Science Magazine Podcast

Science Magazine

Weekly podcasts from Science Magazine, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.

  1. Solving the ‘golfer’s curse’ and using space as a heat sink

    50 MIN AGO

    Solving the ‘golfer’s curse’ and using space as a heat sink

    First up on the podcast, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi for a rundown of online news stories. They talk about lichen that dine on dino bones, the physics of the lip-out problem in golf, and a brain-computer interface that can decode a tonal language (Chinese) from brain waves. Next on the show, Jeremy Munday, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at University of California, Davis, talks about generating mechanical power using a heat engine aimed at the night sky. Heat engines typically generate power by harnessing a temperature difference between two things—but by using space as the cold part and the ground as the warm part, Munday’s device can generate energy at night. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    28 min
  2. Understanding early Amazon communities and saving the endangered pocket mouse

    6 NOV

    Understanding early Amazon communities and saving the endangered pocket mouse

    First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Sofia Moutinho visited the Xingu Indigenous territory in Brazil to learn about a long-standing collaboration between scientists and the Kuikuro to better understand early Amazon communities. Next on the show, we visit the Pacific pocket mouse recovery program at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance to talk with researchers about the tricky process of increasing genetic diversity in an endangered species. Researcher Aryn Wilder talks about a long-term project to interbreed mice from isolated populations in order to add more genetic diversity across the species—despite a mismatch in chromosome numbers between some of the groups. Debra Shier, associate director of the recovery ecology program at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, takes us on a tour of the breeding facility. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    35 min
  3. Detecting the acidity of the ocean with sound, the role of lead in human evolution, and how the universe ends

    30 OCT

    Detecting the acidity of the ocean with sound, the role of lead in human evolution, and how the universe ends

    First up on the podcast, increased carbon dioxide emissions sink more acidity into the ocean, but checking pH all over the world, up and down the water column, is incredibly challenging. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a technique that takes advantage of how sound moves through the water to detect ocean acidification. Next on the show, we visit the lab of University of California San Diego professor Alysson Muotri at the Sanford Consortium, where he grows human brain organoids—multicellular structures that function like underdeveloped brains. Muotri used organoids to compare a protein that appears to be protective in human brains against the effects of lead toxicity with the archaic version of the protein that was present in our extinct cousins, like Denisovans and Neanderthals. His work suggests lead exposure differently affected our ancestors and our archaic cousins, possibly helping us survive to the present day. Finally, stay tuned for the last in our six-part series on books exploring the science of death. This month, host Angela Saini talks with astrophysicist Katie Mack about how the universe might end and her 2021 book The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking). This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    45 min
  4. The contagious buzz of bumble bee positivity, and when snow crabs vanish

    23 OCT

    The contagious buzz of bumble bee positivity, and when snow crabs vanish

    First up on the podcast, the Bering Sea’s snow crabs are bouncing back after a 50-billion-crab die-off in 2020, but scientists are racing to predict what’s going to happen to this important fishery. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what’s next for snow crabs. Next on the show, freelance producer Elah Feder talks with Fei Peng, a professor in the department of psychology in the School of Public Health at Southern Medical University in Guangzhou, China, and principal investigator at the Great Bay Area Brain Science and Brain Inspired Research Center, about detecting emotions—or more scientifically “affect”—in bumble bees. His group observed how a bumble bee that appears to be hopeful can share this state with other bees. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    27 min
  5. Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease

    16 OCT

    Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease

    First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt takes a trip to Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where ancient RNA viruses may lie buried in the permafrost. He talks with host Sarah Crespi about why we only have 100 years of evolutionary history for viruses such as coronavirus and influenza, and what we can learn by looking deeper back in time. Next on the show, Nathalie Stroeymeyt, senior lecturer at the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, joins freelancer producer Elah Feder to talk about how humans aren’t the only species that takes public health measures to stop outbreaks. To keep their colonies healthy when threatened with infectious disease, ants socially distance and even make architectural changes to their nests’ organization. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    27 min
  6. How birds reacted to a solar eclipse, and keeping wildfire smoke out of wine 

    9 OCT

    How birds reacted to a solar eclipse, and keeping wildfire smoke out of wine 

    First up on the podcast, producer Kevin McLean talks with Associate Online News Editor Michael Greshko about the impact of wildfires on wine; a couple horse stories, one modern, one ancient; and why educators are racing to archive government materials.   Next on the show, research that took advantage of a natural experiment in unnatural lighting. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Ph.D. student Liz Aguilar and Kimberly Rosvall, an associate professor, both in the department of biology at Indiana University Bloomington, about a citizen-science initiative that captured bird behavior before, during, and after a total solar eclipse in April 2024.      This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Michael Greshko Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    37 min
  7. A new generation of radiotherapies for cancer, and why we sigh

    2 OCT

    A new generation of radiotherapies for cancer, and why we sigh

    First up on the podcast, Staff Writer Robert F. Service joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a boom in nuclear medicine, from new and more powerful radioisotopes to improved precision in cancer cell targeting.   Next on the show, we talk about why we sigh. Maria Clara Novaes-Silva, a doctoral student at ETH Zürich, discusses how deep breaths cause minute rearrangements at the special interface where air meets lung. The lung flexibility granted by these deeper inhalations suggest people on ventilators might have better lung health if they were served a larger draught of air from time to time. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. Authors: Sarah Crespi; Robert Service Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    35 min
  8. Salty permafrost’s role in Arctic melting, the promise of continuous protein monitoring, and death in the ancient world

    25 SEPT

    Salty permafrost’s role in Arctic melting, the promise of continuous protein monitoring, and death in the ancient world

    First up on the podcast, Science News Editor Tim Appenzeller joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss why a salty layer of permafrost undergirding Arctic ice is turning frozen landscapes into boggy morasses.    Next on the show, glucose isn’t the only molecule in the body that can be monitored in real time; proteins can be, too. Freelancer producer Zakiya Whatley talks with Jane Donnelly, an MD/Ph.D. candidate at Northwestern University, about what we could learn from the live monitoring of key proteins, from the status of a transplanted organ to the early signs of a flare up in autoimmune disease. Finally, philologist Robert Garland joins books host Angela Saini to talk about ancient cultures and their death practices in his book What to Expect When You’re Dead: An Ancient Tour of Death and the Afterlife. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.  Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Tim Appenzeller Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    46 min
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Hosts & Guests

Ratings & Reviews

4.5
out of 5
4 Ratings

About

Weekly podcasts from Science Magazine, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.

Information

  • Creator
    Science Magazine
  • Years Active
    2006 - 2025
  • Episodes
    614
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2023 Science Magazine
  • Show Website
    Science Magazine Podcast

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