Entanglements, by Undark

Ep. 42: Screening Illicit Drugs to Prevent Fentanyl Deaths

This month: Harm reduction organizations take a controversial step in checking illicit drugs for fentanyl.

Ep. 41: India's Battle to Control Forest Fires

This month: The story of a devastating wildfire in India reveals how a complex tangle of law, policy, and science are hindering the country's efforts to contain and prevent forest fires.

Ep. 40: The Struggle to Change an HIV Narrative

This month: The history of a destigmatizing message about HIV transmission and how it finally made it to the public.

Ep. 39: Solving the Deadly Transplantable Organ Shortage

This month: A penetrating look at the trials of patients with kidney failure, and the doctors working to make more lifesaving transplants possible.

Ep. 36: Fighting the Flu, Green Burials, and Teen Vaccinations

This month: the quest for a universal flu shot, the trend of low-carbon burials, and understanding medical consent laws for minors.

Ep 37: Crisis Mapping, Tracking Citations, and Sexual Harassment in Science

This month: using social media in search and rescue, developing a more accurate way to track citations, and tackling sexual harassment in science.

Ep. 38: Mosquito Music, Wildlife Poaching, and Imaging a Black Hole

This month: testing the effect of Skrillex on mosquitos, addressing poaching in Uganda, and public response to the first image of a black hole.

Ep. 35: Listening to Glaciers, Overcoming Addiction, and Saving a ‘Marine Serengeti’

This month: using audio data to track sea ice loss, the efficacy of medication-assisted treatment, and fighting for a national underwater monument.

Ep. 34: The Tree of Life, Science in the White House, and the Year at Undark

Ep. 33: Fecal Transplants, Encounters With Cadavers, and Ordinary People Shaping Science

Ep. 32: Decentralized Internet, a Trip into Space, and a Roiling Debate Among Science Writers

Ep. 32: Decentralized Internet, a Trip into Space, and a Roiling Debate Among Science Writers by

Ep. 31: Urban Heat Islands, Hardwired Trees, and America's Disjointed System of Medical Records

Ep. 31: Urban Heat Islands, Hardwired Trees, and America's Disjointed System of Medical Records

This month: building a heat map with the help of citizen scientists, monitoring an Estonian forest, and the heartbreaking cost of fragmented care.

Ep. 30: Wildfires, Snake Rescues, and the Devastating Effects of Air Pollution

This month: the toll of human-caused wildfires, rescuing snakes to prevent human-animal conflict, and capturing the impacts of an ambient killer. Transcript and individual segments available at https://undark.org/article/podcast-30-wildfires-snakes-air-pollution Update: An earlier version of this podcast and transcript provided an incorrect description of PM2.5, a scientific and regulatory term referring to fine particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter. Although particul...

Ep. 29: CBD for Dogs, Plastic Pollution, and the History of Heredity

Join former NYT Science Times editor David Corcoran for a discussion with popular science writer and prolific book author Carl Zimmer about the history of heredity, and why you can’t boil down something as complex as intelligence to a couple of genes. Also, podcast host Kasha Patel talks with Undark’s Matters of Fact and Tracker columnist Michael Schulson about the safety of CBD, or cannabidiol, for dogs; and science journalist Anja Krieger takes listeners to the small German town of Schleswig, ...

Ep. 28: Capturing Carbon Dioxide, Chasing Tornadoes, and Communicating Climate Impacts

David Corcoran talks with former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy about bridging the gap between science and the public. Also: an airplane ride-along with a group of tornado chasers from the NOAA, a closer look a carbon dioxide study with big implications, and game of Two Truths and Lie.

Ep. 27: The Bees of Bandelier, Snail Memories, Is Science Really Broken?

Our latest podcast looks at the resilience of bees; a study in memory transfer; and an attack on science.

Ep. 26 The Fate of the Delta Smelt

A tiny fish is fast disappearing from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Many ecologists consider it a sign that both the local ecosystem and the nation’s approach to conservation are in crisis.

Ep. 25 Lead and Kids

In this episode of the Undark podcast, we talk with reporter Charles Schmidt about his article on a misguided U.S. crackdown on lead poisoning. Also, Vanessa Schipani on media violence and Garrett Tiedemann on the personal toll of a genetic disorder.

Ep. 24 Finding Nubia

Our latest Undark podcast looks at an ancient civilization, rediscovered but threatened; science and the media; and the world's strangest flower.

Ep. 23 Food Fight

Join Undark podcast host and former NYT editor David Corcoran as he talks with Kerstin Hoppenhaus and Sibylle Grunze about their Undark documentary on stem rust. Also: commentator Seth Mnookin on how people get their science news; and reporter Kate Morgan visits a fossil park in New Jersey where dinosaurs met their fate.

Ep. 22 The Poisoning of Michigan

Join our podcast host and former NYT editor David Corcoran as he talks with Carrie Arnold about her Undark Case Study on the he toxic legacy of a 1973 chemical accident. Also: commentator Seth Mnookin on the biggest science stories of 2017, and Randy Scott Carroll on what it means to be alive.

Ep. 21 Dangerous Dams

The environmental price of clean energy in the Balkan states and the rise of predatory journals. Plus, Part 1 of a two part series on what it means to be "alive."

Ep. 20 The War on Polio

A campaign to wipe out polio in a corner of Nigeria where it stubbornly hangs on, issues in science journalism, and growing your own produce at home.

Ep. 19 National Parks

Threats to the national parks, a controversial editorial in Nature, and a rare genetic disorder afflicting descendants of New Mexico’s Spanish settlers.

Ep. 18 Atomic Bill

The ethical debate surrounding a New York Times reporter hired by the Manhattan Project to be its chronicler and cheerleader, as well as an effort to increase science communication in the public sphere.

Ep. 17 Shades of REDD

A program to stop deforestation and protect wildlife in Kenya, a controversial literature review on gender identity, and whirling disease in Banff National Park.

Ep. 16 North Korea

An effort to monitor public health in North Korea by studying refugees who defected to the South, media coverage of health care and addiction, and the effects on your body from being buried at sea.

Ep. 15 The Virus Hunters

A visit with the virus hunters of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the state of long form science journalism, and a tool for treating obsessive hair-pulling.

Ep. 14 Broken Prairie

The future of the Great Plains ecosystem, the downside of conservation in East Africa, and a recap of the March for Science.