Science Magazine Podcast

Looking for life on an icy moon, and feeling like a rat

Sep 19, 2024

Join science journalist Robin Andrews as he dives into NASA's Clipper mission to Europa, discussing the icy moon's potential for habitability and the challenges of exploration. Meanwhile, expert Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal reveals the emotional depth of rats, highlighting their capacity for empathy and altruism. This eye-opening conversation challenges traditional views on animal emotions, urging a reevaluation of how we perceive our furry friends and their role in scientific research.

44:51

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Episode guests

Robin Andrews

Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal

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Episode notes

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Quick takeaways

NASA's Clipper mission aims to explore Europa's potential subsurface ocean to assess its habitability for extraterrestrial life.

Research on rats reveals their capacity for empathy and altruistic behavior, challenging perceptions of their emotional lives and treatment in labs.

Deep dives

Upcoming NASA Mission to Europa

NASA's upcoming Clipper mission aims to explore Europa, one of Jupiter's icy moons, which is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean. This mission seeks to determine the ocean's feasibility for supporting life by verifying its existence and assessing its properties. Previous research indicated the presence of oceans beneath Europa’s ice, suggesting potential habitability despite prior assumptions about its extreme cold and icy composition. Instruments aboard the Clipper spacecraft are designed to confirm these oceans and analyze their chemical makeup, particularly exploring whether conditions could support biological processes analogous to Earth's oceans.

Intro

2min

Exploring Europa: NASA's CLIPPER Mission

12min

Exploring Emotions in Rats: A Scientific Perspective

3min

Understanding Animal Emotions: The Case of Rats

15min

Celebrating Two Decades of Graphene: Advances in Material Science

2min

The Graphene Revolution: Discovery and Innovation

8min

Celebrating Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Graphene Research

2min

First up this week, a preview of a NASA mission to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa. Science journalist Robin Andrews joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the Clipper mission and what it could reveal about the habitability of the world that lies beneath Europa’s chaotic, icy surface.

Next, what does it feel like to be a rat? This week Science has a special issue on rats, focusing on their contributions to science, their history as invasives and disease carriers, and more. But Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, a professor in the School of Psychological Sciences and the Sagol School of Neuroscience at Tel Aviv University, is here to talk about their capacity for empathy and other positive emotions.

In a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Erika Berg, director and senior editor of custom publishing, interviews University of Manchester professor Sarah Haigh about the past, present, and future of graphene. This segment is sponsored by Zeiss.

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

About the Science Podcast

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Robin Andrews

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

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