
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 2012 Cozzarelli Prize Winner Bob MacCallum
Bob MacCallum explores how music can evolve from noise based on listeners' preferences.

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
The life beneath our feet
Diana Wall discusses how life in the soil may change in a warming world.

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
Engineering bacteria to curb malaria transmission
Marcelo Jacobs-Lorena describes how he engineered a symbiotic bacterium found in mosquito guts to block the transmission of the malaria parasite.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
The science of microbes
Julie Segre and Liliana Losada discuss human-microbe interactions in a recording of a PNAS Science Cafe event held in Washington, DC on February 27, 2013.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Taking science to the streets
John Durant talks about the role of science festivals in science literacy.

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
Microbial cell factories
Bernhard Palsson explains how bacteria can be used as factories to produce sustainable products.

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
Fly social networks
Joel Levine discusses his research on social interaction networks in fruit flies.

Jun 10, 2019 • 5min
What makes us human
Chet Sherwood explores the unique aspects of the human brain's anatomy and function

Jun 10, 2019 • 3sec
Why music moves us
Thalia Wheatley and Beau Sievers discuss the structural similarities between music and movement.

Jun 10, 2019 • 6min
Social bacteria
E. Peter Greenberg explains how antisense RNA help regulate bacterial social interactions.