Paper Boys

Optogenetics is a breakthrough technology that you may not have heard of. So what exactly is it and how might it change our future? James brings in a paper about rat incontinence that could spell great advances for future humans. Read the paper and news articles here.

When you look at Da Vinci's art, it's not hard to see why he's hailed as a genius. But he may have had a little trick up his sleeve that helped him see the world a little differently than most people, in the form of an eye disorder shared by Picasso, Rembrandt, and even Ryan Gosling. Charlie brings in a paper that tries to determine if Da Vinci had a condition known as strabismus. Read the paper and news articles here.

It's long been known that many modern humans have around 2% Neanderthal in their DNA. However, scientists don't have an exact answer for how it got there. James brings in a paper that gets closer to an answer by suggesting our ancestors got it on with Neanderthals more often than we thought. Read the paper and news articles here.

Cosmologists claim that all the matter we can see in the universe really only accounts for 5% of everything that's out there - the other 95% is so-called "dark matter" and "dark energy." Figuring out exactly what these are has puzzled scientists for decades, and troubling results have popped up time after time. Now, an Oxford physicist claims one theory could end up resolving all the missing pieces in cosmology. Charlie brings in a paper that could change physics just by changing the sign. Read the paper and news articles here.

Airplanes are responsible for 10% of the carbon footprint of the US. Recently the news reported on a new "ion plane" that could revolutionize the industry...but can it actually? James brings in a paper from MIT researchers detailing their new propulsion system and we get to the bottom of the real science. Read the paper here.

The worst mass extinction in known history happened 250 million years ago, wiping out an astonishing 96% of all marine life. Scientists have offered many theories on how this could have happened, from meteors to volcanoes--but a research team may have finally cracked the code, and it doesn't bode well for our own future. Charlie brings in a paper that takes a grim dive into the world's most lethal time period. Read the paper and news articles here.

Hypothetical scenario: you and a robot are before a judge who cannot see you. You each must pick one word from the english dictionary to give to the judge. Based on these two words, the judge will decide who is human, and who is the robot. The catch--the one deemed a robot is executed. What one word do you choose?

James brings in a fascinating paper on the Turing Test (a famous computer science thought experiment) and a completely new paradigm for thinking of artificial intelligence. Read the paper here... and tune in to find out the disgusting word Charlie picked!

It seems everyone and their mother watched the InSight lander touching down on Mars this past monday, and it was impossible to turn on the TV without hearing that the landing phase is a big challenge. But while the news did a good job telling us that it's a daunting problem, they didn't impress just how hard it was to actually solve. Charlie brings in a conference paper by the NASA engineers who made the Mars magic happen. Read the paper, check the news, and play the videogame here.

Last year, astronomers discovered a bizarre rock from outside our solar system zipping past Earth. This year, two researchers have made the extroardinary claim that this rock could actually be alien technology...but is the evidence extroardinary enough to support it? Charlie brings in their paper and gets to the bottom of a story that has been covered in controversy, misinformation, and extraterrestrial inspiration. Read the paper here.