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Science Quickly

Scientific Americanwww.sciencequickly.com
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

DNA Samples Find a Lot of Fish in the Sea

The DNA in seawater can reveal the diversity and abundance of fish species living in ocean waters. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 18, 20163 min

NIH Director Looks at Presidential Transition

National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins talks about the future of the NIH in light of the election. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 16, 20164 min

Ebola Virus Grew More Infectious in the Latest Epidemic

A strain that emerged during the latest epidemic is able to enter human cells more easily—which means it’s more infectious, too. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 14, 20163 min

Orangutan Picks Cocktail by Seeing Ingredients

An orangutan matched researchers' predictions about which mixed beverage he would choose based on his relative fondness for the separate ingredients. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 09, 20164 min

Small-Brained Birds More Likely to Get Shot

Using taxidermy data, biologists determined that gun-killed birds have smaller brains than birds that died in other ways. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 07, 20163 min

Online Sociality Linked to Lower Death Risk

Facebook users in California had slightly better health outcomes than nonusers, even after controlling for other factors. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nov 05, 20163 min

Bookish Mobsters Made Better Bookies

Just as with honest jobs, mobsters with a more advanced education made more money than their less educated counterparts. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 29, 20163 min

Falcons Patrol Fruit Fields for Pesky Invasive Birds

Birds of prey work where other traditional methods of bird abatement—like scarecrows, pyrotechnics and netting—fail. Emily Schwing reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 26, 20164 min

Clark Kent's Glasses Aided His Anonymity

Slightly altering one’s appearance—even with glasses—can indeed hinder facial recognition by others. Erika Beras reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 20163 min

Poor Sleepers Worse at Recognizing Unfamiliar Faces

Subjects suffering insomnia got more wrong answers in a face-matching task—but they were paradoxically more confident of their responses. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 19, 20163 min

Yawns Help the Brain Keep Its Cool

Theory has it yawning helps cool the brain—and it turns out animals with bigger brains do indeed tend to yawn longer. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 18, 20163 min

Polar Bears Can't Just Switch to Terrestrial Food

With a shorter season of sea ice, polar bears have less access to marine mammals. But switching to a terrestrial diet deprives them of the fatty seal meals they need to thrive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 14, 20164 min

Flowers Deceive Flies with Chemical Cocktail

The parachute flower smells like alarm pheromones of a honeybee, to attract tiny flies that feed on bees under attack. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 13, 20163 min

Feed Microbes Oxygen to Help Clear Spilled Oil

A technique called “biosparging” relies on pumping oxygen underground to help naturally occurring microorganisms multiply and consume oil spills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 12, 20163 min

Elephant Footprints Become Tiny Critter Havens

When rain fills the massive footprints left by elephants, communities of aquatic invertebrates quickly move in Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 11, 20164 min

Future Wet Suits Otter Be Warmer

Future wet suits with surface textures like the thick fur of otters that trap insulating air layers could keep tomorrow's divers warmer in icy waters. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 10, 20164 min

Gender Influences Recommendations for Science Jobs

Female applicants to postdoctoral positions in geosciences were nearly half as likely to receive excellent letters of recommendation, compared with their male counterparts. Christopher Intagliata reports Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 06, 20163 min

Nobel in Chemistry for Molecular Machines

Jean-Pierre Sauvage, James Fraser Stoddart and Bernard L. Feringa share the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the design and synthesis of molecular machines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 05, 20164 min

Nobel in Physics for Secrets of Exotic Matter

David J. Thouless, F. Duncan Haldane and J. Michael Kosterlitz split the 2016 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical discoveries of topological phase transitions and topological phases of matter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 04, 20164 min

Great Migration Left Genetic Legacy

Reseachers have started to examine the genetic traces of the movement of some six million African-Americans from the south to the north and west between 1910 and 1970. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 02, 20164 min

Arctic Pollinator Faces Uncertain Future

A housefly relative appears to be key to the reproductive success of a hardy tundra shrub. But the insect is threatened by the warming climate. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 01, 20163 min

Water Bears' Super Survival Skills Give Up Secrets

A protein from microscopic creatures called tardigrades keeps their DNA protected—and could someday shield humans from radiation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 28, 20164 min

Clever Ants Have Backup Navigation Systems

An ant walking in the desert can gauge distance by footsteps and the sun's position, but an ant being carried can estimate distance by visual information perceived as it passed by. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 22, 20164 min

Ancient Biblical Scroll Gets Read While Wrapped

Researchers used high-tech visualization techniques to peer inside an ancient scroll too fragile to unwrap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 21, 20164 min

Some Malaria Mosquitoes May Prefer Cows to Us

A chromosomal rearrangement may cause one mosquito species to be lured to cows instead of humans for a blood meal. Christopher Intagliata reports. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sep 19, 20163 min
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