Science, Spoken
2,361 episodes — Page 15 of 48
Growing Crops Under Solar Panels? Now There’s a Bright Idea
In the new scientific (and literal) field of agrivoltaics, researchers are showing how panels can increase yields and reduce water use on a warming planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
NASA Is Preparing for the Ravages of Climate Change
The agency knows it needs to adapt to climate-driven events that will increasingly threaten coastal launch sites and other key space infrastructure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Another Global Pandemic Is Spreading—Among Pigs
African swine fever killed half the pigs in China. There is no vaccine and no treatment. Now it’s in the Caribbean and on the doorstep of the US. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Deadly Heat Is Baking Cities. Here’s How to Cool Them Down
Urban areas can be 20 degrees hotter than the surrounding country. But green spaces and reflective pavement can make city life more bearable. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Huge Subterranean ‘Tree’ Is Moving Magma to Earth’s Surface
Deep in the mantle, a branching plume of intensely hot material appears to be the engine powering vast volcanic activity. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Astronomers Get Ready to Probe Europa’s Hidden Ocean for Life
Jupiter’s most enigmatic moon, one of a few ocean worlds in the solar system, will be the target of upcoming missions by NASA and the European Space Agency. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Grid Isn’t Ready for the Renewable Revolution
The massive deployment of wind and solar will turn you, the humble homeowner, into a critical actor in the operation of the US power grid. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Controversial Quest to Make Cow Burps Less Noxious
Their incessant belching loads the atmosphere with planet-warming methane. But it’s not so simple as just feeding them gas-busting seaweed. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How Healthy Is a Farm's Soil? Check How Active Its Microbes Are
Researchers developed a probe that could help farmers better understand their land by measuring the electric current from the tiny creatures in the dirt. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Pandemic Bird-Watching Created a Data Boom—and a Conundrum
Avid amateurs are generating a wealth of information on avian activity. But does that data reflect new trends in bird behavior, or in people’s? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Llama, the Hamster, and a New Path for Covid Treatment
A set of papers show that llama-derived antibodies protect the rodent against the virus—which bodes well for making a version for people. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
In New Zealand, People (and Moths) Rediscover Dark Skies
A massive South Island stargazing reserve is a respite from light pollution for many species, including our own. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What If Getting a Kids' Vaccine Approved Is the Easy Part?
Just because something has the FDA’S green light doesn’t mean it’s simple to obtain—or that everyone wants it. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
What Is ‘Fire Weather,’ and Why Is It Getting Worse?
A new study of the American West shows that climate change is driving more days that are hot, dry, and windy—the perfect conditions for deadly wildfires. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Flawed, Strange Covid-19 Origin Theory Is Gaining Traction
A spate of studies claim that the disease was circulating in Italy long before the pandemic—but they struggle to support the theory. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
As Covid Cases Rise, So Do Hospital-Related Infections
A decade of work helped limit the spread of dangerous pathogens in medical settings. Overcrowding from Covid care is allowing infections to rise again. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Third of Shark and Ray Species May Face Extinction
Overfishing, habitat loss, and climate change are driving species collectively known as chondrichthyan fishes toward a global crisis. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How a Duck Learned to Say ‘You Bloody Fool’
Voice analysis of a 34-year-old recording proves that Ripper the musk duck “independently evolved” to mimic his human caretakers. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
‘Neurograins’ Could be the Next Brain-Computer Interfaces
Dozens of microchips scattered over the cortical surface might allow researchers to listen in on thousands of neurons at the same time. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Why It’s So Hard to Predict Where the Pandemic Is Headed Next
Human behavior has changed along with the virus and public health measures to contain it. For modelers, it’s a curveball. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Dark Asteroid Ryugu Finally Comes Into the Light
Using cameras aboard the Hayabusa2 spacecraft, Japanese scientists get a rare, close-up glimpse of a space rock’s structure. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Better Data on Ivermectin Is Finally on Its Way
Studies have been small and often not great. The best info so far says don’t use it, get vaccinated, and hang in there for the more promising meds being tested. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
3D Printing Helps Ultracold Quantum Experiments Go Small
Cutting-edge devices used for quantum experiments have been bulky, finicky, and confined to academic labs—so far. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Biologists Unlock the Secrets of ‘Invisible’ Animals
From glasswing butterflies to vanishing octopuses, evolution sometimes paints with colors that aren’t there. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
SpaceX's Inspiration4 Returns After 3 Days in Orbit
The first all-civilian, all-private spaceflight splashed down off the coast of Florida. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Dolphins Eavesdrop on Each Other to Avoid Awkward Run-Ins
The new finding underscores the complexity of marine mammals’ social life and cognition. It may also help save the snoopy cetaceans. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
21st-Century Storms Are Overwhelming 20th-Century Cities
Deadly flooding in and around New York City dramatizes the risks to infrastructure that was wasn’t built to handle warmer, wetter climate. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
They Watched a YouTuber With Tourette’s—Then Adopted His Tics
Hundreds of people are displaying similar behaviors to that of YouTube star Jan Zimmermann. Do they have a disorder or something more mysterious? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Nothing Can Eat Australia’s Cane Toads—So They Eat Each Other
The species' relentless invasion of the continent has taken a turn toward cannibalism. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
You’re Not Alone: Monkeys Choke Under Pressure Too
Now you can blame the primate brain. And neuroscientists are eager for a deeper look. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Radioactive Rat Snakes Could Help Monitor Fukushima Fallout
Scientists have attached dosimeters to the reptiles so they can serve as living “bioindicators” to gauge contamination levels near the shuttered nuclear power plant. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Delta Variant Is Making Covid a Pandemic of the Young
Children and teens have been spared the worst of the pandemic, but without vaccines they’re sitting ducks as the virus rages. What risks are they facing? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Would the Free Guy Inflatable Bubble Protect a Real Person?
In the movie’s video game world, a whole-body airbag protects Ryan Reynolds as he falls off of a building and onto a car. Would that … work? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
How the Cuttlefish’s Robust Memory System Defies Old Age
This cephalopod is the only known animal that doesn’t exhibit age-related deterioration when recalling specific events. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This Barnacle-Inspired Glue Seals Bleeding Organs in Seconds
The paste sticks onto wet tissue firmly by repelling blood. Surgeons hope it can save time—and lives. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Would It Be Fair to Treat Vaccinated Covid Patients First?
Last week, Texas health care policymakers discussed taking vaccination status into account for Covid triage. It’s a larger conversation ethicists are bracing for. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The FDA OKs an Extra Covid Vaccine Dose for Immunosuppressed People
The federal agency will allow people living with organ transplants, undergoing cancer treatments and taking some medications to get a third shot. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
This AI Helps Detect Wildlife Health Issues in Real Time
A system that scans animal rehabilitation center data could provide early alerts when a disease is spreading. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Next Big Challenge for Lunar Astronauts? Moon Dust
NASA is trying out sonic waves, electrostatic devices, and extra-slick coatings as ways to repel pesky space dirt. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
An Experimental Birth Control Attacks Sperm Like a Virus
Monoclonal antibodies have been touted for their potential to fight off infections like Covid-19. Could they be used as contraceptives, too? Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Wildfires Used to Be Helpful. How Did They Get So Hellish?
Fires are supposed to reset ecosystems, paving the way for new growth. But human meddling and climate change have turned them into monsters. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Is the Robot-Filled Future of Farming a Nightmare or Utopia?
A new paper argues that the rise of artificial intelligence in agriculture could be the best—or worst—innovation for our environment. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Want to Slash Carbon Emissions? Start With These Power Plants
The worst 5 percent of energy producers account for almost 75 percent of the sector’s emissions. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Eastern Hemlocks Face Extinction. A Tiny Fly Could Save Them
An invasive insect called the woolly adelgid is eating the Northeast’s forests alive. So some researchers are calling in hungry silver flies. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
A Mammoth Tusk Reveals a Woolly (and Unprecedented) Tale
Scientists used something called isotopic mapping to get a first look at how the creatures lived more than 17,000 years ago. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The IPCC Report's Silver Lining: We Can Tackle Methane Now
The landmark assessment was dire. But it shows that by slashing methane emissions, humanity can make rapid progress in fighting climate change. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Gymnasts Make the Wolf Turn Look Easy. Physics Shows It’s Not
The spin seems simple if you’re just watching it on TV. But it’s a complex move that requires understanding your center of mass. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
The Squishy, Far-Out New Experiments Headed to the ISS
Muscle cells, 3D-printed lunar regolith, and le Blob will soon orbit 250 miles above Earth. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Failed Star Called 'The Accident' Puzzles Astronomers
The brown dwarf isn't a star and it's not a planet. But it's illuminating the murky borderlands that separate the two. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Why Perseverance's First Mars Drilling Attempt Came Up Empty
Far from a failure, the sampling might actually offer tantalizing clues about the geology—and potential past life—of the Red Planet. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices