Science, Spoken
2,361 episodes — Page 11 of 48
What If Cells Kept Receipts of Their Gene Expression?
Researchers have found a new way to keep records of when a cell’s genes turn on and off—by harnessing systems that bacteria already use for self-defense. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Laser-Firing Truck Could Help Make Hot Cities More Livable
Scientists are driving around in a specialized observatory to better understand how urban heat varies not only block to block, but door to door. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Psychology of Inspiring Everyday Climate Action
Individual choices and habits help the climate. Understanding how people think can make it happen. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Swarms of Mini Robots Could Dig the Tunnels of the Future
The underground excavation industry is exploring mini robots, plasma torches, and superheated gas to replace the massive boring machines now in use. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Monkeypox Originated in Animals. Could It Spill Back Into Them?
The zoonotic disease is now spreading from person to person. But if it finds a home in new wildlife species, it could settle in to become a permanent risk. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Pigs Died. Then Scientists Revived Their Cells
A new system for keeping body tissues functional after death could help make more organs available for transplant. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Minimalist Approach to the Hunt for Dark Matter
In a new experiment, researchers looked for tiny flickers in the fundamental constants of nature. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
NASA is Crowdsourcing Cloud Research—on Mars
Space fans around the world can help analyze data collected by the Mars Climate Sounder. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How to Prevent Another European Transport Meltdown
This summer’s heat wave knocked roads, railways, and runways out of action. But existing solutions could help shore up critical infrastructure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Stamp-Sized Ultrasound Patch Can Image Internal Organs
Getting a scan usually means a visit to a doctor and some giant equipment. What if that gear was wearable? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
NASA Delayed the Psyche Launch. Here’s Why That’s a Big Deal
Heavenly bodies are always in motion: Pushing back the asteroid probe’s blastoff date could require a new trajectory, longer travel time, and much more power. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
California Wants to Make Cheap Insulin. Here’s How It Could Work
The state plans to roll out “biosimilars” that mimic brand-name versions at a dramatically reduced price. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Ring Vaccination Beat Smallpox. Could It Work for Monkeypox?
The strategy prioritizes inoculating an infected person’s closest contacts, but it can’t succeed without good contact tracing and enough vaccines. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Nuclear Power Plants Are Struggling to Stay Cool
Climate change is reducing output and raising safety concerns at nuclear facilities from France to the US. But experts say adapting is possible—and necessary. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Europe Has Descended Into the Age of Fire
Climate change has primed the landscape to burn. But human migration has made Europe’s wildfires increasingly catastrophic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Glacier Collapses Are a Growing but Hard-to-Predict Threat
After 11 people were killed and eight hospitalized by a glacier in early July, Italian scientists are asking how future tragedies can be avoided. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Gender-Affirming Care Improves Mental Health—and May Save Lives
Scores of bills in US states aim to block medical treatments for trans youth. But research shows that these bans could have dire consequences. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What Turtles Can Teach Humans About the Science of Slow Aging
7/26 New data shows that several types of the shelled reptiles can slow—and even stop—aging if the environmental conditions are right. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Why the Arctic Is Warming 4 Times as Fast as the Rest of Earth
The loss of sea ice is exposing darker waters, which absorb more of the sun’s energy. It’s a devastating feedback loop with major consequences for the planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Heat Waves Are Messing Up Your Sleep
Higher nighttime temperatures don’t just make it harder to drift off, they can disrupt your sleep cycles and leave you with low-quality rest. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Can Reengineered Aluminum Help Fill the Demand for Copper?
As the world converts to electric vehicles and renewable energy, molecular tweaks to aluminum could improve its conductivity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Texas’ Precarious Power Grid Exposes a Nasty Feedback Loop
Air conditioning saves lives. But as the planet warms, more AC use stresses the grid and drives up emissions, accelerating climate change. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What Humans Can Learn From the Sea Cucumber’s Toxic Arsenal
Sea cucumbers are squishy and soft. They also employ lethal strategies to protect themselves. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Turkey Probably Hasn’t Found the Rare Earth Metals It Says It Has
The deposits discovered reportedly contain enough resources to meet global demand for 1,000 years—surpassing even China’s reserves. But experts are skeptical. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Is There Good News for Monarch Butterflies? Scientists Disagree
A recent study suggests that gains during the summer breeding season are making up for losses during migration. But the insects’ fate is far from assured. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Abortion Pills May Force States and the FDA Into a Standoff
Under the Constitution, federal laws overrule state ones. But challenges to medication abortion will test the agency’s ability to make nationwide regulations. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Scientists Are Trying to Grow Crops in the Dark
Powering plant growth with solar panels instead of photosynthesis could be a more efficient way of using the sun’s energy for food. But it’s not all good news. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Secrets of Covid ‘Brain Fog’ Are Starting to Lift
Scientists are getting closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Why the Search for Life on Mars Is Happening in Canada’s Arctic
Scientists show how microbes living in a salty spring near the North Pole might resemble those that could have survived on the Red Planet—or in ocean worlds. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What the DNA of Ancient Humans Reveals About Pandemics
Genomic analysis of ancient remains has shed light on the origins of the black death and offers insights into the coevolution of humans and diseases. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Behold the Weird Physics of Double-Impact Asteroids
Mars is littered with craters made by binary asteroids. These collisions are as intriguing as they are powerful. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Forget Lasers. The Hot New Tool for Physicists Is Sound
From acoustic tweezers to holograms, engineers are taking inspiration from the field of optics—and riding the sound wave. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Covid Shots for Little Kids Are Finally Here. Now for the Hardest Part
Hesitancy, bureaucracy, inequity, and the need to explain new formulas could slow down vaccine delivery to the last unprotected group. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Do Birth Control Pills Affect Your Mood? Scientists Can’t Agree
Over 100 million women are estimated to use oral contraceptives, but studies on the pill’s mental health effects raise more questions than answers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Year’s Extreme Weather Is Just Getting Started
Climate change and natural variability are making 2022 a year of big weather events—so get ready for more heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How the Sugars In Spit Tame the Body’s Unruly Fungi
Mucus keeps the microbiome healthy. Now scientists have clues about how it stops good microbes from going bad. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Black Carbon Cost of Rocket Launches
Researchers say that the rising number of space launches around the world will warm parts of the atmosphere and thin the ozone layer. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Particle Hunters Can Spend a Lifetime Searching for Answers
In physics, experiments to answer the big questions can take decades to run—and might not produce any findings at all. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The US Can Halve Its Emissions by 2030—if It Wants To
The economics are clear: Renewables are cheap enough for the country to rapidly decarbonize. Less evident is the political will to pull it off. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Australia Has Finally Woken Up to Climate Change
The newly elected government has promised stricter emission limits and more renewables in the wake of fires, droughts, and floods. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The FAA Says SpaceX Can't Expand Its Texas Launch Site—Yet
SpaceX must address dozens of environmental issues before it can upgrade Starbase in Boca Chica. The launch license needed for the Starship program remains pending. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Monkeypox Can Be Contained—but Time Is Running Out
Testing, vaccinating, and contact tracing can control the virus in Europe and North America—unless complacency allows it to take hold. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Secret to Tastier Fake Meat? Breeding Better Beans
Scientists are using genomics to create high-protein soybeans and peas. Their aim? To make meat and milk substitutes that can rival the real thing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A New Kind of Genome Editing Is Here to Fine-Tune DNA
Instead of deleting genes, epigenetic editing modulates their activity. A new paper tests if it’s able to undo a genetic effect of early alcohol exposure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The First Privately Funded Killer Asteroid Spotter Is Here
Researchers at the B612 Foundation’s Asteroid Institute developed a new tool for tracking space-rock trajectories—even with limited data. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Welcome to the Great Reinfection
A repeat encounter with Covid used to be a rarity. But now that Omicron has changed the game, expect reinfections to be the new normal. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Rising Food Prices Will Make Obesity Rates Worse, Not Better
When faced with food insecurity, studies show that people opt for cheap, energy-dense meals that are bad for their health. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Ants Inspired a New Way to Measure Snow With Space Lasers
Photons wander through snow like ants through a nest. That inspired a clever new NASA technique for measuring the fluffy stuff from orbit. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Startup Wants You to Eat Ground-Up Chicken Bones
A Finnish company says it has found a way to incorporate bone into ground chicken, lowering the production cost and environmental impact of the meat. But will anyone eat it? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Nuclear Fusion Is Already Facing a Fuel Crisis
It doesn’t even work yet, but nuclear fusion has encountered a shortage of tritium, the key fuel source for the most prominent experimental reactors. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices