Science Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Basic geoengineering, and autonomous construction robots Nov 30, 2023

Show notes

Raising the pH of the ocean to reduce carbon in the air, and robots that can landscape

First up on this week’s show, Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall discusses research into making oceans more alkaline as a way to increase carbon capture and slow climate change. But there are a few open questions with this strategy: Could enough material be dumped in the ocean to slow climate change? Would mining that material release a lot of carbon? And, would either the mining or ocean changes have big impacts on ecosystems or human health?

Next, we hear from Ryan Luke Johns, a recent Ph.D. graduate from ETH Zürich, about why we want robots building big rocky structures from found materials: It reduces energy costs and waste associated with construction, and it would allow us to build things remotely on Mars.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.z66mytn

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Exascale supercomputers amp up science, finally growing dolomite in the lab, and origins of patriarchy Nov 23, 2023

Show notes

A leap in supercomputing is a leap for science, cracking the dolomite problem, and a book on where patriarchy came from

First up on this week’s show, bigger supercomputers help make superscience. Staff Writer Robert F. Service joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how the first exascale computer is enabling big leaps in scientists’ models of the world.

Next, producer Meagan Cantwell talks with the University of Michigan’s Wenhao Sun, professor of materials science and engineering, and graduate student Joonsoo Kim. They discuss solving the centuries-old problem of growing the common mineral dolomite in the lab.

Finally, books host Angela Saini is back but this time she’s in the hot seat talking about her own book, The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality. Science Books Editor Valerie Thompson and host Sarah Crespi chat with Angela about what history, archaeology, and biology reveal about where and when patriarchy started. See our whole series of books podcasts on sex, gender, and science.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Valerie Thompson; Angela Saini; Robert Service

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adn0660

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AI improves weather prediction, and cutting emissions from landfills Nov 16, 2023

Show notes

What it means that artificial intelligence can now forecast the weather like a supercomputer, and measuring methane emissions from municipal waste

First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how artificial intelligence has become shockingly good at forecasting the weather while using way fewer resources than other modeling systems. Read a related Science paper.

Next, focusing on municipal solid waste—landfills, compost centers, garbage dumps—may offer a potentially straightforward path to lower carbon emissions. Zheng Xuan Hoy, a recent graduate from the new energy science and engineering department at Xiamen University Malaysia, discusses his Science paper on this overlooked source of methane and some plausible solutions for reducing these emissions.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm9783

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The state of Russian science, and improving implantable bioelectronics Nov 09, 2023

Show notes

First up on this week’s show: the future of science in Russia. We hear about how the country’s scientists are split into two big groups: those that left Russia after the invasion of Ukraine and those that stayed behind. Freelance journalist Olga Dobrovidova talks with host Sarah Crespi about why so many have left, and the situation for those who remain.

Next on the show: miniature, battery-free bioelectronics. Jacob Robinson, a professor in the department of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, discusses how medical implants could go battery-free by harvesting energy from the human body and many other potential innovations in store for these internal medical devices.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Olga Dobrovidova

LINKS FOR MP3 META

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm8195

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast

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Turning anemones into coral, and the future of psychiatric drugs Nov 02, 2023

Show notes

Why scientists are trying to make anemones act like corals, and why it’s so hard to make pharmaceuticals for brain diseases

First up on this week’s show, coaxing anemones to make rocks. Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the difficulties of raising coral in the lab and a research group that’s instead trying to pin down the process of biomineralization by inserting coral genes into easy-to-maintain anemones.

Next on the show, a look at why therapeutics for both neurodegenerative disease and psychiatric illness are lagging behind other kinds of medicines. Steve Hyman, director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, talks with Sarah about some of the stumbling blocks to developing drugs for the brain—including a lack of diverse genome sequences—and what researchers are doing to get things back on track.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, associate editor Jackie Oberst discusses with Thomas Fuchs, dean of artificial intelligence (AI) and human health and professor of computational pathology and computer science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the potential and evolving role of AI in health care. This segment is sponsored by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Christie Wilcox; Sarah Crespi

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adm6756

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Making corn shorter, and a book on finding India’s women in science Oct 26, 2023

Show notes

First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about why it might make sense to grow shorter corn. It turns out the towering corn typically grown today is more likely to blow over in strong winds and can’t be planted very densely. Now, seedmakers are testing out new ways to make corn short through conventional breeding and transgenic techniques in the hopes of increasing yields.

Next up on the show, the last in our series of books on sex and gender with Books Host Angela Saini. In this installment, Angela speaks with Nandita Jayaraj and Aashima Dogra about their book Lab Hopping: A Journey to Find India’s Women in Science.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi, Angela Saini, Erik Stokstad

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl5269

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The consequences of the world's largest dam removal, and building a quantum computer using sound waves Oct 19, 2023

Show notes

Restoring land after dam removal, and phonons as a basis for quantum computing

First up on this week’s show, planting in the silty soil left behind after a dam is removed and reservoirs recede. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the world's largest dam removal project and what ecologists are doing to revegetate 36 kilometers of new river edge.

Next up on the show, freelance producer and former guest Tanya Roussy. She talks with Andrew Cleland, a professor at the University of Chicago, about a Science paper from this summer on using the phonon—a quantum of sound energy—as the basis of quantum computers.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi, Tanya Roussy, Warren Cornwall

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl4219

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Mysterious objects beyond Neptune, and how wildfire pollution behaves indoors Oct 13, 2023

Show notes

The Kuiper belt might be bigger than we thought, and managing the effects of wildfires on indoor pollution

First up on this week’s show, the Kuiper belt—the circular field of icy bodies, including Pluto, that surrounds our Solar System—might be bigger than we thought. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the distant Kuiper belt objects out past Neptune, and how they were identified by telescopes looking for new targets for a visit by the New Horizons spacecraft.

Next up on the show, the impact of wildfire smoke indoors. Producer Kevin McLean talks with Delphine Farmer, a chemist at Colorado State University, about an experiment to measure where particulates and volatile organic compounds end up when they sneak inside during a wildfire event.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, associate editor for custom publishing, discusses with Jens Nielsen, CEO of the BioInnovation Institute—an international life science incubator in Copenhagen, Denmark—about the next big leap in biology: synthetic biology. This segment is sponsored by the BioInnovation Institute.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi, Paul Voosen, Kevin McLean

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl3178

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How long can ancient DNA survive, and how much stuff do we need to escape poverty? Oct 05, 2023

Show notes

Pushing ancient DNA past the Pleistocene, and linking agriculture to biodiversity and infectious disease

First up on this week’s show, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad brings a host of fascinating stories, from the arrival of deadly avian flu in the Galápagos to measuring the effect of earthworms on our daily bread. He and host Sarah Crespi start off the segment discussing just how much stuff you need to avoid abject poverty and why measuring this value can help us balance human needs against planetary sustainability.

Other stories from Erik mentioned in this segment:

● Elephant trunk’s ‘stunning’ microscopic musculature may explain its dexterity | Science

● ‘Mind-boggling’ sea creature spotted off Japan has finally been identified | Science

Next up on the show, as part of a special issue on ancient DNA, freelance producer Katherine Irving talks with Love Dalén, a professor of evolutionary genomics at the Centre for Palaeogenetics at Stockholm University. They talk about the longevity of ancient DNA and what it would take to let us see back even further. See the whole ancient DNA special issue here.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi, Erik Stokstad, Katherine Irving

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl1587

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Visiting utopias, fighting heat death, and making mysterious ‘dark earth’ Sep 28, 2023

Show notes

A book on utopias and gender roles, India looks to beat climate-induced heat in cities, and how ancient Amazonians improved the soil

First up on this week’s show: the latest in our series of books on sex, gender, and science. Books host Angela Saini discusses Everyday Utopia: In Praise of Radical Alternatives to the Traditional Family Home with ethnographer Kristen Ghodsee, professor of Russian and Eastern European studies at the University of Pennsylvania. See this year’s whole series here.

Also this week, as part of a special issue on climate change and health, host Sarah Crespi speaks with Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, a freelance journalist based in Mumbai, India. They talk about how India is looking to avoid overheating cities in the coming decades, as climate change and urbanization collide.

Finally, we hear about how ancient Amazonians created fertile “dark earth” on purpose. Sarah is joined by Morgan Schmidt, an archaeologist and geographer at the Federal University of Santa Catarina. They discuss recent research published in Science Advances on the mysterious rich soil that coincides with ancient ruins, which may still be produced by modern Indigenous people in Brazil.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi, Vaishnavi Chandrashekhar, Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl0606

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