60-Second Science

When the hit podcast Science Vs went to find the facts about the “male G-spot,” it was faced with remarkably little research to draw from. So the team collaborated with academics on one of the largest surveys about anal sex and masturbation. We discuss what they learned, on this episode of Science Quickly with Rachel Feltman and special guest Wendy Zukerman of Science Vs. Recommended reading:Mind-Blowing Orgasms: Does the Male G-Spot Exist? How to Explore Your Sexuality, according to Science  Asexuality Research Has Reached New Heights. What Are We Learning? E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Wendy Zukerman, host of Science Vs. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Debris from satellites, rockets and other space infrastructure are crowding low-Earth orbit. Occasionally, that space junk crashes down to Earth. For Samantha Lawler, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, such debris was mostly a theoretical nuisance. Then a nearby farmer found remnants of a SpaceX craft on his land, and Lawler was pulled into the murky legal landscape around space junk in the skies and on the ground.Recommended reading: SpaceX Dropped Space Junk on My Neighbor’s Farm. Here’s What Happened Next Space Junk Is Polluting Earth’s Stratosphere with Vaporized Metal Space Trash Threatens the Global EconomyE-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Samantha Lawler. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris came to a close on Sunday—and swimmers swam the Seine as promised. The two astronauts sent to the International Space Station on a Boeing Starliner craft in June are still in limbo, with no set return flight. The EPA is acting quickly to suspend sales of products that contain the pesticide dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate over safety concerns. Plus, we discuss a new theory of how the pyramids were built (and no, it doesn’t involve aliens).Recommended reading:Cleaning Up Paris’s Poop River for the Olympics  https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/cleaning-up-the-poop-polluted-seine-for-the-paris-olympics/ Lost Branch of the Nile May Solve Long-Standing Mystery of Egypt’s Famed Pyramids https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/egypts-famed-pyramids-overlooked-a-long-lost-branch-of-the-nile/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck.  The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Content warning: This episode focuses in part on the archaeological study of ancient human sacrifice, including incidents involving young children. While we have taken care not to include gratuitous descriptions of violence, this episode does contain frank discussion of the circumstances of these deaths and the nature of these individuals’ remains.In the final episode of our three-part series on unusual archaeology, science journalist Kata Karáth takes you on one more adventure—to a mountaintop with an extreme climate, where archaeologists investigate the practice of human sacrifice among the Inka.Listen to the first two episodes of this series exploring humanity’s past:— Sustainable Fishing with Ancient Chambers and Ocean Tides— How Ancient Humans Interpreted the CosmosE-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was reported and hosted by Kata Karáth with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Special thanks to María Luz Endere and Carlos Molina-Vital for their assistance with parts of this script. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Rachel Feltman is joined by conservation bioacoustics researcher Isla Keesje Davidson to explore the vibrant world of coral reefs through an unexpected lens: sound. They discuss how healthy coral reefs sound different from those in distress, why listening to the ocean could be key to its preservation and how you can be part of this groundbreaking research.Recommended reading: — Earth’s Coral Reefs Face a New, Deadly Mass Bleaching. They Can Still Be Saved— We Can Save Earth’s Coral ReefsEmail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman, featuring guest Isla Keesje Davidson. Our show is fact-checked by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The American Cancer Society published a study suggesting that for 8 or 34 cancers tracked, case rates are rising from one generation to the next. While headlines often point to sedentary lifestyles and higher weights as a possible cause, some experts say that these factors alone cannot explain the spike. In more hopeful oncology news, there’s a new blood test for colorectal cancer–though it doesn’t replace the importance of colonoscopies. SpaceX is delaying their attempt at the first-ever private spacewalk—billionaire Jared Isaacman will have to wait. And on the ground, move over hardwood and softwood—two surviving species of the Liriodendron genus point to a new categorization of midwood.Recommended reading:Gen X Faces Higher Cancer Rates Than Any Previous Generation Why We’ll Never Live in Space E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gazing up at the night sky is a universal human experience, likely as old as our species itself. But how did our ancient ancestors feel about what they saw in the heavens, and how did it shape their lives? In Episode Two of our three-part Fascination miniseries on unusual archaeology, science journalist Kata Karáth introduces us to archaeoastronomy—the study of how people in the past experienced and explained the phenomena of the cosmos.Listen to the first episode of this series: “Sustainable Fishing with Ancient Chambers and Ocean Tides”E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Jeff DelViscio, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Rachel Feltman. This episode was reported and hosted by Kata Karáth. Special thanks to Saara Alakorva and Camilla Brattland for their assistance with parts of this script. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-checked this series. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sex testing has a long history in sports. As participation in events like the Olympics opened to women, organizers and audiences alike began questioning the sex of the athletes. The tests devised to “prove” an athlete’s sex have been invasive and inaccurate. Rose Eveleth, host of the NPR and CBC podcast Tested, brings us the story of sex testing and where the science stands.Listen to Tested: https://link.chtbl.com/zQEKpQCERead Olympic coverage from Scientific American:Is Technology in the Olympics a Form of Doping or a Reality of Modern Sport? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-technology-in-the-olympics-a-form-of-doping-or-a-reality-of-modern-sport/For Olympic Athletes, First Come the Games—Then Come the Post-Olympics Blues https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/for-olympic-athletes-first-come-the-games-then-come-the-post-olympics-blues/E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Rose Eveleth, host of Tested. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s a scorching summer, with record-breaking temperatures last Monday. Rain really is harder to predict, and greenhouse gasses are probably to blame. Polio is circulating in Gaza’s wastewater and could spread as conflict leads to crowding, poor sanitation and missing routine vaccinations. Plus, we discuss a shocking price for a promising HIV vaccine, cocaine sharks and komodo dragons with iron-tipped teeth. Recommended reading:Sharks in Brazil Test Positive for a Surprising Contaminant: Cocaine Komodo Dragons’ Nightmare Iron-Tipped Teeth Are a Reptilian First Why Extreme Heat Is So Deadly E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. This show was edited by Jeff DelViscio, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fish trapping is an ancient practice, reaching across the globe from at least as far back as 11,000 years ago. It takes advantage of coastal tides and human-made chambers to catch and release fish. The simple but ingenious ancient fishing structures are built on two intertwining principles: the ocean can provide for us if we properly care for it.Archaeologists are mapping the possible locations of ancient traps. And on Penghu, a group of islands off of Taiwan, people are reviving the traditional tidal weirs, hoping to promote sustainable fishing and attract ecotourism. Stay tuned for more from science journalist Kata Karáth in part two of our three-part Fascination series on unusual archaeology.Recommended reading:– Oldest Deep-Sea Shipwreck Is a ‘Time Capsule’ from the Bronze Age– The Oldest-Wine-in-the-World Title Goes to a 2,000-Year-Old White Found in Southwestern SpainE-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman and journalist Kata Karáth. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices