A Grim Reality of Reopening: More Mold
Unoccupied buildings, abandoned during the coronavirus shutdowns, give fungi a great opportunity to move in. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Sep 07, 2020•7 min
Science, Spoken
Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.
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Episodes
A Beautiful Yet Grim Map Shows How Wildfire Smoke Spreads
California’s blazes have sent a haze across the United States. An experimental model shows where that cloud ends up. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Sep 04, 2020•8 min
A California Wildfire Nearly Destroyed the Historic Lick Observatory
The state's apocalyptic blazes have burned 2,000 square miles in 10 days. Here's how they almost claimed a 130-year-old astronomical icon. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Sep 03, 2020•9 min
California Wildfires Can Create Their Own Terrifying Weather
Sparked by freak thunderstorms, the blazes changed wind patterns and could potentially lead to fire tornadoes and pyrocumulonimbus clouds. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Sep 02, 2020•8 min
Elon Musk Is About to Show Off His Neuralink Brain Implant
Musk tweeted that his “V2” update will blow our minds. But how close is he to putting computer chips in them? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Sep 01, 2020•6 min
Scientists Want to Ditch Formula for Lab-Grown Breast Milk
Formula has come a long way, but it still lacks many nutrients and takes a toll on the environment. A few companies are hoping to provide an alternative. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 31, 2020•10 min
A Postal Slowdown Is Scary for Those Who Get Meds By Mail
Many seniors, veterans, and chronically ill people rely on the USPS for prescriptions and medical supplies. During Covid-19, they can’t just go to a drugstore. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 28, 2020•11 min
This Cobalt-Free Battery Is Good for the Planet—and It Actually Works
Reducing the cobalt content in lithium-ion batteries is good for the environment, human rights, and maybe even the performance of the battery itself. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 26, 2020•8 min
Want to Save Lives? Name Heat Waves Like Hurricanes
As temperatures soar into the the triple digits, the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance says such names will spark public awareness and encourage safety measures. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 25, 2020•7 min
California's Wildfire and Covid-19 Disasters Just Collided
Rare thunderstorms have peppered the California landscape with conflagrations, pouring smoke into the Bay Area—all as the state struggles with the pandemic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 24, 2020•9 min
Wait, How Much Microplastic Is Swirling in the Atlantic?
Scientists calculate that the top 200 meters of ocean alone contains up to 21 million metric tons of plastic. And that wasn't even counting microfibers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 21, 2020•10 min
The Iconic Arecibo Telescope Goes Quiet After Major Damage
A cable cut a large gash into the radio telescope this week and it’s uncertain when it will be back in working order. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 20, 2020•7 min
Why Do Solar Farms Kill Birds? Call in the AI Bird Watcher
Solar facilities kill tens of thousands of birds every year, and no one is quite sure why. An artificial-intelligence-powered birder is on the case. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 19, 2020•8 min
Should We Conserve Parasites? Apparently, Yes
A group of ecologists and biologists say the world's ticks, leeches, and tapeworms need love and conservation, too. Now they've got a 12-point plan. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 18, 2020•7 min
What If the Big Bang Was Actually a Big Bounce?
New computer simulations model an alternate way of thinking about the cosmos: as a cyclic universe that has no beginning or end. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 17, 2020•8 min
Should Governments Slap a Tax on Plastic?
More than a billion tons of it could enter the environment in the next 20 years. It's time, advocates say, to put a sin tax on single-use plastic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 14, 2020•11 min
Why Are Plants Green? The Answer Might Work on Any Planet
A new model of photosynthesis points to an evolutionary principle governing light-harvesting organisms that might apply throughout the universe. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 13, 2020•8 min
Frog Eats Beetle. Beetle Crawls Through Guts to Escape
Regimbartia attenuata doesn’t take too kindly to being eaten. Once locked inside a frog’s maw, it turns around and starts heading for the exit. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 12, 2020•5 min
Archaeologists Have Found the Source of Stonehenge's Boulders
Modern scholars have only been able to speculate about where the huge stones came from—until now. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 11, 2020•8 min
What Poetry Means for Doctors and Patients During a Pandemic
The poetry editor of The Journal of the American Medical Association talks about medicine, metaphor, and how literature can even improve patient outcomes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 10, 2020•9 min
What the Science of Animal Networks Reveals About Protests
The movement of demonstrators echoes the fluid collective responses of the animal world, as groups respond to threats and signal across large spaces. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 07, 2020•9 min
NASA’s Mars Rover Will Be Powered by US-Made Plutonium
In 2015, Oak Ridge National Laboratory produced the first plutonium fuel in the US in nearly 30 years. Now it’s headed to another planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 06, 2020•8 min
Mad Scientists Revive 100-Million-Year-Old Microbes
Researchers collected sediment thousands of feet deep, filtered out bacteria, and revived the cells. But fear not—the destruction of humanity by ancient microbes is not nigh. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 05, 2020•12 min
These 4 Covid-19 Vaccines Are Closest to Becoming Reality
There are hundreds of trials currently in the works. Here’s everything you need to know about the ones edging ahead in the global race. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 04, 2020•10 min
The Sly Psychology Behind Magicians' Card Tricks
Is this your card? A recent study found that participants will select the suit or number they were primed to choose. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Aug 03, 2020•10 min
How Quickly Can Atoms Slip, Ghostlike, Through Barriers?
A new experiment on how rapidly atoms can tunnel through a barricade revives a physics debate about how time passes on the quantum scale. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 31, 2020•10 min
During Lockdowns, the Earth (Sort of) Stood Still
Seismometers pick up human activity, like driving. When Covid arrived, scientists watched that global seismic noise plummet by 50 percent. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 30, 2020•9 min
A Billion More Tons of Plastic Could Blanket Earth by 2040
Even with immediate action, 710 million metric tons of plastic will enter the environment in the next two decades, scientists show. Welcome to Plastic Planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 29, 2020•9 min
How NASA Built a Self-Driving Car for Its Next Mars Mission
It’s hard enough to get an autonomous vehicle to work on Earth. It’s even harder on another planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 28, 2020•11 min
Everything You Need to Know About the Oxford Covid-19 Vaccine
Early results from the team in the UK show their approach is safe and provokes an immune response. But that doesn't mean it works. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jul 27, 2020•6 min
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