Follow the Science

The Oldest Everything: Searching for the Oldest Thing in the Universe Jun 30, 2023

What’s the world’s oldest surviving building? Language? Useful technology? The oldest living organism? The oldest species of living organism? The oldest rock on the planet and the oldest star in the cosmos? How do scientists measure the ages of ancient things?

In this podcast series, “The Oldest Everything”, I’ll go in search of the oldest things in the world, and along the way I’ll explore the physics of time’s passage, which is tied up with the concept of entropy, itself intertwined with the process of aging. I’ll explore the notion of endurance and what parts of our present world will be left standing in the far future.

In this pilot episode, I’ll be turning my attention to the universe – which is getting a lot of attention lately for amazing new discoveries, most recently that the whole cosmos is rippling with gravitational waves.

Those waves may be the weirdest thing in the universe, but what’s the very oldest thing in the universe? Is it something all around us, or something many light years away?

I’ll be hearing from four science superstars – Richard Gott, Sabine Hossenfelder, Hakeem Oluseye, and Nobel Laureate James Peebles.

Writer, Host, Producer: Faye Flam

Editor: Seth Gliksman

Music:

"Through The Wormhole" by Dilating Times is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY).

"Jam No. 1" by Dilating Times is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC-BY).

66. Cracking the Mystery of Long Covid w/ Bruce Levy Apr 16, 2022

Some scientists think long Covid is caused by lingering inflammation. Others think the virus might hide out in the body. Two years into the pandemic, scientists are scrambling to understand long Covid and find treatments.

Bruce Levy is chief of the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. He now heads the Recovery Center, which was set up to treat and study long Covid.

We talk about risk factors for long Covid, the most common lingering symptoms, the different theories for its cause, the hunt for treatments and how the threat of long covid should shape people’s risk calculations.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

Pandemic Misinformation - How Politics and Polarization Are Distorting the Science w/ Roger Seheult & Florian Krammer [Episode 11 Rebroadcast] Apr 09, 2022

I think this February 2021 episode is more relevant than ever today. It explores the subjective, politicized way that some ideas get labelled as misinformation and why it’s so important for experts to explain why something is likely to be wrong rather than dismissing it out of hand - and why censorship can cause more harm than good.

Original Description:

Misinformation about the pandemic is flooding over social media and traditional news media as well. But it’s not obvious what constitutes misinformation when the we’re grappling with a new virus and the state of science changes weekly. I’ll be talking to physician and medical educator Roger Seheult about getting censored by YouTube, and about the way politics has shaped people’s perception of such seemingly neutral topics as drugs, vitamin D and vaccines.

Immunologist Florian Krammer will talk about how the pandemic has changed the way people consumer and create science news, so that legitimate scientific papers can be misinterpreted to create misinformation.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

65. Science vs. Long Covid w/ Ziyad Al-Aly Apr 02, 2022

Some people still have symptoms from a Covid-19 infection picked up in 2020 and are wondering if there’s any relief in sight. Many suffer months of debilitating fatigue and neurological problems, and Covid-19 can increase risk for heart disease. Scientists are scrambling to understand why, and how to prevent or treat what’s come to be called "long Covid".

Ziyad Al-Aly has been a leader in research on long Covid. We talk about the symptoms he’s seeing in his patients, leading ideas for what’s causing long Covid, how infection affects the brain, the challenge of estimating the frequency of long Covid, and why he thinks a “Long Covid moonshot” is warranted.

Dr. Al-Aly is Chief of Research and Development at the VA Saint Louis Health Care System.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

64. Covid-19, Sense of Smell and the Brain w/ Mark Albers Mar 26, 2022

Covid-19 has some weird long-term effects, including prolonged inability to taste or smell, and various neurological symptoms – difficulty concentrating, memory loss and crushing fatigue. Alzheimer’s Disease is also connected to changes in smell and ability to remember smells. My guest, neurologist Mark Albers of Massachusetts General Hospital will help explain what all this means.

We talk about how to interpret a brain scanning study showing brain “shrinkage” in people who’d had Covid; How inflammation in the brain might have something to do with changes in smell and long Covid; How he’s devised a smell test that picks up risk of early Alzheimer’s Disease, and whether there’s any reason to be concerned that Covid-19 will increase the risk for dementia.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

63. Lessons from Germ Warfare Against Rabbits w/ Andrew Read Mar 19, 2022

In the 1950s, 100 million rabbits were overrunning Australia – an invasive species crisis that led people to unleash germ warfare – infecting them with a deadly virus called myxomatosis. It was devastating – 99.9% of the rabbits across the continent died, according to Penn State University biologist Andrew Read. But the survivors rebounded, and over the subsequent decades the virus became less virulent, and then deadlier, and the rabbits evolved resistance. I talk to Dr. Read about that episode, what scientists learned from it, and how those lessons might apply to understanding the evolution of SARS-CoV-2.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

62. Overconfidence and Other Covid-19 Mistakes w/ Michael Osterholm Mar 12, 2022

We seem to be in Covid intermission now, with low cases but lots of warnings that the disease will stage a comeback, probably in some new mutated form. It’s a time to reflect back on the last two years, and consider the many misleading predictions and projections, including the notion that the pandemic would go away if enough people wore a mask.

In this episode I’ll talk with epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, who heads the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. He’s worried about a next wave, and even more worried that public health squandered our trust with overconfident predictions about untested non-pharmaceutical interventions. We talk about mask policies, evolution of the virus, and why he’s still mystified by the steep rise and fall of pandemic waves.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

61. The Folly of Following the Science w/ Jacob Hale Russell Mar 05, 2022

Science can tell us something about the risks of Covid-19 but it can’t tell us how much risk to accept, or how much to sacrifice in the name of mitigation. Too often politicians used the phrase “Follow the Science” to silence much-needed public debate and create the illusion that science allowed no other alternatives to the policies they wanted to impose.

Rutgers University law professor Jacob Hale Russell has studied populism and the public’s attitude toward expertise. He questions the stereotype of populists as those who dislike knowledge and hate science. Instead, their grievances are against use of science to deflect legitimate concerns and questions. We talk about how our policies – especially universal making - came about and why follow the science may be a problematic policy slogan but it’s still a pretty good name for a podcast.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

60. Covid Threat Lingers, Society Turns the Page w/ Dan Barouch Feb 25, 2022

There’s a lot of anxiety this week as the public, politicians and even some scientists are moving on from restrictions and mask-wearing that defined the last two years. And yet, SARS-CoV-2 is very much still with us, a sub-variant called BA.2 is still posing a threat, and new variants are likely to emerge. And there’s evidence that protection from our booster shots could wane. Immunologist Dan Barouch of Harvard and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center will talk about all these threats, address scientists’ new appreciation for “natural immunity” and explain how he and other scientists will continue to fight the pandemic in months to come.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

59. From The World’s Oldest Virus to The Newest Pandemic Variant w/ Erin Bromage, Bill Hanage, David Sanders & Sarah Otto Feb 18, 2022

In this episode I set off on a quest to find the oldest endemic human virus–the one that’s been riding along with our species the longest. The answer is harder to get than I’d anticipated, but along the way I learn about some ancient viruses, and how viruses shape our evolution as they evolve themselves.

I’ll also discuss where the omicron variant came from – including the possibility it jumped to another animal and back to humans. And I’ll get up to date on the latest worrisome variant – a sister of omicron called BA.2

Erin Bromage is a biologist and infectious disease expert at the UMass, Dartmouth

Bill Hanage is an epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health

David Sanders is a virologist at Purdue University

Sarah Otto is an evolutionary biologist at the University of British Columbia

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

58. Why the Worst, Most Deceptive People Are Also the Most Politically Savvy w/ Michael Bang Peterson Feb 12, 2022

Spreading rumors and misinformation about enemies for political gain has deep roots in humanity’s affinity for tribal behavior, says political scientist and evolutionary psychologist Michael Bang Petersen of Aarhus University in Denmark. His latest work shows that the biggest super-spreaders of misinformation and hatred on social media are actually the most politically savvy and well-connected.

In this interview we talk about his latest work and about how both the US and Denmark recently ended many pandemic restrictions. But in his country it went smoothly and here people are either outraged that restrictions are ending or outraged they were ever imposed. We talk about Dr. Bang Petersen’s New York Times piece, “The End of the Pandemic May Tear Us Apart.” Why isn’t it tearing Denmark apart? They have trust and shared, realistic goals.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

Alternatives to Censorship w/ David Rand & Gordon Pennycook [Episode 28 Rebroadcast] Feb 05, 2022

Social media companies may claim censorship is for our own good – to shield us from misinformation – but the process has no transparency. And Facebook and Twitter algorithms are set up to amplify sensational claims, to push people into polarized camps, and delude users about the popularity and value of what are often fringe ideas.

Social scientists David Rand and Gordon Pennycook have studied social media behavior and found that people care about sharing accurate news, but often give in to temptation to share with what’s likely to be popular, rather than accurate. But there are solutions. The researchers found a way to leverage crowdsourcing to improve the quality of shared information. And algorithms could, in principle, be reset to amplify high quality information.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

57. What It Means If Covid-19 Becomes Endemic w/ Aris Katzourakis Jan 28, 2022

Suddenly the word endemic is all over the media – perhaps it’s replacing “herd immunity” and “new normal” to put words to people’s hopes that the pandemic will end soon.

But what does endemic mean and when will Covid-19 get there? I pose these questions to Aris Katzourakis, an expert in viral genomics and evolution at Oxford University, and author of a recent opinion piece in the journal Nature titled "Endemic Doesn’t Mean Harmless". We also talk about how new variants come along, and what can be predicted about the evolution of the virus in the future.

That said, there are signs everywhere that people in many parts of the world will soon stop reacting to Covid-19 as an emergency and settle into more normal activities as we recognize that we’re in this for the long haul.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

56. The Strange Randomness of Covid-19 Immunity w/ Gaurav Das Gaiha Jan 21, 2022

Almost everyone has a story of someone who was healthy and received all the shots and still got wiped out by Covid-19 this winter. While there’s no doubt getting vaccinated and boosted vastly lowers your odds being hospitalized, there’s a random element in this omicron phase of the pandemic that comes down to our genes.

Immunologist Gaurav Das Gaiha explains how he and his colleagues discovered that about 20% of people don’t get nearly as much protection against omicron from their vaccines. Instead of everyone getting 75% protection, we’re seeing a lot of variability. In this discussion, we consider why the human immune system is so diverse and what it means for our species.

Here is the study we discuss showing some people’s vaccines don’t give them strong protection against omicron: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.01.04.21268586v1

And here’s the study connecting pheromones, attraction and the genes regulating our immune systems: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17888797/

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

55. How Vaccine Memory Works Against Covid-19 w/ Shiv Pillai Jan 14, 2022

It’s a confusing time right now - in January of 2022, since so many vaccinated people are coming down with omicron. The virus has changed a lot since the vaccines were formulated, but the data show they are still offering partial protection. To understand what’s going on, I asked immunologist(and poet) Shiv Pillai to explain how our bodies “remember” those vaccines. I wanted to know how vaccines work in the first place, and how they can protect us after the virus mutates into a new variant. What I learned was that the vaccines kick off a process of Darwinian evolution in your antibody-producing cells.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

54. When to Trust Big Pharma in the Covid-19 Battle w/ Derek Lowe Jan 07, 2022

Big pharma is out for big pharma, but that doesn’t mean we don’t benefit from drugs, vaccines and treatments – AIDS was a death sentence until pharma came up with drugs called protease inhibitors that allowed people with HIV to live out their lives.

Now there’s Paxlovid - a protease inhibitor to fight Covid-19. The biggest downside of this drug is there isn’t enough of it to go around.

I’ll be talking about that drug and more with medicinal chemist Derek Lowe, who is the author of Science Magazine’s In the Pipeline blog. It’s a wonderful, critical, objective look at the science of pharmaceuticals. The bottom line is you don’t ever have to blindly trust anyone to tell you a drug works. What matters is that they can show how drugs work – and provide reproducible data.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

53. Why Some Covid-19 Treatments Work w/ Roger Seheult Dec 31, 2021

Few subjects are more contaminated with misinformation than treatments for Covid-19, with many patients still demanding Ivermectin in hospitals despite the drug’s failure in clinical trials. But now, finally, we’re hearing claims that new drugs really do save lives. Pfizer just got approval for a pill called Paxlovid, and now there’s evidence a cheap anti-depressant called Fluvoxamine can save lives as well. But how do we sort out the science from the big pharma hype?

I’ll be talking to Roger Seheult (MedCram), a pulmonologist and critical care doctor, who goes deeper than the clinical data. Our discussion delves into the inner workings of your cells to show what these drugs do, why they’re likely to help some people, and how they might cause some side effects.

Dr. Seheult is also a sleep researcher, and had some fascinating ideas on how to stay healthy this winter – because it’s much better not to need drugs in the first place.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

52. Müge Çevik’s Down-to-Earth View of Omicron Dec 24, 2021

Omicron is less deadly but spreading at blinding speed. Is it the end of the world or no big deal? The UK is several weeks ahead of us in their omicron wave and can give us a sense of what might happen here.

Physician Müge Çevik will join us from the Scotland, where she’s an infectious disease specialist and a lecturer at the University of St. Andrews. She’s become famous as a source of practical advice throughout the pandemic. We talk about what’s happening in the hospitals there, who’s at risk for hospitalization, what prevention measures are likely to help, and what society’s goals should be in dealing with the virus.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

51. Booster Mandates: Where's the Science? w/ Stephen Kissler Dec 17, 2021

With omicron exploding, we’re seeing vaccine mandates expand and booster mandates on the table. What’s the scientific rationale? Mandates are predicated on the idea that vaccines stop or at least reduce transmission, and booster mandates on the notion that unboosted people pose a danger to society. Do they? I’ll be talking about vaccines and transmission with Stephen Kissler. He’s a research fellow in immunology and infectious diseases at the Harvard School of Public health. He’s the lead author on a recent study that tracked cases in the NBA to understand viral loads, variants and the effects of vaccines.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

50. Vaccines vs Omicron w/ Emma Hodcroft Dec 10, 2021

Some experts tell us to be very afraid, others are not so sure. But what matters about the omicron problem is how we solve it – and that means understanding what it is, how well vaccines protect against it, and whether to focus efforts on boosters, getting doses to other countries, or creating a new vaccine tailored for this emerging variant.

My guest, Emma Hodcroft, is a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Bern, and has been closely tracking all the scientific work that’s been done to quickly assess omicron. We talk about best and worst case scenarios, laboratory experiments that attempt to measure how well vaccines work against omicron, and how the new data should translate into action.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

49. To Boost or Not To Boost w/ Dan Barouch Dec 03, 2021

That’s a hard question, with a sudden change in CDC recommendations that everyone over 18 get one and not much explanation. Scientists have started to change their minds about boosters as they’ve seen more breakthrough cases. Another rationale was protection against the new variant – omicron - but it’s not clear how well our vaccines will work against omicron if it becomes dominant.

My guest is Dan Barouch, who is director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and a researcher at Harvard Med School. A few years before the pandemic he designed a new kind of vaccine that became the J&J shot. He also led the team that adapted this vaccine to Covid-19 and did the pre-clinical studies that prepared it for human trials.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

48. Sick Buildings and the Pandemic w/ Joseph Allen Nov 19, 2021

Most people aren’t going to wear a mask forever, even if viruses remain a persistent threat. What we now know is that respiratory viruses are transmitted mostly through the air, mostly indoors, and mostly in badly ventilated buildings. I talk with Harvard Professor Joseph Allen about a new normal that makes sense. It’s okay, he says, that vaccinated people are putting their masks back in the drawer. It’s not okay that so many of us live and work in “sick” buildings. There’s no downside to healthy buildings – they not only help keep people from getting covid, colds and flu, they can also help us feel more energetic and think more clearly.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

47. Mental Health and the Pandemic w/ Lucy McBride Nov 12, 2021

For the last 20 months society has focused primarily on a single aspect of health – avoiding SARS-CoV-2. But as the pandemic drags on, some people argue we need to bring back a big picture perspective. General practitioner Lucy McBride says her patients are showing up with all kinds of complaints about health problems beyond Covid-19, and she’s seeing an alarming number of mental health problems. We talk about what mental health means, why it’s an important aspect of overall health, what’s behind the surge in mental health problems, and how we can have a more balanced approach to health moving forward.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

46. Evolution and the Future of Covid-19 w/ Jesse Bloom Nov 05, 2021

One of the most unnerving things about this pandemic is that the virus keeps changing. And yet, viruses we’re familiar with don’t spawn vastly more dangerous variants every year. Even flu, while it changes enough to require a new shot, doesn’t usually turn the world upside down. Will SARS-CoV-2 reach some limit on the new variants it can produce? Biologist Jesse Bloom of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center had studied influenza evolution for years before turning his attention to how SARS-CoV-2 is evolving. We talk about where things might be going, and where the virus might have come from.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

45. Havana Syndrome: A Disease of Body or Mind? w/ Suzanne O'Sullivan Oct 29, 2021

It started with a young undercover agent in Havana hearing a piercing noise, then realizing that his ears wouldn’t stop ringing and he’d lost some of his hearing. Soon he told colleagues who remembered hearing weird noises. Soon they, too, started to feel distressing symptoms – difficulty concentrating, headaches, insomnia, dizziness. Now more than 200 people in different foreign service posts around the world are reporting symptoms.

Originally some experts thought it was some a sonic weapon, while others proposed a directed energy or microwave weapon. But others, such as neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan, think it’s a problem that starts where the brain and mind intersect.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

44. The Experts Change Their Tune on Covid-19 w/ Amesh Adalja Oct 22, 2021

In late October, experts in the US stopped talking about taking extreme precautions against Covid-19 and started talking about learning to live with the virus. Does this represent a change of heart or a change in the science? It’s been hard for experts to detangle their scientific opinions from their feelings and values.

In this episode I’ll talk with Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. He’s long advocated an approach called harm reduction, which was used in the AIDS crisis to help guide people toward having safer sex rather than asking them to give it up forever. He says many experts initially pushed a Covid-19 strategy akin to abstinence only, but it’s becoming more obvious by the day that this is unsustainable, and the virus isn’t going away.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

43. Antisocial Science w/ John Ioannidis Oct 15, 2021

There’s no there’s no doubt science has advanced humanity’s store of useful, reliable knowledge. Still, sometimes scientists, groups or whole fields get off track. Stanford professor John Ioannidis is famous for diagnosing why medical research had started producing too many unreliable results. Statistical errors, lack of cross checks, and cutting corners were leading to bad science and bad medicine. But when he applied his critical eye to pandemic science, instead of praise, he got attacks. Now, he’s diagnosed a new problem – a breakdown of civility and communal spirit.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

42. Why Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Science Is True Oct 08, 2021

How do we know what’s true? What should we trust and what should we question? I’ll talk about the nature of science, truth and critical thinking with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. We’ll talk about why so many scientists doubt the UFOs are alien interlopers, but do take seriously the possibility of multiple universes. We’ll also talk about his new book, “A Brief Welcome to the Universe”.

By coincidence, this episode 42, a number that in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, was the answer to ultimate question of life, the universe and everything – at least according to a powerful computer programmed 7 ½ million years ago. Unfortunately, the people who programmed the computer didn’t understand the question. To Neil DeGrasse Tyson, sorting truth from fakery is all about asking good questions.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

41. Where Medicine Doesn’t Follow the Science w/ Gilbert Welch Oct 01, 2021

Medicine is based partly on science, partly on tradition, partly on assumptions and partly on profits. My guest in this episode, physician Gilbert Welch, says many screening healthy people for cancer, for example, is very profitable, but there’s surprisingly little evidence that it helps people live longer. His most recent book is called Less Medicine, More Health. We’ll talk about which tests and treatments are least likely to help us, why some cancers are better left alone, and how financial interests can push doctors away from the most scientifically backed procedures and tests.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

40. Theranos: Medicine's Unhealthy Infatuation with Technology w/ Daniel Holmes & Eleftherios Diamandis Sep 24, 2021

The blood testing company Theranos was the darling of the medical establishment for years before a journalist helped expose the fact that its technology didn’t work. Now the CEO Elizabeth Holmes has gone from being the world’s youngest self-made female billionaire to being on trial for fraud.

But the fact that the company got so big on so little evidence points to a bigger problem with American medicine. In this episode I’ll be talking to pathology professors Daniel Holmes of the University of British Columbia, and Eleftherios Diamandis, of the University of Toronto. We talk about what the dramatic rise and fall of Theranos, about what testing technology can’t do to improve our health, and why the medical establishment focuses so much effort on screening the healthy, while remaining ill-prepared for a true crisis.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

39. Are Vaccines Helping or Hurting? w/ Derek Lowe Sep 17, 2021

The prevalence of Covid-19 even in highly vaccinated countries such as Israel has led to a scary rumor that vaccines are actually making the disease worse. That has happened before with other vaccines - sometimes antibodies can actually turn traitor and help the virus through something called antibody dependent enhancement.

Medicinal chemist Derek Lowe has been getting lots of questions about this from concerned readers of his Science Magazine pharmaceutical blog In The Pipeline. In this episode he explains how antibody dependent enhancement works, where it’s happened before, and why it’s almost certainly not happening with our Covid-19 vaccines.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

38. The Science of Mask Mandates for Kids w/ Elissa Schechter-Perkins & Vinay Prasad Sep 10, 2021

Should mask mandates for kids go all the way down to age 2? Should kids have to keep masks on at recess? Should kids wear cloth masks despite little evidence of protection? Is universal masking in schools the new normal?

Emotions are running high and relevant scientific studies are in short supply.

I’ll be talking with two doctors, Dr. Elissa Schechter-Perkins and Dr. Vinay Prasad (Plenary Session), to explore what science can tell us, not just about whether kids should wear masks to school but which kids, under which circumstances, and for how long?

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

37. Beyond Covid-19 – Other Looming Threats w/ Rodney Rohde Sep 03, 2021

If we weren’t all obsessed with the pandemic, there would be scare stories about a life-threatening fungus that’s infecting people in Texas and Washington DC. It can’t be cured with drugs that would normally be used for fungal infections. Even as we battle a virus, fungi and bacteria are evolving resistance to known drugs, and as clinical laboratory science professor Rodney Rohde says, Covid-19 may be making this other threat worse.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

36. Breakthrough Cases, Boosters, and Confusion w/ Bill Hanage Aug 27, 2021

There’s still a strong consensus that getting vaccinated is better than not – but a surprising lack of information on which vaccines work best, how long protection lasts, and why cases are skyrocketing in some places with high vaccination rates, including Israel, where more than 60% of the population is fully vaccinated with the Pfizer shot. Here in the United States, tens of thousands are being hospitalized in a fourth wave, and many are vaccinated.

Harvard Epidemiologist Bill Hanage will talk to me about breakthrough cases, what’s driving this unexpected fourth wave, and what’s likely to happen next.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam, with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

35. Why is the Pandemic So Hard to Predict? w/ Sam Scarpino Aug 20, 2021

We take precautions, get vaccinated, and yet cases surge again and again. And then the waves decline unexpectedly, defying predictions. There’s no good explanation for why cases are going up in some places and not others. And there’s not nearly enough information on which venues or activities are the most dangerous. By contrast, weather forecasters look downright clairvoyant.

Today’s guest, Sam Scarpino, is an expert on complex systems. He’s just started a new position as managing director of the pandemic surveillance program with the Rockefeller Institute. We talk about what’s predictable, what isn’t, and what he and his colleagues hope to learn to help give people more concrete forecasts and more information about our risks.

“Follow the Science" is produced, written, and hosted by Faye Flam , with funding by the Society for Professional Journalists. Today’s episode was edited by Seth Gliksman with music by Kyle Imperatore. If you’d like to hear more "Follow the Science," please like, follow, and subscribe!

34. Official and Unofficial Misinformation on Vaccines w/ Art Krieg Aug 13, 2021

Vaccines aren’t perfect. Physician Art Krieg knows that all too well since his fully vaccinated 90-year-old father recently died from Covid-19. But he makes a good case that getting vaccinated still helps protect the community by lowering your odds of getting infected and vastly lowering your odds of being hospitalized. Dr. Krieg also tackles the question of whether people who have had Covid-19 should get the shots, whether some people are medically exempt, and how the delta variant changes the equation.