Science Magazine Podcast

Restoring sight to blind kids, making babies without a womb, and challenging the benefits of clinical trials

May 30, 2024

Jennifer Couzin-Frankel discusses the pros and cons of cancer clinical trials, challenging the benefits. Lukas Vogelsang explores color vision in late-sighted kids. Claire Horn talks about growing babies without a womb in her book 'Eve: The Disobedient Future of Birth'.

44:52

Creator website

Episode guests

Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

Participating in cancer clinical trials may not always improve survival rates due to confounding factors and biases.

Late-sighted individuals rely heavily on color cues for object identification, suggesting potential interventions to mitigate reliance on color cues.

Deep dives

Research on Clinical Trials Survival Benefit

Recent studies suggest that participation in cancer clinical trials might not always offer a survival benefit as widely believed. Trials provide standardized care but may not necessarily enhance survival rates according to a recent meta-analysis. Confounding factors like health conditions and biases can impact trial outcomes, raising questions about the true benefits of trial participation in terms of survival.

Introduction

3min

Reevaluating the Benefits of Clinical Trials for Cancer Patients

10min

Exploring the Significance of Clinical Trials and Restoring Vision to the Blind

4min

Evolution of Color Vision in Previously Blind Individuals

10min

Treatment Outcomes and Collaborative Efforts in Cataract Project

2min

Exploring Ectogenesis and Reproductive Technology

2min

Exploring the Concept of Ectogenesis

12min

Exploring the Social Perception and Evolution of Reproductive Technologies

3min

Studying color vision in with children who gain sight later in life, joining a cancer trial doesn’t improve survival odds, and the first in our books series this year

First on this week’s show, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the pros and cons of participating in clinical trials. Her story challenges the common thinking that participating in a trial is beneficial—even in the placebo group—for cancer patients.

Next, Lukas Vogelsang, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks about research into color vision with “late-sighted” kids. Studying children who were born blind and then later gained vision gave researchers new insights into how vision develops in babies and may even help train computers to see better.

Last up on the show is the first in our series of books podcasts on a future to look forward to. Books host Angela Saini talks with author Claire Horn, a researcher based at Dalhousie University’s Health Justice Institute. They discuss the implications of growing babies from fertilized egg to newborn infant—completely outside the body—and Horn’s book Eve: The Disobedient Future of Birth.

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

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.z6gdgb4

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