Science Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Cosmic rays from beyond our galaxy, sleeping jellyfish, and counting a language’s words for colors Sep 21, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on animal hoarding, how different languages have different numbers of colors, and how to tell a wakeful jellyfish from a sleeping one with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic, Brice Russ, and Sarah Crespi.
Andrew Wagner talks to Karl-Heinz Kampert about a long-term study of the cosmic rays blasting our planet. After analyzing 30,000 high-energy rays, it turns out some are coming from outside the Milky Way.
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[Image: Doug Letterman/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Cargo-sorting molecular robots, humans as the ultimate fire starters, and molecular modeling with quantum computers Sep 14, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on the gut microbiome’s involvement in multiple sclerosis, how wildfires start—hint: It’s almost always people—and a new record in quantum computing with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Andrew Wagner talks to Lulu Qian about DNA-based robots that can carry and sort cargo.
Sarah Crespi goes behind the scenes with Science’s Photography Managing Editor Bill Douthitt to learn about snapping this week’s cover photo of the world’s smallest neutrino detector.
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[Image: Curtis Perry/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Taking climate science to court, sailing with cylinders, and solar cooling Sep 07, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on smooth sailing with giant, silolike sails, a midsized black hole that may be hiding out in the Milky Way, and new water-cooling solar panels that could cut air conditioning costs with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to Sabrina McCormick about climate science in the U.S. courts and the growing role of the judiciary in climate science policy.
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[Image: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Mysteriously male crocodiles, the future of negotiating AIs, and atomic bonding between the United States and China Aug 31, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on involving more AIs in negotiations, tiny algae that might be responsible for killing some (not all) dinosaurs, and a chemical intended to make farm fish grow faster that may be also be causing one area’s crocodile population to skew male—with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to Rich Stone about being on the scene for a joint U.S.-China mission to remove bomb-grade fuel from a nuclear reactor in Ghana.
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[Image:Chad Sparkes; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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What hunter-gatherer gut microbiomes have that we don’t, and breaking the emoji code Aug 24, 2017

Show notes

Sarah Crespi talks to Sam Smits about how our microbial passengers differ from one culture to the next—are we losing diversity and the ability to fight chronic disease?
For our books segment, Jen Golbeck talks with Vyvyan Evans about his book The Emoji Code: The Linguistics Behind Smiley Faces and Scaredy Cats.
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[Image: Woodlouse/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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A jump in rates of knee arthritis, a brief history of eclipse science, and bands and beats in the atmosphere of brown dwarfs Aug 17, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on a big jump in U.S. rates of knee arthritis, some science hits and misses from past eclipses, and the link between a recently discovered thousand-year-old Viking fortress and your Bluetooth earbuds with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to Daniel Apai about a long-term study of brown dwarfs and what patterns in the atmospheres of these not-quite-stars, not-quite-planets can tell us.
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[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Coddled puppies don’t do as well in school, some trees make their own rain, and the Americas were probably first populated by ancient mariners Aug 10, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on new satellite measurements that suggest the Amazon makes its own rain for part of the year, puppies raised with less smothering moms do better in guide dog school, and what DNA can tell us about ancient Greeks’ near mythical origins with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to Lizzie Wade about coastal and underwater evidence of a watery route for the Americas’ first people.
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[Image: Lizzie Wade; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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The biology of color, a database of industrial espionage, and a link between prions and diabetes Aug 03, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in chimps, a potential new pathway to diabetes—through prions—and what a database of industrial espionage says about the economics of spying with Online News Editors David Grimm and Catherine Matacic.
Sarah Crespi talks to Innes Cuthill about how the biology of color intersects with behavior, development, and vision. And Mary Soon Lee joins to share some of her chemistry haiku—one poem for each element in the periodic table.
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[Image: Zoltan Tasi/Unsplash; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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DNA and proteins from ancient books, music made from data, and the keys to poverty traps Jul 27, 2017

Show notes

This week we hear stories on turning data sets into symphonies for business and pleasure, why so much of the world is stuck in the poverty trap, and calls for stiffening statistical significance with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to news writer Ann Gibbons about the biology of ancient books—what can we learn from DNA, proteins, and book worm trails about a book, its scribes, and its readers?
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[Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Paying cash for carbon, making dogs friendly, and destroying all life on Earth Jul 20, 2017

Show notes

This week we have stories on the genes that may make dogs friendly, why midsized animals are the fastest, and what it would take to destroy all the life on our planet with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Sarah Crespi talks to Seema Jayachandran about paying cash to Ugandan farmers to not cut down trees—does it reduce deforestation in the long term?
Listen to previous podcasts.
[Image: Kerrick/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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