Science Quickly

In this Halloween special episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman explores why our fascination with vampires refuses to die. We dive into the spooky history of vampires—from tuberculosis outbreaks in the 18th and 19th centuries to sexy pop culture icons—and examine what our collective obsession with them says about us.

Recommended Reading:

Exhumed: Unearthing the History of the American Vampire. Aaron Mahnke. Running Press Adult, 2026

Recreational Fear Lab, co-directed by Mathias Clasen, at Aarhus University in Denmark

“Monsters and Posttraumatic Stress: An Experiential-Processing Model of Monster Imagery in Psychological Therapy, Film and Television,” by Jenny Hamilton, in Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Vol. 7, Article No. 142. Published online November 5, 2020

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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New approaches aim to extend treatment durability and improve long-term vision outcomes in wet AMD.

Scientific American Custom Media recently sat down with Dr. Nadia Waheed, Ocular Therapeutix’s chief medical officer, to discuss the real-world burden behind the standard of care and how emerging approaches, including sustained-delivery therapies under investigation, aim to reduce it.

This podcast was produced for Ocular Therapeutix by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine’s board of editors.

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What does science have to do with the midterms? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman speaks with Scientific American breaking news reporter Adam Kovac about candidates with science backgrounds, the future of Medicare for All, the role of evidence in policymaking and the election’s consequences for the broader scientific community.

Recommended Reading:

Abdul El-Sayed explains how science influences his politics

Tom Stalcup on climate change, a science-based approach to politics and misinformation

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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From fearmongering about ingredients to misleading dietary trends, nutrition misinformation is everywhere. In this podcast, nutrition scientist Jessica Knurick explores why food myths spread, how to recognize unreliable health claims and distinguish credible research from pseudoscience, and what decades of scientific evidence reveal about making healthier food choices.

This podcast was produced for Bayer by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine’s board of editors.

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Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman discusses Japan’s half-billion-dollar mission to land on Mars’s lumpy little moon Phobos and catches up on animal behavior, both big and small—from newly discovered cartwheeling snakes to the surprisingly complex vocal repertoire of social vultures. We also explore how Japanese macaques developed food caution after surviving a disease outbreak and why adults are actually more creative than preschoolers (they just need more confidence). 

See the cartwheeling snakes here!

Recommended Reading:

How did Mars get its moons? Japan’s MMX mission is about to find out

The Primal Pull of People Watching

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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Our brains are constantly trying to predict what comes next, but in an increasingly unpredictable world, that mental workload can fuel stress, anxiety and even depression. In this episode of Science Quickly, author Maia Szalavitz explains how the brain processes uncertainty, why some people are better equipped to handle it than others and how we can build resilience by learning to embrace the unknown.

Recommended Reading:

How uncertainty breaks the brain

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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In this episode of Science Quickly, science journalist and science-fiction author Annalee Newitz discusses their novel A Wall Is Also a Road, a story about a graduate student who also happens to be a conscious slime mold alien. The slime mold, named Gardenpath, has decided to study an alien civilization, and her fieldwork has taken her to Pompeii, where she befriends a local sex worker named Murtis. Newitz and Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman talk about the compelling nature of slime molds, the value of looking at human civilization from the outside and the ordinary people of Pompeii. 

Recommended Reading:

Ancient Roman scrolls destroyed by Mount Vesuvius digitally unrolled in full for first time 

Tom Hiddleston on Pompeii, Mount Vesuvius and the human stories frozen in time

Slime Mold Helps to Map the Universe’s Tendrils of Dark Matter

How Slime Molds Remember Where They Ate

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much screen time is too much? In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American associate editor Allison Parshall reads her November cover story, “Escaping the Infinite Scroll.” In the story, she explores the growing debate over screen addiction and problematic social media use. From landmark lawsuits against tech companies to the psychology behind endless scrolling, she explains what researchers know about digital dependence, why social platforms are designed to keep us engaged and how some people are turning to addiction-style recovery programs for help.

Recommended Reading:

Meta to pay $18 billion and make sweeping app changes to settle social media harms lawsuit

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Allison Rodgers. The article was fact-checked by Wudan Yan.  

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In this episode of Science Quickly: a surprising discovery about postmenopausal ovaries, new evidence that microplastics may harm cells through their physical structure, the secret mechanics of honeybee stingers and a cyberattack that spoiled food in hundreds of supermarkets. Catch up on the latest science and tech news.

Recommended Reading:

Do women hit a biological ‘cliff’ at menopause?

Microplastics are linked to inflammation—scientists might have finally worked out why

Honeybees deemphasize potential ‘misinformation’ in their waggle dances

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How much screen time is too much? In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American associate editor Allison Parshall explores the growing debate over screen addiction and problematic social media use. From landmark lawsuits against tech companies to the psychology behind endless scrolling, she explains what researchers know about digital dependence, why social platforms are designed to keep us engaged and how some people are turning to addiction-style recovery programs for help.

Recommended Reading:

Meta to pay $18 billion and make sweeping app changes to settle social media harms lawsuit

E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices