If you’re anything like me, you can’t wait until the sci-fi dream of having an android do all of your busywork becomes reality. In the movies, robots walk around just like people, but the robots we have in real life pale in comparison. I set out to learn how far away we are from getting advanced, sentient machines. I spoke to Jizhong Xiao, who heads the robotics program at the City College of New York about the robots he’s developed, what makes them different from the androids of Star Wars, and ...
May 08, 2017•7 min
Engineers place more powerful wind turbines further apart, but still can’t save the birds Wind turbines in the Altamont Pass in California have killed thousands of Golden Eagles, and even more songbirds. But we’ve come a long way since they were first installed. In this podcast, I speak to wildlife biologist Todd Katzner, bird conservationist Michael Hutchins and wind energy researcher Robert Preus about how wind technology is improving, and how it might affect birds. Produced by Ellen Airhart
Dec 07, 2016•9 min
Paralympic wheelchair basketball players set their own standards of performance Produced by Peter Hess and Sandy Ong
Sep 06, 2016•7 min
Scienceline examines the state of being between life and death Near-death experiences are intriguing, and also more common than you might think — as many as 1 in every 20 people have found themselves in limbo between life and death. Who has these experiences? What happens during such an event? And what happens after? Here, we talk to experts and people who have been to the other side and back. Produced by Sandy Ong [Image source: Jesse Krauß | Public domain]
Apr 12, 2016•14 min
Finding the science hidden in fantasy novels Produced by Dyani Sabin Despite the magical trappings of fantasy, a well-designed world holds at least a smidgen of reality. In order to get at the science that underlies resurrection in Nnedi Okorafor's futuristic fantasy "The Book of Phoenix," this podcast talks to Ramin Rahni, a pHD candidate studying plant regeneration at New York University's Birnbaum Laboratory. This podcast pilot is currently stand-alone. While resurrection is still a fantasy, ...
Apr 05, 2016•12 min
Scienceline explores non-pharmaceutical ways for insomnia sufferers to get a better night sleep This podcast pilot will reviews various sleep-help methods for folks suffering from insomniacs. While many insomnia sufferers resort to drugs, intentioned changes to behavior or listening to music while trying to fall asleep might help, too. I talk to Austin Frakt, an insomnia sufferer and blogger for The Incidental Economist, Kira Vibe Jespersen at Aarhus University in Denmark, and John Watson who ru...
Mar 15, 2016•9 min
Scientists and other talented guests show off and explain their talents. This is talent show, where you show off your talent and I reveal your secret! This pilot will showcase relative and absolute pitch, and how people develop or acquire those talents. Image: Public domain
Mar 09, 2016•10 min
Your microbiome functions without you even knowing it’s there. Science writer Carl Zimmer and pathologist Zhiheng Pei help explain how we rely on bacteria and viruses to keep us healthy, and what can go wrong when that relationship breaks down. Produced by Peter Hess Image credit: CDC/ Lois S. Wiggs (PHIL #6260), 2004
Feb 29, 2016•8 min
If you get angry while walking in crowds, you’re not alone Whether on the sidewalk, at the mall or in the grocery store, we’ve all been there. Someone in front of you is walking slower than you want to be walking, and the rage bubbles up as you’re thwarted in your attempts to pass them. Maybe you keep a lid on your frustration, but it’s there. Decrypting You takes a look at sidewalk rage and its close cousin road rage to find out where that anger comes from. Produced by Ellie Kincaid [Image Cred...
Feb 23, 2016•8 min
How water and forest combined to build a city We all have places we love, but we don't often stop to think about what makes these places special. A Sense of Place is all about exploring how a place's surroundings shape its history and culture. In this episode, we visit Venice--the sinking city of canals. [Image credit: NASA/GSFC/MITI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons]
Feb 08, 2016•12 min
This is Potato Potato. Each episode we'll invite a mystery guest to tell us a story. Then we’ll have a linguist try to guess where our storyteller comes from. And maybe along the way we’ll learn something about the English language. In this episode: Nisse Greenberg shares a memorable accident and linguist Dan Duncan guesses.
Feb 08, 2016•19 min
We’ve all heard household and health tips from our moms, grandmothers and know-it-all friends. But what makes a tip a life hack or just quack? In this episode of the Life Hack Almanac we’ll explore whether a famous cold remedy – chicken soup – actually works or if it's just all in your head. Produced by Knvul Sheikh for Scienceline podcasts.
Jan 04, 2016•8 min
An interview with Girardin Jean-Louis, a behavioral sleep scientist at NYU, produced by Katherine Ellen Foley. Image credit: Lauren J. Young.
Sep 16, 2015•5 min
Nelson Dellis wears many hats. He’s a software developer, mountaineer and runs a charity that raises money for Alzheimer’s research. But most famously, he’s a memory athlete: He’s won the USA Memory Championships four times, and routinely places in the top 10 at the world competition. Katherine Foley sat down with him to learn more about how he got into the memory business, and what techniques he uses to stay sharp.
May 11, 2015•5 min
For 18 years now, the USA Memory Championships have challenged competitors — “mental athletes” — to stretch the limits of their minds to memorize and recall names and faces, random digits and words and decks of cards. Each year, competitors break each others’ previous records, and the competitive air is almost palpable. But what’s at stake in memory competitions anyway? Who goes to them, and why? Katherine Foley reports.
May 11, 2015•7 min
KatherineFoley MarieRosettie by
Mar 17, 2015•3 min
These audio files feature a male swamp sparrow’s trill, which consists of the same syllable rapidly repeated over and over again. The first file is the trill at normal speed, and the second file is the trill slowed down 5x. Each syllable in the trill contains the same sequence of three notes: a short initial note that drops rapidly in pitch, a flat middle note and a long final note with a slower fall in pitch. In this study, the researchers specifically looked at the initial and final notes, swa...
Jan 14, 2015•2 sec
These audio files feature a male swamp sparrow’s trill, which consists of the same syllable rapidly repeated over and over again. The first file is the trill at normal speed, and the second file is the trill slowed down 5x. Each syllable in the trill contains the same sequence of three notes: a short initial note that drops rapidly in pitch, a flat middle note and a long final note with a slower fall in pitch. In this study, the researchers specifically looked at the initial and final notes, swa...
Jan 14, 2015•11 sec
Most media is now hosted online. So how does that change the process of gaining fame and staying famous? By Rebecca Cudmore and Amy Lu
Jun 09, 2014•17 min
Anyone who travels knows that feeling — the disorienting, sleepy-awake feeling, like you've been hit by a bus. It's jet lag. But why do we get it, and what can we do to offset it? Kathryn Free speaks to a researcher who may have the answer, and a pilot who fills us in on how people in his profession fight jet lag.
May 16, 2014•12 min
Since Freud, psychologists and other social scientists have endlessly pondered over why humans laugh, and what exactly causes us to perceive certain situations and actions as "humorous”. In a special episode for WNYU’s The Doppler Effect program, Becca Cudmore and Neel Patel find out from scientists and humor professionals what makes something worthy of laughs. Listeners will hear insights from Rod Martin, a psychology professor at the University of Western Ontario; David Zomer, a former humor r...
Apr 30, 2014•30 min
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Apr 03, 2014•12 min
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Jul 09, 2013•5 min
Inhale, exhale, repeat. by
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Jan 17, 2013•9 min
If you were a band geek, an orch dork or a member of the choir cult, you may have heard about “perfect pitch.” The people who have it are sometimes seen as exemplary musicians who will go on to study music in college, get a job as a professional musician and blow the classical scene away. Unfortunately, it’s not something that people can learn whenever they want. If you’re more than 10 years old, you either already have it or will never have it. Even though there’s a hoopla about perfect pitch, ...
Oct 17, 2012•9 min
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May 21, 2012•8 min
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Mar 23, 2012•11 min
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Jan 26, 2012•9 min
