
PNAS Science Sessions
Welcome to Science Sessions, the PNAS podcast program. Listen to brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in PNAS, plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
Latest episodes

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
Interview with 2013 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Mimi Kao and Allison Doupe
Mimi Kao and Allison Doupe explore song learning in the male zebra finch.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Interview with 2013 Cozzarelli Prize Winners Erik Petigura and Geoffrey Marcy
Erik Petigura and Geoffrey Marcy discuss the number of Earth-like planets that may exist in our galaxy.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Modeling human cognition
James "Jay" McClelland describes a parallel distributed processing approach to understanding human cognition.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Exchanging kidneys
Alvin Roth discusses how principles of economics can benefit people who need kidney transplants.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Nicotine addiction and relapse
Inés Ibañez-Tallon discusses how nicotine and neurons conspire to hamper efforts to quit smoking.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Where breast cancer meets brain size
Inder Verma and colleagues describe how a breast cancer-associated gene might be implicated in brain size control in mammals.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Supernova chemistry
Paul Dunk discusses the chemistry of carbon in space following a supernova.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
The postdoctoral problem
NAS member Gregory Petsko discusses efforts to assess the US postdoctoral workforce.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Understanding citrus greening
Ariena van Bruggen and J. Glenn Morris, Jr. discuss their work on citrus greening, a disease that is threatening the global citrus industry.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Genetic screening for adults
C. Thomas Caskey and Amy McGuire discuss whole-genome genetic screening for adult-onset diseases.