat recurrent gut infections caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile .

Also this week, Hannah Carey , a professor in the department of comparative biosciences within the school of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, talks with Sarah about how ground squirrels are helped by their gut microbes during hibernation .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Public domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of two 13-lined ground squirrels]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kelly Servick

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.ada0494

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Ethical concerns rise with an increase in open brain research, and how sharing saliva can be a proxy for the closeness of a relationship

Human brains are protected by our hard skulls, but these bony shields also keep researchers out. With brain surgeries and brain implants on the rise, scientists are getting more chances to explore living brains . Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the ethics of doing research on patients undergoing intense medical procedures, and the kinds of research being done.

Also this week, Ashley Thomas , a postdoctoral researcher in the brain and cognitive science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks about the meaning behind sharing saliva. Spend any time with a baby lately? Were you in awe—eager to cuddle, kiss, even change a diaper? Or were you slightly horrified by the drool and other fluids seeping out of this new human? Your feelings on the matter might depend on your closeness with the baby and—as Thomas and colleagues write this week in Science —the baby may notice which way you feel . According to their results, babies, like adults, seem to recognize sharing saliva—like sharing food and utensils or kissing—as a signal of close relationships.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Onfokus/Getty/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: baby chewing on a cellphone]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kelly Servick

Episode page: http://www.science.org/content/podcast/window-live-brains-and-what-saliva-tells-babies-about-human-relationships  

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  

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On this week’s show: How cloning can introduce diversity into an endangered species, and ramping up the pressure on iron to see how it might behave in the cores of rocky exoplanets

First up this week, News Intern Rachel Fritts talks with host Sarah Crespi about cloning a frozen ferret to save an endangered species.

Also this week, Rick Kraus , a research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, talks about how his group used a powerful laser to compress iron to pressures similar to those found in the cores of some rocky exoplanets. If these super-Earths’ cores are like our Earth’s, they may have a protective magnetosphere that increases their chances of hosting life .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Kimberly Fraser/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: three baby black-footed ferrets being held by gloved hands]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rachel Fritts

Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.acz9974

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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On this week’s show: Russia announces plans to monitor permafrost, and a conversation about the dangers of self-spreading engineered viruses and vaccines

Science journalist Olga Dobrovidova joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about plans to set up a national permafrost observatory in Russia.

Then Filippa Lentzos , senior lecturer in science and international security in the department of war studies and in the department of global health and social medicine, and co-director for the center for science and security at King’s College London, joins Sarah to discuss her Science commentary on the dangers of transmissible vaccines for controlling invasive species and viruses found in wildlife.  

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Евгений Ерыгин/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: person walking on snow at night in city of Norilsk, Russia]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Olga Dobrovidova

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On this week’s show: The best of our online stories, what we know about the effects of cannabinoids, and the last in our series of books on race and science

First, Online News Editor David Grimm brings the top online stories of the year—from headless slugs to Dyson spheres. You can find out the other top stories and the most popular online story of the year here .

Then, Tibor Harkany , a professor of molecular neuroscience at the Medical University of Vienna’s Center for Brain Research, talks with host Sarah Crespi about the state of marijuana research . Pot has been legalized in many places, and many people take cannabinoids—but what do we know about the effects of these molecules on people? Tibor calls for more research into their helpful and harmful potential. 

Finally, we have the very last installment of our series of books on race and science. Books host Angela Saini talks with physician and science fiction author Tade Thompson about his book Rosewater . Listen to the whole series .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Biodiversity Heritage Library/Flickr/Public Domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of a wombat]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm; Angela Saini

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Every year Science names its top breakthrough of the year and nine runners up . Online News Editor Catherine Matacic joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what Science’s editors consider some of the biggest innovations of 2021.

Also this week, Books Editor Valerie Thompson shares her list of top science books for the year—from an immunology primer by a YouTuber, to a contemplation of the universe interwoven with a close up look at how the science sausage is made.

Books on Valerie’s list:

Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Phillip Dettmer
Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach
The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow

Listen to last year’s books round up .

List of this year’s top science books for kids .

 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Valerie Altounian/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: golden protein confetti]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Catherine Matacic; Valerie Thompson

 

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Geoscientists are turning to fiber optic cables as a means of measuring seismic activity. But rather than connecting them to instruments, the cables are the instruments. Joel Goldberg talks with Staff Writer Paul Voosen about tapping fiber optic cables for science.

Also this week, host Sarah Crespi talks with Sylvie Roke , a physicist and chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, and director of its Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics, about the place where oil meets water . Despite the importance of the interaction between the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic to biology, and to life, we don’t know much about what happens at the interface of these substances.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Artography/Shutterstock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: oil droplets and water]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen; Joel Goldberg

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/ 10.1126/science.acx9771

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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There has been so much research during the pandemic—an avalanche of preprints, papers, and data—but how much of it is any good? Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the value of poorly designed research on COVID-19 and more generally. 

In September, the volcano Cumbre Vieja on Spain’s Canary Islands began to erupt. It is still happening . The last time it erupted was back in 1971, so we don’t know much about the features of the past eruption or the signs it was coming. Marc-Antoine Longpré , a volcanologist and associate professor at Queens College, City University of New York, discusses the ongoing eruption with Sarah and what today’s sensors tell us about what happens when this volcano wakes up .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Eduardo Robaina; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: The eruption of Cumbre Vieja, September 2021]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Cathleen O’Grady

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Have you noticed the trees around you lately—maybe they seem extra nutty ? It turns out this is a “masting” year, when trees make more nuts, seeds, and pinecones than usual. Science Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the many mysteries of masting years. 

Next, Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Jean-Laurent Casanova , a professor at Rockefeller University and an investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, about his review article on why some people are more vulnerable to severe disease from viral infections . This is part of a special issue on inflammation in Science .

Finally, in this month’s book segment on race and science, host Angela Saini talks with author Beverly Daniel Tatum about her seminal 2003 book, Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: LensOfDan/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: Pile of acorns]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Angela Saini

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Could wildfires be depleting the ozone all over again? Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the evidence from the Polarstern research ship for wildfire smoke lofting itself high into the stratosphere , and how it can affect the ozone layer once it gets there.

Next, we talk ticks—the ones that bite, take blood, and can leave you with a nasty infection. Andaleeb Sajid , a staff scientist at the National Cancer Institute, joins Sarah to talk about her Science Translational Medicine paper describing an mRNA vaccine intended to reduce the length of tick bites to before the pests can transmit diseases to a host.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Janice Haney Carr/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: digitally colorized scanning electron microscopic image of a grouping of Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, the causative agent of Lyme disease]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

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The James Webb Space Telescope was first conceived in the late 1980s. Now, more than 30 years later, it’s finally set to launch in December. After such a long a road, anticipation over what the telescope will contribute to astronomy is intense. Daniel Clery, a staff writer for Science , joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what took so long and what we can expect after launch .

You might have heard that Greenland sharks may live up to 400 years . But did you know that some Pacific rockfish can live to be more than 100? That’s true, even though other rockfish species only live about 10 years. Why such a range in life span? Greg Owens , assistant professor of biology at the University of Victoria, discusses his work looking for genes linked with longer life span s.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Tyson Rininger; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: Sebastes caurinus , the copper rockfish ]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery

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Some 80 countries around the world add folic acid to their food supply to prevent birth defects that might happen because of a lack of the B vitamin—even among people too early in their pregnancies to know they are pregnant. This year, the United Kingdom decided to add the supplement to white flour. But it took almost 10 years of debate, and no countries in the European Union joined them in the change. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the ongoing folate debate .

Last year, a highly anticipated tool for dating ancient materials was released: a new updated radiocarbon calibration curve. The curve, which describes how much carbon-14 was in the atmosphere at different times in the past 55,000 years, is essential to figuring out the age of organic materials such as wood or leather. Sarah talks with Tim Heaton , senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield, and Edouard Bard , a professor at the College of France, about how the curve was redrawn and what it means, both for archaeology and for our understanding of the processes that create radiocarbon in the first place—like solar flares and Earth’s magnetic fields.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Andrew Shiva/Wikipedia; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: close-up photograph of layers in volcanic tephra]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman

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Simple animals like jellyfish and hydra, even roundworms, sleep. Without brains. Why do they sleep? How can we tell a jellyfish is sleeping? Staff Writer Liz Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what can be learned about sleep from these simple sleepers. The feature is part of a special issue on sleep this week in Science .

Next is a look at centuries of alien invasions—or rather, invasive insects moving from place to place as humans trade across continents. Sarah talks with Matthew MacLachlan , a research economist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service, about his Science Advances paper on why insect invasions don’t always increase when trade does .

Finally, a book on racism and the search algorithms. Books host Angela Saini for our series of interviews on race and science talks with Safiya Umoja Noble , a professor in the African American Studies and Information Studies departments at the University of California, Los Angeles, about her book: Algorithms of Oppression: How Search Engines Reinforce Racism . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image:  marcouliana/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: brown marmorated stink bug pattern]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Liz Pennisi, Angela Saini

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There are massive telescopes that look far out into the cosmos, giant particle accelerators looking for ever tinier signals, gargantuan gravitational wave detectors that span kilometers of Earth—what about soil science? Where’s the big science project on deep soil? It’s coming soon. Staff Writer Erik Stokstad talks with host Sarah Crespi about plans for a new subsoil observatory to take us beyond topsoil.

Wood is in some ways an ideal building material. You can grow it out of the ground. It’s not very heavy. It’s strong. But materials like metal and plastic have one up on wood in terms of flexibility. Plastic and metal can be melted and molded into complicated shapes. Could wood ever do this? Liangbing Hu , a professor in the department of materials science and engineering and director of the Center for Materials Innovation at the University of Maryland, College Park, talked with Sarah about making moldable wood in a new way .

In a sponsored segment from Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for the Custom Publishing office, interviews Michael Brehm , associate professor at UMass Chan Medical School Diabetes Center of Excellence, about how he is using humanized mouse models to study ways to modulate the body’s immune system as a pathway to treating type 1 diabetes. This segment is sponsored by the Jackson Laboratory . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Xiao et al ., Science 2021; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text:  honeycomb structure made from moldable wood]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Erik Stokstad

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This week we are covering the Science special issue on mass incarceration .

Can a dog find a body? Sometimes. Can a dog indicate a body was in a spot a few months ago, even though it’s not there now? There’s not much scientific evidence to back up such claims. But in the United States, people are being sent to prison based on this type of evidence . Host Sarah Crespi talks with Peter Andrey Smith , a reporter and researcher based in Maine, about the science—or lack thereof—behind dog-sniff evidence.

With 2 million people in jail or prison in the United States, it has become incredibly common to have a close relative behind bars. Sarah talks with Hedwig Lee , a sociologist at Washington University in St. Louis, about the consequences of mass incarceration for families of the incarcerated, from economic to social. 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image:  Adrian Brandon; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: illustration from the special issue on mass incarceration by Adrian Brandon. He writes: “This illustration shines a light on the structural role of the prison system and how deeply embedded it is in the fabric of this country.”]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Peter Andrey Smith

 

 

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In 2019, a SpaceX rocket released 60 small satellites into low-Earth orbit—the first wave of more than 10,000 planned releases. At the same time, a new field of environmental debate was also launched—with satellite companies on one side, and astronomers, photographers, and stargazers on the other. Contributing Correspondent Joshua Sokol joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the future of these space-based swarms .

Over the course of the first 18 months of the coronavirus pandemic, different variants of the virus have come and gone. What would such changes look like over 10,000 years? Arthur Kocher , a researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, talks with Sarah about watching the evolution of the virus that causes hepatitis B—over 10 millennia —and how changes in the disease’s path match up with shifts in human history.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Rafael Schmall; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: Starlink satellites moving across the sky in a long-exposure photograph of the star Albireo in Cygnus]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Josh Sokol

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Today, most newborns get some biochemical screens of their blood, but whole-genome sequencing is a much more comprehensive look at an infant—maybe too comprehensive? Staff Writer Jocelyn Kaiser joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the ethical ins and outs of whole-genome screening for newborns, and the kinds of infrastructure needed to use these screens more widely.

Sarah also talks with three contributors to a series of vignettes on the importance of active learning for students in science, technology, engineering, and math .

Yuko Munakata , professor in the department of psychology and Center for Mind and Brain at the University of California, Davis, talks about how the amount of unstructured time and active learning contributes to developing executive function—the way our brains keep us on task.

Nesra Yannier , special faculty at Carnegie Mellon University and inventor of NoRILLA, discusses an artificial intelligence–driven learning platform that helps children explore and learn about the real world.

Finally, Louis Deslauriers , senior preceptor in the department of physics and director of science teaching and learning at Harvard University, laments lectures: why we like them so much, why we think we learn more from lectures than inquiry-based learning, and why we’re wrong.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Jerry Lai/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: newborn baby feet]

[Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jocelyn Kaiser]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss fossilized footprints left on a lake shore in North America sometime before the end of Last Glacial Maximum—possibly the earliest evidence for humans on the continent. Read the research .

Next, Paolo Cherubini , a senior scientist in the dendrosciences research group at the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, discusses using tree rings to date and authenticate 17th and 18th century violins worth millions of dollars .

Finally, in this month’s installment of the series of book interviews on race and science, guest host Angela Saini interviews Alondra Nelson , professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, about her 2016 book The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome .

Note on the closing music: Violinist Nicholas Kitchen plays Johann Sebastian Bach’s Chaconne on the violin “Castelbarco” made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, Italy, in 1697. Courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Bennet et al ., Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: human footprints preserved in rock]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Lizzie Wade; Angela Saini

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the health and environmental benefits of potty training cows .

Next, Peter Teske , a professor in the department of zoology at the University of Johannesburg, joins us to talk about his Science Advances paper on origins of the sardine run —a massive annual fish migration off the coast of South Africa.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Steven Benjamin; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: sardines in a swirling bait ball]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about plans for NASA’s first visit to the Moon in 50 years—and the quick succession of missions that will likely follow. 

Next, Eileen Roesler , a researcher and lecturer at the Technical University of Berlin in the field of human-robot automation, discusses the benefits of making robots that look and act like people—it’s not always as helpful as you would think . 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Virginie Angéloz/Noun Project; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: three robot drawings that look like people to different degrees]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

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Staff Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the many theories circulating about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and why finding the right one is important.

Next, Ed Narevicius , a professor in the chemical and biological physics department at the Weizmann Institute of Science, talks with Sarah about creating vortex beams of atoms —a quantum state in which the phase of the matter wave of an atom rotates around its path, like a spiral staircase. 

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

[Image: Alon Luski et al ./Science 2021; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: vortex beams showing holes in the center of the beam]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jon Cohen

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News Intern Rachel Fritts talks with host Sarah Crespi about a new way to think about endometriosis —a painful condition found in one in 10 women in which tissue that normally lines the uterus grows on the outside of the uterus and can bind to other organs.

Next, Raphael Townshend , founder and CEO of Atomic AI, talks about predicting RNA folding using deep learning—a machine learning approach that relies on very few examples and limited data.

Finally, in this month's edition of our limited series on race and science, guest host and journalist Angela Saini is joined by author Lundy Braun , professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and Africana studies at Brown University, to discuss her book: Breathing Race into the Machine: The Surprising Career of the Spirometer from Plantation to Genetics .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

About the Science Podcast

Download a transcript (PDF).

[Image: C. Bickel/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: folded RNA 3D structures]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rachel Fritts

 

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Contributing Correspondent Michael Price joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the newest Mars analog to be built on the location of the first attempt at a large-scale sealed habitat, Biosphere 2 in Arizona.

Next, William Brady , a postdoctoral researcher in the psychology department at Yale University, talks with Sarah about using an algorithm to measure increasing expressions of moral outrage on social media platforms.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

Listen to previous podcasts .

Download a transcript (PDF).

[Image: Kai Staats; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: lettuce plants being tended in a Mars analog]

[Caption: Lettuce plants being tended in a Mars analog]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Mike Price

 

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Charles Piller, an investigative journalist for Science , talks with host Sarah Crespi about a risky trial of vitamin D in asthmatic children that has caused a lot of concern among ethicists. They also discuss how the vitamin D trial connects with a possibly dangerous push to compare new treatments with placebos instead of standard-of-care treatments in clinical trials.

Next, Birhanu Eshete , professor of computer and information science at the University of Michigan, Dearborn, talks with producer Joel Goldberg about the risks of exposing machine learning algorithms online —risks such as the reverse engineering of training data to access proprietary information or even patient data.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Filip Patock/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[Alt text: Bottle of Vitamin D pills]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Joel Goldberg; Charles Piller

 

 

 

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International News Editor Martin Enserink talks with host Sarah Crespi about a moratorium on prion research after the fatal brain disease infected two lab workers in France, killing one.

Next, Abhay Goyal , a postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown University, talks with intern Claire Hogan about his Science Advances paper on figuring out how to reduce the massive carbon footprint of cement by looking at its molecular structure.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders interviews Ansuman Satpathy , assistant professor in the department of pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine and 2018 winner of the Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and Vaccine Research, about the importance of supporting early-career research and diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

About the Science Podcast

Download a transcript (PDF).

[Image: Marquette LaForest/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Martin Enserink

 

 

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First this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the paradox of metabolically healthy obesity . They chat about the latest research into the relationships between markers of metabolic health—such as glucose or cholesterol levels in the blood—and obesity. They aren’t as tied as you might think.

Next, Colin Dayan , professor of clinical diabetes and metabolism at Cardiff University and senior clinical researcher at the Wellcome Centre for Human Genetics at the University of Oxford, joins Sarah to discuss his contribution to a special issue on type 1 diabetes . In his review, Colin and colleagues lay out research into how type 1 diabetes can be detected early, delayed, and maybe even one day prevented.

Finally, in the first of a six-part series of book interviews on race and science , guest host Angela Saini talks with author and professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Samuel Redman , about his book Bone Rooms: From Scientific Racism to Human Prehistory in Museums . The two discuss the legacy of human bone collecting and racism in museums today.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

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[Image: Jason Solo/Jacky Winter Group; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel; Angela Saini

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First this week, Associate Editor Kelly Servick joins us to discuss a big push to develop scalable blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease and how this could advance research on the disease and its treatment.

Next, Amir Khan , a senior scientist at the Physics Institute of the University of Zurich and the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zürich, talks with multimedia intern Claire Hogan about marsquakes detected by NASA’s InSight lander—and what they can reveal about Mars’s crust , mantle , and core .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

About the Science Podcast

Download a transcript (PDF).

[Image: C. Bickel/Science ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kelly Servick; Claire Hogan

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First this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a new series on how COVID-19 may alter the scientific enterprise and they look back at how pandemics have catalyzed change throughout history . 

Next, Dan Shugar , associate professor of geoscience and director of the environmental science program at the University of Calgary, talks with producer Joel Goldberg about a deadly rock and ice avalanche in northern India this year and why closely monitoring steep mountain slopes is so important for averting future catastrophes.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

About the Science Podcast

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[Image: Irfan Rashid, Department of Geoinformatics, University of Kashmir; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Joel Goldberg; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

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First this week, Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp talks with author Patrick Radden Keefe  about his book Empire of Pain and the role scientists, regulators, and physicians played in the rollout of Oxycontin and the opioid crisis in the United States.

Next, Katelyn Baumer , a Ph.D. student in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Baylor University, talks with host Sarah Crespi about her Science Advances paper on 3D printing proteins using candy . 

Finally, book review editor Valerie Thompson takes us on a journey through some science-y summer reads —from the future of foods to a biography of the color blue.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

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Authors: Sarah Crespi; Holden Thorp; Valerie Thompson

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First this week, Contributing Correspondent Sam Kean talks with producer Joel Goldberg about techniques museum conservators are using to save a range of plastic artifacts—from David Bowie costumes to the first artificial heart. 

Next, Dayne Fratanduono , an experimental physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about new standards for how gold and platinum change under extreme pressure. Fratanduono discusses how these standards will help researchers make more precise measurements of extreme pressure in the future.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science /AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders interviews Laura Mackay , professor and laboratory head at the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne and 2018 winner of the Michelson Prize for Human Immunology and Vaccine Research, about the importance of diversity in science, technology, engineering, and math. This segment is sponsored by the Michelson Foundation .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

About the Science Podcast

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[Image: Aleth Lorne; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

++

Authors: Joel Goldberg; Sam Kean; Meagan Cantwell

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First this week, Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady talks with host Sarah Crespi about controversy surrounding the use of Botox injections to alleviate depression by suppressing frowning.

Next, researcher Stephen Zhang , a postdoctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses his Science Advances paper on what turns on the fruit fly sex drive .

Finally, we are excited to kick off a six-part series of monthly interviews with authors of books that highlight the many intersections between race and science and scientists. This week, guest host and journalist Angela Saini talks with Keith Wailoo , professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University, who helped select the topics about the books we will be covering and how they were selected.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

Listen to previous podcasts .

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[Image: Tomasz Klejdysz/Shutterstock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Cathleen O’Grady; Angela Saini

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First this week, News Intern Sofia Moutinho joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss scientists concerns about advertisers looking into using our smart speakers or phones to whisper ads to us while we sleep . 

Next, Bina Desai , head of Programs at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, discusses how to predict the economic impact of human displacement due to climate change as part of a special issue on strategic retreat .

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy .

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About the Science Podcast

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[Image: Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission Belur Math/Amphan Cyclone Relief Services; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Sofia Moutinho

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