Scienceline

Grieving is difficult. Grieving during a pandemic even more so.

In the Islamic tradition, a person's passing is marked with an elaborate and symbolic funeral. But what happens to those traditions when the world is put on pause, and when tragedy seems never-ending?

June felt different this year. The month, usually filled with technicolor LGBTQ Pride celebrations, fell quiet due to coronavirus lockdown measures.

Many pride organizers adapted by hosting online pride events, which allowed queer folks from across the globe to meet while increasing the chance of homophobic cyberattacks. And these attacks did occur.

This episode of DISTANCED centers around the novel pride celebrations of 2020, most held over Zoom, streamed on Facebook Live, or uploaded to YouTube. It centers stories of attendees and organizers. You’ll hear about a night hijacked by internet trolls and how the LGBTQ community can move forward.

MK Manoylov reported and produced this story.

In this podcast, Scienceline speaks with Fred Rubino, a postdoctoral researcher at New York University, who studies Wolbachia and their survival in fruit flies. Also, Cameron Simmons, Director of Impact Assessment at the World Mosquito Program, talks about how Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes are made, deployed, and the current challenges of both these bacteria and controlling diseases like dengue.

In this podcast, Scienceline speaks to philosophers David Chalmers, Philip Goff, and biologist Karl Niklas to discuss whether atoms, plants, and bacteria are conscious.

Can you be a pro at isolation? If anyone could be, it seems like it would be Garrett Fondoules. Normally, he travels across the Appalachian Trail, working to map its landmarks and boundaries. Sometimes, he scarcely sees another human face. Wouldn’t a little more isolation be nothing new?

Yet like everyone, Fondoules’ life has been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic. Fondoules tells Rebecca Sohn of his life before the pandemic — one filled with scenic views, folk dancing with friends, and the hard work of mapping the longest hiking-only trail in the world.

As artists harness the powers of technology for their art, several essential questions arise. What does it mean to create art with artificial intelligence? Are these techniques truly new? And why do we even need art that uses algorithms? This seven-minute episode will explore these questions, among others.

Think about a song you like. Regardless of the genre, the song probably includes either reverberation, distortion or both.

These add texture to the music that we tend to crave. But how do they work? As a guitar player, I thought I knew. But I’d never taken a pause to think about the details. To find out what exactly reverberation and distortion are and how they are produced, I speak with Stephen Kurpis, audio engineer from Vitruvian Sound NYC.

Perhaps you were woken up today by the calls of a singing bird — perhaps trying to mate, or simply to communicate. In an Anthropocene world, those birdsongs are changing. Songbirds today, many of whom live in the midst of human cities, are singing into increasingly noisy skies. Their songs must compete with the din of planes, trains, and automobiles — and birds have been adapting their song to compensate.

We all know smoking is bad for your health. So is second-hand smoke. It turns out, even a leftover cigarette butt could be bad for you as well. Most butts are made with plastic and are not biodegradable. Scientists know nicotine and other toxins leach out of these ubiquitous plastic waste products, but recent research shows they could expose us to hazardous chemicals through an unexpected path — the air.

Corryn Wetzel speaks with a professor of ethnic studies, a civil rights organization and an infectious disease expert to understand how rhetoric around COVID-19 has impacted Americans.