Science Vs

REBROADCAST. The Supreme Court is set to rule on a major abortion case this year, and the court could decide to overturn Roe v. Wade. Already, places like Oklahoma, Texas and Idaho are rolling out major abortion restrictions. So today, we’re going back to the pre-Roe years, when one group of women got fed up and decided to take their health into their own hands. We talk to “self-helpers” Carol Downer and Francie Hornstein, who led a movement for safe abortions and education for women by women.

Here’s the link to our transcript: https://bit.ly/3v5d23E

This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Editing help from Caitlin Kenney, Kaitlyn Sawrey, Sruthi Pinnamaneni, Jorge Just, Lulu Miller and Chris Neary. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Peter Leonard and Bumi Hidaka. Music by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. Recording assistance from Anny Celsi. Protest tape courtesy of Pacifica Radio Archives. A huge thanks to all the scientists we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Sara Matthiesen, Professor Verta Taylor, Professor John DeLancey, Professor Carole Joffe, Professor Johanna Schoen, and Dr. Denise Copelton. And special thanks to Michele Welsing and the team at Southern California Library, Dr. Becky Chalker, Jonathon Roberts, Jim Aspholm, Odelia Rubin, Alice Kors, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

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Russia attacked Ukraine more than a month ago — and the war has raged ever since. From the beginning, Russia has been pushing out propaganda and disinformation about what’s actually going on. So this week, we’re sharing parts of a podcast from independent journalists Pyotr Ruzavin and Natalka Gumenyuk, who have been covering what’s happening in Ukraine and what the people who live there are experiencing. Their show is called Fuck War. 

Find Fuck War here: https://zona.media/podcast/fuck-war 

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/show/2HitRAGEqtOHygJwpgvjqs 

English transcript of Episode 1, released March 15: https://bit.ly/FuckWarEp1

English for Episode 2, released March 17: https://bit.ly/FuckWarEp2

English for Episode 3, released March 21: https://bit.ly/FuckWarEp3

Here’s a link to our episode transcript: https://bit.ly/3wRhdmi   

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[REBROADCAST] Is it possible that the pyramids were built with a helping hand ... from aliens? If not, how did the ancient Egyptians build them without modern technology? To get to the bottom of this, we speak to author Erich von Däniken, paleoanthropologist Dr. Shelby Putt, Egyptologist Dr. Mark Lehner, and archaeologist Prof. David S. Anderson.

Check out the transcript here: https://bit.ly/3LbPnoJ

This episode was produced by Rose Rimler with help from Wendy Zukerman, along with Meryl Horn, Kaitlyn Sawrey, Michelle Dang and Odelia Rubin. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Michelle Harris and Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Emma Munger. Music by Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. A huge thanks to the team at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, as well as Professor Pierre Tallet, Professor Roland Enmarch, Jens Notroff, Professor Erin L. Thompson and everyone else who spoke to us for this episode … thanks for your help. A special thanks to Sarah Hendricks, Jake Finnicum, Frank Lopez, Joseph Lavelle Wilson and the Zukerman Family. 

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U.S. politicians are trying to keep trans kids from getting the medical care they need to transition — and states are banning them from playing on the sports teams that match their gender. So we’re looking at the science here, and asking: are the medical treatments for trans kids dangerous? And do trans folks have an advantage when it comes to sports? We talk to Florence Ashley, Dr. Jack Turban, and Joanna Harper to find out.

UPDATE 5/24/24: We have removed identifying information about the trans children we interviewed.

UPDATE 5/17/22: A previous version of this episode incorrectly summarized a study from Seattle. We said those who got gender-affirming healthcare "felt better" after getting the treatment. The study actually found that those who got this treatment felt better compared to those who didn't get the treatment. The episode has been updated.

Note: in this episode we discuss suicide and self-harm. Please take care when listening to the show, and here are some resources:

Find our transcript here: bit.ly/sciencevstranskidstranscript

This episode was produced by Meryl Horn, Rasha Aridi, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, and Wendy Zukerman with help from Michelle Dang, Rose Rimler, and Courtney Gilbert. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Nick DelRose. Consulting by Rebecca Kling. Music written by Mr Mu Menage, Leon Trapedera, Robby Bold, and Lucas Ambarga. Thanks to the experts we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Arjee Javellana Restar, Dr. Jody Herman, and Dr. Toni D’Orsay. Very special thanks to all the trans kids and their parents we heard from, Crispin Torres, Alex Blumberg, Jack Weinstein, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

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There’s tons of misinformation, fads and strong opinions floating around out there — but then there’s SCIENCE. Find it here!

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After Joe Rogan was accused of spreading Covid-19 vaccine misinformation on his podcast, Spotify landed in the hot seat. People (including us!) wanted to know what the platform was doing to stop it. In this episode, we look into how tech platforms are fighting misinformation — and find out what actually works. To find out we speak to Professor David Rand, Professor Hany Farid, Laura Edelson and evelyn duoek. 

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/3BOEsOo 

This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, Rose Rimler, and Wendy Zukerman with help from Meryl Horn, Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, and Rasha Aridi. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell, with help from Caitlin Kenney. Fact checking by Nick DelRose. Thanks to the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr David Broniatowski, Dr. Alice Marwick, Dr. Anna Zaitsev, Dr. Homa Hosseinmardi, Dr. Kevin Munger, Manoel Ribeiro, Dr. Rachel Kuo, Jessica Ann Mitchell Aiwuyor, and Nick Nguyen. Very special thanks to Max Green, Casey Newton, Courtney Gilbert, Dr Karl, the Zukerman family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

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Recently, Joe Rogan aired an interview that scientists are up in arms about — with Dr. Robert Malone. Malone talked smack about the Covid-19 vaccines, talking about scary side effects and implying that the vaccines are a risk to our fertility. Enter Science Vs. We fact check the bejesus out of it and zoom out to talk about the bigger picture: what to watch for if you’re worried about getting sucked in by misinformation online.

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/3rqgRjy

UPDATE 2/11/22: When we first published this episode, we said that in more than 60 papers we'd gone through, we'd found only one reported case of someone dying from myocarditis after a Covid-19 vaccine. Some listeners questioned this, and we re-checked our work and found several more deaths. The episode has been updated — and thanks to the listeners who picked this up.

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The moon race is back! Countries — and billionaires — are lining up to take a crack at returning to the moon. But why are we really going? Some say this is a lunar gold rush, that countries want to mine the moon for resources. Others are saying the real reason to go to the moon today is that it’ll help us get to Mars. To find out, we talk to engineer Dr. Angel Abbud-Madrid, physicist Prof. Nicolle Zellner, and astronomer Prof. Gregg Hallinan. 

Check out our transcript here: https://bit.ly/3oC5kMx 

This episode was produced by Meryl Horn and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Diane Kelly. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. Thanks to the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Dr. Tom Simko, Professor Jack Burns, Dr. Paul Byrne, Dr. Martin Elvis, Dr. John Mather, Dr. Jennifer Whitten, Dr. Ian Crawford, Dr. Simon J Lock, and Dr. Greg De Temmerman. Special thanks to Chris Suter, Jack Weinstein, the Zukerman family, the Fausther-Keeys family, and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci sits down with us to talk about omicron, how this pandemic actually ends — and how he’s fighting back against the haters. 

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/3Djq9jX

Science Vs is produced by Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, Michelle Dang, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Daniel Ramirez.

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Welp, the pandemic has served up yet another poop sandwich, and it’s called omicron. This variant is popping up in dozens of countries across the world, and scientists are racing to get a handle on it. So how bad could this be? And could it sneak past our vaccines? To find out, we talk to virologist and immunologist Professor Ann Sheehy, Prof. Art Wallace, epidemiologist Dr. Barbara Cohn, immunologist Dr. Ali Ellebedy and virologist Dr. John Tembo.

UPDATE 12/6/21: A previous version of this episode incorrectly said that genes tell our bodies how to make amino acids -- it’s been corrected to say that genes tell our bodies how to string together amino acids.

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/31rpKit

This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn, Michelle Dang, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Nick DelRose. Mix and sound design by Bumi Hidaka. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger and Bobby Lord. Thanks to the researchers we got in touch with for this episode, including Prof. Paul Bieniasz, Katarina Grande, and Prof. David O'Connor. Special thanks to Mia Malan, Musa Malaza, Hunter, Jack Weinstein, the Zukerman family Rachel Ward and Joseph Lavelle Wilson.

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