Science Quickly

Latest Episodes:

Go Inside M.I.T.'s 50,000 Square Foot Clean Room Mar 28, 2025

Show notes

The cutting edge of research is very small—and very clean. In this episode, host Rachel Feltman joins Vladimir Bulović, director of MIT.nano, on a tour of this facility’s nanoscale capabilities. Its tightly controlled clean room hosts research across several fields, from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology.

You can see Bulović’s tour of the lab at: https://youtu.be/ucGFcLjX30Q

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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Are These Plants Out of Place? A New Look at Invasive Species Mar 26, 2025

Show notes

When you hear “invasive plant,” you might picture an aggressive species taking over and harming the environment. But what if the way we think about invasive plants is part of the problem? Host Rachel Feltman chats with Mason Heberling, associate curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, about why these plants are more complicated than we think. He’s one of the experts behind Uprooted: Plants Out of Place, a new exhibition that challenges the way we label and manage plant invasions.

Recommended reading:

Invasive Species Can Sometimes Help an Ecosystem

“Lost in Translation: The Need for Updated Messaging Strategies in Invasion Biology Communication,” by Rachel A. Reeb and J. Mason Heberling, in Plants, People, Planet. Published online November 8, 2024

Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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NASA Astronauts Finally Return, Seals Hold Their Breath, and Penguin Poop Stresses Out Krill Mar 24, 2025

Show notes

Two NASA astronauts are finally back on Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay in space. What kept them up there so long? Meanwhile scientists have discovered that gray seals have a built-in oxygen gauge that helps them hold their breath for more than an hour. And in the Antarctic, researchers found that penguin poop seriously stresses out krill. Catch up on these stories and more in our Monday news roundup.

Recommended reading:

After 286 Days in Space, NASA Astronauts Return to Earth with a Splash

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

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Severance’s Consulting Neurosurgeon Explains the Science behind the Show’s Brain Procedure Mar 21, 2025

Show notes

What if you could completely separate your work and personal life—with the help of a brain implant? That’s the unsettling premise of Severance, the hit Apple TV+ show that just wrapped its second season. To make the science fiction feel as real as possible, the creators brought in an actual neurosurgeon, Vijay Agarwal, chief of the Skull-Base Tumor Center at Montefiore Einstein, as a consultant for the show. Host Rachel Feltman met with Agarwal to break down the real neuroscience behind Severance—and whether a procedure like the one it depicts could ever exist.

Mild spoilers ahead! We recommend you at least watch through episode seven of season two before you listen.

Recommended reading:

The Neuroscience of Severance: What’s Real? What’s Fake?

What Severance Life Would Really Be Like, according to a Psychologist

Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter.

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What Everyone Gets Wrong about Colonoscopies Mar 19, 2025

Show notes

Colonoscopy gets a bad rap, but how much of what you’ve heard is actually true? In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we’re tackling the biggest myths that keep people from getting this potentially lifesaving screening. John Nathanson, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, joins host Rachel Feltman to clear up what the misconceptions are, explain what to expect and share why this test is so important.

Recommended reading:

The Colon Cancer Conundrum

Colon Cancer Linked to Mouth Bacteria

Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter.

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NASA Launches New Missions, Saturn Gains Some Moons, and Whale Urine Balances Marine Ecosystems Mar 17, 2025

Show notes

The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator plans to get rid of or weaken critical environmental rules and policies, such as regulations around greenhouse gases and clean water protections. The deregulation effort follows the recent cancellation of hundreds of grants. NASA launched two missions last week. The first, SPHEREx, will make a three-dimensional map of the sky. The second, PUNCH, is a collection of satellites meant to study solar wind. Plus, Saturn gains some moons, and whale urine balances ecosystems.

Recommended reading:

Trump EPA Unveils Aggressive Plans to Dismantle Climate Regulation

New NASA Space Telescope Will See the Universe in 102 Colors

Heliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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Movie Magic Meets Practical Robotics for Netflix’s The Electric State Mar 14, 2025

Show notes

Dennis Hong, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered a love of robots at an early age while watching the “droid” characters in Star Wars. As director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at U.C.L.A., Hong has worked on functional humanoid robots for tasks such as firefighting and disaster relief. Then the Russo brothers came calling. To promote their new Netflix movie The Electric State, film directors Anthony and Joseph Russo wanted to move beyond CGI and create a version of the lead robot, Cosmo, for events. Hong joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss the challenges of blending practical robotics with a Hollywood vision.

You can watch The Electric State on Netflix.

Recommended reading:

Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Spiderlike Mars Robot Might One Day Crawl through Unexplored Volcanic Caves

A Brief History of Automatons That Were Actually People

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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

A Tuberculosis Outbreak Exposes U.S. Postpandemic Vulnerabilities Mar 12, 2025

Show notes

It’s been five years since COVID was declared a global pandemic. Local, national and global public health agencies mobilized to contain the spread of COVID, but experts worry that backlash against measures like lockdowns have made today’s systems less capable of handling a disease of similar scale. Now the U.S. faces a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas that underscores the importance of public health infrastructure.

Recommended reading:

On COVID’s Fifth Anniversary, Scientists Reflect on Mistakes and Successes https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-covids-fifth-anniversary-scientists-reflect-on-mistakes-and-successes/

Read Michelle Mello’s research on how public health legal powers have changed since the beginning of the COVID pandemic:

https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-076269

And check out Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga’s ongoing health equity reporting:

https://www.kcur.org/bek-shackelford

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with producer Fonda Mwangi. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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

Measles Misinformation, Ozone Recovery and Woolly Mice Mar 10, 2025

Show notes

With measles cases on the rise, experts are pushing back against misleading claims about vitamin A as a substitute for vaccination. A Supreme Court ruling has reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over water pollution, raising concerns about future environmental protections. And in the world of biotechnology, scientists have genetically engineered woolly mice—an experiment with implications for de-extinction efforts.

Recommended reading:

Company Seeking to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Creates a ‘Woolly Mouse’

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/company-seeking-to-resurrect-the-woolly-mammoth-creates-a-woolly-mouse/

Trump Gives EPA One Week to Decide on Abandoning Climate Pollution Regulation

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-gives-epa-one-week-to-decide-on-abandoning-climate-pollution/

Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

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

Author John Green on How Tuberculosis Shaped Our Modern World Mar 07, 2025

Show notes

John Green is an author, advocate and one half of the Vlogbrothers. His latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, comes out on March 18. Green joins host Rachel Feltman to share how tuberculosis shaped history, geography and culture. He discusses how he came to understand the inequities of tuberculosis and the dire risk public health interruptions pose to patients today.

Recommended reading:

You can preorder Everything Is Tuberculosis: https://everythingistb.com/#book

How Advocates Pushed Big Pharma to Cut Tuberculosis Drug Priceshttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-advocates-pushed-big-pharma-to-cut-tuberculosis-drug-prices/

The Heroic Black Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosishttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-heroic-black-nurses-who-helped-cure-tuberculosis/

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura and Naeem Amarsy with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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

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