Science Magazine Podcast

Science Magazine Podcast episodes:

• 04.18.2024

  Ritual murders in the neolithic, why 2023 was so hot, and virus and bacteria battle in the gut

  A different source of global warming, signs of a continentwide tradition of human sacrifice, and a virus that attacks the cholera bacteria   First up on the show this week, clearer skies might be accelerating global warming. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins...

  
• 04.11.2024

  Trialing treatments for Long Covid, and a new organelle appears on the scene

  ]Researchers are testing HIV drugs and monoclonal antibodies against long-lasting COVID-19, and what it takes to turn a symbiotic friend into an organelle   First up on the show this week, clinical trials of new and old treatments for Long Covid. Producer...

  
• 04.04.2024

  When did rats come to the Americas, and was Lucy really our direct ancestor?

  Tracing the arrival of rats using bones, isotopes, and a few shipwrecks; and what scientists have learned in 50 years about our famous ancestor Lucy   First on the show: Did rats come over with Christopher Columbus? It turns out, European colonists...

  
• 03.28.2024

  Teaching robots to smile, and the effects of a rare mandolin on a scientist’s career

  Robots that can smile in synchrony with people, and what ends up in the letters section First on this week’s show, a robot that can predict your smile. Hod Lipson, a roboticist and professor at Columbia University, joins host Sarah Crespi...

  
• 03.21.2024

  Hope in the fight against deadly prion diseases, and side effects of organic agriculture

  New clinical trials for treatments of an always fatal brain disease, and what happens with pests when a conventional and organic farm are neighbors   First up on this week’s show, a new treatment to stave off prion disease goes into clinical...

  
• 03.14.2024

  Why babies forget, and how fear lingers in the brain

  Investigating “infantile amnesia,” and how generalized fear after acute stress reflects changes in the brain   This week we have two neuroscience stories. First up, freelance science journalist Sara Reardon looks at why infants’ memories fade. She joins host Sarah Crespi to...

  
• 03.07.2024

  A dive into the genetic history of India, and the role of vitamin A in skin repair

  What modern Indian genomes say about the region’s deep past, and how vitamin A influences stem cell plasticity First up this week, Online News Editor Michael Price and host Sarah Crespi talk about a large genome sequencing project in India that...

  
• 02.29.2024

  The sci-fi future of medical robots is here, and dehydrating the stratosphere to stave off climate change

  Keeping water out of the stratosphere could be a low-risk geoengineering approach, and using magnets to drive medical robots inside the body   First up this week, a new approach to slowing climate change: dehydrating the stratosphere. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins...

  
• 02.22.2024

  What makes snakes so special, and how space science can serve all

  On this week’s show: Factors that pushed snakes to evolve so many different habitats and lifestyles, and news from the AAAS annual meeting   First up on the show this week, news from this year’s annual meeting of AAAS (publisher of Science)...

  
• 02.15.2024

  What makes blueberries blue, and myth buster Adam Savage on science communication

  Why squeezing a blueberry doesn’t get you blue juice, and a myth buster and a science editor walk into a bar   First up on the show this week, MythBusters’s Adam Savage chats with Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp about the state of...

  
• 02.08.2024

  A new kind of magnetism, and how smelly pollution harms pollinators

  More than 200 materials could be “altermagnets,” and the impact of odiferous pollutants on nocturnal plant-pollinator interactions   First up on the show this week, researchers investigate a new kind of magnetism. Freelance science journalist Zack Savitsky joins host Sarah Crespi to...

  
• 02.01.2024

  A new way for the heart and brain to ‘talk’ to each other, and Earth’s future weather written in ancient coral reefs

  A remote island may hold clues for the future of El Niño and La Niña under climate change, and how pressure in the blood sends messages to neurons   First up, researchers are digging into thousands of years of coral to chart...

  
• 01.25.2024

  A hangover-fighting enzyme, the failure of a promising snakebite treatment, and how ants change lion behavior

  On this week’s show: A roundup of stories from our daily newsletter, and the ripple effects of the invasive big-headed ant in Kenya First up on the show, Science Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about snake...

  
• 01.19.2024

  Paper mills bribe editors to pass peer review, and detecting tumors with a blood draw

  Investigation shows journal editors getting paid to publish bunk papers, and new techniques for finding tumor DNA in the blood   First up on this week’s episode, Frederik Joelving, an editor and reporter for the site Retraction Watch, talks with host Sarah...

  
• 01.11.2024

  The environmental toll of war in Ukraine, and communications between mom and fetus during childbirth

  Assessing environmental damage during wartime, and tracking signaling between fetus and mother   First up, freelance journalist Richard Stone returns with news from his latest trip to Ukraine. This week, he shares stories with host Sarah Crespi about environmental damage from the...

  
• 01.04.2024

  The top online news from 2023, and using cough sounds to diagnose disease

  Best of online news, and screening for tuberculosis using sound   This week’s episode starts out with a look back at the top 10 online news stories with Online News Editor David Grimm. There will be cat expressions and mad scientists, but...

  
• 12.22.2023

  The hunt for a quantum phantom, and making bitcoin legal tender

  Seeking the Majorana fermion particle, and a look at El Salvador’s adoption of cryptocurrency   First up on the show this week, freelance science journalist Zack Savitsky and host Sarah Crespi discuss the hunt for the elusive Majorana fermion particle, and why...

  
• 12.14.2023

  Science’s Breakthrough of the Year, and tracing poached pangolins

  Top science from 2023, and a genetic tool for pangolin conservation   First up this week, it’s Science’s Breakthrough of the Year with producer Meagan Cantwell and News Editor Greg Miller. But before they get to the tippy-top science find, a few...

  
• 12.07.2023

  Farm animals show their smarts, and how honeyguide birds lead humans to hives

  A look at cognition in livestock, and the coevolution of wild bird–human cooperation   This week we have two stories on thinking and learning in animals. First, Online News Editor David Grimm talks with host Sarah Crespi about a reporting trip to...

  
• 11.30.2023

  Basic geoengineering, and autonomous construction robots

  Raising the pH of the ocean to reduce carbon in the air, and robots that can landscape   First up on this week’s show, Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall discusses research into making oceans more alkaline as a way to increase carbon capture...

  
• 11.23.2023

  Exascale supercomputers amp up science, finally growing dolomite in the lab, and origins of patriarchy

  A leap in supercomputing is a leap for science, cracking the dolomite problem, and a book on where patriarchy came from   First up on this week’s show, bigger supercomputers help make superscience. Staff Writer Robert F. Service joins host Sarah Crespi...

  
• 11.16.2023

  AI improves weather prediction, and cutting emissions from landfills

  What it means that artificial intelligence can now forecast the weather like a supercomputer, and measuring methane emissions from municipal waste   First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how artificial intelligence...

  
• 11.09.2023

  The state of Russian science, and improving implantable bioelectronics

  First up on this week’s show: the future of science in Russia. We hear about how the country’s scientists are split into two big groups: those that left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and those that stayed behind. Freelance...

  
• 11.02.2023

  Turning anemones into coral, and the future of psychiatric drugs

  Why scientists are trying to make anemones act like corals, and why it’s so hard to make pharmaceuticals for brain diseases   First up on this week’s show, coaxing anemones to make rocks. Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to...

  
• 10.26.2023

  Making corn shorter, and a book on finding India’s women in science

  First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about why it might make sense to grow shorter corn. It turns out the towering corn typically grown today is more likely to blow...

  
• 10.19.2023

  The consequences of the world's largest dam removal, and building a quantum computer using sound waves

  Restoring land after dam removal, and phonons as a basis for quantum computing    First up on this week’s show, planting in the silty soil left behind after a dam is removed and reservoirs recede. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah...

  
• 10.19.2023

  Dealing with the consequences of removing the world largest dam, and building a quantum computer using sound waves

  Restoring land after dam removal, and phonons as a basis for quantum computing   First up on this week’s show, planting in the silty soil left behind after a dam is removed and reservoirs recede. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah...

  
• 10.13.2023

  Mysterious objects beyond Neptune, and how wildfire pollution behaves indoors

  The Kuiper belt might be bigger than we thought, and managing the effects of wildfires on indoor pollution   First up on this week’s show, the Kuiper belt—the circular field of icy bodies, including Pluto, that surrounds our Solar System—might be bigger...

  
• 10.12.2023

  Mysterious objects beyond Neptune, and how wildfire pollution behaves indoors

  The Kuiper belt might be bigger than we thought, and managing the effects of wildfires on indoor pollution   First up on this week’s show, the Kuiper belt—the circular field of icy bodies, including Pluto, that surrounds our Solar System—might be bigger...

  
• 10.05.2023

  How long can ancient DNA survive, and how much stuff do we need to escape poverty?

  Pushing ancient DNA past the Pleistocene, and linking agriculture to biodiversity and infectious disease First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad brings a host of fascinating stories, from the arrival of deadly avian flu in the Galápagos to...

  
• 09.28.2023

  Visiting utopias, fighting heat death, and making mysterious ‘dark earth’

  A book on utopias and gender roles, India looks to beat climate-induced heat in cities, and how ancient Amazonians improved the soil First up on this week’s show: the latest in our series of books on sex, gender, and science. Books...

  
• 09.21.2023

  Reducing cartel violence in Mexico, and what to read and see this fall

  The key to shrinking cartels is cutting recruitment, and a roundup of books, video games, movies, and more   First up on this week’s show: modeling Mexico’s cartels. Rafael Prieto-Curiel, a postdoctoral research fellow at the Complexity Science Hub in Vienna, joins...

  
• 09.14.2023

  Why cats love tuna, and powering robots with tiny explosions

  Receptors that give our feline friends a craving for meat, and using combustion to propel insect-size robots   First up on this week’s episode, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about why despite originating from a dry,...

  
• 09.07.2023

  Extreme ocean currents from a volcano, and why it’s taking so long to wire green energy into the U.S. grid

  How the Tonga eruption caused some of the fastest underwater flows in history, and why many U.S. renewable energy projects are on hold     First up on this week’s show, we hear about extremely fast underwater currents after a volcanic eruption. Producer...

  
• 08.31.2023

  Reducing calculus trauma, and teaching AI to smell

  How active learning improves calculus teaching, and using machine learning to map odors in the smell space   First up on this week’s show, Laird Kramer, a professor of physics and faculty in the STEM Transformation Institute at Florida International University (FIU),...

  
• 08.24.2023

  The source of solar wind, hackers and salt halt research, and a book on how institutions decide gender

  A close look at a coronal hole, how salt and hackers can affect science, and the latest book in our series on science, sex, and gender First up on this week’s show, determining the origin of solar wind—the streams of plasma...

  
• 08.17.2023

  What killed off North American megafauna, and making languages less complicated

  Ancient wildfires may have doomed Southern California’s big mammals, and do insular societies have more complex languages?   First up on this week’s show, what killed off North America’s megafauna, such as dire wolves and saber-toothed cats? Online News Editor Mike Price...

  
• 08.10.2023

  Why some trees find one another repulsive, and why we don’t know how much our hands weigh

  First up on this week’s show, we hear about the skewed perception of our own hands, extremely weird giant viruses, champion regenerating flatworms, and more from Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox. Christie also chats with host Sarah Crespi about her work...

  
• 08.03.2023

  Tracing the genetic history of African Americans using ancient DNA, and ethical questions at a famously weird medical museum

  Bringing together ancient DNA from a burial site and a giant database of consumer ancestry DNA helps fill gaps in African American ancestry, and a reckoning for Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum   First up on this week’s show, ancient DNA researchers and ancestry...

  
• 07.27.2023

  Researchers collaborate with a social media giant, ancient livestock, and sex and gender in South Africa

  On this week’s show: evaluating scientific collaborations between independent scholars and industry, farming in ancient Europe, and a book from our series on sex, gender, and science.   First up on this week’s show, a look behind the scenes at a collaboration...

  
• 07.20.2023

  Adding thousands of languages to the AI lexicon, and the genes behind our bones

  A massive effort by African volunteers is ensuring artificial intelligence understands their native languages, and measuring 40,000 skeletons Our AI summer continues with a look at how to get artificial intelligence to understand and translate the thousands of languages that don’t...

  
• 07.13.2023

  The AI special issue, adding empathy to robots, and scientists leaving Arecibo

  Science’s NextGen voices share their thoughts on artificial intelligence, how to avoid creating sociopathic robots, and a visit to a historic observatory as researchers pack their bags   As part of a Science special issue on finding a place for artificial intelligence...

  
• 07.06.2023

  Putting the man-hunter and woman-gatherer myth to the sword, and the electron's dipole moment gets closer to zero

  Worldwide survey kills the myth of “Man the Hunter,” and tightly constraining the electric dipole moment of the electron   First up this week on the show, freelance science writer Bridget Alex joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss busting the long-standing myth...

  
• 06.29.2023

  Putting organs into the deep freeze, a scavenger hunt for robots, and a book on race and reproduction

  On this week’s show: Improvements in cryopreservation technology, teaching robots to navigate new places, and the latest book in our series on sex and gender   First up this week on the show, scientists are learning how to “cryopreserve” tissues—from donor kidneys...

  
• 06.22.2023

  A space-based telescope to hunt dark energy, and what we can learn from scaleless snakes

  On this week’s show: Euclid, a powerful platform for detecting dark energy, and a slithery segment on how snakes make scales   First up on the show this week, we’re taking the hunt for dark energy to space. Staff Writer Daniel Clery...

  
• 06.15.2023

  Why it’s tough to measure light pollution, and a mental health first aid course

  A special issue on light pollution, and first aid for mental well-being   First up this week, cleaning up the night skies. As part of a special issue on light pollution, host Sarah Crespi talks with Stefan Wallner, a researcher at the...

  
• 06.08.2023

  Contraception for cats, and taking solvents out of chemistry

  A single-shot cat contraceptive, and a close look at “dry” chemistry   First up this week: an innovation in cat contraception. Online News Editor David Grimm talks with host Sarah Crespi about a nonsurgical pregnancy prevention technique for cats and why such...

  
• 06.01.2023

  How we measure the world with our bodies, and hunting critical minerals

  Body-based units of measure in cultural evolution, and how the geologic history of the United States can be used to find vital minerals   First up this week, we hear about the advantages of using the body to measure the world around...

  
• 05.25.2023

  Talking tongues, detecting beer, and shifting perspectives on females

  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...

  
• 05.18.2023

  The earliest evidence for kissing, and engineering crops to clone themselves

  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...