Science Magazine Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Shrinking MRI machines, and the smell of tsetse fly love Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Portable MRI scanners could revolutionize medical imaging, and pheromones offer a way to control flies that spread disease

First up this week: shrinking MRI machines. Staff Writer Adrian Cho talks with host Sarah Crespi about how engineers and physicists are teaming up to make MRI machines smaller and cheaper.

Next up on the show, the smell of tsetse fly love. Producer Kevin McLean talks with Shimaa Ebrahim, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology at Yale University, about understanding how tsetse flies use odors to attract one another and how this can be used to prevent the flies from transmitting diseases such as African sleeping sickness.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: GEOFFREY ATTARDO/UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: tsetse fly with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Adrian Cho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh3128

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

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Earth’s hidden hydrogen, and a trip to Uranus Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: The hunt for natural hydrogen deposits heats up, and why we need a space mission to an ice giant

First up this week: a gold rush for naturally occurring hydrogen. Deputy Editor Eric Hand joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss drilling for hidden pockets of hydrogen, which companies are just now starting to explore as a clean energy option.

Next up, big plans for a mission to Uranus. Kathleen Mandt, a planetary scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, shares what a mission to Uranus could tell us about the formation of our Solar System and all these exoplanets we keep finding.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Austin Fisher; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Uranus illustration with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Eric Hand

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh1873

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Using sharks to study ocean oxygen, and what ancient minerals teach us about early Earth Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: Shark tags to measure ocean deoxygenation, and zircons and the chemistry of early Earth

First up this week: using sharks to measure ocean deoxygenation. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins us to talk about a group of researchers putting data logging tags on sharks in order to study how climate change is affecting oxygen levels in some of the ocean’s darkest depths.

Next up, what can 4-billion-year-old minerals teach us about chemistry on early Earth? Producer Meagan Cantwell talks to geochemist Dustin Trail about using minerals called zircons to deduce the chemical properties of the early hydrothermal pools where life began.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: David Salvatori/VWPICS/Alamy Stock Photo; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Underwater photo of mako shark with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall; Meagan Cantwell

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Visiting a mummy factory, and improving the IQ of … toilets Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: New clues to the chemicals used for mummification, and the benefits and barriers to smart toilets

First up this week: What can we learn from a mummy factory? Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry talks with host Sarah Crespi about mummy chemistry and why we don’t know much about what was used to preserve these ancient bodies. Online News Editor Michael Price makes a special appearance.

Next up, how having a smart toilet can contribute to your health. Seung-Min Park, an instructor in the Department of Urology at Stanford University School of Medicine, wrote this week in Science Translational Medicine about the powers of data-collecting toilets to improve health and the psychological and ethical barriers to adopting a smart toilet of your very own.

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

[Image: Portugal2004/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: toilet with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Andrew Curry; Michael Price

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg9654

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

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Wolves hunting otters, and chemical weathering in a warming world Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

On this week’s show: When deer are scarce these wolves turn to sea otters, and chemical weathering of silicates acts as a geological thermostat

First up on this week’s show we have a story about a group of Alaskan wolves that has switched to eating sea otters as deer populations have dwindled. Science journalist Jack Tamisiea tells host Sarah Crespi about some of the recently published work on this diet shift, and wildlife biologist Gretchen Roffler weighs in on the conditions on the island where this is happening.

Also on this week’s show: Chemical weathering and the global carbon cycle. Sarah speaks with Susan Brantley, Evan Pugh university professor in the Earth and Environmental Systems Institute and Department of Geosciences at Pennsylvania State University, about how weathering of silicates in rocks pulls carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. They talk about how this temperature-sensitive process could increase as Earth warms, as well as the potential and limitations of this effect on the global carbon budget.

Take the podcast audience survey here.

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

About the Science Podcast

[Image: Landon Bazeley; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: Wolf pup pulling a sea otter carcass up a rocky beach with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jack Tamisiea

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Bad stats overturn ‘medical murders,’ and linking allergies with climate change Jan 19, 2023

Show notes

Statisticians fight bad numbers used in medical murder trials, and the state of allergy science

First up on this week’s show, we have a piece on accusations of medical murder. Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her story on how statisticians are weighing in on cases where nurses and doctors are convicted of murdering patients based on bad statistics. This segment was produced by Kevin McLean with sound design by James Rowlands.

Also on this week’s show: Allergies are on the rise and this increase is linked with climate change. Sarah speaks with Kari Nadeau, Naddisy Foundation endowed professor of medicine and pediatrics at Stanford University, about her review in Science Translational Medicine on the status of allergy science, and how recommendations have changed from when to give children peanuts to opting for sublingual exposure therapy.

Take the podcast audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

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

[Image: bobtphoto/iStock; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: ragweed field with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Cathleen O’Grady

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7524

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

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Peering beyond the haze of alien worlds, and how failures help us make new discoveries Jan 12, 2023

Show notes

Data on hazes and clouds may be key to understanding exoplanets, and NextGen letter writers share the upside of failure

Hazes and clouds could keep exoplanets’ secrets hidden, unless researchers can re-create them here on Earth. After celebrating JWST and its ability to look far back in time and help us look for habitable exoplanets as the 2022 Science Breakthrough of the Year, News Intern Zack Savitsky talks with host Sarah Crespi about an overlooked problem with using telescopes to examine exoplanets’ atmospheres.

What was your greatest mistake? In a chat with producer Kevin McLean, Letters Editor Jennifer Sills shares stories from NextGen Voices about failures that led them in unexpected directions in their science careers.

Take the podcast audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

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

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

[alt: exoplanet with cloudy and hazy atmosphere with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jennifer Sills; Zack Savitsky

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg6078

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

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A controversial dam in the Amazon unites Indigenous people and scientists, and transplanting mitochondria to treat rare diseases Jan 05, 2023

Show notes

Keeping an eye on the largest hydroelectric project in the Amazon basin, and helping patients with deletions in their mitochondrial DNA

We are starting off the new year with producer Kevin McLean and freelance science journalist Sofia Moutinho. They discuss a controversial dam in the Brazilian Amazon and how Indigenous peoples and researchers are trying to monitor its impact.

Then, host Sarah Crespi speaks with Elad Jacoby, an expert in pediatric hematology and oncology at the Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University, about the many wonders of mitochondria. In a recent Science Translational Medicine paper, his team took advantage of the fact that mitochondria are almost exclusively inherited from our mothers to transfer mothers’ mitochondria into their children as treatment for mitochondrial genome deletions.

Take our audience survey at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/TLKCHC8

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

[Image: Dado Galdieri/Hilaea Media; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: two fishermen in a boat with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Sofia Moutinho

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg5434

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Year in review 2022: Best of online news, and podcast highlights Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

On this week’s show: A rundown of our favorite online news stories, and some of our favorite moments on the podcast this year

This is our last show of the year and it’s a fun one! Dave Grimm, our online news editor, gives a tour of the top online stories of the year, from playful bumble bees to parasite-ridden friars.

Then, host Sarah Crespi looks back at some amazing conversations from the podcast this year, including answers to a few questions she never thought she’d be asking. Highlights include why we aren’t just shooting nuclear waste into space, and how mapping ant diversity is like mapping the early universe.

Past shows mentioned in this episode:

What saliva tells babies about human relationships

A global map of ant diversity

Gut bacteria that nourish hibernating squirrels

Securing nuclear waste for 100,000 years

Why rabies remains

Why sunscreen is bad for coral

Saving the Spix’s macaw

Waking up bacterial spores

Collecting spider silks

Don’t miss this year’s podcast series on books in food, science, and agriculture, hosted by Angela Saini.

Take our audience survey at https://www.science.org/podcasts.

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

[Image: Peter Trimming/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: squirrel relaxing on a branch with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg3947

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Breakthrough of the Year, and the best in science books Dec 15, 2022

Show notes

On this week’s show: Science’s Breakthrough of the Year and runners-up, plus the top books in 2022

You might not be surprised by this year’s breakthrough, but hopefully you won’t guess all our runners-up. Producer Meagan Cantwell is joined by Greg Miller, who edited the section this year. The two discuss the big winner and more.

In our second segment, host Sarah Crespi is joined by Science Books Editor Valerie Thompson to chat about the best books in science from this year, and one movie.

Books mentioned in this segment:

Otherlands Review | Buy

How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures Review | Buy

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Buy

A House Between Earth and the Moon Review | Buy

Is Science Enough? Forty Critical Questions About Climate Justice Review | Buy

What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care Review | Buy

Stolen Science: Thirteen Untold Stories of Scientists and Inventors Almost Written out of History Review | Buy

The Science Spell Book: Magical Experiments for Kids Review | Buy

Fire of Love (Film) Trailer

The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science (2023) Buy

Don’t miss this year’s podcast series on books in food, science, and agriculture, hosted by Angela Saini.