
100 episodes

Science Magazine Podcast Science Magazine
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- Science
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4.3 • 696 Ratings
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Weekly podcasts from Science Magazine, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.
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Contraception for cats, and taking solvents out of chemistry
A single-shot cat contraceptive, and a close look at “dry” chemistry
First up this week: an innovation in cat contraception. Online News Editor David Grimm talks with host Sarah Crespi about a nonsurgical pregnancy prevention technique for cats and why such an approach has been a long-term goal for cat population control.
Also on this week’s show, we hear about new insights into mechanical chemistry—using physical force to push molecules together. Science Editor Jake Yeston and Yerzhan Zholdassov, a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry at the City University of New York, join Sarah to discuss why pushing things together works and how it might herald an era of solvent-free chemistry. Read a related commentary article.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm; Jake Yeston
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adj0996
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How we measure the world with our bodies, and hunting critical minerals
Body-based units of measure in cultural evolution, and how the geologic history of the United States can be used to find vital minerals
First up this week, we hear about the advantages of using the body to measure the world around you. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Roope Kaaronen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Helsinki, about how and why cultures use body-based measurements, such as arm lengths and hand spans. Read the related commentary.
Also on this week’s show, the United States starts a big hunt for useful minerals. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins me to discuss the country’s Earth MRI project, which seeks to locate rare earth elements and other minerals critical to sustainable energy and technology within its borders.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Paul Voosen
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi9883
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Talking tongues, detecting beer, and shifting perspectives on females
Why it’s so hard to understand the tongue, a book on a revolutionary shift toward studying the female of the species, and using proteomics to find beer in a painting
First on the show this week, Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to talk tongues: Who has them, who doesn’t, and all their amazing elaborations.
We also have the first in a new six-part series on books exploring the science of sex and gender. For this month’s installment, host Angela Saini talks with evolutionary biologist Malin Ah-King about her book The Female Turn: How Evolutionary Science Shifted Perceptions About Females.
Finally, detecting beer in early 19th century Danish paintings. Heritage scientist Fabiana Di Gianvincenzo of the Heritage Science Laboratory at the University of Ljubljana talks about her Science Advances paper on using proteomics to dig out clues to artistic practices of the day and how they fit in with the local beer-loving culture.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Elizabeth Pennisi
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi8592
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The earliest evidence for kissing, and engineering crops to clone themselves
Cloning vigorous crops, and finding the first romantic kiss
First up this week, building resilience into crops. Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss all the tricks farmers use now to make resilient hybrid crops of rice or wheat and how genetically engineering hybrid crop plants to clone themselves may be the next step.
After that we ask: When did we start kissing? Troels Pank Arbøll is an assistant professor of Assyriology in the department of cross-cultural and regional studies at the University of Copenhagen. He and Sarah chat about the earliest evidence for kissing—romantic style—and why it is unlikely that such kisses had a single place or time of origin.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Erik Stokstad
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi7436
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Debating when death begins, and the fate of abandoned lands
A new approach promises to increase organ transplants but some question whether they should proceed without revisiting the definition of death, and what happens to rural lands when people head to urban centers
First up this week, innovations in organ transplantation lead to ethical debates. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel and several transplant surgeons and doctors about defining death, technically. Also in this segment:
Anji Wall, abdominal transplant surgeon and bioethicist at Baylor University Medical Center
Marat Slessarav, consultant intensivist and donation physician at the London Health Sciences Centre and assistant professor in the department of medicine at Western University
Nader Moazami, surgical head of heart transplantation at New York University Langone Health
Next up, what happens to abandoned rural lands when people leave the countryside for cities? Producer Kevin McLean talks with Gergana Daskalova, a Schmidt Science Fellow in the Biodiversity, Ecology, and Conservation group at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, about how the end of human activities in these places can lead to opportunities for biodiversity.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. Additional music provided by Looperman.com
About the Science Podcast
[Image: Martin Cathrae/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: partially collapsed old barn with podcast overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adi6336
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. -
Building big dream machines, and self-organizing landscapes
Builders of the largest scientific instruments, and how cracks can add resilience to an ecosystem
First up this week, a story on a builder of the biggest machines. Producer Kevin McLean talks with Staff Writer Adrian Cho about Adrian’s dad and his other baby: an x-ray synchrotron.
Next up on this episode, a look at self-organizing landscapes. Host Sarah Crespi and Chi Xu, a professor of ecology at Nanjing University, talk about a Science Advances paper on how resilience in an ecosystem can come from the interaction of a plant and cracks in the soil.
Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Jackie Oberst, assistant editor for custom publishing, discusses challenges early-career researchers face and how targeted funding for this group can enable their future success. She talks with Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies and Aleksandar Obradovic, this year’s grand prize winner of the annual Michelson Philanthropies and Science Prize for Immunology.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
[Image: Hong’an Ding/Yellow River Estuary Association of Photographers; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: red beach from above with podcast overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kevin McLean; Adrian Cho
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/science.adi5718
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Customer Reviews
One topic
I agree-3 topics are too many
Better to concentrate on only one
I wish there was more science in the podcast
The interviews with scientists are usually interesting. I wish more time was spent on going into the science of the articles discussed. I also wish a greater number of fields of science were covered; sometimes it feels like all that’s covered is space/astronomy topics.
I Prefer multiple topics
In case the main topic does not interest me.