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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

Greenhouse gas emissions tied to concrete

Hessam Azarijafari, Randy Kirchain, and Jeremy Gregory explore how innovations in the concrete industry can reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Image credit: Pexels/Life Of Pix.

Oct 04, 2021•11 min

Racial and ethnic disparities in pollutant exposure

Sarah Chambliss discusses racial and ethnic disparities in exposure to air pollutants. Image credit: Pixabay/sueegeneris.

Sep 20, 2021•13 min

Soil microbes and hybrid vigor

Maggie Wagner and Manuel Kleiner report that the interaction between maize and soil microbes influences hybrid vigor. Image credit: Kayla M. Clouse.

Sep 07, 2021•11 min

Racial disparities in air pollution

Gaige Kerr discusses racial disparities in atmospheric levels of nitrogen dioxide in the United States.

Aug 23, 2021•11 min

Genome sequencing of extinct giant lemur

Stephanie Marciniak, Logan Kistler, and Ed Louis describe an extinct giant lemur.

Aug 09, 2021•10 min

Upslope advance of forest fires

Mohammad Reza Alizadeh, John T. Abatzoglou, and Mojtaba Sadegh report that forest fires have been advancing upslope across the western United States in recent decades.

Jul 26, 2021•11 min

How bats know the speed of sound

Eran Amichai investigates how bats know the speed of sound.

Jul 12, 2021•17 min

Animal behavior and ecosystem effects

Mike Gil discusses how changes in animal behavior can affect ecosystems.

Jun 28, 2021•13 min

Patient–physician racial concordance

Brad Greenwood explains how patient–physician racial concordance decreases Black infant mortality.

Jun 14, 2021•11 min

How HIV infects human cells

Vinay Pathak describes when and where HIV sheds its capsid coating while infecting human cells.

Jun 01, 2021•13 min

Self-cleaving ribozymes

Jeannie Lee describes the discovery of self-cleaving ribozymes.

May 17, 2021•12 min

Designing synthetic organisms

Josh Bongard describes AI-designed, reconfigurable biological organisms made from frog cells.

May 03, 2021•9 min

Exploring electron bifurcation

Jonathon Yuly, David Beratan, and Peng Zhang investigate how electron bifurcation reactions work.

Apr 19, 2021•12 min

Exploring the length of human conversations

Adam Mastroianni and Daniel Gilbert explore why conversations almost never end when people want them to.

Apr 05, 2021•10 min

Climate history of Mars

Joe Levy shows how glaciers on Mars can reveal its climate history.

Mar 22, 2021•12 min

How click beetles jump

Marianne Alleyne, Aimy Wissa, and Ophelia Bolmin explain how the click beetle amplifies power to pull off its signature jump.

Mar 08, 2021•13 min

Eruption of Steamboat Geyser

Mara Reed and Michael Manga explore why Yellowstone's Steamboat Geyser resumed erupting in 2018.

Feb 22, 2021•17 min

Geological history of Mars

Martin Bizzarro tells what zircon crystals reveal about the geological history of Mars.

Feb 08, 2021•13 min

Learning the language of facial expressions

Aleix Martinez explains why facial expressions often are not accurate indicators of emotion.

Jan 25, 2021•15 min

Hazards of ozone polution to birds

Amanda Rodewald, Ivan Rudik, and Catherine Kling talk about the hazards of ozone pollution to birds.

Jan 04, 2021•17 min

Preserving muscle and bone mass in space

Se-Jin Lee and Emily Germain-Lee explain a way to preserve bone and muscle mass during spaceflight.

Dec 14, 2020•18 min

Predicting the Asian giant hornet’s spread

David Crowder and Gengping Zhu explain how to predict the spread of the Asian giant hornet.

Nov 23, 2020•12 min

Supernova and mass extinction

Brian Fields explores a hypothesis that a supernova may be responsible for a mass extinction.

Nov 09, 2020•22 min

Future of artificial intelligence

Eric Horvitz discusses AI’s promises and perils.

Oct 26, 2020•24 min

Origin and diversification of penguins

Juliana Vianna and Rauri Bowie explain the origin and diversification of penguins.

Oct 12, 2020•17 min

Economics of Greenland ice sheet melting

William Nordhaus explains the economic consequences of Greenland ice sheet melt.

Sep 28, 2020•17 min

Military conscription and public sector employment

NAS member Dalton Conley explains how the Vietnam War draft lotteries are a natural experiment for studying how military service affects life outcomes.

Sep 14, 2020•17 min

Transitions tied to early farming

Clark Larsen describes the costs of urban life a Neolithic city.

Aug 31, 2020•17 min

Soil bacterium that lives on air

Mette Svenning and Alexander Tveit describe a bacterium that can live on gases in the air.

Aug 17, 2020•15 min

Exploring bivalve shell design

Derek Moulton explains the mathematics behind bivalve shell design.

Aug 03, 2020•15 min

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