Science Selections
441 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 3 years ago - ★★★ - 9 ratingsScience Selections From Popular Scientific Journals
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Episodes
Tesla's Tower - May 2021 Smithsonian.com
May 08, 2021 22:42 - 15 minutes - 3.82 MBThe Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and his Tower. His vision of a global wireless-transmission tower proved to be his undoing.
Virus Affects Brain - Apr 2021 Science News
April 29, 2021 18:19 - 13 minutes - 2.79 MBNew clues hint at how Researchers are sifting through symptoms to figure out what the virus does to the brain, by Laura Sanders
Human Hair - Apr 2021 Smithsonian
April 22, 2021 18:19 - 11 minutes - 2.79 MBWhy Did Humans Lose Their Fur? We are the naked apes of the world, having shed most of our body hair long ago. By Jason Daiey.
Einstein Baffled Press & Public - Apr 2021 Pocket Worthy
April 22, 2021 17:42 - 21 minutes - 5.09 MB100 years ago few people claimed to fully understand Relativity, but it still managed to spark the publics imagination. By Dan Falk
Y Chromosome is Disappearing - The Conversation, Apr 2021
April 22, 2021 17:06 - 9 minutes - 2.37 MBResearch shows the Y chromosome may escape extinction in the short term. But what if, in the future, we reproduce artificially?
An Evolutionary Puzzle - Apr 2021 Pocket Worthy
April 16, 2021 21:53 - 11 minutes - 2.81 MBPaleontologists seek the ancestors that could explain how bats became the only flying mammals. By Riley Black.
Our Strange Sun - Apr 2021 Quanta Magazine
April 11, 2021 01:02 - 14 minutes - 3.47 MBThe Sun radiates far more gamma rays than expected, raising questions about its magnetic field and the possibility of exotic physics
Programming By Voice - Mar 2021 IEEE Spectrum
April 05, 2021 17:50 - 8 minutes - 2.05 MBProgramming by Voice May Be the Next Frontier in Software Development. Your speech becomes your computer's commands.
Time Will Blow Your Mind - Mar 2021 Pocket Worthy
March 26, 2021 17:37 - 11 minutes - 2.8 MBThis Physicist's Ideas of Time Will Blow Your Mind. Is time only in our head? By Ephrat Livni.
Comets Are Dangerous - Mar 2021 Nautil.us
March 18, 2021 19:27 - 15 minutes - 3.64 MBComets Are More Dangerous Than We Thought. Could a comet, not an asteroid, have killed the dinosaurs? By Sean Raymond
Dark Energy Stars? - Mar 2021 Nautil.us
March 15, 2021 18:32 - 12 minutes - 2.89 MBAre Black Holes Actually Dark Energy Stars? Why a physicist believes our understanding of black holes is wrong. By Jesse Stone
Physics Behind Evolution - Mar 2021 Quanta Magazine
March 13, 2021 20:13 - 19 minutes - 4.72 MBNigel Goldenfeld applied condensed matter physics to show evolution was blazingly fast for the earliest life and then slowed down.
Aging Is Reversible - Mar 2021 Pocket Worthy
March 06, 2021 20:25 - 11 minutes - 2.66 MBAging Is Reversible - at least in human cells and live mice. Study shows changes to gene activity that occur with age can be turned back.
End of Aging and Cancer? - Mar 2021 Pocket Worthy
March 06, 2021 19:43 - 9 minutes - 2.32 MBDetailed images of the anti-aging enzyme telomerase are a drug designer's dream. By Richard Faragher.
The Breakfast Economy - Mar 2021 Pocket Worthy
March 03, 2021 04:43 - 12 minutes - 2.95 MBWhether it actually is the most important meal of the day, the real emphasis seems to be on keeping weekday breakfast low-key.
Feynman's Learning Technique - Mar 2021 Farnam Blog
February 27, 2021 22:49 - 40 minutes - 9.74 MBIf you want to supercharge learning and become smarter, the Feynman Technique might be the best way to learn absolutely anything.
Forgetting - Feb 2021 Nautilus Blog
February 25, 2021 03:37 - 22 minutes - 5.41 MBHow We'll Forget John Lennon. Our culture has two types of forgetting. By Kevin Berger.
Brain Background Noise - Feb 2021 Quanta Magazine
February 13, 2021 23:16 - 24 minutes - 5.91 MBBrain background noise may yield clues to persistent mysteries, giving insights into sleep, aging and more. By Elizabeth Landau
Origins of The Universe - The Atlantic Feb 2021
February 13, 2021 18:51 - 41 minutes - 9.9 MBTheoretical physicist Andrei Linde may have the world's most expansive conception of what infinity looks like. By Alan Lightman
Gut Microbes Drive Brain Disorders - Nature, Feb 2021
February 12, 2021 20:21 - 23 minutes - 5.67 MBScientists study how the gut microbiome can affect brain health. It may lead to better and easier brain disease treatment.
Man's Best Friends - Feb 2021 Ars Technica
February 12, 2021 04:19 - 13 minutes - 3.21 MBDogs have been our best friends for at least 23,000 years. They accompanied the first people to set foot in the Americas.
Anti-Nutrients - The Conversation, Jan 2021
February 06, 2021 19:04 - 9 minutes - 2.25 MBAnti-nutrients - they're part of a normal diet and not as scary as they sound. By Jill Joyce.
Four Desires - Feb 2021 Brain Pickings
February 06, 2021 18:05 - 12 minutes - 3.03 MBThe Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior. Bertrand Russell's magnificent Nobel prize acceptance speech. By Maria Popova
Science of Cheap Wine - Feb 2021 Smithsonian.com
February 04, 2021 18:42 - 10 minutes - 2.6 MBHow advances in bottling, fermenting and taste-testing are democratizing a once-opaque liquid. By Ben Panko
10 Computer Codes Transform Science - Nature Jan 2021
January 30, 2021 20:00 - 35 minutes - 8.41 MBFrom Fortran to arXiv, these advances in programming and platforms sent biology, climate science and physics into warp speed.
Mental Illness & Evolution - Feb 2019 Scientific American
January 29, 2021 19:16 - 10 minutes - 2.6 MBSusceptibility to Mental Illness May Have Helped Humans Adapt Over the Millennia. By Dana G. Smith.
The Ocean's Largest Mystery - The Guardian, Jan 2021
January 29, 2021 18:39 - 11 minutes - 2.67 MBAn ultrasound and chance sightings of potential mating rituals could help save these gentle giants from extinction. By Ashifa Kassam
Knowing About Time - Jan 2021 Nautilus Blog
January 29, 2021 03:25 - 7 minutes - 1.78 MBForget Everything You Think You Know About Time. Is a linear representation of time accurate? By Brian Gallagher
Myths About Exercise & Sleep - Jan, 2021 npr.com
January 28, 2021 01:00 - 12 minutes - 3.09 MBFor much of history, human beings needed to be physically active every day in order to hunt or gather. They didn't do formal exercise
Stromatolites - Jan 2021 BBC Travel
January 26, 2021 21:25 - 12 minutes - 3.12 MB3.5 billion year-old stromatolites built the oxygen in Earth's atmosphere to 20%, giving the kiss of life to all that was to evolve
Visited By Aliens? -Jan 2021 The New Yorker
January 24, 2021 02:48 - 27 minutes - 6.59 MBAn astrophysicist argues signs of intelligent extraterrestrial life have appeared. What's the evidence? By Elizabeth Kolbert
Edge of a Black Hole - Jan 2021 Quanta Magazine
January 17, 2021 02:59 - 16 minutes - 3.95 MBHot spots orbit just outside the black hole at the galaxy's center. Their motions give us a close look at that violent environment.
Addiction to Caffiene - Jan 2021 Pocket Worthy
January 16, 2021 03:35 - 7 minutes - 1.88 MBRegular ingestion of the drug alters your brain's chemical makeup, leading to fatigue, headaches and nausea if you try to quit.
Massive AI Calculation - Jan 2021 Ars Technica
January 09, 2021 19:22 - 11 minutes - 2.64 MBOptical hardware performs massive parallel AI calculations. Two research groups do it by very different methods. By John Timmer
World-Changing Processor - Dec 2020 Ars Technica
January 01, 2021 22:48 - 19 minutes - 4.73 MBHow an obscure British PC maker invented the Acorn Risc Machine (ARM) processor and changed the world. By Jason Torchinsky
Artificial Mountains - Pocket Worthy Nov 2020
November 22, 2020 01:14 - 12 minutes - 3.05 MBThe World Is Studded With Artificial Mountains. They're fake, but they can be spectacular (and hazardous). By Dylan Taylor-Lehman
Smart Concrete - The Conversation, Nov 2020
November 15, 2020 00:34 - 8 minutes - 2.05 MBSmart concrete could pave the way for high-tech, cost-effective roads. By Luna Lu and Vishal Saravade.
Future Batteries - Nov 2020 Wired
November 07, 2020 19:33 - 19 minutes - 4.84 MBA renaissance in structural battery research aims to build energy storage into the structures of devices they power.
Brain-Computer Interface - Oct 2020 Ars Technica
November 01, 2020 03:36 - 12 minutes - 3 MBElectrodes threaded through blood vessels let people control gadgets with their minds. By Adam Rogers.
Remake the Plastics - Oct 2020 Ars Technica
October 25, 2020 03:27 - 8 minutes - 2.05 MBIf recycling plastics makes no sense, remake the plastics. New catalytic approaches convert plastic into liquid fuels, nanotubes
Room Temperature Superconductor - Oct 2020 Ars Technica
October 17, 2020 17:44 - 9 minutes - 2.35 MBFirst room-temperature superconductor. A few million atmospheres of pressure lets mundane chemicals superconduct. By John Timmer
Extreme Night Owls - Sep 2020 The Guardian
September 27, 2020 01:03 - 18 minutes - 4.47 MBWhat happens when your natural sleeping pattern is at odds with the rest of the world? By Rachel Hall.
The Number Instinct - Jul 2020 MIT Press
September 15, 2020 19:54 - 22 minutes - 5.49 MBAnimals have evolved to use numbers to exploit food sources, avoid predators and reproduce. By Andreas Nieder.
Curb the Opioid Epidemic - The Conversation - Aug, 2020
August 08, 2020 22:03 - 10 minutesHow gene editing a person's brain cells could be used to curb the opioid epidemic. By Craig W. Stevens.
Hand Out - Aug 2020 Scientific American
August 01, 2020 03:20 - 6 minutes - 1.45 MBThe CoVid-19 pandemic has revealed that we don't need handshakes. By Steve Mirsky.
From Wolf to Dog - Aug 2020 Scientific American
July 26, 2020 00:24 - 8 minutesAn amicable disposiion governed evolution of an animal that turned into a favorite pet. By Brian Hare & Vanessa Woods.
Survival of the Friendliest
July 24, 2020 15:42 - 18 minutes - 3.14 MBNatural selection for hypersocial traits enabled Earth's apex species to best Neandrtals and other competitors.
Galileo & Plague - Aug, 2020 Scientific American
July 22, 2020 17:42 - 12 minutes - 3.14 MBIn a plague outbreak in the 1630's Galileo was forced to find new ways of researching and connecting with his family. By Hannah Marcus
Do Dogs See In Black & White - The Conversation Jul 2020
July 19, 2020 03:27 - 6 minutes - 1.66 MBDogs see the world differently than people, but it's a myth that they see only black, white and shades of gray. By Nancy Dreschel
When Did We Lose British Accents? - From Pocket Worthy
July 12, 2020 01:32 - 7 minutes - 1.71 MBAbsence of audio recording technology makes 'when' a tough question to answer. But there are theories as to 'why'. By Matt Soniak