Science Quickly

In this special crossover episode, Science Quickly shares an appearance by host Rachel Feltman on Vox’s Unexplainable. Together with host Noam Hassenfeld, she explores Scientific American’s special issue on impossible questions, diving into some of science’s biggest mysteries, from how common medications can work without scientists fully understanding them to whether there’s a limit to what humans can ever know. The conversation also ventures to the edge of cosmology, examining competing theories about what may have come before the big bang and why some questions might remain forever unanswered.

Recommended Reading:

Finding meaning in the impossible

The questions science may never answer

Listen to Unexplainable

Unexplainable on Spotify

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.

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In this episode of Science Quickly, we explore newly released 9/11 records and their revelations about the attacks’ lasting health impacts, unpack a controversial artificial intelligence breakthrough that solved one of mathematics’ biggest problems and examine the growing backlash to a massive AI data center as communities grapple with the costs of powering the AI boom.

Recommended Reading:

25 years after 9/11, survivors are still getting sick—here are the numbers

AI may have just solved a million-dollar math problem. The field will never be the same

The data center backlash comes for SpaceXAI’s Colossus

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, 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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Can an artificial intelligence really be a friend? In this episode of Science Quickly, Scientific American books and culture lead Bri Kane sits down with Massachusetts Institute of Technology researcher Sherry Turkle to discuss the rise of AI chatbots and their effect on human connection. Turkle explains why she believes AI can imitate intimacy, from empathy and companionship to friendship and love, without truly caring and what we risk losing as machines play a bigger role in our emotional lives.

Recommended Reading:

Artificial Intimacy. Sherry Turkle. Little, Brown and Company, 2026

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, 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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Friendships are key to our well-being, but what kind of friendships do we really want? Despite being such a foundational part of the human experience, the science of friendship is still mysterious. Assistant professor of psychology Jessica Ayers is trying to fill in the blanks. While it’s long been assumed that people want either a few close friends or a large network of friendships, her recent research shows that many people need a mix of both friendship types to feel connected. Her research points to new ways we can understand our own friendship styles and gives insight to the loneliness epidemic.

Recommended Reading:

A lot of casual friends, or only a few you’re really close with? New research questions that trade‑off

Love Isn’t Just about Romance. Here’s How Nonromantic Bonds Shape Our Lives

The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship

How Nostalgia Keeps Friendships Alive

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, 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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What if a dating app could optimize human connection, even after death? In this episode of Science Quickly, books and culture editor Bri Kane speaks with author Sarah Pierce about her debut novel For Human Use, a darkly comic thriller centered on a dating app that matches users with dead bodies. Pierce discusses dating apps, human behavior and the search for meaningful connection. Together, they explore what modern dating technology can and can’t offer and what our reactions to a truly bizarre innovation reveal about human behavior.

Recommended Reading:

For Human Use. Sarah G. Pierce. Run for It, 2026

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, 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

Across the U.S., the digital infrastructure that runs our utilities is quickly aging, becoming more vulnerable to cyber attacks. Recently at least a dozen states reported attacks on their water systems. Stepping up to defend these utilities is DEF CON Franklin, an organization that pairs expert volunteers with infrastructure operators who want to step up their cyberdefense. To learn about how the program works, Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman talks with Eric Geller, a senior reporter at Cybersecurity Dive. They talk about why so many water treatment plants need a cybersecurity glow-up, how DEF CON Franklin came into being, how cybersecurity volunteers are helping protect rural communities and what the future of cybersecurity might look like. 

Recommended Reading:

Hackers Could Use Electric Vehicle Chargers to Attack the Power Grid 

Massive CrowdStrike Tech Outage Highlights Global Vulnerabilities

Scientists just built a powerful AI computer worm that learns as it spreads

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 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

In this episode of Science Quickly, NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope begins its mission to probe dark energy, hunt for distant worlds and map the cosmos in unprecedented detail. The mission’s senior project scientist Julie McEnery explains why astronomers are so excited about what Roman might discover.

Recommended Reading:

NASA’s newest telescope is about to rewrite how we study the universe

Can NASA’s Roman Space Telescope solve the biggest problem in the universe?

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 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

In July the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced changes to how key parts of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) will be implemented, including a new definition of what it means to “harm” an endangered species. To discuss the history of the ESA, the impact its made on at-risk wildlife and the importance of habitat preservation, Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman talks to marine biologist Lynne Barre, who recently left the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration after a 25-year career at the agency. They talk about the gray whale comeback that the ESA helped bring about, the earlier Supreme Court dissent that the current administration is using to define “harm” and the government workforce problem that could put animals at risk.

Recommended Reading:

Protecting Plants and Animals at Risk Must Start before They Need the Endangered Species Act

Can We Save Every Species from Extinction?

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, 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

Miscarriage is often treated as a problem rooted in the pregnant partner, but emerging research suggests sperm may play a bigger role than many people realize. Science journalist Sarah Elizabeth Richards joins Science Quickly to discuss how growing evidence links sperm DNA damage to recurrent pregnancy loss, why decades-old tests for such damage are only now gaining wider recognition and how lifestyle changes may help improve sperm health and pregnancy outcomes.

Recommended Reading:

Damaged sperm might be the true cause of repeated miscarriages

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 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

In this episode of Science Quickly, we examine a proposal to roll back protections for millions of acres of U.S. roadless forests, explore how climate change is opening a new Arctic shipping route and discuss new research suggesting that extreme weather can shape how Americans view their future. Plus, scientists uncover the secrets of shrew noses and narwhal tusks.

Recommended Reading:

How melting Arctic ice has created a new Silk Road

Trump moves to end protections for 44 million acres of U.S. forests

Extreme weather is making Americans feel powerless

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 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