Science Magazine Podcast

On this week’s show: A giant study suggests COVID-19 takes a serious toll on heart health—a full year after recovery, and figuring out what percentage of ancient art, books, and even tools has survived the centuries  First up, Staff Writer Meredith Wadman talks with host Sarah Crespi about a new study that looked at more than 150,000 COVID-19 patient records and found increases in risk for 20 different cardiovascular conditions 1 year after recovery. Also this week we have Mike Kestemont, an associate professor in the department of literature at the University of Antwerp, talking about an estimate of how much of antiquity has endured.  This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Public domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: illuminated manuscript page showing a giant R, plus a person and some writing] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ada1311 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: What we can learn from two supermassive black holes that appear to be on a collision course with each other, and the brave new online world in which social media dominates and gatekeeps public access to scientific information First up, Staff Writer Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about the possibly imminent merger of two supermassive black holes in a nearby galaxy. How imminent? We might see a signal as early as 100 days from now.  Also, this week we have a special section on science and social media. In her contribution, Dominique Brossard, professor and chair in the Department of Life Sciences Communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, talks about the shift in the source of scientific information away from traditional publishers, newspapers, etc. to social media platforms, and what it means for the future of science communication. Finally, we share some tweets about the relationship of social media and science communication submitted by young readers in our Letters section. You can read our picks here or check out all the submissions on Twitter at #NextGenSci. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: NASA’S GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: simulation of a pair of supermassive black holes on the cusp of merging] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ada1028 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: Environmental concerns over Indonesia building a new capital on Borneo, and keeping an eye on pollution as it comes out of the tailpipe First up this week, Contributing Correspondent Dennis Normile talks with host Sarah Crespi about Indonesia’s plans for an ultragreen new capital city on the island of Borneo. Despite intentions to limit the environmental impact of the new urban center, many are concerned about unplanned growth surrounding the city which could threaten rare plants and animals.   Also this week, John Zhou, professor of environmental engineering at the University of Technology Sydney talks with Sarah about his Science Advances paper on reducing pollution from cars and trucks by live monitoring vehicle emissions using remote sensors. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Malinda Rathnayake/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: cars on the road in a city at sunset] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Dennis Normile Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: A pill derived from human feces treats recurrent gut infections, and how a squirrel’s microbiome supplies nitrogen during hibernation First up this week, Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss putting the bacterial benefits of human feces in a pill. The hope is to avoid using fecal transplants to treat recurrent gut infections caused by the bacterium Clostridium difficile. Also this week, Hannah Carey, a professor in the department of comparative biosciences within the school of veterinary medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, talks with Sarah about how ground squirrels are helped by their gut microbes during hibernation. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Public domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: illustration of two 13-lined ground squirrels] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kelly Servick Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ada0494 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: Ethical concerns rise with an increase in open brain research, and how sharing saliva can be a proxy for the closeness of a relationship Human brains are protected by our hard skulls, but these bony shields also keep researchers out. With brain surgeries and brain implants on the rise, scientists are getting more chances to explore living brains. Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the ethics of doing research on patients undergoing intense medical procedures, and the kinds of research being done. Also this week, Ashley Thomas, a postdoctoral researcher in the brain and cognitive science department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, talks about the meaning behind sharing saliva. Spend any time with a baby lately? Were you in awe—eager to cuddle, kiss, even change a diaper? Or were you slightly horrified by the drool and other fluids seeping out of this new human? Your feelings on the matter might depend on your closeness with the baby and—as Thomas and colleagues write this week in Science—the baby may notice which way you feel. According to their results, babies, like adults, seem to recognize sharing saliva—like sharing food and utensils or kissing—as a signal of close relationships. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Onfokus/Getty/iStockphoto; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: baby chewing on a cellphone] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kelly Servick Episode page: http://www.science.org/content/podcast/window-live-brains-and-what-saliva-tells-babies-about-human-relationships  About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: How cloning can introduce diversity into an endangered species, and ramping up the pressure on iron to see how it might behave in the cores of rocky exoplanets First up this week, News Intern Rachel Fritts talks with host Sarah Crespi about cloning a frozen ferret to save an endangered species. Also this week, Rick Kraus, a research scientist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, talks about how his group used a powerful laser to compress iron to pressures similar to those found in the cores of some rocky exoplanets. If these super-Earths’ cores are like our Earth’s, they may have a protective magnetosphere that increases their chances of hosting life. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Kimberly Fraser/U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: three baby black-footed ferrets being held by gloved hands] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rachel Fritts Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.acz9974 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: Russia announces plans to monitor permafrost, and a conversation about the dangers of self-spreading engineered viruses and vaccines Science journalist Olga Dobrovidova joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about plans to set up a national permafrost observatory in Russia. Then Filippa Lentzos, senior lecturer in science and international security in the department of war studies and in the department of global health and social medicine, and co-director for the center for science and security at King’s College London, joins Sarah to discuss her Science commentary on the dangers of transmissible vaccines for controlling invasive species and viruses found in wildlife.   This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Евгений Ерыгин/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: person walking on snow at night in city of Norilsk, Russia] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Olga Dobrovidova Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s show: The best of our online stories, what we know about the effects of cannabinoids, and the last in our series of books on race and science First, Online News Editor David Grimm brings the top online stories of the year—from headless slugs to Dyson spheres. You can find out the other top stories and the most popular online story of the year here. Then, Tibor Harkany, a professor of molecular neuroscience at the Medical University of Vienna’s Center for Brain Research, talks with host Sarah Crespi about the state of marijuana research. Pot has been legalized in many places, and many people take cannabinoids—but what do we know about the effects of these molecules on people? Tibor calls for more research into their helpful and harmful potential.  Finally, we have the very last installment of our series of books on race and science. Books host Angela Saini talks with physician and science fiction author Tade Thompson about his book Rosewater. Listen to the whole series. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Biodiversity Heritage Library/Flickr/Public Domain; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: illustration of a wombat] Authors: Sarah Crespi; David Grimm; Angela Saini Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Every year Science names its top breakthrough of the year and nine runners up. Online News Editor Catherine Matacic joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what Science’s editors consider some of the biggest innovations of 2021. Also this week, Books Editor Valerie Thompson shares her list of top science books for the year—from an immunology primer by a YouTuber, to a contemplation of the universe interwoven with a close up look at how the science sausage is made. Books on Valerie’s list: Immune: A Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Phillip Dettmer Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law by Mary Roach The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity by David Graeber and David Wengrow Listen to last year’s books round up. List of this year’s top science books for kids.   This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Valerie Altounian/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: golden protein confetti] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Catherine Matacic; Valerie Thompson   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoscientists are turning to fiber optic cables as a means of measuring seismic activity. But rather than connecting them to instruments, the cables are the instruments. Joel Goldberg talks with Staff Writer Paul Voosen about tapping fiber optic cables for science. Also this week, host Sarah Crespi talks with Sylvie Roke, a physicist and chemist at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne, and director of its Laboratory for fundamental BioPhotonics, about the place where oil meets water. Despite the importance of the interaction between the hydrophobic and the hydrophilic to biology, and to life, we don’t know much about what happens at the interface of these substances. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Artography/Shutterstock; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [alt: oil droplets and water] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen; Joel Goldberg Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.acx9771 About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices