Housing Boom Busts Birds' Valentine's Day
A Pacific Northwest housing boom is encroaching on songbird habitat, forcing the birds to flee their homes—and their mates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 14, 2017•3 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.
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Episodes
Cool Coating Chills in Sunlight
A thin film coating can chill a vat of water to 15 degress Fahrenheit cooler than its surroundings, by absorbing—and then emitting—the sun's infrared rays. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 13, 2017•3 min
Partnered-Up Men More Attractive to Women
Women rate a man they see with an attractive woman as more desirable than an unattached man. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 09, 2017•3 min
Gulf Dead Zone Makes for Shrimpier Shrimp
The low-oxygen waters of the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico result in smaller shrimp, and a spike in large shrimp prices. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 08, 2017•3 min
Frog Spit Behaves Like Bug-Catching Ketchup
The amphibians' saliva is what's known as a "shear-thinning fluid," like ketchup—sometimes thick, sometimes thin and flowing. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 06, 2017•4 min
Super Bowl Snacks Need These Exercise Equivalents
Charles Platkin, director of the New York City Food Policy Center at Hunter College, published tips on what it would take to burn off the calories we typically consume during the Super Bowl Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 04, 2017•3 min
The Arctic's Anti-Snowball Snowball Effect
Arctic heat waves melt sea ice, which promotes more warming and even more ice loss. In other words, it’s a snowball effect—or in this case, an anti-snowball effect. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Feb 02, 2017•4 min
Widening the Suez Canal Ushers In Underwater Invaders
Nomadic jellyfish and poisonous puffer fish are the poster children of an invasion of non-native species into the Mediterranean, with environmental and economic costs. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 31, 2017•4 min
Hawaiian Crows Ready for the Call of the Wild
The critically endangered birds have done well in captive breeding, meaning they may be ready once more for wild living, and the repertoire of calls associated with it. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 30, 2017•5 min
A Humble Fish with a Colorful Edge
The cichlid, a small fish, has one of the most incredible visual systems known—which allows it to adapt to differently colored environments. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 28, 2017•4 min
LSD's Long, Strange Trip Explained
When LSD binds to serotonin receptors, it pulls a "lid" closed behind it, locking it in place for hours, and explaining its long-lasting effects. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 26, 2017•3 min
Umbrellas Plus Sunscreen Best Bet to Beat Burns
Sunscreen or beach umbrellas alone were unable to completely prevent sunburns—so researchers suggest combining the methods instead. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 25, 2017•3 min
Ants Use Celestial Cues to Travel in Reverse
The six-legged savants appear to use celestial cues and three forms of memory, as they blaze a trail back to the nest. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 24, 2017•4 min
High-Sugar Diet Makes Flies Drop Like...Flies
A study examines the effects of a high-sugar diet on the life spans of fruit flies. Another studies how the flies’ appetite-suppressing pathways may be similar to ours. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 23, 2017•4 min
Pesticide Additive Could Be One Culprit in Bee Deaths
A common pesticide additive, known as an "inert" ingredient, could be one of the causes of the die-offs beekeepers have observed in their hives. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 21, 2017•3 min
Knot Not Easy to Knot
Chemists have synthesized the most complex molecular knot ever, using a strand just 192 atoms long. The advance could lead to new tougher materials. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 18, 2017•4 min
Bat Chatter Is More Than a Cry in the Dark
Using algorithms developed for human speech recognition, researchers decoded which bats in an experimental colony were arguing with each other, and what they were arguing about. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 14, 2017•4 min
Bird Feeders Attract Bird Eaters, Too
Some predators are attracted to the food in bird feeders, and end up targeting nestlings, too. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 13, 2017•4 min
Adult Daughter Orcas May Trigger Moms' Menopause
Competition between older female orcas and their adult daughters when they can breed simultaneously may cause the matriarch to enter menopause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 12, 2017•3 min
Climate Cycles Could Have Carved Canyons on Mars
Researchers think Mars may have experienced a series of climate cycles, which etched the planet’s surface with river valleys and lake basins. Julia Rosen reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 11, 2017•4 min
Hair Cells Could Heal Skin Sans Scars
Hair follicles appear to be key in reprogramming other cells in the wound, restoring the original skin architecture, instead of simply scarring. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 06, 2017•4 min
Concrete Defects Could Become Strengths
By optimizing the imperfections in concrete, manufacturers could make the material tougher and stronger—allowing builders to use less of it. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 05, 2017•3 min
Zika Linked to a Variety of Birth Defects
Zika virus infection during pregnancy appears to cause a range of birth defects, such as joint, eye and ear abnormalities, in addition to microcephaly. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jan 03, 2017•3 min
When Dining for Trillions, Eat Wisely
What you ate in the past can shape the diversity of your gut flora, and affect how well your gut microbes respond to new foods. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 29, 2016•3 min
Weakest Piglets May Sneak Help from Strongest Siblings
If a weak piglet positions itself next to a strong sibling while feeding, it may get some extra nutrition from inadvertently stimulated mammary glands. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 28, 2016•4 min
Isolated Low Temps May Reassure Climate Skeptics
Areas of the country that have experienced record low temperatures since 2005 happen to be home to many global warming deniers. And researchers theorize there may be a connection. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 26, 2016•4 min
Bats Learn to Take White-Nose Punch
In areas where the white-nose syndrome fungus has been around for awhile, little brown bats seem to have found a way to limit the disease damage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 23, 2016•4 min
"Necrobiome" Reveals a Corpse's Time of Death
The microbial ecosystems inhabiting corpses could help forensic scientists determine a person’s time of death, even after almost two months. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 22, 2016•3 min
Pregnancy Primes the Brain for Motherhood
Areas of the brain related to social cognition shrink in first-time mothers—a structural change that could boost maternal attachment. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 19, 2016•3 min
Small Fraction of Pilots Suffer Suicidal Thoughts
In an anonymous online survey, about 4 percent of surveyed pilots admitted to having suicidal thoughts within the last few weeks. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Dec 16, 2016•3 min
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