Mucus Lets Dolphins Emit Their Clicks
A model of the dolphin vocal apparatus shows that they need a coating of mucus to produce their distinctive sounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 14, 2016•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.
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Episodes
Bees Rank Pollen by Taste
The discerning insects returned to flowers with sweetened pollen, but avoided revisiting flowers with bitter pollen. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 13, 2016•3 min
Menu Featured Mammoth but Diners Were Mocked
A genetic analysis of leftovers from an exotic dinner in 1951 reveals that the diners got less than they were promised. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 12, 2016•3 min
Evolution Ed Defenders Make Rapids Progress in Grand Canyon
The National Center for Science Education's annual Colorado River trip through the Grand Canyon highlights the differences between the scientific and creationist outlooks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 11, 2016•3 min
Wildlife Can Bear with Hunters and Hikers
A new study suggests the best predictor of wildlife abundance in public lands is not human activity, but factors like forest connectivity and nearby housing density. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 08, 2016•4 min
Cats' Cunning Extends beyond the Hunt
New research suggests that our feline companions understand the principle of cause and effect. Jason G. Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 07, 2016•4 min
Farmed Trout Bred to Fatten Up Fast
An aquaculturist used selective breeding to create strains of farmed fish that fatten up fast on cheap, plentiful feeds such as soybeans and corn. Emily Schwing reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 06, 2016•3 min
This Algorithm Can Predict Relationship Trouble
By analyzing the vocal patterns of couples in therapy, an algorithm was able to predict whether a relationship would get worse or improve. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 05, 2016•3 min
Is Mars Missing a Moon?
A new theory suggests the Red Planet once had a spectacular lunar system. Lee Billings reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 04, 2016•3 min
Human Ears Can Hear Better-Than-CD Quality (Just Barely)
Listeners can tell the difference between CD-quality music and better-than-CD quality—but only if they train their ears first. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jul 01, 2016•4 min
Highway Sounds Might Mask Life-Saving Birdcalls
The call of the tufted titmouse conveys important information about the presence of potential predators. But only if other birds can hear it. Karen Hopkin reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 30, 2016•3 min
City Lights Trick Trees into an Earlier Spring
Urban light pollution in the U.K. is pushing tree springtime behavior a full week earlier than usual. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 29, 2016•3 min
Made Ya Look, Monkey
Over their lifetimes, macaques follow the same trajectory as humans in the amount of interest they have in observing what another individual is looking at. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 28, 2016•3 min
Drowsy Driving Kills 6,400 Americans Annually
Charles Czeisler, director of the Division of Sleep Medicine at Harvard Medical School, talked about the dangers of drowsy driving at a recent Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health Forum called Asleep at the Wheel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 27, 2016•4 min
Social Spider Groups Need Bold and Shy Members
Social spiders in artificially assembled groups of all bold or all shy members fared less well against predators than a group with some shy and some bold members. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 24, 2016•4 min
Chocolate Makers Cut Fat with Electricity
Reducing fat from chocolate can gum up manufacturing equipment, making low-fat chocolate hard to produce—but an electric field can help. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 23, 2016•3 min
Viruses Hijack the Body's Response to Mosquito Bites
When immune cells rush to the site of a mosquito bite, viruses hijack the cells and turn them into viral factories—in mice, at least. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 22, 2016•3 min
Mongooses Pile on Warthogs--to Groom Them
In the first known example of a mutualistic relationship between two mammal species in which neither is a primate, mongooses feast on ticks and other parasites infesting warthogs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 21, 2016•4 min
Lizard Stripes May Mess Up Predators' Timing
A lizard's stripes may make them look like they’re moving slower than they really are, confusing predators that tend to aim at the head but may wind up with the tail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 20, 2016•4 min
Air Pollution Gives Storm Clouds a Stronger, Longer Life
More particulate matter in the air can build stronger, longer-lasting thunderstorms over the tropics, leading to more extreme storms. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 19, 2016•3 min
Microbes May Contribute to Wine's "Character"
The microbes found in crushed grapes were linked to certain chemical fingerprints in the finished wine. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 16, 2016•4 min
Fat Gets Gut Bacteria Working against the Waistline
In mice, intestinal microbes respond to a high-fat diet by producing acetate, which triggers the release of a hormone that makes mammals feel hungry, causing them to eat even more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 15, 2016•3 min
Arctic Researcher Bears Up for Science
Wildlife researcher Joel Berger dons a polar bear outfit to study the reactions of musk oxen to the threat of bears increasingly driven onto the land for food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 13, 2016•4 min
Submerged Lost City Really Bacterially Built
What looked like human-made structures underwater off Greece turned out to be millions-of-years-old concretions deposited by bacteria. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 11, 2016•4 min
Go to the (White) Light
An energy-efficient alternative to LEDs has greater focusing power, for microscopes and spotlights. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 10, 2016•3 min
Bleached Coral Busts Fish Learning
Damselfish had trouble sniffing out survival clues by their fellows in damaged coral. Jason Goldman reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 09, 2016•4 min
Bigger Glasses Rack Up More Wine Sales
Serving wine in larger glasses boosted sales 10 percent in an English bar, possibly because customers think they're imbibing less per glass. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 08, 2016•4 min
Shy Fish Prefer to Follow Other Shy Fish
Shy sticklebacks were more likely to emerge from under cover when an equally wary fellow was already out there, rather than when a bold individual was present. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 03, 2016•3 min
From Wolf to Woof Twice
Dogs may have been domesticated from wolves twice, first in Europe, and again in Asia. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 02, 2016•3 min
Extreme Life-Forms Could Complicate Carbon Sequestration
Researchers say carbon storage sites should be tested for microbial life, which could potentially convert CO2 to methane—a more potent greenhouse gas. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 31, 2016•3 min
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