Poisons and Perils on the Salton Sea
Toxic dust plagues marginalized communities on the shores of this disappearing salt lake. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 26, 2023•11 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
These Ants Are Probably Better at Navigating Than You Are
Desert ants living in the featureless salt plains of Tunisia count their steps and erect tall entrances at their nests to find their way back home. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 23, 2023•5 min
How to Cool Down Fast in Summer Heat
Your body has a secret cooling method, and scientists explain how to use it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 21, 2023•12 min
Follow a Hurricane Expert into the Heart Of the Beast
Along with an expert, we take you into some of nature's most monstrous storms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 19, 2023•12 min
Have Astronomers Seen the Universe's First Stars?
The James Webb Space Telescope is giving us our first glimpse of stars in the early universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 16, 2023•6 min
Cleo, the Mysterious Math Menace
In 2013 a new user named Cleo took an online math forum by storm with unproved answers. Today she’s an urban legend. But who was she? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 14, 2023•13 min
MDMA Moves from Party Drug Back to Therapy Tool
The party drug MDMA could soon be approved for treating people with severe PTSD. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 12, 2023•11 min
Five Things You Need to Know about Wildfire Smoke Right Now
Where is it coming from? How long will it last? What's in the smoke? Whose health is at risk? How do you clean your own air? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 09, 2023•12 min
These Predators Had a Face like an Axe and Will Haunt Your Nightmares
Terror birds were the grizzly bears of birds, the great white sharks of the land, Jack the Ripper but with feathers. They were also truly fascinating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 07, 2023•9 min
This Thunderous Goose Relative Was Built like a Tank with the Wings of a Songbird
Officially, these prehistoric birds are the dromornithids, but everyone who studies them calls them thunderbirds—and for good reason. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 05, 2023•10 min
This Gargantuan Bird Weighed as Much as a Sports Car
The elephant bird was the heaviest bird to ever walk the earth. Also, its eggs were 150 times the size of a chicken egg and thick as a dinner plate. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 02, 2023•10 min
This Massive Scientific Discovery Sat Hidden in a Museum Drawer for Decades
The fossil was a prehistoric bird called Pelagornis sandersi, and its wings stretched out twice as wide as those of the great albatross. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 31, 2023•11 min
The Kavli Prize Presents: Understanding the Machinery of the Cell [Sponsored]
James Rothman shared The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience in 2010 for discovering the molecular basis of neurotransmitter release. How did a biochemist come to win such a prestigious prize in neuroscience? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 30, 2023•11 min
What the End of the COVID Emergency Means for You
What you pay for tests, vaccines, and medicine will change Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 24, 2023•11 min
Heat Waves Are Breaking Records. Here's What You Need to Know
From North America to South Asia, summer heat waves are becoming longer, stronger and more frequent with climate change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 22, 2023•7 min
Why We're Worried about Generative AI
From the technology upsetting jobs and causing intellectual property issues to models making up fake answers to questions, here’s why we’re concerned about generative AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 19, 2023•18 min
Dismantling the PFAS 'Forever Chemicals' Legacy [Sponsored]
More sustainable ways of removing persistent chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) from the environment are on the horizon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 18, 2023•9 min
Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder through the 'Community' of Ella
We learn the story of “Ella,” a patient with 12 different personalities, or “parts,” and of her therapist, who helped her form a peaceful community—many selves in one body and mind. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 17, 2023•16 min
Is Time Travel Even Possible?
Two SciAm editors duke it out to see if wormholes and multiverses could in fact exist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 15, 2023•9 min
Parrot Babies Babble Just like Us
Parrot nestlings spend time stringing together jumbled mixtures of sound—a rehearsal for more adult conversations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 12, 2023•8 min
A 19th-Century Obscenity Law Is Being Used Again to Limit Abortion
Recent rulings on the abortion pill cite the Comstock Act, a 150-year-old law that’s still on the books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 10, 2023•10 min
These Mini Ecosystems Existed Underfoot of Dinosaurs, but Our Parking Lots Might Pave Them to Extinction
Vernal pools are safe havens for creatures such as fairy shrimp, and they have lived through the end of the dinosaurs, the breakup of Pangaea and multiple ice ages. But humans are paving them over. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 08, 2023•10 min
This $600-Million Room Contains the World's Largest Collection of These Tiny Endangered Animals
Inside a vault at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles lies a microscopic population of immense value—the repository for vernal pool fairy shrimp. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 05, 2023•10 min
Surviving in the Ephemeral Pools of Life
Carpets of gold, burrowing toads and fairy shrimp all depend on vernal pools—habitats that, most of the time, do not exist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 03, 2023•11 min
This Fleeting Ecosystem Is Magical, and You Have Probably Never Heard of It or Even Noticed It
Vernal pools are home to spectacular residents such as fairy shrimp, but these unusual natural wonders are under threat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 01, 2023•9 min
Do We Need To Save the Whales Again?
A scientist who does whale necropsies — or in layman's terms, whale autopsies — tells us why so many dead whales are washing up on beaches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 28, 2023•8 min
The Bad Side of 'Good' Cholesterol
Very high HDL cholesterol levels almost double your risk of heart problems. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 26, 2023•9 min
AI Chatbots and the Humans Who Love Them
Humans are building meaningful relationships with AI chatbots. What will the consequences be? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 24, 2023•14 min
A Mission to Jupiter's Strange Moons Is Finally on Its Way
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) and Europa Clipper missions will search for signs of habitability on three of Jupiter’s potentially ocean-bearing moons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 19, 2023•9 min
The Surprising Backstory behind Witch Hunts and Reproductive Labor
Two of the foremost experts on witch hunts talk about the link between the formation of domestic labor and the rise of witch hunting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Apr 18, 2023•9 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android
Open in Metacast