On this week’s show: A journey to the center of the center of the Earth, and what was missing from the first human genome projectStaff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the many mysteries surrounding the innermost part of

Pinpointing the origins of SARS-CoV-2, and making vortex beams of atoms

Sep 2nd, 2021 29m 59s

Staff Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the many theories circulating about the origins of SARS-CoV-2 and why finding the right one is important.Next, Ed Narevicius, a professor in the chemical and biological physics departm

Measuring Earth’s surface like never before, and the world’s fastest random number generator

Feb 25th, 2021 24m 54s

First up, science journalist Julia Rosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about a growing fleet of radar satellites that will soon be able to detect minute rises and drops of Earth’s surface—from a gently deflating volcano to a water-swollen field—

Using waste to fuel airplanes, nature-based climate solutions, and a book on Indigenous conservation

Jun 23rd, 2022 45m

On this week’s show: Whether biofuels for planes will become a reality, mitigating climate change by working with nature, and the second installment of our book series on the science of food and agricultureFirst this week, Science Staff Write

Tapping fiber optic cables for science, and what really happens when oil meets water

Dec 9th, 2021 25m 4s

Geoscientists are turning to fiber optic cables as a means of measuring seismic activity. But rather than connecting them to instruments, the cables are the instruments. Joel Goldberg talks with Staff Writer Paul Voosen about tapping fiber opti

Finding consciousness outside the brain, and using DNA to reunite families

Jun 10th, 2021 28m 31s

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The world’s oldest pet cemetery, and how eyeless worms can see color

Mar 4th, 2021 21m 56s

Science’s Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a 2000-year-old pet cemetery found in the Egyptian city of Berenice and what it can tell us about the history of human-animal relationships.Also this week, Dipon G

Areas to watch in 2021, and the living microbes in wildfire smoke

Dec 31st, 2020 27m 34s

We kick off our first episode of 2021 by looking at future trends in policy and research with host Meagan Cantwell and several Science news writers. Ann Gibbons talks about upcoming studies that elucidate social ties among ancient humans, Jeffr

Ancient artifacts on the beaches of Northern Europe, and how we remember music

Mar 19th, 2020 24m 58s

On this week’s show, host Joel Goldberg talks with science journalist Andrew Curry about recent archaeological finds along the shores of Northern Europe. Curry outlines the rich history of the region that scientists, citizen scientists, and ene

The science of loneliness, making one of organic chemistry’s oldest reactions safer, and a new book series

1 day ago 41m 5s

Researchers try to identify effective loneliness interventions, making the Sandmeyer safer, and books that look to the future and don’t see doom and gloomFirst up on the show, Deputy News Editor Kelly Servick explores the science of loneline

Ritual murders in the neolithic, why 2023 was so hot, and virus and bacteria battle in the gut

8 days ago 39m 43s

A different source of global warming, signs of a continentwide tradition of human sacrifice, and a virus that attacks the cholera bacteriaFirst up on the show this week, clearer skies might be accelerating global warming. Staff Writer Paul V

Trialing treatments for Long Covid, and a new organelle appears on the scene

15 days ago 33m 8s

]Researchers are testing HIV drugs and monoclonal antibodies against long-lasting COVID-19, and what it takes to turn a symbiotic friend into an organelleFirst up on the show this week, clinical trials of new and old treatments for Long Covi

When did rats come to the Americas, and was Lucy really our direct ancestor?

22 days ago 31m 28s

Tracing the arrival of rats using bones, isotopes, and a few shipwrecks; and what scientists have learned in 50 years about our famous ancestor LucyFirst on the show: Did rats come over with Christopher Columbus? It turns out, European colon

Teaching robots to smile, and the effects of a rare mandolin on a scientist’s career

29 days ago 30m 3s

Robots that can smile in synchrony with people, and what ends up in the letters sectionFirst on this week’s show, a robot that can predict your smile. Hod Lipson, a roboticist and professor at Columbia University, joins host Sarah Crespi to d

Hope in the fight against deadly prion diseases, and side effects of organic agriculture

Mar 21st, 2024 36m 20s

New clinical trials for treatments of an always fatal brain disease, and what happens with pests when a conventional and organic farm are neighborsFirst up on this week’s show, a new treatment to stave off prion disease goes into clinical tr

Why babies forget, and how fear lingers in the brain

Mar 14th, 2024 29m 43s

Investigating “infantile amnesia,” and how generalized fear after acute stress reflects changes in the brainThis week we have two neuroscience stories. First up, freelance science journalist Sara Reardon looks at why infants’ memories fade.

A dive into the genetic history of India, and the role of vitamin A in skin repair

Mar 7th, 2024 29m 43s

What modern Indian genomes say about the region’s deep past, and how vitamin A influences stem cell plasticityFirst up this week, Online News Editor Michael Price and host Sarah Crespi talk about a large genome sequencing project in India that

The sci-fi future of medical robots is here, and dehydrating the stratosphere to stave off climate change

Feb 29th, 2024 30m 3s

Keeping water out of the stratosphere could be a low-risk geoengineering approach, and using magnets to drive medical robots inside the bodyFirst up this week, a new approach to slowing climate change: dehydrating the stratosphere. Staff Wri

What makes snakes so special, and how space science can serve all

Feb 22nd, 2024 47m 34s

On this week’s show: Factors that pushed snakes to evolve so many different habitats and lifestyles, and news from the AAAS annual meetingFirst up on the show this week, news from this year’s annual meeting of AAAS (publisher of Science) in

What makes blueberries blue, and myth buster Adam Savage on science communication

Feb 15th, 2024 47m 1s

Why squeezing a blueberry doesn’t get you blue juice, and a myth buster and a science editor walk into a barFirst up on the show this week, MythBusters’s Adam Savage chats with Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp about the state of scholarl

A new kind of magnetism, and how smelly pollution harms pollinators

Feb 8th, 2024 31m 5s

More than 200 materials could be “altermagnets,” and the impact of odiferous pollutants on nocturnal plant-pollinator interactionsFirst up on the show this week, researchers investigate a new kind of magnetism. Freelance science journalist Z

A new way for the heart and brain to ‘talk’ to each other, and Earth’s future weather written in ancient coral reefs

Feb 1st, 2024 28m 54s

A remote island may hold clues for the future of El Niño and La Niña under climate change, and how pressure in the blood sends messages to neuronsFirst up, researchers are digging into thousands of years of coral to chart El Niño’s behavior

A hangover-fighting enzyme, the failure of a promising snakebite treatment, and how ants change lion behavior

Jan 25th, 2024 25m 38s

On this week’s show: A roundup of stories from our daily newsletter, and the ripple effects of the invasive big-headed ant in KenyaFirst up on the show, Science Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about snake ven

Paper mills bribe editors to pass peer review, and detecting tumors with a blood draw

Jan 19th, 2024 36m 21s

Investigation shows journal editors getting paid to publish bunk papers, and new techniques for finding tumor DNA in the bloodFirst up on this week’s episode, Frederik Joelving, an editor and reporter for the site Retraction Watch, talks wit

The environmental toll of war in Ukraine, and communications between mom and fetus during childbirth

Jan 11th, 2024 42m 28s

Assessing environmental damage during wartime, and tracking signaling between fetus and motherFirst up, freelance journalist Richard Stone returns with news from his latest trip to Ukraine. This week, he shares stories with host Sarah Crespi