Linguist Ben Zimmer says the pandemic has turned us all into amateur epidemiologists utilizing terms such as “superspreader” and “asymptomatic.” Christopher Intagliata reports.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Shaped Our Language in 2020

Tune in every week for quick, fascinating new developments and dives in the world of science.

Science

After years of delay, researchers are ready to inject carbon dioxide into jungle plots.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Singular Climate Experiment Takes Shape in the Amazon

Years in the making, a project in the Amazon rain forest is finally set to determine whether a rise in carbon dioxide could save one of the world’s largest carbon sinks.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will the Amazon Help Save the Planet?

Cows and at least one person in the U.S. have been sickened by avian influenza. We asked experts about the risk to humans.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Big a Threat Is Bird Flu?

Volcano detectives use artificial intelligence to sleuth out ancient secrets in Alaska.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How a New AI Model Helps Volcanic History Rise from the Ashes

These marine mammals are very hard to observe, but in the past two decades the roughly 20 or so people in the world who study sperm whales have found some compelling evidence of culture among them.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How the Coronavirus Pandemic Shaped Our Language in 2020

Download our free app to listen on your phone