Inside the International Effort to Save One Tiny Mexican Fish
Scientists and schoolchildren worked together to bring the tequila fish back from extinction in the wild. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 09, 2022•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.
Last refreshed: ⓘ
Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.
Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app
Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more
Episodes
What It's Like to Give Up Air Travel to Curb Climate Change
These three families gave up flying to reduce their emissions. Here's how it's shaping their relationship to people and places. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 08, 2022•7 min
Politicians Say It’s Time to Live With Covid. Are You Ready?
As countries declare endemicity and drop restrictions, how does a battered and bruised society embrace a sudden return to normality? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 07, 2022•8 min
NASA’s Newest Spinoff Tech Comes Back to Earth
While the space agency didn't actually develop Tang, its R&D includes everything from robot gloves to vertical farming—with commercial benefits back home. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 04, 2022•8 min
Bird Flu Is Back in the US. No One Knows What Comes Next
The fast-moving pathogen, which has already invaded Europe, was found in East Coast ducks. The last outbreak that tore through the US killed 50 million birds. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 03, 2022•14 min
Got an Invasive Army of Crayfish Clones? Try Eating Them
The marbled crayfish is a threat to the native species, but the “Berlin lobster” may also offer a sustainable food source and help stop the spread of parasites. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 02, 2022•9 min
What Happens If a Space Elevator Breaks
These structures are a sci-fi solution to the problem of getting objects into orbit without a rocket—but you don’t want to be under one if the cable snaps. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Feb 01, 2022•10 min
Europe Is in the Middle of a Messy Nuclear Slowdown
Germany has almost finished phasing out nuclear plants, and aging infrastructure is leading neighbors down the same path. But will green energy goals suffer? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 31, 2022•9 min
An Injection of Chaos Solves a Decades-Old Fluid Mystery
In the 1960s, drillers noticed that certain fluids would firm up if they flowed too fast. Researchers have finally explained why. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 28, 2022•7 min
How to Prepare for Climate Change's Most Immediate Impacts
The effects of the climate crisis are happening right now. From natural disasters to supply chain shortages, here's how to cope. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 27, 2022•8 min
Astronomers Discover a Strange Galaxy Without Dark Matter
New, high-resolution observations of a faint, fluffy galaxy suggest that dark matter’s not as ubiquitous as scientists thought. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 26, 2022•9 min
Pregnant People Are Still Not Getting Vaccinated Against Covid
Misinformation and muddled public health messaging have failed expectant parents. Now Omicron's surge is putting both carriers and babies at risk. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 25, 2022•9 min
How Explosives, a Robot, and a Sled Expose a Doomsday Glacier
Thwaites Glacier is crumbling, and fast—if it melts entirely, it could add 10 feet to sea levels. Now Antarctic scientists are racing to survey the damage. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 24, 2022•10 min
How Do You Design a Better Hospital? Start With the Light
A new trend in patient-centered design focuses on making environments more comfortable and less scary. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 21, 2022•10 min
Could Being Cold Actually Be Good for You?
Researchers are exploring the health benefits of literally chilling out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 20, 2022•10 min
Scientists Settled a Century-Old Family Drama Using DNA From Postcards
Swiss forensic geneticists analyzed DNA recovered from postage stamps dating back to World War I and solved a century-old paternity puzzle. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 19, 2022•10 min
How Body Farms and Human Composting Can Help Communities
Like every other aspect of our society, how we handle death and dying needs to change in the face of climate change. This method may be a path forward. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 18, 2022•11 min
At the Dawn of Life, Heat May Have Driven Cell Division
A mathematical model shows how a thermodynamic mechanism could have made protocells split in two. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 17, 2022•7 min
Why Paleontologists Are Getting Into Florida’s Oyster Business
Conservationists are teaming up with fossil experts to help the bivalves—and the state’s oyster economy—survive. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 14, 2022•7 min
Where Parents Can Get Help with Climate Anxiety
If you're looking to the future and wondering exactly how to prepare your children for a changing world, these resources can help. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 13, 2022•12 min
The Physics of Wile E. Coyote’s 10 Billion-Volt Electromagnet
The famous cartoon schemer has an ingenious plan to lure Bugs Bunny out of his hole—and it involves a giant magnet and an iron carrot. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 12, 2022•10 min
Covid Will Become Endemic. The World Must Decide What That Means
The task of 2022 will be figuring out how much action we’re willing to take and how much disease and death we’ll tolerate. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 11, 2022•11 min
To Fight Climate Change, First You Need to Measure It
Scientists at the UK’s National Physical Laboratory are using monitoring equipment to track our impact on the planet more accurately than ever before. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 10, 2022•6 min
Wildfires Are Digging Carbon-Spewing Holes in the Arctic
Soaring temperatures are rapidly thawing permafrost, leading to huge sinkholes called thermokarst. Northern fires are making the situation even worse. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 07, 2022•7 min
A Clean Industrial Revolution Is the Only Way to Hit Net Zero
Governments and companies around the world are finally acting to create a green economy and avoid climate catastrophe. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 06, 2022•5 min
2021 Was a Huge Missed Opportunity on Climate Action
The pandemic should have been a wake-up call—instead, emissions have climbed once more. Here's how the US could have seized the opportunity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 05, 2022•12 min
The Algorithm That Lets Particle Physicists Count Higher Than 2
Through his encyclopedic study of the electron, an obscure figure named Stefano Laporta found a handle on the subatomic world’s fearsome complexity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 04, 2022•9 min
The World Is Messy. Idealizations Make the Physics Simple
Even ordinary actions, like tossing a tennis ball, can be extraordinarily complex to calculate. The trick is knowing what to leave out. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jan 03, 2022•7 min
Growing Peppers on the ISS Is Just the Start of Space Farming
The chili peppers thrived in a controlled microgravity environment. But to develop agriculture away from Earth, NASA will have to think outside the box. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Dec 30, 2021•11 min
These Lemurs Have Got Rhythm. Scientists Have Got Questions
Studying how and why rhythm evolved in these primates could help unravel the mysteries of human musicality. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Dec 29, 2021•8 min
For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android