Blue Streak Science Podcast

Several listeners gave us props for our return and a great show last week. Many thanks to those listeners. You'll receive your bitcoin payments when Donald Trump releases his tax returns. You didn't read the fine print, did you?

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast

Eulogy for Cassini Nevena reflects on the great achievements by the teams who made the Cassini mission one of humankind's greatest leaps forward into the universe. LA Times - "OK. Let's do it!"

Museum Wars Last week a Twitter user sparked a social media battle between two of London's greatest repositories of science, the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum. Sophie and JD make a silly attempt to re-create the battle of the nerds.

Snow Leopards Taken Off Endangered Species List Is this good news for this beautiful ghostly cat of the south Asian highlands? Or are we putting this imperiled species in even greater danger?

The 2017 Ig Nobel Awards The Peace Prize as given to a Swiss team who discovered that taking up the didgeridoo reduces snoring (perhaps by reducing sleeping?). Another research team found that contact with a live crocodile affects a person's willingness to gamble. They were awarded the Economics Prize. Of course they were.

Listen to the episode as Sophie gives you the full story of this most prestigious of science awards.

Hurricanes, Climate, and Environmental Justice

As the world watches aghast as yet more hurricanes ravage the Caribbean, Tom Di Liberto talks about an issue that has been neglected for far too long. 

Environmental inequality and environmental justice.

From Houston to Barbuda low-income communities and communities of color have taken the brunt of these climate change fueled storms, and receive relatively little aid to put their lives back together.

My favorite site for diving deep into climate science is the one operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

It's called climate.gov.

Our very own Tom Di Liberto writes on the blog there and you can find his posts at climate.gov/tom-di-liberto

To make it easier just visit the Blue Streak Science website and we'll put a link to it in the show notes for this episode

That's at bluestreakscience.com/58

The score stands at Sophie and Nevena tied for the lead with 7, and Tom trailing with 4. Will our climatologist extraordinaire surge ahead like high tide in a hurricane?

Join us and find out as we imbibe virtual pints of beer and actual bouts of fun!

Tell your friends about Blue Streak Science. Tell your enemies. Tell your frenemies! And whatever you do, follow the science!

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from San Francisco; Cambridge; Sydney; Washington; and Brussels.

Long time, no see! After a long hiatus the Blue Streak Science Podcast has returned with the most dangerous team in podcasting; Sophie McManus, Tom Di Liberto, Nevena Hristozova, and JD Goodwin. We look forward to reconnecting with you, too.

We are certainly a little rusty, but still this episode hits all the marks. Gene therapy for cancer, crashing space probes, body farms, and even a story about puppy dogs. And of course, Tom connects the dots between the past weeks' horrifically destructive weather and the reality of anthropogenic global warming.

Oh, and Pub Quiz!

It's good to be back, and even better to reconnect with our awesome audience.

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Approves First CAR-T Cancer Drug The American FDA has approved a treatment for a type of leukaemia, or blood cancer, in young people. This is a treatment with a difference - it's been termed a 'living drug'.

How exactly does a 'living drug' work? It isn't the typical pill or injection route. It uses the patient's OWN cells - in effect, taking T cells (highly specialised cells which are involved in the body's immune response - warriors of the immune sys) and 'supercharging' them before injecting them to fight the patient's cancer. The T cells are harvested from the sick person, they are then modified in the lab - they are programmed to recognise and kill cancer cells. They are grown up in the lab and subjected to rigorous QC testing before injection into the patient. The hope is then that the genetically modified T cells will kill the patient's cancer.

88 patients with relapsing, treatment resistant leukaemia (specifically, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia), were given this treatment, receiving injections of their own modified T cells. They were eligible for the trial because they really had no hope of a cure otherwise. Of course there has to be understanding in the patients that this therapy could cause severe side effects, basically from these modified T cells running riot in the body and doing things they shouldn't. 88 patients were treated and 73 are in remission - their cancer has receded.

This treatment, Kymriah, was developed by Novartis. They hope to have 32 treatment centres running by 2018's end. "I think this is most exciting thing I've seen in my lifetime," said Dr. Tim Cripe, an oncologist with Nationwide Children's Hospital, at an FDA meeting on Kymriah in July.

Cassini's Last Moments Today we seem to know a lot about the universe, at yet very little about our own solar system. In the case of Saturn, we don't even know much about its structure - is it really an entirely gassy giant or does it have a dense liquid core like the other giants we know? Or may be even a solid one? How long is a day on the planet? How old are the rings? What's their origin?

For the past 10 years the Cassini has been orbiting the gas giant and observing its moon to try and answer some of these questions.

[caption id="attachment_2476" align="alignright" width="500"] Cassini and Saturn[/caption]

Today, Cassini is going strong on the path to its inevitable death - excitedly expected and at the same time heartbreaking.  The scientists from NASA's JPL made sure that the Grand Finale (as this final stage is now called) is as spectacular and as dramatic as it possibly could. The spacecraft will take photos for the last time of Titan - the biggest moon of Saturn, whose gravity will be instrumental for the final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere. And just a day before it touches the giant planet's atmosphere, Cassini will turn to Earth one last time in an emotional goodbye, taking one last photo with its camera of everything that has ever existed and still exists today on this Pale Blue Dot. The picture of Earth will be the last Cassini takes, so be sure to look up a wave goodbye!

Once all cameras are off, other sensors and measuring devices will remain functional until the spacecraft inevitably burns into the planet's atmosphere. This was the planned ending of the mission. The reasons to crash it into the planet are mainly practical and of safety considerations. Cassini is running low on fuel and keeping it going for longer will pose a palpable risk of it going out of the control of JPL and possibly crashing into one of Saturn's moons. This would be the last thing any scientist would want to see.

Cassini discovered the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan or the pristine ice of Enceladus. Since we cannot be 100% sure that this will not contaminate either one with Earthly chemicals, the engineers and scientists behind the mission decided it's safest to let it burn up in the atmosphere of its ultimate target - Saturn. Once it touches the top layers of Saturn, Cassini will turn its antennae to Earth to transmit as fast as possible for as long as possible the measurements its detectors are recording. Just over 60,000km above the planet's center, the atmospheric pressure will be higher than the one of Earth and the thrusters of the craft will probably not be able to compensate. Cassini will start to tumble and we will lose contact with it for good.

Within 4 minutes of the point at which we have lost contact, Cassini will melt and disintegrate in a flash of hydrogen plasma (the term burn up is technically incorrect, since Saturn's atmosphere doesn't have oxygen). Since Saturn is so far from Earth, we should receive its final radio transmission only an hour and half after it had ceased to exist.

'Body Farm' In The U.K.? So our next story is about a body farm. Yes. A dead body farm. In the UK. No, this isn't Shaun of the Dead. Please stop eating.

Side note, this BBC article starts with 'you're dead. Now what?'... Anyway, the question presented here is whether we need a human body farm to get up and running to help us learn more about decomposition, the processes that allow dead tissue to break down (taphonomy is the sciencey word).

You may well wonder why we would really want to know about this. It isn't just a gruesome curiosity, there are practical applications, e.g. in helping the police in solving murders. Yes, we know about processes like rigor mortis and forensic scientists can work a lot of info out from a corpse, but there are gaps in our knowledge and this of course can impact a murder investigation.

BBC quote: "Exciting new data published last year in the journal PLOS One suggests that the succession of bacteria that come and go, feeding on the decaying body, may help scientists to more accurately pinpoint post-mortem interval. This discovery was made by analysing bacteria scraped from the nose and ear canals of decomposing cadavers at the world's first body farm in Tennessee."

Scientists such as Dr Anna Williams of Huddersfield are pushing for a farm to help with this. She argues that forensic sciences are underfunded and says crowdfunding might be an option.

Other countries, mainly the US and Australia have body farms. In the UK up until now the scientific study of taphonomy has mainly been conducted on pigs. There are obvious advantages to this, namely the fact we can get hold of more pigs to study, we can replicate conditions easily, and it's no small matter asking a community to accept a human body farm.

Doggy Sniff Test For years now, we know that the great apes do also know if they are looking at themselves in the mirror or at another ape (if they have seen themselves in a mirror before). At the same time, monkeys do fail the mirror test and so do other animals we've tested. Yet, some researchers were convinced that some animals must possess a sort of self-recognition as it was indirectly implied by some behavioral studies in the past - they just didn't know how to prove it.

Now, a study was published from the Department of Psychology of the Barnard College which may have found the ultimate test for self-awareness of dogs. It does not rely on images, but on smell.

While we have up to five million scent receptors, dogs can have as many as 300 million, though this varies depending on the breed. So in other words, there are certain dog breeds that have a sense of smell that is ten million times stronger than that of humans! Thus, it's no surprise after all that they'd rather rely on their better senses.

The new study showed that a dog would "investigate" for longer its own smell if a certain additional odour has been added to it. In other words, if a dog is presented with its own smell only, it did not feel the need to sniff extensively to figure out where or from whom this smell came from - it knew it as its own and didn't need to look into it any longer. But if the odour was modified even slightly, the dog would spent much longer "investigating" it, allowing the researchers to conclude that it grabbed its interest more than its own pure smell.

These results come as confirmation that a paradigm shift is needed when scientists conduct studies regarding animals and especially their behavior - we can no longer afford to apply human-bound standards to animals who use very different sets of sensations to go about their day. Keeping this in mind for the development of future study protocols and for the reworking of some of the already established ones will certainly bring much more interesting and relevant data when we study animals from now on. It will allow us, after all, to truly understand them better.

Hurricanes, Climate Change, and The Week That Was

In the US alone, the western half of the country is shrouded in smoke from over 60 wildfires, while the eastern half is either dealing with the aftermath of hurricane Harvey or Hurricane Irma. Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose is just doing a loopy-loop out there in the Atlantic. "But Tom… that's weather" you say. "This is the climate lounge not the weather vestibule", you murmur.  Ahh, but we live in a climate-changed world already. And its fingerprints are all over the place.

Hurricanes by themselves don't necessarily have anything to do with climate change. They are a natural by-product of our spinning planet and warm, moist tropics. Climate change did not CAUSE Harvey or Irma. But that is completely the wrong way to think about it. It's like reading a book where all the characters are mentioned but at no point do you have any idea of where they are or why they are doing what they are doing. The world in which our natural climate works is one that has been changed by climate change. These storms weren't caused by climate change, but they were made worse.

Let's start with Harvey. Harvey is one of the wettest storms to have ever impacted the US, if not the wettest. Over 48 inches (1220mm) of rain fell around Houston, Texas, flooding a third of the city. This is after Harvey caused catastrophic damage when it made landfall as a major Category 4 storm with 130mph winds, the first major hurricane to hit the US since 2005. It dropped so much rain because after landfall it stalled, barely moving for several days, opening a firehose of water onto coastal Texas. 3-day rainfall totals in Houston were larger than the previous 65-day wettest period in the city's history!

How did climate change play a part? For one, a warmer atmosphere can hold more water, which means heavier rain. It's a pretty basic equation to determine this. It's called the Clausius Claperyon equation.  From it, we know that for every 1C of warming, the air can hold 7% more water vapor, which can be turned into rain. But it wasn't just the air that was warm, but the oceans. The warmer than average oceans also provided a steady supply of water to be squeezed out onto the coast. The warm oceans also helped increase the strength of Harvey since warm water provides the fuel for these heat engines known as hurricanes.

The same story goes for Irma. Irma was by some measures the strongest hurricane the Atlantic Ocean has ever seen. It was a category 5 storm with 185mph winds for over 30 hours straight, the longest ever...anywhere on the planet. It took advantage of warmer than average waters throughout the entire tropics, which exist in no small part to our climate-changed planet. One of the big stories with Irma will also be the storm surge. This is basically how much water is pushed by the wind and is calculated by taking the water levels at the shore and subtracting the tide. The storm surge itself may not be impacted by climate change but the sea levels surely are. Rising sea levels along the coast of Florida has already led to Miami flooding during high tide normally. Add a huge storm and you can see places flood that you just normally don't see flood. And with huge amounts of coastal development… not good.

So the next time you hear someone try to say these storms weren't caused by climate change? Casually remind that is a horrible way of framing the question. Because these events already have happened in a climate-changed world, and climate change made things worse.

Today's raucous installment of the Pub Quiz resulted in a tie between the two winners! Who were those winners? Who was the spoiler?

Have a listen to this episode and find out!

Since we have a Pub Quiz we think it's right to give a proper name to our virtual watering hole. Please send in your suggestions to name our pub to [email protected].

Follow the science!

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from Brussels; Cambridge; Washington; and San Francisco.

We somehow survived the time change in North America. Seriously, why won't everybody just get on the same page and change time in every country at the same time. Or, perhaps everybody not change the time at all. Either way, in the spirit of international cooperation I propose that we all do it at the same time. Okay? Okay!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast

"Jumping genes" may set the stage for brain cell death in Alzheimer's, other diseases Recent findings by scientists at Duke University have revealed that "jumping genes" may be responsible for the molecular mechanism that causes Alzheimer's Disease.

Quantum microscope offers MRI for molecules Diamond-based imaging system uses magnetic resonance of electrons to detect charged atoms and peer at chemical reactions in real time.

On climate change, Scott Pruitt causes an uproar — and contradicts the EPA's own website.

Scott Pruitt, in his responses to questions in an interview with the CNBC television network, once again demonstrated that he is unqualified to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Next week JD will be recording the podcast from lovely Cambridge, England!

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from San Francisco; Cambridge; Sydney; Washington; and Brussels.

Today's episode marks the beginning of a new format.

Sophie McManus, Ivy Shih, and Nevena Hristozova will bring us up to speed with the latest science news in our Science News Roundup segment.

The single most important science issue of our time is climate change. In our Climate Lounge segment Tom Di Liberto of NOAA will alert us to the latest findings and predictions for this world-changing phenomenon.

In future episodes we will be interviewing scientists from a wide variety of disciplines, from field herpetologists to infectious disease specialists. There is a world full of science stories out there and we will bring them directly to you from the scientists themselves.

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Worst ever coral bleaching event continues into fourth year Will the Great Barrier Reef have enough time to recover? Or will climate change doom this World Heritage Site?

Are these the Earth's earliest lifeforms? Possible evidence that life began on Earth in a geologic instant after its formation. Really?

Exercise reduces death from breast cancer relapse by 40 per cent This miracle drug is good for what ails ya. It's everywhere and it's free!

Why is it so fricking hot? Hot enough for ya? What is really going on here?

Tom Di Liberto of NOAA walks us through the data on the latest heat wave.

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from San Francisco; Cambridge; Sydney; Washington; and Brussels.

Loyal listener Sam Danby, an Englishman living in Norway, was the first listener to get the answer correct when he answered with: (insert answer here).

What? You thought we'd reveal the answer here in the show notes? As if!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

The great extermination: How New Zealand will end alien species The government of New Zealand is embarking on an ambitious project to rid the country of many alien invasive species, particular predators, by 2050.

The Project is called Predator Free 2050 and if successful it would eradicate the introduced species of rats, stoats and possums nation-wide in just 33 years.

Fossilised tree and ice cores help date huge volcanic eruption 1,000 years ago to within three months From Phys.org on 24 January, a fascinating story of scientific detective work that utilizes clues from a variety of disciplines. An international team of researchers have determined, to within three months, a medieval volcanic eruption in east Asia. They have also shown that the so-called "Millennium eruption" of Changbaishan volcano, one of the largest in history, cannot have brought about the downfall of an important 10th century kingdom, as was previously thought.

Scientists retrieve 80-million-year-old dinosaur protein in 'milestone' paper Two new studies suggest that it is possible to isolate protein fragments from dino­saurs much further back in time than ever thought possible. One study, led by Mary Schweitzer, a paleontologist from North Carolina State University in Raleigh who has chased dinosaur proteins for de­cades, confirms her highly controversial claim to have recovered 80-million-year-old dinosaur collagen. The other paper suggests that protein may even have sur­vived in a 195-million-year-old dino fossil.

Trump's travel ban is already stopping scientific collaboration Last week President Donald Trump signed an executive order that denies Syrian refugees entry to the US, suspends all refugee admissions for 120 days, and blocks citizens of seven countries from entering the US for at least 90 days. Those affected by the travel ban include scientists, some of whom are speaking out about how the order will affect their work and the broader scientific community.

And I do have an update on this article. The ban has been temporarily stayed by a federal judge in the state of Washington and the decision is now being considered by the 9th Circuit Court.

Wetlands Can Help Fight Climate Change Coastal wetlands are among the best marine ecosystems to fight climate change, new research confirms. A study published this week in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment compared the carbon sequestration potential of a handful of marine ecosystems and found that mangroves, salt marshes and seagrass meadows have the greatest impact on climate change.

Physicists doubt bold report of metallic hydrogen Two physicists say that they have crushed hydrogen under such immense pressures that the gas became a shiny metal — a feat that physicists have been trying to accomplish for more than 80 years. But other researchers have serious doubts about the claim, the latest in a field with a long history of failed attempts.

Enjoy your favorite adult beverage while we test the brain trust of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Please, no wagering.

As scientists and people who value science we are too often reluctant to brave the maelstrom of politics. It drains us of energy and time, resources that are in everlastingly short supply. We value our reputations as open-minded and neutral arbiters for evidence, so taking sides on political issues just doesn't feel right.

But why does the current situation make us so angry and unnerved?

It distresses us because we are passionate about science!

As scientists and scientific thinkers we understand that we must be dispassionate about the data. However, that requisite detachment is limited only to the evidence. Science itself, the vocation, the way of thinking, the calling, permeates our lives and our existence. If there ever was anything worthy of fighting for it is science and reason.

Here's our chance to get out of the lab and on to the streets.

On Earth Day, 22 April will be the March For Science. Mark you calendars and make your reservations early.

It's game on!

The main march will be held in Washington, D.C., but satellite demonstrations will take place worldwide. These protests give us an opportunity to collectively voice our opposition to the silencing of scientists, funding freezes, and other White House attempts to censor climate science. The demonstrations also represent a broader call for politicians to make decisions based on evidence, rather than ideology or corporate agendas.

From the March for Science website:

The March for Science is a celebration of our passion for science and a call to support and safeguard the scientific community. Recent policy changes have caused heightened worry among scientists, and the incredible and immediate outpouring of support has made clear that these concerns are also shared by hundreds of thousands of people around the world. The politicization of science, which has given policymakers permission to reject overwhelming evidence, is a critical and urgent matter. It is time for people who support scientific research and evidence-based policies to take a public stand and be counted.

ON APRIL 22, 2017, WE WALK OUT OF THE LAB AND INTO THE STREETS.

We are scientists and science enthusiasts. We come from all races, all religions, all gender identities, all sexual orientations, all socioeconomic backgrounds, all political perspectives, and all nationalities. Our diversity is our greatest strength: a wealth of opinions, perspectives, and ideas is critical for the scientific process. What unites us is a love of science, and an insatiable curiosity. We all recognize that science is everywhere and affects everyone.

Science is often an arduous process, but it is also thrilling. A universal human curiosity and dogged persistence is the greatest hope for the future. This movement cannot and will not end with a march. Our plans for policy change and community outreach will start with marches worldwide and a teach-in at the National Mall, but it is imperative that we continue to celebrate and defend science at all levels - from local schools to federal agencies - throughout the world.

ScienceDebate.org is the fiscal sponsor of The Science March. Science needs your support. Any donation would help.

Make yourself a cup of hot chocolate, sit down, and play the What The Hell Was That Game!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Before and After: The Rain's Impact on Three California Reservoirs On more than one occasion I've made reference to the severe drought we've been experiencing here in California.  But we've had a little rain this winter, which is our normal rain and snow season.  And by "a little rain" I mean a lot of rain, and crazy snowfall in the mountains.

Current statistical reports on rainfall and the water content of the Sierra Nevada snowpack show that so far, we're in the midst of one of the wettest California rainy seasons on record. All the precipitation has transformed a state that suffered through five years of severe drought.

One of the most visible effects: high levels of the state's major reservoirs. Ah, but the drought isn't quite over yet.

Still, what a difference a few drops of rain make!

International Effort Announced to Save the World's Most Endangered Marine Mammal There's species of porpoise in Mexico called the vaquita, but sadly there are less than 60 of them left.

An emergency plan to help save this lovely little porpoise from extinction in the northern Gulf of California has been recommended by the International Committee for the Recovery of the Vaquita.

The plan involves relocating some of the remaining vaquitas to a temporary sanctuary, while crucial efforts aimed at eliminating threats from their environment continue.

For more information about this plan to save this wonderful creature please go to: VaquitaCPR.org.

Researcher Proposes Novel Mechanism to Stop Tsunamis In Their Tracks Devastating tsunamis could be halted before hitting coastlines by firing deep-ocean sound waves at the oncoming mass of water. That's according to Dr Usama Kadri, from Cardiff University's School of Mathematics.

He believes that lives could ultimately be saved by using acoustic-gravity waves (AGW) against tsunamis that are triggered by earthquakes, landslides and other violent geological events. AGWs are naturally occurring sounds waves that move through the deep ocean at the speed of sound and can travel thousands of meters below the surface.

Is this a plausible idea, or is it sharks with frickin' laser beams?

Rabies Viruses Reveal Wiring In Transparent Brains Scientists under the leadership of the University of Bonn have harnessed rabies viruses for assessing the connectivity of nerve cell transplants: coupled with a green fluorescent protein, the viruses show where replacement cells engrafted into mouse brains have connected to the host neural network.

A clearing procedure which turns the brain into a 'glass-like state' and light sheet fluorescence microscopy are used to visualize host-graft connections in a whole-brain preparation.

The approach opens exciting prospects for predicting and optimizing the ability of neural transplants to functionally integrate into a host nervous system.

The results have now been published in the journal Nature Communications.

Stop! Who would cross the Bridge of Death must answer me these questions three (plus seventeen), ere the other side he see.

How did Tom and Sophie do? Did they make it to the other side, or were they cast into the Gorge of Damnation?

Uh, I don't know that!

AHHHHHHhhhhhhh!!!!

March for Science! The science community in the United States, under threat from a new Presidential Administration whose prides itself on willful ignorance, is speaking out. The time for silence is ended. 

And now, the March for Science. Upon its inception on 23 January this idea grew quickly to over 800,000 members of their Facebook group, and 300,000 followers on Twitter.

This movement emerged as a response to the Trump administration's stifling of scientists and the outright hostility to open scientific inquiry.

The March for Science website states that they are a "diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good, and for political leaders and policymakers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest."

The date for the march is not yet set, but are awaiting word. 22 APRIL, 2017! We'll be sure to inform you on the next episode of this podcast.

We encourage you to join us as we support the many Marches for Science that will be held around the world.  

March for Science on Twitter

March For Science Website

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, California; and Cambridge, England.

2017 is shaping up to be a pivotal year in so many ways. Basic research is suffering funding cuts, government agencies are being silenced, and changes in immigration laws threaten to drive away our best and brightest scientists.

Yet suddenly there has emerged a glimmer of hope.

The Women's March on Washington started on social media with those words so important in scientific inquiry, "What if?". What followed was a groundswell the likes of which have never been seen in the United States. In a few short weeks this idea morphed into the largest demonstration in the history of the nation, dwarfing the Presidential inauguration held one day prior.

A few weeks ago some asked that question again on social media, this time about science. Once more the reaction was breathtaking in its speed and immensity. In just one day the March for Science Twitter account gained over 100,000 followers. Just a few days later it stands at nearly 300,000 followers.

The science community, not known for its activism, is planning a march on Washington, D.C..  The date has yet to be set, but the interest is strong.

Watch this space, and science on.

Seriously, what the hell was that? An ape, a reptile, or indigestion? Have a listen!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Scientists reprogram embryonic stem cells to expand their potential cell fate UC Berkeley researchers found that by blocking a specific microRNA, pluripotent stem cells can regain the ability to become extra-embryonic tissue, providing a way to expand the developmental potential of iPC cells with implications for regenerative medicine and stem cell-based therapies.

Earth sets a temperature record for the third straight year For the third year in a row, the Earth has set a record for warmth, according to three analyses just released from three government agencies. The findings were released just two days before the inauguration of an American president who has called global warming a Chinese plot and vowed to roll back Barack Obama's efforts to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

The planet's mean surface temperature in 2016 was 0.99 degrees Celsius above the late 20th-century average, topping the previous record set in 2015 of 0.87 degrees above average, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Gadget boom sees e-waste in Asia spike 63 per cent in 5 years A United Nations University report found the amount of e-waste in Asia has risen by 63% in just five years.

The report warns of the need to improve recycling and disposal methods across the region to prevent serious environmental and health consequences.

British Antarctic Survey abandons polar base worrying crack grows in ice Scientists at the British Antarctic Survey are abandoning their research station for the first time ever this winter after a new worrying crack developed in the ice sheet.

The renowned Halley VI ice base, from which the hole in the ozone layer was first detected, was already scheduled to be relocated 14 miles across the Brunt Ice Shelf because of an encroaching fissure in the ice. But a new crack has been steadily growing to the north of the base, and computer modeling suggests that it could cause a large iceberg to calve away from the sheet, which could destabilize the area.

Pub Quiz! Tom starts strong, but on the home stretch Sophie begins to close the gap. Who'll cross the finish line first?

Women's March on Washington

An historic event took place in Washington, D.C. last week.

The Women's March on Washington.

Hundreds of other sister marches took place around the world.

The goal of this march wass to "send a bold message to our new administration on their first day in office, and to the world that women's rights are human rights."

It was estimated that over 200,000 people could participate in this important statement of solidarity and democracy. As it turns out, estimates of attendance in Washington were about 500,000 people.

According to an article in Fortune Magazine the nationwide total attendance of this march range from 3.3 million to 4.6 million. No other single protest event comes even close to this number in the history of the republic.

Are we witnessing the beginning of a new populist movement?

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from California, Washington, D.C., and Cambridge, England.

Tom Di Liberto and JD Goodwin attempt to steer the U.S.S. Blue Streak (DD-981) into the New Year while the rest of the crew is on shore leave. Set sea and anchor detail, we're on our way!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Run, run Rudolph! Way up in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, not too far from where Santa Claus is currently having a well-deserved rest, a thin layer of soil above the permafrost thaws for just three months each year. When it does, the tundra verily bursts into bloom. The flowers are a favorite food of the Peary caribou, Rangifer tarandus pearyi,

This is a rather small, white-bearded subspecies of reindeer. With their noses stained red from the flowers of purple saxifrage, they are truly red-nosed reindeer, at least in the summer. But foraging for flowers under summer's midnight sun is a short-lived luxury.

Finding food in winter has always been harder, and climate change is only making the problem worse.

California, at Forefront of Climate Fight, Won't Back Down to Trump Foreign governments concerned about climate change may soon be spending more time dealing with Sacramento than Washington. Donald Trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the science of global warming. He has signaled he will withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement. And he has belittled the notion of global warming and attacked policies intended to combat it.

But California — a state that has for 50 years been a leader in environmental advocacy — is about to step unto the breach.

We discuss this article in the New York Times written by Adam Nagourney and Henry Fountain.

New theory of gravity might explain dark matter

Fighting above our weight class, Tom and JD do their best to knock out this interesting, but oh so-hard-to-wrap-one's-brain-around topic. We went the distance. Now it's up to the judges scores.

Vera Rubin

On December 25, Vera Rubin, one of the world's great astrophysicists died at the age of 88. She discovered actual evidence of dark matter.

In the 60's and 70's she, along with astronomer Kent Ford, discovered that the stars on the outside of spiral galaxies were moving as fast as the inboard stars.

Rubin, a strong advocate for women in science, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and awarded the National Medal of Science. 

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from Washington, D.C., and Santa Rosa, California.

Chestnuts are roasting on a something-something, Jack Frost is nipping at whatever. Yes, it's that time of year!

Keep your Xmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa because there's Festivus for the rest of us. Let us sit around the aluminium Festivus Pole and tells stories of Festivi past. Feats of Strength, Airing of the Grievances, and peculiar feasts.

It's a Festivus Miracle, boys and girls!

Have a listen to this week's WTHWT!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Dental hygiene, caveman style Unlike the fictional character Austin Powers, it seems that humans living more than a million years ago in northern Spain had some idea of dental hygiene. The authors of this study, published in The Science of Nature, made this discovery by examining some of the earliest ancient hominin fragments ever found in Europe. These fragments, discovered in Sima del Elefante, Spain, are about 1.2 million years old.

Thousands of snow geese die in Montana after landing on contaminated water On 28 November a huge flock of snow geese flying south encountered a body of water in Butte, Mont. However, this wasn't an ordinary pond. It was the 280 hectare Berkeley Pit, a former mine now submerged in water as acidic as distilled vinegar.

Woman gives birth thanks to ovary removed when she was a child A woman in the UK is thought to be the first person in the world to have given birth after having the ovary removed and cryopreserved before she entered puberty. She was eight years old when she had her ovary removed before having chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant for the inherited blood disorder Beta Thalassaemia.

New studies suggest Greenland's ice sheet could melt far faster than currently thought From Time.com, scientists find that rocks in Greenland now buried under 3,000 meters of ice were ice-free for long periods of time during the past 1.4 million years. This has led the scientists to predict that the Greenland Ice Sheet could melt much more rapidly than previously understood.

Current projections for sea level rise over the next few centuries would have to be revised upward, way upward, and that includes the recent predictions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, according to a new study published last week in the journal Nature.

The Blue Streak team is on fire as they demolish this week's questions! Join in the fun, but you gotta be quick!

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from North America, Great Britain, and Australia.

Holiday shopping? Get your priorities in order! You can put that off until the last minute because you must now listen to episode 49.  Join Sophie, Tom, and JD as we discuss the science stories of the week and play stupid games!

Have a listen to this week's WTHWT!

These are summaries of our discussions on the podcast. For the full conversation please listen to this episode of the Blue Streak Science Podcast.

Virtual liver model could help reduce overdose risk from acetaminophen, other drugs Researchers at Indiana University's Biocomplexity Institute have developed a virtual model of the human liver to better understand how the organ metabolizes acetaminophen (paracetamol), a common non-prescription painkiller and fever-reducer used in over-the-counter drugs such as Tylenol.

Extreme tornado outbreaks are becoming more extreme Outbreaks of tornadoes—where multiple tornadoes form over an area in just a few hours or days—are responsible for most of the devastating destruction caused by severe weather, and a new analysis has reached a worrying conclusion about the worst of these outbreaks.

World's first city to power its water needs with sewage energy A city in Denmark is about to become the first in the world to provide most of its citizens with fresh water using only the energy created from household wastewater and sewage.

Melting Permafrost Could Affect Weather Worldwide Melting permafrost is causing significant changes to the freshwater chemistry and hydrology of Alaska's Yukon River and could be triggering global climate impacts, according to a recently released U.S. Geological Survey report.

UK's first three-parent babies likely to be conceived in 2017 Women whose children are doomed to develop fatal mitochondrial diseases should have a chance of having healthy babies come the new year. Methods for replacing the abnormal mitochondria in their eggs might not always work, but are safer than existing techniques for selecting embryos and so should be allowed, says a key scientific report.

Sophie and Tom were killin' it today!

Join Nevena and JD every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7:00AM Pacific for your daily dose of coffee and science.

The Blue Streak Science Podcast comes to you from North America, Great Britain, and Australia.