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PNAS Science Sessions

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Welcome to Science Sessions, the PNAS podcast program. Listen to brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in PNAS, plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.

Last refreshed: July 22nd, 2025 at 7:07 PM ⓘ

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Episodes

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Amanda Woerman

Amanda Woerman discusses the role of the alpha-synuclein prion in the neurodegenerative disorder multiple system atrophy.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Anne Case and Angus Deaton

Anne Case and Angus Deaton describe recent changes in mortality trends for white non-Hispanic Americans.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Glaucio Paulino and Evgueni Filipov

Glaucio Paulino and Evgueni Filipov describe an origami-inspired approach to designing deployable structures and metamaterials.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Mark Jacobson

Mark Jacobson explains the feasability of a 100% wind, water, and solar power grid in the continental United States.

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Will Castleman and Cuneyt Berkdemir

Will Castleman and Cuneyt Berkdemir describe how to mimic rare earth elements using superatom clusters.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2015 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Yatrik Shah

Yatrik Shah describes the connection between maternal iron absorption during lactation and neonatal anemia.

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Nanoparticles for disease detection

Sangeeta Bhatia describes the development of nanoparticles that can aid in detecting cancer and other diseases.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Origins of mathematical ability

Stanislas Dehaene investigates how certain areas of the brain might be related to mathematical ability.

Jun 11, 2019•4 min

Building the James Webb Space Telescope

John Mather of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center explains why and how the James Webb Space Telescope is being built.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Tracking endemic tuberculosis

Robyn Lee and Marcel Behr investigate the genomics of endemic tuberculosis in Northern Canada.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Brain clarity

Karl Deisseroth explains a method to explore the wiring and structure of the brain.

Jun 11, 2019•7 min

Gene drive for malaria mosquito control

Anthony James describes how gene drives can be used to spread malaria parasite resistance in mosquitoes.

Jun 11, 2019•7 min

Interview with 2014 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Anthony Vecchiarelli

Anthony Vecchiarelli explains a system of genetic cargo movement within cells that has roots in the work of Alan Turing.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2014 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Jintai Lin

Jintai Lin explains the impact of a global economy on air pollution in China and in the US.

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Interview with 2014 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Frank Bates

Frank Bates describes how a project related to chewing gum led to materials science discoveries.

Jun 11, 2019•7 min

Interview with 2014 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Abigail Marsh

Abigail Marsh describes mechanisms of altruistic kidney donors' responsiveness to others' emotions.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Search rankings and voter manipulation

Robert Epstein of the American Institute for Behavioral Research describes how search engine rankings can influence voter preferences.

Jun 11, 2019•7 min

Timeline of the end-Permian extinction

Seth Burgess describes a timeline of events surrounding the end-Permian mass extinction.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Interview with 2014 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Yaara Oren and Tal Pupko

Yaara Oren and Tal Pupko describe how bacteria can evolve via transfer of gene regulatory regions.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Uniqueness of olfactory perception

Noam Sobel explains how a human olfactory fingerprint helps uncover the uniqueness of individuals’ sense of smell.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Candidate vaccine against Staphylococcus aureus

Rino Rappuoli of GlaxoSmithKline discusses preclinical studies of a vaccine candidate against Staphylococcus aureus .

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Improving global scientific engagement

As AAAS president for 2015, Geraldine Richmond focuses on global scientific engagement.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Blaming those who harm intentionally

Susan Fiske describes how intentional acts of harm motivate people to assign blame.

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Biocontainment safeguards

Jef Boeke explains how to safeguard against unauthorized growth of engineered microorganisms.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Exploring tropical glaciers

Lonnie Thompson discusses clues to Earth's ancient climate history that are stored in tropical glacial ice.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Gatekeeping in scientific publishing

Kyle Siler discusses the role of editors as gatekeepers at scientific journals.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Designing theoretical molecules

Alán Aspuru-Guzik discusses how he uses supercomputing as a "molecular spaceship" to explore chemical space and discover potentially useful new molecules.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

Genome editing

Keith Joung and Feng Zhang explain methods for editing sequences of DNA in living cells.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

An overdependence on p-values

Veronica Vieland discusses a common disconnect between scientists and statisticians in evaluating scientific evidence.

Jun 11, 2019•5 min

Retina cell transplantation

Robin Ali describes efforts to transplant healthy rod and cone cells into afflicted retinas.

Jun 11, 2019•6 min

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