PNAS Science Sessions PNAS

School enrollment during COVID-19
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, Micah Baum describes how public school enrollments in the US changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In this episode, we cover:
• [00:00] Introduction
• [00:54] Micah Baum, an economist at the University of Michigan, introduces school districts’ three modes of learning in fall 2020: virtual, in-person, and hybrid.
• [01:31] Baum explains the reasons for studying public school enrollment changes between the 2019-2020 school year and the 2020-2021 school year. 
• [02:51] Description of the data sources used in the study. 
• [03:50] Explanation of the changes in enrollment numbers between the two school years.
• [06:00] Explanation of racial differences in enrollment changes.
• [06:46] Exploration of what these results suggest about parent choices. 
• [08:24] Implications for school funding in future years.
• [09:18] Caveats and limitations of the study.
• [09:51] Conclusion.
About Our Guest:
Micah Baum
PhD Student
University of Michigan
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2307308120
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Emotional power of live music
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, Sascha Frühholz describes the emotional power of live music compared to recorded music.
In this episode, we cover:
• [00:00] Introduction
• [00:59] Sascha Frühholz, a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Oslo, reviews the neuroscience of emotional responses to music.
• [02:02] Description of the study hypothesis regarding the difference of responses to recorded and live music.
• [02:34] Description of the experimental setup.
• [03:15] Description of the music played during the experiment, with examples.
• [04:30] Recounting of the results of the study.
• [05:05] The differences between responses to recorded and live music.
• [05:45] What the listeners knew during and after the experiment.
• [06:09] Inclusion of unpleasant music in the experiment, with examples.
• [06:49] Description of the listeners’ feelings during the experiment.
• [07:14] The musicians’ feelings about the experiment. 
• [07:42] Exploration of generalizing the results to other settings.
• [08:19] Caveats and limitations of the study.
• [09:11] Conclusion.
About Our Guest:
Sascha Frühholz
Professor
University of Oslo
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2316306121
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Adapting to poor air quality
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, Rebecca Saari explores potential adaptations needed for worsening air quality due to climate change.
In this episode, we cover:
• [00:03] Introduction
• [00:57] Rebecca Saari, an air quality engineer at the University of Waterloo, describes an air quality alert.
• [01:23] Explanation of the hazard of fine particulate matter air pollution.
• [02:18] Description of the study’s modeling approach.
• [03:14] Description of modeling methods. 
• [04:05] Explanation of study results and where air quality alerts may rise due to climate change.
• [04:34] Exploration of the social impacts of inequitable distribution of worsening air quality.
• [05:24] Description of strategies for mitigating the health risk of poor air quality.
• [06:27] Discussion of the costs and benefits of increased time spent indoors to mitigate health risk.
• [07:22] Discussion of the role of policy in protecting from air quality hazards.
• [08:13] Explanation of the study’s caveats and limitations.
• [09:30] Potential impacts of the study.
• [10:11] Conclusion
About Our Guest:
Rebecca Saari
Associate Professor 
University of Waterloo
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2215685121
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Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
 
In this episode, Christine Pu describes how commonly used measures of poverty don't agree, and why definitions of poverty matter.
 
In this episode, we cover:
· [00:00] Introduction
· [00:59] Christine Pu, an interdisciplinary scientist from Stanford University, introduces the importance of definitions of poverty.
· [01:40] List of the four commonly used definitions of poverty.
· [02:29] The motivation behind the study.
· [03:21] Study design and methods.
· [04:20] Results of the study and discussion of why poverty measures may not agree.
· [05:50] Discussion of how poverty definitions impact efforts to alleviate poverty.
· [06:57] How policymakers can approach definition of poverty.
· [07:46] Implications and potential impacts of the study.
· [08:25] Study caveats and limitations.
· [08:54] Conclusion.
 
About Our Guests:
Christine Pu
PhD Candidate
Stanford University
 
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2316730121
 
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts for more captivating discussions on scientific breakthroughs!
 
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How a small fish makes big sounds
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, Verity Cook from Charité – Berlin University of Medicine explains how a fish 12 millimeters in length produces sounds exceeding 140 decibels.
In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:37] Can you tell us more about the fish you studied?
•[02:26] What are some of the methods you used to characterize the fish’s sound production mechanism?
•[03:49] Can you walk us through the process of how these fish produce sound?
•[05:02] What are the broader implications of your findings?
•[05:53] Conclusion.
About Our Guest:
Verity Cook
PhD Student
Charité – Berlin University of Medicine
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.2314017121
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Dinosaur feathers hint at flight history
Science Sessions are brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, National Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
In this episode, Jingmai O’Connor and Yosef Kiat share insights gleaned from modern birds’ feathers that help understand the evolutionary history of flight in dinosaurs.
In this episode, we cover:
•[00:00] Introduction
•[01:02] Jingmai O’Connor, a vertebrate paleontologist at the Field Museum of Natural History, describes the characteristics of feathers associated with flight.
•[02:11] O’Connor gives context and background for previous knowledge of the evolution of flight feathers in dinosaurs.
•[03:25] O’Connor describes the sources of fossil specimens for analysis of feather evolution.
•[04:29] Yosef Kiat, an ornithologist at the Field Museum of Natural History, tells what he learned about the consistent number of primary feathers in modern birds. He also tells how that number applies to dinosaurs. 
•[05:54] O’Connor explains what the symmetry of feathers reveals about a species’ flight ability and history.
•[06:29] Kiat applies feather symmetry to explain the flight evolutionary history of Caudipteryx.
•[07:05] Kiat summarizes the findings of the study, using feather number and shape to assess the flight abilities of four genera of dinosaurs.
•[07:47] Kiat and O’Connor describe the type of potential fossil evidence that could fill in holes in the history of flight evolution in dinosaurs.
•[08:42] Kiat and O’Connor explain the study’s caveats and limitations.
•[09:44] Conclusion.
About Our Guests:
Jingmai O’Connor
Associate Curator of Fossil Reptiles 
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL
Yosef Kiat
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL
View related content here: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2306639121
Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts for more captivating discussions on scientific breakthroughs!
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