Science Talk

In this episode, University of California, Davis, professor Charles Bamforth talks about beer science. And journalist Kevin Begos discusses the centennial meeting of the American Association For Cancer Research. Plus we'll test your knowedge of some recent science in the news. Website mentioned on this episode include www.aacr.org. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Stanford's David Relman talks about the microbial life that lives on and in humans. Princeton's Andrew Dobson discusses the importance of parasites to an ecosystem. And former National Science Foundation director Rita Colwell mentions a low-tech practice with big public health implications. All from a conference on microbes and the environment at the American Museum of Natural History. Plus we'll test your knowledge of some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned on this episode include www.amnh.org/biodiversity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Scientific American editor-in-chief John Rennie discusses peer review of scientific literature, the subject of a panel he recently served on at the World Conference of Science Journalists. He also talks about some out-of-the-box thinking about burial rites. And physicist Bo Hammer talks about the awards being presented this week at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia. Plus we'll test your knowledge about recent science in the news. Website mentioned on this episode include www.fi.edu. To vote for the Scientific American podcast in the podcast category of the Webby Awards, go to www.webbyawards.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, surgeon, writer and MacArthur grantee Atul Gawandee talks about his new book Better, which focuses on performance as a science. Plus we'll test your knowledge about recent science in the news. Website mentioned on this episode include http://www.fi.edu/tfi/exhibits/bower/07/schedule.html and www.hbo.com/realsports. To vote for the Scientific American podcast in the podcast category of the Webby Awards, go to www.webbyawards.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, animal behavior expert Bernd Heinrich discusses his article in the April issue of Scientific American on animal intelligence, and Adobe Systems scientists David Story and Martin Newell talk about methods in development to enable investigators to spot phonied-up digital images. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, former big league pitcher Dr. Dave Baldwin talks about his run-in with Ted Williams, his life in science, the physics of the gyroball versus the slider, and how he finally made it to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some baseball science. Websites mentioned on this episode include http://www.dartmouth.edu/~chance/chance_news/recent_news/chance_news_13.04.html; http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=3486; http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/42392 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, psychiatric geneticist Laura Jean Bierut talks about her article in the April Scientific American about the influence of genes on alcoholism. And Scientific American editor George Musser discusses the March 26th Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate at the American Museum of Natural History that dealt with the discrepency between the calculated and actual positions of the Pioneer spacecraft. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, the J. Craig Venter Institute's senior computational biologist Douglas Rusch talks about the Global Ocean Sampling Expedition's genomic treasure hunt and the first batch of research results that just came out. We'll also talk about an analysis of pharmaceutical agents in the Journal of Natural Products that showed that the majority of approved agents in the last quarter century are still derived from natural products. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned include http://www.plos.org; http://collections.plos.org/plosbiology/gos-2007.php; http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jnprdf Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Stanford University's Chip Heath talks about his book Made To Stick, which discusses the secrets behind crafting messages and ideas that capture the imagination; and Nick Goddard discusses the experiment he did to find out how far he could bike on the energy equivalent to that in a gallon of gasoline. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Websites mentioned include www.madetostick.com; /www.transalt.org; www.betterworldclub.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, the Wildlife Conservation Society's Stephen Sautner and John Delaney talk about the appearance of a beaver in New York City for the first time in 200 years and journalist and author Alan Weisman talks about our reaction to the event and other similar stories. Elaine McSherry, winner of the AccesScience '07 competition, explains why it's good to be explain science. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices