Our 3,000th Episode
Here are some “highlights” from the past 13.5 years of this podcast. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 20, 2020•4 min
Science Quickly
Host Rachel Feltman, alongside leading science and tech journalists, dives into the rich world of scientific discovery in this bite-size science variety show.
Episodes
How Herbivore Herds Might Help Permafrost
Introducing herds of large herbivores in the Arctic would disturb surface snow, allowing cold air to reach the ground and keep the permafrost frosty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 17, 2020•4 min
Lung Cancer Screen Could Be Easy Pee-sy
In mice, a test for lung cancer involves nanoprobes that recognize tumors and send reporter molecules into the urine for simple analysis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 15, 2020•5 min
Obama Talks Some Science Policy
As he endorsed Joe Biden today, former president Barack Obama touched on some environmental, economic and science matters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 14, 2020•3 min
Red-Winged Blackbirds Understand Yellow Warbler Alarms
Researchers studying yellow warbler responses to the parasitic cowbird realized that red-winged blackbirds were eavesdropping on the calls and reacting to them, too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 13, 2020•5 min
Waiter, What's This Worm Doing in My Sushi?
Well, it’s probably there because the odds on its presence have gone way up in the past 40 years. But such parasites are still much more of a health problem for whales and dolphins than they are for us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 10, 2020•4 min
What's a Narwhal's Tusk For?
Although the tusk can be a weapon, the variation in tusk length among animals of similar body size points to it being primarily a mating status signal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 09, 2020•4 min
Coronavirus Misinformation Is Its Own Deadly Condition
Pulitzer-winning Laurie Garrett, author of The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance, talks about the dangers of politicians offering coronavirus misinformation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 07, 2020•4 min
Coronavirus Can Infect Cats
Tigers and lions at the Bronx Zoo have tested positive for the virus, and studies show that house cats—but apparently not dogs—can become infected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 06, 2020•5 min
Squid's Glowing Skin Patterns May Be Code
Humboldt squid can rapidly change the pigmentation and luminescence patterns on their skin by contracting and relaxing their muscles, possibly to communicate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 02, 2020•4 min
Bird Fossil Shared Earth with T. rex
Dating back 67 million years, this representative of the group of modern birds has been dubbed the Wonderchicken (which is not an April Fools’ Day joke). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 01, 2020•4 min
City Birds: Big-Brained with Few Offspring or Small-Brained with a Lot
To make it in urban areas, birds tend to be either large-brained and able to produce few offspring or small-brained and extremely fertile. In natural habitats, most birds brains are of average size. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 31, 2020•4 min
Coyotes Eat Everything from Fruits to Cats
The diets of coyotes vary widely, depending on whether they live in rural, suburban or urban environments—but pretty much anything is fair game. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 30, 2020•5 min
Tiny Wormlike Creature May Be Our Oldest Known Ancestor
The bilateral organism crawled on the seafloor, taking in organic matter at one end and dumping the remains out the other some 555 million years ago. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 29, 2020•4 min
Science News Briefs from around the Planet
Here are a few brief reports about science and technology from around the planet, including one about the discovery of an intact chicken egg dating to Roman Britain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 28, 2020•4 min
Help Researchers Track COVID-19
By entering your health status, even if you’re feeling fine, at the Web site COVID Near You, you can help researchers develop a nationwide look at where hotspots of coronavirus are occurring. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 26, 2020•4 min
Sick Vampire Bats Restrict Grooming to Close Family
When vampire bats feel sick, they still engage in prosocial acts such as sharing food with nonrelatives. But they cut back on grooming anyone other than their closest kin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 25, 2020•4 min
Exponential Infection Increases Are Deadly Serious
Listen in as I use two calculators to track the difference in numbers of infections over a short period of time, depending on how many people each infected individual infects on average. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 24, 2020•6 min
Swamp Wallaby Reproduction Give Tribbles a Run
They’re not born pregnant like tribbles, but swamp wallabies routinely get pregnant while pregnant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 21, 2020•4 min
Ocean Plastic Smells Great to Sea Turtles
Ocean plastic gets covered with algae and other marine organisms, making it smell delicious to sea turtles—with potentially deadly results. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 19, 2020•4 min
Ancient Clam Shell Reveals Shorter Day Length
The growth layers in a 70-million-year-old clam shell indicate that a year back then had more than 370 days, with each day being only about 23.5 hours. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 17, 2020•4 min
Snapping Shrimp Make More Noise in Warmer Oceans
As oceans heat up, the ubiquitous noise of snapping shrimp should increase, posing issues for other species and human seagoing ventures. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 11, 2020•4 min
Stress from Undersea Noise Interferes with Crab Camouflage
In an example of how sea noise can harm species, exposed shore crabs changed camouflaging color sluggishly and were slower to flee from simulated predators. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 10, 2020•4 min
Indigenous Amazonians Managed Valuable Plant Life
Studies on very old vegetation in the Amazon basin show active management hundreds of years ago on species such as Brazil nut and cocoa trees. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 04, 2020•4 min
Computers Confirm Beethoven's Influence
By breaking 900 classical piano compositions into musical chunks, researchers could track Ludwig van Beethoven’s influence on the composers who followed him. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 03, 2020•4 min
Science News Briefs from around the World
Here are a few brief reports about science and technology from around the world, including one from off the California coast about the first heart rate measurement done on a blue whale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Mar 02, 2020•4 min
Jet Altitude Changes Cut Climate-Changing Contrails
Increasing or decreasing the altitude of aircraft by a few thousand feet to avoid thin layers of humidity could make a major reduction to contrails’ contribution to climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 25, 2020•4 min
Thoroughbred Horses Are Increasingly Inbred
Inbreeding in Thoroughbreds has increased significantly in the past 45 years, with the greatest rise occurring in the past 15 or so of them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 24, 2020•4 min
Pablo Escobar's Hippos Could Endanger Colombian Ecology
Hippos that escaped from drug kingpin Pablo Escobar’s private zoo are reproducing in the wild. And with increasing numbers, they could threaten ecosystems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 20, 2020•4 min
Wasp Nests Help Date Aboriginal Art
Art created by Australian Aboriginal people used organic carbon-free pigments, but wasp nests above or below the art can be used for radiocarbon dating that supplies boundaries for the age of artworks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 19, 2020•4 min