Science Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Building big dream machines, and self-organizing landscapes May 04, 2023

Show notes

Builders of the largest scientific instruments, and how cracks can add resilience to an ecosystem

First up this week, a story on a builder of the biggest machines. Producer Kevin McLean talks with Staff Writer Adrian Cho about Adrian’s dad and his other baby: an x-ray synchrotron.

Next up on this episode, a look at self-organizing landscapes. Host Sarah Crespi and Chi Xu, a professor of ecology at Nanjing University, talk about a Science Advances paper on how resilience in an ecosystem can come from the interaction of a plant and cracks in the soil.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, assistant editor for custom publishing, discusses challenges early-career researchers face and how targeted funding for this group can enable their future success. She talks with Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies and Aleksandar Obradovic, this year’s grand prize winner of the annual Michelson Philanthropies and Science Prize for Immunology.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Hong’an Ding/Yellow River Estuary Association of Photographers; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: red beach from above with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Adrian Cho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/science.adi5718

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The value of new voices in science and journalism, and what makes something memorable Apr 27, 2023

Show notes

Science’s editor-in-chief and an award-winning broadcast journalist discuss the struggles shared by journalism and science, and we learn about what makes something stand out in our memories

First up on the show this week: Science Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp talks with Amna Nawaz, an award-winning broadcast journalist and host of the PBS NewsHour, about the value of new voices in science and journalism and other things the two fields have in common.

Next up, what makes something stand out in your memory? Is an object or word memorable because it is unique or expressive? Are there features of things that make them memorable, regardless of meaning? Wilma Bainbridge, an assistant professor in the department of psychology at the University of Chicago, joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her Science Advances paper on teasing apart the features of memorability.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: madabandon/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: array of lemons with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Holden Thorp

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi4383

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Mapping uncharted undersea volcanoes, and elephant seals dive deep to sleep Apr 20, 2023

Show notes

What does it mean that we have so many more seamounts than previously thought, and finding REM sleep in seals

First up on the show this week: so many seamounts. Staff News Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a study that mapped about 17,000 never-before-seen underwater volcanoes. They talk about how these new submarine landforms will influence conservation efforts and our understanding of ocean circulation.

Next up, how do mammals that spend 90% of their time in the water, get any sleep? Jessica Kendall-Bar, the Schmidt AI in Science postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, is here to talk about her work exploring the sleep of elephant seals by capturing their brain waves as they dive deep to slumber.

Finally, in a sponsored segment from Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, assistant editor for the Custom Publishing office, interviews Friedman Brain Institute Director Eric Nestler and Director of Drug Discovery Paul Kenny, two experts on addiction from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. This segment is sponsored by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

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

[Image: Rob Oo/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: two female elephant seals looking at the camera with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi3256

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

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More precise radiocarbon dating, secrets of hibernating bear blood, and a new book series Apr 13, 2023

Show notes

Anchoring radiocarbon dates to cosmic events, why hibernating bears don't get blood clots, and kicking off a book series on sex, gender, and science

First up this week, upping the precision of radiocarbon dating by linking cosmic rays to isotopes in wood. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Online News Editor Michael Price about how spikes in cosmic rays—called Miyake events—are helping archaeologists peg the age of wooden artifacts to a year rather than a decade or century.

Next on the show, we have a segment on why bears can safely sleep during hibernation without worrying about getting clots in their blood. Unlike bears, when people spend too much time immobilized, such as sitting for a long time on a flight, we risk getting deep vein thrombosis—or a blood clot. Johannes Müller-Reif of the Max Planck Institute of Biochemistry talks with host Sarah Crespi about what we can learn from bears about how and why our bodies decide to make these clots and what we can do to prevent them.

Stay tuned for an introduction to our new six-part series on books exploring science, sex, and gender. Guest host Angela Saini talks with scholar Anne Fausto-Sterling about the books in this year's lineup and how they were selected.

We’ve been nominated for a Webby! Please support the show and vote for us by 20 April.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Thomas Zsebok/iStock/Getty; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: brown bear lying in a cave with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Mike Price; Angela Saini

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi2236

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Why not vaccinate chickens against avian flu, and new form of reproduction found in yellow crazy ants Apr 06, 2023

Show notes

Why some countries, such as China, vaccinate flocks against bird flu but others don’t, and male ants that are always chimeras

First up this week, highly pathogenic avian influenza is spreading to domestic flocks around the globe from migrating birds. Why don’t many countries vaccinate their bird herds when finding one case can mean massive culls? Staff News Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the push and pull of economics, politics, and science at play in vaccinating poultry against bird flu.

Next up, a crazy method of reproduction in the yellow crazy ants (Anoplolepis gracilipes). Hugo Darras, an assistant professor in the Institute of Organismic and Molecular Evolution at Johannes Gutenberg University, talks about how males of this species are always chimeras—which means their body is composed of two different cell lines, one from each parent.
Read a related perspective.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: The Wild Martin; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Queen and worker yellow crazy ants with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jon Cohen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0665

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How the Maya thought about the ancient ruins in their midst, and the science of Braille Mar 30, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: How people in the past thought about their own past, and a detailed look at how Braille is read

First up this week, what did people 1000 years ago think about 5000-year-old Stonehenge? Or about a disused Maya temple smack dab in the middle of the neighborhood? Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how Mesoamerican sites are revealing new ways that ruins were incorporated into past peoples’ lives.

Next up on this week’s show is a segment from the AAAS meeting on reading science and Braille. We hear from Robert Englebretson, an associate professor of linguistics at Rice University, about filling in a gap in reading science research when it comes to how Braille is read, written, and learned.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: S. Crespi/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Maya building with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Lizzie Wade

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi0106

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New worries about Earth’s asteroid risk, and harnessing plants’ chemical factories Mar 23, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Earth’s youngest impact craters could be vastly underestimated in size, and remaking a plant’s process for a creating a complex compound

First up this week, have we been measuring asteroid impact craters wrong? Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about new approaches to measuring the diameter of impact craters. They discuss the new measurements which, if confirmed, might require us to rethink just how often Earth gets hit with large asteroids. Paul also shares more news from the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.

Next up, pulling together all the enzymes used by a plant to make a vaccine adjuvant—a compound used to boost the efficacy of vaccines—in the lab. Anne Osbourn, a group leader and professor of biology at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, talks about why plants are so much better at making complex molecules, and an approach that allows scientists to copy their methods.

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

About the Science Podcast

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

[alt: Itturalde crater in Bolivia with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh9195

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An active volcano on Venus, and a concerning rise in early onset colon cancer Mar 16, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Spotting volcanic activity on Venus in 30-year-old data, and giving context to increases in early onset colon cancer

First up this week, a researcher notices an active volcano on Venus in data from the Magellan mission—which ended in 1994. News Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how to find a “fresh” lava flow in 30-year-old readings.

Next up, a concerning increase in early onset colon cancer. Kimmie Ng, director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, is here to talk about how these early colon cancers—those diagnosed before age 50—are different from those diagnosed later in life. We also talk about what needs to be learned about diet, environment, and genetics to better understand this condition.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: NASA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Maat Mons volcano on Venus with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh8158

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Compassion fatigue in those who care for lab animals, and straightening out ocean conveyor belts Mar 09, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Compassion fatigue will strike most who care for lab animals, but addressing it is challenging. Also, overturning ideas about ocean circulation

First up this week: uncovering compassion fatigue in those who work with research animals—from cage cleaners to heads of entire animal facilities. Host Sarah Crespi and Online News Editor David Grimm discuss how to recognize the anxiety and depression that can be associated with this work and what some institutions are doing to help.

Featured in this segment:

Next up on the show, a segment from the annual meeting of AAAS (which publishes Science) on overturning assumptions in ocean circulation. Physical oceanographer Susan Lozier, dean of the College of Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology, talks with producer Kevin McLean about the limitations of the ocean conveyor belt model, and how new tools have been giving us a much more accurate view of how water moves around the world.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Global sea surface currents and temperature with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh4938

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Battling bias in medicine, and how dolphins use vocal fry Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Researchers are finding new ways to mitigate implicit bias in medical settings, and how toothed whales use distinct vocal registers for echolocation and communication

First up this week: how to fight unconscious bias in the clinic. Staff Writer Rodrigo Pérez Ortega talks with host Sarah Crespi about how researchers are attempting to fight bias on many fronts—from online classes to machine learning to finding a biomarker for pain.

Next up on the show: a close look at toothed whale vocalization. Though we have known for more than 50 years that toothed whales such as orcas, sperm whales, and dolphins make diverse and useful sounds, how these noises are produced by their bodies has not been well understood. Coen Elemans, a professor in biology and head of the sound communication and behavior group at the University of Southern Denmark, joins Sarah to talk about using endoscopy and high-speed cameras as well as tissue samples and tracking data to learn how they achieve such amazing feats of sound.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Thumy Phan; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: looking through glasses at a distorted face in what looks like a medical setting with podcast overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rodrigo Pérez Ortega

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh3706

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

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