The discovery of a massive amount of lithium under the Salton Sea could make the U.S. lithium independent. The metal is key for batteries in electric vehicles and solar panels. But the area is also a delicate ecosystem. We go to southern California to hea

Whales are aliens on Earth; intelligent beings who have skills for complex problem-solving and their own language. Now in whats being called a breakthrough, scientists have carried on an extended conversation with a humpback whale. They share the story o

By one estimate the average American home has 300,000 objects. Yet our ancient ancestors had no more than what they could carry with them. How did we go from being self-sufficient primates to nonstop shoppers? We examine the evolutionary history of stuff

You are getting sleeeepy and open to suggestion. But is that how hypnotism works? And does it really open up a portal to the unconscious mind? Hypnotism can be an effective therapeutic tool, and some scientists suggest replacing opioids with hypnosis for

With planets and moons, its whats inside that counts. If we want to understand surface features, like volcanoes, or their history, such as how the planet formed or whether its suitable for life, we study their interiors. Astronomer Sabine Stanley takes

Worried that AI will replace you? It may not seem like the Hollywood writers strike has anything in common with the Luddite rebellion in England in 1811, but they are surprisingly similar. Today we use the term Luddite dismissively to describe a techno

By one estimate we spend a fifth of our lives watching movies or TV. In fact, we consume entertainment almost as habitually as we eat or sleep, activities that receive scientific scrutiny and study. So why not consider the effects that watching movies and

We present a grab bag of our favorite recent science storiesfrom how to stop aging to the mechanics of cooking pasta. Also, in accord with our eclectic theme the growing problem of space junk.Guests:Anthony Wyss-Coray Professor of neuroscienc

Maybe you dont remember the days of the earliest coal-fired stoves. They changed domestic life, and that changed society. We take you back to that era, and to millennia prior when iron was first smelt, and even earlier, when axe-handles were first fashio

After helping to sequence the human genome more than twenty years ago, biochemist Craig Venter seemed to recede from the public eye. But he hadnt retired. He had gone to sea and taken his revolutionary sequencing tools with him. We chatted with him about