Science Talk

Biochemist Sylvia Tara talks about her book The Secret Life of Fat: The Science behind the Body's Least-Understood Organ and What It Means for You.

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

New beaver ponds in the Arctic may contribute to the destruction of the permafrost that holds that landscape together.

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

When sharks prowl shallow waters, fish quit foraging and hide—sparing seaweed from being grazed in those areas. Jason G. Goldman reports.

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

For thousands of years, women in agricultural societies seem to have had arms stronger than members of modern rowing teams.

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

Coquí frogs are invasive species in Hawaii. But they don’t seem to bug the islands’ native and nonnative birds. Jason G. Goldman reports.

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

Hospitals consistently score low on quietness surveys. An acoustician suggests a few ways hospitals could keep the peace and quiet. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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

Rosemarie Truman, CEO of the Center for Advancing Innovation, says a better system of governance for federally funded inventions could lead to many more good ones becoming commercialized.

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

Researchers trained machine-learning algorithms to pinpoint the location of a cargo ship simply by eavesdropping on the sound of its passing. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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

Analysis of alleged yeti samples found them to be from less fantastic beasts, such as bears, but also shed light on the evolution of those local bear populations.

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