We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . Protecting Other Planets From Earth’s Germs For decades, people have been trying to figure out how to avoid contaminating other planets as they explore them—an idea called planetary protection . As missions venture forth to places such as Mars or Jupiter’s moon, Europa, the need to prot...
Aug 04, 2023•47 min•Ep. 605
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . A Possible Breakthrough Superconductor Has Scientists Split Recently, a superconducting material went viral in the scientific community. Researchers in South Korea say they’ve discovered a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor. If it works, it would create electricity under ...
Aug 04, 2023•47 min•Ep. 604
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . What Is Your Cat’s Meow Trying To Tell You? Cats have formed bonds with humans for thousands of years. But what exactly is going on in our furry friends’ brains? What are they trying to tell us with their meows? And why did humans start keeping cats as pets anyway? To help answer those ...
Jul 28, 2023•48 min•Ep. 603
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . No, The Gulf Stream Is Not Collapsing A sobering climate study came out this week in the journal Nature Communications. It suggests that a system of ocean currents—called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) —could collapse sometime between 2025 and 2095, which could h...
Jul 28, 2023•48 min•Ep. 602
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . Astronomers Spy A Two-Faced Star This week, astronomers report in the journal Nature that they’ve discovered a white dwarf—a dying star’s dense inner core—that, instead of being uniform in composition, has a surface that appears to be hydrogen on one face and helium on the other. The st...
Jul 21, 2023•47 min•Ep. 601
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . Revisiting The Nuclear Age With ‘Oppenheimer’ This weekend, Christopher Nolan’s long awaited film Oppenheimer hits theaters. It tells the story of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his road to becoming the “father of the atomic bomb.” With its release, audiences will be face...
Jul 21, 2023•47 min•Ep. 600
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . Where’s The Beef? Lab-Grown Meat Gets U.S. Approval People have been looking for meat-alternatives for decades. Vegetarians avoid animal products for many reasons, from concerns over animal treatment and slaughtering practices to the meat industry’s climate impacts. Methane from cows an...
Jul 14, 2023•47 min•Ep. 599
We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art , and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . The Oceans Are Getting Hotter—And Greener It’s hot out there, and more so than normal July weather. It’s estimated that more than 100 million Americans are under heat watches, warnings, and advisories, spanning the west coast and southern states. Not only is the land hot, but the oceans...
Jul 14, 2023•48 min•Ep. 598
How The Humble Beaver Shaped A Continent The American beaver, Castor canadensis, nearly didn’t survive European colonialism in the United States. Prized for its dense, lustrous fur, and also sought after for the oil from its tail glands, the species was killed by the tens of thousands, year after year, until conservation efforts in the late 19th century turned the tide. In her new book, Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America , author Leila Philipp tells that tale—and the ecological cost o...
Jul 07, 2023•47 min•Ep. 596
Meet The Blind Birder Reimagining Accessibility In The Outdoors For many blind and low vision people, accessing outdoor spaces like parks can be challenging. Trails are often unsafe or difficult to navigate, signs don’t usually have Braille, guides generally aren’t trained to help disabled visitors, and so on. But nature recordist Juan Pablo Culasso, based in Bogata, Colombia, is changing that. He’s designed a system of fully accessible trails in the cloud forests of southwest Colombia that are ...
Jul 07, 2023•48 min•Ep. 597
How Fungi Are Breaking The Binary: A Queer Approach To Ecology As Pride month comes to a close, many people are reflecting on the past, present, and future of the LGBTQIA+ community. An interdisciplinary group of scientists, researchers, and artists are using queerness as a lens to better understand the natural world, too. It’s a burgeoning field called queer ecology , which aims to break down binaries and question our assumptions of the natural world based on heterosexuality. For example, there...
Jun 30, 2023•48 min•Ep. 595
Scientists Can Now Hear The Background Hum Of The Universe For the first time ever, scientists have heard the “low pitch hum” of gravitational waves rippling through the cosmos. It’s this ever-present background noise set off by the movement of massive objects—like colliding black holes—throughout the universe. Scientists have theorized that it’s been there all along, but we haven’t been able to hear until now . So what does this hum tell us about our universe? SciFri producer Kathleen Davis tal...
Jun 30, 2023•47 min•Ep. 594
We have a new podcast! It's called Universe Of Art , and it features conversations with artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . When The Promise Of Social Media Becomes Perilous Despite social media’s early promises to build a more just and democratic society, over the past several years, we’ve seen its propensity to easily spread hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. Online platforms h...
Jun 23, 2023•47 min•Ep. 593
We have a new podcast! It's called Universe Of Art , and it features conversations with artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , or wherever you get your podcasts . A See-Through Squid Success Story Adult octopuses have about 500 million neurons, which is about as many neurons as a dog. Typically, more neurons means a more intelligent and complex creature. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Unlike dogs, or even humans, octop...
Jun 23, 2023•47 min•Ep. 592
Curly Hair Keeps Your Scalp Cooler According to a fascinating new study , curly locks are better than straight hair at keeping your scalp cool. Researchers shone bright lights on three different manikins—one with no hair, one with loosely curled hair and another with tight curls. Solar radiation bounced off the tightly curled hair, and less heat reached the manikin’s scalp than the straight haired manikin. The manikin with loose curls was right in the middle. The research is part of an effort to...
Jun 16, 2023•48 min•Ep. 591
Why Have Ocean Temperatures Spiked? Sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have risen dramatically in recent weeks, to as much as 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record—and over 1 degree C warmer than average temperatures from 1982 to 2011. The reason for the unusually toasty waters isn’t entirely clear. Some climatologists attribute part of the rise to an El Niño ocean circulation pattern this year, replacing the La Niña pattern that had been suppressing temperatures. Other...
Jun 16, 2023•48 min•Ep. 590
Exposing Texas’ Excess Emissions Problems In the early hours of August 22, 2020, Hurricane Laura was still just a tropical storm off the coast of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. But effects from the monstrous storm, which would ultimately take at least 81 lives , were already being felt on the U.S. Gulf Coast. As rain poured down on the Sweeney refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, that afternoon, two processing units failed, releasing nearly 1,400 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which can cause trouble...
Jun 09, 2023•47 min•Ep. 589
Canadian Wildfire Smoke Drifts Across The United States This week, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, enveloping the Northeastern United States, casting an ominous orange glow. The smoke continued spreading outwards to the Southeast and to the Midwest. While climate change is extending and worsening the Canadian wildfire season , it’s still rare for this many fires, so early in the season. Ira talks with Katherine Wu, staff writer at The Atlantic, about the latest on the Canadian wildf...
Jun 09, 2023•47 min•Ep. 588
Tomato Breeding Project Fueled By Over 1,000 Backyard Gardeners In 2005, gardeners Craig LeHouiller and Patrina Nuske-Small created the Dwarf Tomato Project . They wanted to preserve the flavor and beauty of heirloom tomatoes, without taking up too much space. They started crossbreeding heirloom tomatoes with smaller dwarf tomato plants. To do so, they enlisted volunteers from all over the world. Over 1,000 people have participated so far . You can even buy the seeds and plant them in your own g...
Jun 02, 2023•48 min•Ep. 587
Could Restoring Animal Populations Store More Carbon? Did you know that land and ocean ecosystems absorb about half of the carbon dioxide we emit each year? But what if the earth had the capacity to absorb even more? With the help of some furry, scaly, and leathery critters, maybe it can. A recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change claims that by restoring the populations of just a handful of animals —like gray wolves, bison, and sea otters for example—the Earth could capture around 6.41...
Jun 02, 2023•47 min•Ep. 586
Orcas Are Attacking Boats Near Spain. Scientists Don’t Know Why This Thursday, the Supreme Court restricted the scope of the Clean Water Act pertaining to wetlands, in a 5-4 vote. This could affect the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to protect certain kinds of wetlands, which help reduce the impacts of flooding by absorbing water, and also act as natural filters that make drinking water cleaner. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal members in the dissent, writing tha...
May 26, 2023•47 min•Ep. 585
The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Debate Keeps Pecking Away Every so often, there’s a claim that the ivory-billed woodpecker is back from the dead. Pixelated videos go viral, blurry photos make the front page , and birders flock to the woods to get a glimpse of the ghost bird. Last week, a controversial paper claimed there’s reason to believe that the lost bird lives. The authors say they have evidence, including video footage, that the bird still flies. The paper is ruffling feathers among the birdin...
May 26, 2023•47 min•Ep. 584
Can Science Find An Antidote to Americium? With some poisons, there’s an antidote — something you can take to block the effects of the poison, or to help remove it from your body. But when the harmful chemical is a radioactive element, options are limited. Iodine pills can be used to help block radioactive iodine I131 from being absorbed by the thyroid, but there aren’t many other drugs that can help deal with contamination with other radioactive substances. One of the two existing medications c...
May 19, 2023•48 min•Ep. 583
Science Says Eat More Beans Beans are delicious, high in protein, inexpensive, efficient to grow, and an absolute staple in so many cuisines. So why don’t Americans eat more of them? The average American eats 7.5 pounds of beans annually, which is only a few cans of beans every year. The answer is complicated, but one thing is sure: Beans have a PR problem. Ira talks with Julieta Cardenas, a Future Perfect Fellow at Vox, who reported this story. If you’re looking to chef it up, read some of the ...
May 19, 2023•48 min•Ep. 582
Star Trek’s Science Advisor Reveals The Real Astrophysics On Screen Few pop culture properties have lasted quite as long as Star Trek. A dozen Star Trek television shows have aired over the last sixty years—not to mention countless movies, novels, and comic books. Science concepts have always been integral to the Star Trek franchise: from warp speed travel to dilithium . But how much does the series actually accurately depict? Ira speaks with astrophysicist Dr. Erin Macdonald, science consultant...
May 12, 2023•47 min•Ep. 581
FDA Advisory Board Approves First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill This week an FDA advisory board paved the way for the first over the counter birth control pill , with an unanimous decision 17-0. The FDA must accept the recommendation before the pills are available for sale, which is expected in a few months time. If approved, the progestin-only pill would be manufactured by the company Perrigo, under the brand name Opill. Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science journalist based in Minneapoli...
May 12, 2023•47 min•Ep. 580
SpaceX Explosion Damages Environment Around Launch Site Last Thursday, SpaceX’s South Texas facility was awash in noise and fire, as crowds gathered in South Padre Island and Port Isabel to watch Starship’s first orbital launch. It was the largest and most powerful rocket ever made, standing at around 400 feet tall. Four minutes into the launch, SpaceX detonated the rocket after the SuperHeavy booster failed to separate from the Starship as planned. The launch destroyed the company’s launch pad,...
May 05, 2023•47 min•Ep. 579
A Dying Planet Offers A Peek Into The Future This week, astronomers reported in the journal Nature that they had spotted a planet approximately the size of Jupiter being swallowed by a star over the course of ten days . The star, called ZTF SLRN-2020, is about 15,000 light-years away from our solar system, but still in our own galaxy. Astronomers had thought this type of planet-engulfing must happen, based on how stars evolve and certain chemical signatures they’ve spotted from inside stars. How...
May 05, 2023•47 min•Ep. 578
Why Do Humans Anthropomorphize AI? Artificial intelligence has become more sophisticated in a short period of time. Even though we may understand that when ChatGPT spits out a response, there’s no human behind the screen, we can’t help but anthropomorphize—imagining that the AI has a personality, thoughts, or feelings. How exactly should we understand the bond between humans and artificial intelligence? Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks to Dr. David Gunkel, professor of media studies at Northern ...
Apr 28, 2023•47 min•Ep. 577
Dirty Diapers Reveal How Germy Babies’ Microbiomes Are In a new study, researchers picked through the dirty diapers of more than 600 infants. Those stinky diapers were a gold mine of info—they contained more than 10,000 virus species. And though it may sound terrifying, those viruses play a key role in babies’ microbiomes . Guest host and SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Katherine J. Wu, staff writer at The Atlantic about this story and other science news of the week . They chat about c...
Apr 28, 2023•48 min•Ep. 576
