Science Talk

By Scientific AmericanScience

Science Talk episodes

August 07, 2023 The Fungi Economy, Part 2: Here's How Plants and Fungi Trade beneath Our Feet
Atmospheric carbon is a currency that plants use to “buy” nutrients from fungi in the soil. To find out where this economy will go next, the devil is in the details. And the details are in the dirt.

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18 min
August 04, 2023 The Fungi Economy, Part 1: Just like Us, Trees Are Experiencing Inflation
Like us, plants and fungi have complex economies. By burning fossil fuels, we’ve been devaluing their currency.

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15 min
August 02, 2023 Could Weight-Loss Drugs Curb Addiction? Your Health, Quickly, Episode 12
Drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic might help people tackle substance abuse as well as shed pounds.

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11 min
July 31, 2023 How to Roll a Joint Perfectly, according to Science
Scientists used a smoking machine—complete with a 3-D-printed mouthpiece—to figure out how to get the most cannabinoid per puff.

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10 min
July 28, 2023 Here's How AI Can Predict Hit Songs With Frightening Accuracy
New AI technology predicts hit songs—by listening to someone’s body.

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12 min
July 26, 2023 Here's Why Actors Are So Worried about AI
Here’s what’s behind the A.I technology that has worried so many actors—including something called “the orb.”

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11 min
July 24, 2023 Are You a Lucid Dreamer?
A sleep researcher who studies what dreams can tell us about the possible onset of some mental disorders believes lucid dreamers might hold a lot of answers in their head.

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12 min
July 21, 2023 Here's What 'Oppenheimer' Gets Right--And Wrong--About Nuclear History
Here’s what a historian who has studied J. Robert Oppenheimer for two decades has to say about the new Christopher Nolan film on the father of the atomic bomb.

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16 min
July 19, 2023 How Stress Messes With Your Gut
Inflammatory bowel disease flare-ups can be traced to mental stress

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11 min
July 17, 2023 Should We Care About AI's Emergent Abilities?
Here’s how large language models, or LLMs, actually work.

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15 min

About Science Talk

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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.