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PNAS Science Sessions

Latest episodes

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May 22, 2023 • 10min

How vertebrates acquired a gene for vision

Chinmay Kalluraya and Matthew Daugherty explain how vertebrates acquired a gene critical for vision from bacteria.
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Apr 24, 2023 • 9min

Genomic insights for sea turtle conservation

Blair P. Bentley, Lisa Komoroske, and Camila Mazzoni discuss the role genomic elements play in the evolution of sea turtles.
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Apr 4, 2023 • 9min

Jump, bend, and roll: The rise of bioinspired robots

A special edition of Science Sessions delves into the capabilities of robots inspired by plants and animals.
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Mar 20, 2023 • 10min

Math learning through videos

Stanislas Dehaene and Marie Amalric investigate whether short online videos are sufficient to teach mathematics concepts.
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Mar 6, 2023 • 10min

Impressionism and air pollution

Anna Lea Albright and Peter Huybers describe how optical effects consistent with air pollution appear in the paintings of Claude Monet and J.M.W. Turner.
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Feb 14, 2023 • 10min

How lizards adapt to urban living

Kristin Winchell explains the genetic basis of anole adaptation to urban environments.
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Jan 30, 2023 • 8min

Revisiting the history of animal extinctions

Researchers document animal extinctions in the Ediacaran Period that may have preceded the earliest known mass extinction.
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Jan 16, 2023 • 10min

The music of Mesozoic bush crickets

Bo Wang and Chunpeng Xu describe how fossilized katydids provide insight into the role of insect sounds in the Mesozoic.
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Jan 3, 2023 • 7min

How a neural network taught itself chess

Tom McGrath describes how the neural network AlphaZero taught itself how to play chess without observing a human game.
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Dec 19, 2022 • 7min

Honeybees: Nature’s puzzle solvers

Orit Peleg, Golnar Fard and Francisco López Jiménez explain how honeybees overcome geometric constraints to construct honeycombs.

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