Trump’s war on science; How whale song resembles human language; How to boil the perfect egg with science

Episode 288

President Trump has launched what’s being described as an all-out assault on science and medicine. Given America’s impact on global science, this affects the entire world. Web pages referencing climate change and global warming are being deleted, words like “transgender” are being banned from medical publications and USAID has been labelled evil. As access to fundamental scientific information is put at risk, we find out how anxiety is rising among US scientists - and what it means for the rest of us.

Two studies of whale songs have uncovered striking similarities to the patterns of human language. In one study, researchers analysed and encoded around 150 unique sounds used by the males in their songs, while another study examined the length of whale “words”. What does this say about whale language - will we be able to understand what they’re saying one day?

Want to boil the perfect egg? Got 30 minutes to spare? Researchers have been rigorously testing the most scientific way to boil an egg, to ensure perfect consistency of the white and yolk - and it seems they hit the jackpot. Alex Wilkins tests the method for himself and compares it to your regular 7 minute job. The question is, is this new method worth the extra effort?

Hosted by Rowan Hooper and Chelsea Whyte, with guests James Dinneen, Grace Wade, Nancy Maclean, Gretchen Goldman, James Woodford and Alex Wilkins.

To read more about these stories, visit https://www.newscientist.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices