Science Magazine Podcast

Science Magazine Podcast


Latest Episodes

What we can learn from a cluster of people with an inherited intellectual disability, and questioning how sustainable green lawns are in dry places
October 11, 2018

On this week’s show: What we can learn about autism and intellectual disability from a cluster of people with fragile X syndrome, and some greener alternatives to the urban lawn

Odd new particles may be tunneling through the planet, and how the flu operates differently in big and small towns
October 04, 2018

On this week’s show: Strange particles detected by a balloon-based instrument may shake up physics’ standard model, and how town size effects flu outbreaks

The future of PCB-laden orca whales, and doing genomics work with Indigenous people
September 27, 2018

On this week’s show: Modeling the future of killer whales exposed to PCBs, Indigenous people tackle genomics projects on their own terms, and our monthly books segment.

Metaresearchers take on meta-analyses, and hoary old myths about science
September 20, 2018

On this week’s show: visiting the trenches in the meta-analysis wars, and debunking myths about science

The youngest sex chromosomes on the block, and how to test a Zika vaccine without Zika cases
September 13, 2018

On this week’s show: Finding the strawberry’s sex-determining genes and testing the effectiveness of a Zika vaccine by intentionally infecting people

Should we prioritize which endangered species to save, and why were chemists baffled by soot for so long?
September 06, 2018

On this week’s show: How should we prioritize which endangered species to save, and how can complex molecules like soot assemble inside a flame?

Science and Nature get their social science studies replicated—or not, the mechanisms behind human-induced earthquakes, and the taboo of claiming causality in science
August 30, 2018

On this week’s show: the latest social science replication study, the mechanisms behind human-induced earthquakes, and Judea Pearl and Dana Mackenzie’s The Book of Why: The New Science of Cause and Effect

Sending flocks of tiny satellites out past Earth orbit and solving the irrigation efficiency paradox
August 23, 2018

On this week’s show: tiny satellites that go where no tiny satellite has gone before, and the irrigation efficiency paradox

Ancient volcanic eruptions, and peer pressure—from robots
August 16, 2018

On this week’s show: How finding a date for an ancient volcanic eruption may affect all radiocarbon calculations, and how robots might exert peer pressure on kids

Doubts about the drought that kicked off our latest geological age, and a faceoff between stink bugs with samurai wasps
August 09, 2018

On this week’s show: A fight over the global drought that defines our new geological age, and battling stink bugs with samurai wasps