Science Quickly

Latest Episodes:

Summer Reading Challenge: Quantum queerness, Pompeii and plant horror Jul 29, 2026

Show notes

Science Quickly’s summer reading series continues! Host Rachel Feltman chats with Scientific American books editor Bri Kane about the magazine’s Summer Reading Challenge and swaps recommendations—from queer physics memoirs and Pompeii history to ecohorror, sci-fi adventures and other books you won’t want to put down. They also discuss what makes a great summer read, what the joys of reading communities are and how listeners can participate in the challenge for a chance to win prizes.

Recommended Reading:

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

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Your summer reading list starts here Jul 27, 2026

Show notes

Kick off Scientific American’s first-ever Summer Reading Challenge with book recommendations from our editors, including mind-bending fiction, ecohorror and fascinating nonfiction. Host Rachel Feltman and editor Bri Kane share some of the titles on their summer reading lists and offer tips for tackling our science-themed book bingo challenge.

Recommended Reading:

The alien stories Scientific American editors keep coming back to

10 best dinosaur books, according to a paleontologist

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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Are we too afraid of the sun? Jul 24, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman talks with author Rowan Jacobsen about new research on sun exposure and health. While too much sun increases skin cancer risk, moderate sunlight may offer surprising benefits—raising questions about whether avoiding the sun entirely is the right approach.

Recommended Reading:

In Defense of Sunlight. Rowan Jacobsen. Scribner, 2026

Can sunlight cure disease?

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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Ebola update, World Cup heat risks, dad brains Jun 22, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, we start with a quick update on the Ebola outbreak surging in parts of Africa. Host Rachel Feltman is then joined by Scientific American’s senior desk editor for life science Andrea Thompson to discuss what rising temperatures mean for the FIFA World Cup currently underway in North America. And finally, in honor of Father’s Day, SciAm’s senior desk editor for health and medicine Tanya Lewis gives us a glimpse into the often overlooked science of how fatherhood changes the brain.

Recommended Reading:

Just how big is the new Ebola outbreak?

The World Cup is battling extreme heat. Which cooling methods really work?

The Science of the 2026 World Cup

How becoming a dad changes men’s brains

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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How common viruses could quietly raise your cancer risk Jun 19, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, one of SciAm’s Young American Scientists, biologist Jaye Gardiner, explores how common viral infections may raise cancer risk—not just through genetic mutations but by reshaping the body’s “extracellular matrix” of molecules that support cells and tissues. She explains how viruses can alter the extracellular matrix, potentially creating conditions that allow tumors to grow, and why this emerging view could change how we think about everything from colds to long COVID.

Recommended Reading:

Jaye Gardiner’s Young American Scientists profile

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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.

This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.

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The neuroscientist decoding how the brain learns Jun 17, 2026

Show notes

In this episode, host Rachel Feltman interviews neuroscientist Kauê M. Costa, who is among Scientific American’s inaugural cohort of Young American Scientists honorees. Costa shares how being surprised by experiments has led him to new ways of thinking about learning in the brain. He explains how dopamine does more than signal reward, how there are two big frameworks of how the brain learns and how his findings could help us better understand—and treat—mental illness.

Recommended Reading:

The Young American Scientists

Kauê M. Costa’s Young American Scientists profile

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.

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

From aspiring actress to NASA astrophysicist Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman interviews NASA astrophysicist Erini Lambrides about her unconventional journey from pursuing the performing arts to studying supermassive black holes. Lambrides reflects on how curiosity, persistence through early struggles in physics and a background in acting shaped her scientific approach and mentoring philosophy.

Recommended Reading:

Young American Scientists

Profile: Erini Lambrides

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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.

This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.

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

Disclosure Day and the science of alien language Jun 12, 2026

Show notes

In the new movie Disclosure Day, aliens communicate through a series of strange clicks and pops. But what could an alien language actually be like? In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman puts that question to linguist Jeffrey Punske. We explore why fictional aliens in Hollywood and beyond tend to sound the way they do, what real human languages can teach us about communication and why math could be humanity’s best shot at first contact.

Recommended Reading:

Steven Spielberg shares his favorite sci-fi story ever

What Disclosure Day gets wrong about the search for aliens

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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The science of World Cup grass Jun 10, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, we explore the science behind preparing natural grass for the 2026 International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup, a project in which researchers have worked to transform stadiums that typically use artificial turf into sites with elite playing surfaces. Turf experts have spent years testing grass species, refining growing methods and solving the logistical challenges of transporting and installing fields across North America. Their goal is to create consistent, high-performance pitches that can withstand intense play—and that are so seamless that the world’s best soccer players never have to think about the grass beneath their feet.

Recommended Reading:

The Surprising Math and Physics behind the 2026 World Cup Soccer Ball

2026 FIFA World Cup players and fans at risk of extreme heat, climate scientists warn

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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World Cup health monitoring ramps up as Mars mission ends and AI rules shift Jun 08, 2026

Show notes

In this episode of Science Quickly, we look at how World Cup host cities are tracking potential disease outbreaks with wastewater surveillance, discuss the loss of NASA’s long-running MAVEN orbiter at Mars, unpack a new order pushing AI companies to share models with the government and explore a striking new map that reveals just how vast ancient Rome’s road network really was.

Recommended Reading:

NASA’s Mars mission MAVEN is lost forever

Trump’s new AI executive order drastically shifts the administration’s stance on the tech

New map reveals lost roads of the Roman Empire

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

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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