Science Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Podcast: Reading pain from the brains of infants, modeling digital faces, and wifi holograms May 04, 2017

Show notes

This week, we discuss the most accurate digital model of a human face to date, stray Wi-Fi signals that can be used to spy on a closed room, and artificial intelligence that can predict Supreme Court decisions with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic.
Caroline Hartley joins Sarah Crespi to discuss a scan that can detect pain in babies—a useful tool when they can’t tell you whether something really hurts.
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Podcast: Where dog breeds come from, bots that build buildings, and gathering ancient human DNA from cave sediments Apr 27, 2017

Show notes

This week, a new family tree of dog breeds, advances in artificial wombs, and an autonomous robot that can print a building with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Viviane Slon joins Sarah Crespi to discuss a new way to seek out ancient humans—without finding fossils or bones—by screening sediments for ancient DNA.
Jen Golbeck interviews Andrew Shtulman, author of Scienceblind: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong for this month’s book segment.
Listen to previous podcasts.
See more book segments.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: nimis69/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: When good lions go bad, listening to meteor crashes, and how humans learn to change the world Apr 20, 2017

Show notes

This week, meteors’ hiss may come from radio waves, pigeons that build on the wings of those that came before, and a potential answer to the century-old mystery of what turned two lions into people eaters with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Elise Amel joins Julia Rosen to discuss the role of evolution and psychology in humans’ ability to overcome norms and change the world, as part of a special issue on conservation this week in Science.
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Download the show transcript
Transcripts courtesy Scribie.com
[Image: bjdlzx/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Watching shoes untie, Cassini’s last dive through the breath of a cryovolcano, and how human bias influences machine learning Apr 13, 2017

Show notes

This week, walk like an elephant—very far, with seeds in your guts, Cassini’s mission to Saturn wraps up with news on the habitability of its icy moon Enceladus, and how our shoes manage to untie themselves with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Aylin Caliskan joins Sarah Crespi to discuss how biases in our writing may be perpetuated by the machines that learn from them.
Listen to previous podcasts.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Giant virus genetics, human high-altitude adaptations, and quantifying the impact of government-funded science Apr 06, 2017

Show notes

This week, viruses as remnants of a fourth domain of life, a scan of many Tibetan genomes reveals seven new genes potentially related to high-altitude life, and doubts about dark energy with Online News Editor David Grimm.
Danielle Li joins Sarah Crespi to discuss her study quantifying the impact of government funding on innovation by linking patents to U.S. National Institutes of Health grants.
Listen to previous podcasts.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: artubo/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Killing off stowaways to Mars, chasing synthetic opiates, and how soil contributes to global carbon calculations Mar 30, 2017

Show notes

This week, how to avoid contaminating Mars with microbial hitchhikers, turning mammalian cells into biocomputers, and a look at how underground labs in China are creating synthetic opioids for street sales in the United States with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic.

Caitlin Hicks Pries joins Julia Rosen to discuss her study of the response of soil carbon to a warming world.

And for this month’s book segment, Jen Golbeck talks to Rob Dunn about his book Never Out of Season: How Having the Food We Want When We Want It Threatens Our Food Supply and Our Future.

Listen to previous podcasts.

Download the show transcript.

Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.

[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Teaching self-driving cars to read, improving bike safety with a video game, and when ‘you’ isn’t about ‘you’ Mar 23, 2017

Show notes

This week, new estimates for the depths of the world’s lakes, a video game that could help kids be safer bike riders, and teaching autonomous cars to read road signs with Online News Editor David Grimm. And Ariana Orvell joins Sarah Crespi to discuss her study of how the word “you” is used when people recount meaningful experiences.
Listen to previous podcasts.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: VisualCommunications/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: The archaeology of democracy, new additions to the uncanny valley, and the discovery of ant-ibiotics Mar 16, 2017

Show notes

This week, what bear-mounted cameras can tell us about their caribou-hunting habits, ants that mix up their own medicine, and feeling alienated by emotional robots with Online News Editor David Grimm. And Lizzie Wade joins Sarah Crespi to discuss new thinking on the origins of democracy outside of Europe, based on archeological sites in Mexico.
Listen to previous podcasts.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: rpbirdman/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Human pheromones lightly debunked, ignoring cyberattacks, and designer chromosomes Mar 09, 2017

Show notes

This week, how Flickr photos could help predict floods, why it might be a good idea to ignore some cyberattacks, and new questions about the existence of human pheromones with Online News Editor David Grimm. And Sarah Richardson joins Alexa Billow to discuss a global project to build a set of working yeast chromosomes from the ground up.
Read Sarah Richardson’s research in Science.
Listen to previous podcasts.
Download the show transcript.
Transcripts courtesy of Scribie.com.
[Image: Drew Gurian; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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Podcast: Breaking the 2-hour marathon barrier, storing data in DNA, and how past civilizations shaped the Amazon Mar 02, 2017

Show notes

This week, we chat about the science behind breaking the 2-hour marathon barrier, storing data in DNA strands, and a dinosaur’s zigzagging backbones with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic. And Carolina Levis joins Alexa Billow to discuss evidence that humans have been domesticating the Amazon’s plants a lot longer than previously thought. Read Carolina Levis’s research in Science. Listen to previous podcasts. [Image: Carolina Levis; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

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