Science Talk

By Scientific AmericanScience

Science Talk episodes

April 29, 2016 Different Minds: The Wide World of Animal Smarts
Primatologist Frans de Waal discusses his latest book, Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? (Norton, 2016).

37 min
April 28, 2016 Miley Cyrus and Macaroni Combo Enables Brain-Based ID
An individual's unique brain response to images of a celebrity and a food could be used to create an ID procedure at high-security sites.

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4 min
April 27, 2016 Traces of Pharmaceuticals Dwell in Wastewater-Grown Veggies
Volunteers who ate veggies grown in wastewater had higher (but still safe) levels of an epilepsy drug in their urine, compared with subjects who ate freshwater-grown veggies. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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3 min
April 26, 2016 This Plant Bleeds Nectar to Attract Help
When a species of nightshade is injured by hungry beetles, it produces sugary nectar at the wound site. The nectar attracts ants that then keep the beetles at bay.

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4 min
April 25, 2016 Climbing Bears Help Plants Keep Cool
Mountain-climbing bears transport cherry tree seeds, internally at first, to cooler, higher altitudes where the trees can survive as temperatures rise.

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4 min
April 22, 2016 Lower Your Voice Pitch to Persuade
Study volunteers whose voices deepened during a group debate tended to be more influential and convincing. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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4 min
April 21, 2016 This Primate's Calls Obey a Linguistic Law
The vocalizations of the gelada, a baboon relative, appear to follow a linguistic rule called Menzerath's law. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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4 min
April 20, 2016 Woodpecker Head Bangs Communicate Info
Woodpeckers that listen to others of their kind drum into trees alter their behavior based on what they hear.

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4 min
April 19, 2016 Gambling Gave Science Some Lucky Breaks
The development of statistics, probability theory, game theory and chaos theory owes a lot to people trying to figure out various games of chance.

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4 min
April 18, 2016 Microbots Get the Lead Out--of Wastewater
Millions of tiny graphene robots can propel themselves through wastewater and scavenge heavy metals. Christopher Intagliata reports.

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3 min

About Science Talk

From the publisher's feed

Science Talk is a podcast of longer-form audio experiments from Scientific American--from immersive sonic journeys into nature to deep dives into research with leading experts.