Science, Spoken
2,361 episodes — Page 14 of 48
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
This Startup Is Making—and Programming—Human Cells
Creating bespoke cells could transform testing and help develop new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Gene-Tweaked Jellyfish Offers a Glimpse at Other Minds
Researchers have created jellyfish whose nerve cells light up when they fire, offering a tantalizing view of neurology before the rise of the brain. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Fleeing Global Warming? ‘Climate Havens’ Aren’t Ready Yet
Climate migration is already underway. Here's how cities can prepare. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
To See Proteins Change in Quadrillionths of a Second, Use AI
Researchers have long wanted to capture how protein structures contort in response to light. But getting a clear image was impossible—until now. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
When It Comes to Buses, Will Hydrogen or Electric Win?
Clean transport needs clean vehicles. New power developments are crucial for a mass transit revolution, and each has pros and cons. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Gravitational Waves Should Permanently Distort Spacetime
Physicists have linked the “gravitational memory effect” to fundamental cosmic symmetries and a potential solution to the black hole information paradox. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Are Instagram’s Aesthetic Moms Hindering Kids’ Development?
Taupe and cream nurseries are in vogue right now. They’re beautifully beige, but some worry they might be bad for babies. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Here's How 3 Space Companies Aim to Replace the ISS
NASA is investing in Blue Origin, Nanoracks, and Northrop Grumman as they develop competing designs for a next-generation space station. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Can Gambia Turn the Tide to Save Its Shrinking Beaches?
In an economically developing country reliant on tourism, the rapidly eroding “smiling coast” shows the urgent need for action on climate change. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Why Buzz Lightyear’s Rocket Launch Looks Better Than Reality
We use video analysis to compare an animated liftoff to an actual one, proving that truth is more boring than fiction. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Is What It Will Take to End Deforestation by 2030
Nations around the world made a vital climate crisis declaration to save forests within the next decade. Can they actually do it? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
More Companies Offer Fertility Benefits. It’s Only the Beginning
Employer support for staff who wish to freeze their eggs has great potential—but broader support for parents still lags behind. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Meet the Cyberpunk Albatrosses Scanning for Secret Explosions
Acoustic waves can detect all kinds of explosions and volcanic activity, but it’s hard to place sensors at sea—unless you’ve got a bird with a backpack. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Hints of New Life in the Shadows of Venezuela's Last Glacier
When ice goes, lichens and mosses move in and an entirely new ecosystem starts to take shape. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A New Dementia Test Raises More Questions Than Answers
A 5-minute assessment on an iPad could transform how we screen for dementia—or overwhelm the health care system with worried test-takers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Inside the Negotiations to Decide the Fate of Our Planet
At COP26 in Glasgow, negotiators can easily lose track of what day it is as they scramble to save us from climate chaos. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Want to Lie on a Bed of Nails? Physics Has Your Back
This is the science of why you can recline on an array of very sharp things without getting the pointy end of the stick. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Lidar Uncovers Hundreds of Lost Maya and Olmec Ruins
An aerial survey in southern Mexico discovered a host of ceremonial sites that could date as far back as 1100 BC. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Next Big Thing for RNA? Fixing Moldy Food
Our addiction to chemical pesticides comes with a bunch of downsides. New sprays made from RNA might offer a smarter, cleaner way to wage war on pests. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Cutest Way to Fight Climate Change? Send in the Otters
Saving California's adorable (and very hungry) sea otters helps control other species, leading to the growth of more carbon-sequestering vegetation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Groundbreaking Simulator Generates a Huge Indoor Ocean
It’s a 32,000-gallon concrete tank with a wind tunnel grafted on top. With it, researchers can study the seas—and climate change—like never before. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Are Green Jet Fuels Finally Ready for Takeoff?
A first commercial test flight shows how fuel made from plants, not petroleum, could make flying cleaner. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Strange Radio Signal Was Just From Earth, Not Aliens
Astronomers with the Breakthrough Listen project scan the sky for signs of extraterrestrial life, but a promising lead turned out to be a false alarm. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
California Condors Are Capable of Asexual Reproduction
A new study shows that two captive birds had only maternal DNA and survived early development—a first for the critically endangered species. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Deadly Microbe Mystery Leads to a Spray Sold at Walmart
A series of puzzling infections has been traced to the presence of a dangerous bacterium in an aromatherapy spray. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Parents Can Deal With Climate Anxiety
Fears of ecological disaster are real, but it's especially hard on people raising children. Here's what parents should know, and where to turn for help. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
New England’s Moose Are Losing the Fight Against Winter Ticks
Climate change has given a tiny parasite a new advantage over the mighty beasts. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Water Crisis Reveals You Can't Recycle in the Arctic
Fuel contamination forced the residents of Iqaluit to rely on bottled water—and now they're having a hard time getting rid of the plastic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Tree Rings Show Modern Cyclones Are the Rainiest in Centuries
A study of trees, some over 300 years old, indicate that precipitation levels are up as much as 5 inches compared to the early 1700s. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How to Talk to Children About Climate Change
Young people already know more than you might think. Here are some ways to approach the conversation, tailored for every age group. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Neuron Bursts Can Mimic a Famous AI Learning Strategy
A new model of learning centers on blasts of neural activity that act as teaching signals—approximating an algorithm called backpropagation. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Stop Telling Kids They’ll Die From Climate Change
Many young people feel like their future is in peril. To make progress on climate change, we must move past doomsday scenarios. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Merck’s Antiviral Could Be Just What Covid Was Waiting For
The pharmaceutical giant is making its oral antiviral drug widely available for all the world. But could Covid outsmart it? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Jupiter's Great Red Spot Extends Deep into the Gas Giant
Scientists used NASA’s Juno spacecraft to probe the massive storm, finding that it’s not as shallow as previously thought. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Atomic Clock Will Transform Deep Space Exploration
The toaster-sized device could help make human travel to Mars—and beyond—a reality. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Protein Predicts a Brain’s Future After Traumatic Injury
A blood test of “NfL” proteins answers questions about damage severity that doctors—and families—desperately need. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Microplastics May Be Cooling—and Heating—Earth’s Climate
Tiny bits of plastic are swirling in the sky, and a new model suggests they could be subtly affecting the climate. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The FAA Weighs the SpaceX Launch Site's Environmental Effects
The Federal Aviation Administration is conducting a review and public hearings involving the space company's expanded site in Boca Chica, Texas. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Could MJ Really Hang on During Spider-Man’s Swing?
Shooting a web from your hands requires Spidey powers. But does keeping your grip on one of them require Spidey strength? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Malaria Vaccine Is a Big Deal, but Not a Silver Bullet
RTS,S proves that shots can work against parasites. But to eradicate this disease, scientists say we need more than just one tool. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices