A surprisingly weighty fundamental particle, and surveying the seas for RNA viruses

On this week’s show: A new measurement of the W boson could challenge physicists’ standard model, and an abundance of marine RNA viruses

Staff Writer Adrian Cho joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a new threat to the standard model of particle physics—a heavier than expected measurement of a fundamental particle called the W boson. They chat about how this measurement was taken, and what it means if it is right.

Next, Sarah talks about the microscopic denizens of Earth’s oceans with Ahmed Zayed, a research scientist in the department of microbiology at Ohio State University, Columbus. They talk about findings from a global survey of marine RNA viruses. The results double the number of known RNA viruses, suggesting new classifications will be needed to categorize all this viral diversity.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

[Image: A. Mastin/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: illustration of three RNA viruses with podcast symbol overlay]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Adrian Cho

Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq3391

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast 

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