Science Quickly

Testosterone replacement therapy (TRT) is exploding in popularity among men. TRT has been touted online as a cure-all for everything from low energy to poor mood and even as a way to increase masculinity itself. But how much of the buzz is backed by science? Host Rachel Feltman talks with journalist Stephanie Pappas about the realities behind the trend. They explore who truly benefits from TRT, the overlooked risks—including fertility loss—and the rise of private clinics offering testosterone. This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Recommended reading: What Most Men Don’t Know about the Risks of Testosterone Therapy Email 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Host Rachel Feltman explores the surprising connection between exercise and the gut microbiome with Scientific American contributing editor Lydia Denworth. Drawing from her latest reporting, Denworth explains how aerobic activity can influence the microbial ecosystems in our digestive tract—boosting diversity, reducing inflammation, and even supporting muscle development and mental well-being. From mouse wheels to marathoners, this episode offers a compelling look at why breaking a sweat might be one of the best things you can do for your gut. This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Recommended reading: A Good Workout Gets Your Helpful Gut Microbes in Shape, Too Email 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has fired the experts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel, sparking concern among public health officials. Ocean acidification has crossed a critical threshold, posing serious risks to marine life around the globe. And pangolins face growing threats from increased hunting, complicating efforts to protect the world’s most trafficked mammal. This episode was made possible by the support of Yakult and produced independently by Scientific American’s board of editors. Recommended reading: How RFK, Jr.’s Dismissal of CDC Immunization Committee Panelists Will Affect America’s Vaccine Access Email 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 Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Most mammalian dads are pretty absent from their offspring’s lives. That sets the Djungarian hamster apart from its fellow fathers. These hamster dads are involved in the birth of their pups, care for them in infancy and even provide food during weaning. They also let the mother hamster go on cooldown walks outside of the burrow, which professor of veterinary medicine and hamster expert Katherine Wynne-Edwards thinks could be essential to the survival of the species in its superharsh environment. But there’s also some familiar mate selection at play: female Djungarian hamsters choose to mate with males who will provide quality parental care. Follow guest host Elah Feder’s work Recommended reading: Why Don't Bees Celebrate Father's Day? Men Are More Prepared for Fatherhood Than We Think 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was reported by Elah Feder and co-hosted by Rachel Feltman and Elah Feder. This episode 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

Animals’ lifespans can be far shorter or much longer than those of humans. Scientists are researching creatures such as “immortal” jellyfish and long-lived tortoises and digging deep into genetic codes to figure out why animals age—and what we can do to improve longevity in humans. João Pedro de Magalhães, chair of molecular biogerontology at the University of Birmingham in England, lays out the state of aging science.   Recommended reading: Follow de Magalhães’s lab: https://rejuvenomicslab.com/ See our animal lifespan infographic: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-some-animals-live-for-only-days-and-others-live-for-thousands-of-years/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

New simulations suggest the Milky Way’s long-predicted collision with Andromeda might be less of a cosmic certainty than we thought. A massive marine heat wave in 2023 sent North Atlantic temperatures soaring—equal to two decades’ worth of typical warming—with weak winds and climate change largely to blame. And researchers reveal that the planet’s most abundant animals—nematodes—may use teamwork and tower-building to hitch rides to new homes. Recommended reading: This ‘Tower of Worms’ Is a Squirming Superorganism  E-mail 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The dedicated staff of the National Weather Service are responsible for the data that underpin your weather forecast and emergency alerts. DOGE Service cuts to the NWS are putting the collection and communication of those data at risk right as we enter a dangerous season of hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and extreme heat in the U.S. Senior sustainability editor Andrea Thompson joins host Rachel Feltman to explain what the NWS does, why we need its expertise and what we risk when that expertise is lost.  Recommended reading: How Trump’s National Weather Service Cuts Could Cost Lives https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-trumps-national-weather-service-cuts-could-cost-lives/  Why This Hurricane Season Has Experts on Edge https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/with-a-busy-2025-hurricane-season-forecast-staffing-cuts-and-warm-oceans/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Andrea Thompson. 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 measles outbreak in West Texas is slowing. Health officials think an increase in vaccination rates contributed to the slowdown, but Texas lawmakers have pushed a new bill to make it even quicker and easier for parents to exempt their children from vaccines. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goes counter to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists by removing recommendations for COVID vaccines for pregnant people and children without underlying health conditions. The first vaccine for gonorrhea debuts in England and Wales, with early results suggesting it is 30 to 40 percent effective against the disease. Your sensitive teeth may have origins in the dentin in the exoskeletons of ancient fish. Plus, researchers use fossils to discover what megalodons may have eaten.  Recommended reading: See the Dramatic Consequences of Vaccination Rates Teetering on a ‘Knife’s Edge’  Fun Facts about Teeth across the Animal Kingdom Love the Ocean? Thank a Shark  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Are you flourishing? It’s a more understated metric than happiness, but it can provide a multidimensional assessment of our quality of life. Victor Counted, an associate professor of psychology at Regent University and a member of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University, joins host Rachel Feltman to review the first wave of results from the five-year, 22-country Global Flourishing Study. Counted reflects on the difficulty of applying a universal concept to varied cultural contexts and ways that we can control our own flourishing.  Recommended reading: Read the study See an article about the study co-authored by Counted Societies with Little Money Are among the Happiest on Earth  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Male infertility is undercovered and underdiscussed. If a couple is struggling to conceive, there’s a 50–50 chance that sperm health is a contributing factor. Diagnosing male infertility is getting easier with at-home tests—and a new study suggests a method for testing at home that would be more accurate. Study co-author Sushanta Mitra, a professor of mechanical and mechatronics engineering at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss how lower sperm adhesion could be used as a proxy for higher sperm motility. Recommended reading: Read the study: https://advanced.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/admi.202400680 Are Sperm Counts Really Declining? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-sperm-counts-really-declining/  Wiggling Sperm Power a New Male Fertility Test https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wiggling-sperm-power-a-new-male-fertility-test/  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Dolphins have a broad vocabulary. They vocalize with whistles, clicks and “burst pulses.”This varied communication makes it challenging for scientists to decode dolphin speech. Artificial intelligence can help researchers process audio and find the slight patterns that human ears may not be able to identify. Reporter Melissa Hobson took a look at DolphinGemma, a large language model created by Google in collaboration with the Wild Dolphin Project and the Georgia Institute of Technology. The project seeks to unravel the clicks from the whistles and to understand what dolphins chat about under the waves.  Recommended reading: Read our article about DolphinGemma: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-ai-let-us-chat-with-dolphins/ Watch our video about the project: https://www.tiktok.com/@scientificamerican/video/7499862659072871723  Keep up with Hobson’s reporting:  http://www.melissahobson.co.uk/ Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was co-hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell—but new research suggests they might be far more complex. Columbia University’s Martin Picard joins Scientific American’s Rachel Feltman to explore how these tiny organelles could be communicating and what that might mean for everything from metabolism to mental health. Check out Martin Picard’s full article in the June issue of Scientific American. Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! E-mail 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Soviet-era spacecraft Kosmos-482 lands, though no one is certain where. Physicists turn lead into gold. Overdose deaths are down, in part thanks to the availability of naloxone. Flamingos make underwater food tornadoes. Chimps use leaves as a multi-tool. Recommended reading: A New, Deadly Era of Space Junk Is Dawning, and No One Is Ready https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/spacex-dropped-space-junk-on-my-neighbors-farm-heres-what-happened-next/  Physicists Turn Lead into Gold—For a Fraction of a Second https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/large-hadron-collider-physicists-turn-lead-into-gold-for-a-fraction-of-a/ Overdose Deaths Are Finally Starting to Decline. Here’s Why. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/overdose-deaths-are-finally-starting-to-decline-heres-why/ 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by associate mind and brain editor Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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 year-round sea ice in the Arctic is melting and has shrunk by nearly 40 percent over the past four decades. Geoengineering companies such as Real Ice are betting big on refreezing it. That may sound ridiculous, impractical or risky—but proponents say we have to try. The U.K. government seems to agree, investing millions into experimental approaches such as Real Ice’s. Pulitzer Center Ocean Reporting Fellow Alec Luhn is taking us with him to the Arctic to see what it takes to freeze sea ice in the already freezing cold. Recommended reading: Read Luhn’s feature in the June 2025 issue of SciAm, which will be released on May 20: https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/alec-luhn/ Follow Luhn on Instagram @alecluhn_ and BlueSky @alecluhn.bsky.social U.K. Funds Geoengineering Experiments as Global Controversy Grows https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/u-k-funds-geoengineering-experiments-as-global-controversy-grows/  Geoengineering Wins Reluctant Interest from Scientists as Earth’s Climate Unravels https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/geoengineering-wins-reluctant-interest-from-scientists-as-earths-climate/  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Measles was technically “eliminated” in the U.S. in 2000 thanks to high measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates. While prior outbreaks have made headlines, a slew of cases in West Texas is more than just newsworthy—it could cause the U.S. to lose elimination status. Associate health and medicine editor Lauren Young explains what elimination means, why measles cases are rising and how to prevent further transmission. Recommended reading: Measles Was ‘Eliminated’ in the U.S. in 2000. The Current Outbreak May Change That  Five Reasons Measles Outbreaks Are Worse Than You Think—And Why Vaccination Matters  How to Check If You’re Immune to Measles  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lauren Young. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

A 1970s Soviet spacecraft is hurtling down from space—and no one knows where it will land. All 28 of the most populous cities in the U.S. are slowly sinking. Investments and overconsumption make the wealthiest 10 percent of the global population responsible for two thirds of climate-change-related warming.  Recommended reading: Cuttlefish May Communicate with Discolike Arm Gestures https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cuttlefish-may-communicate-with-discolike-arm-gestures/  This Soviet Spacecraft Will Soon Crash-Land on Earth https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-to-know-about-kosmos-482-the-soviet-spacecraft-crash-landing-on-earth/  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

We’re taking a field trip to the U.S.’s only particle collider, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), housed at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Staff scientist Alex Jentsch takes listeners through some basic terminology and interconnected technologies that help Brookhaven researchers probe questions about our unseen universe. The RHIC is winding down in preparation for the new Electron-Ion Collider, which could help us discover the secrets of the “glue” that holds visible matter together.  Be sure to head over to our YouTube account to see the video version of this podcast, shot on-site at Brookhaven National Laboratory! Recommended reading: Who Will Build the Next Giant Particle Collider? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/who-will-build-the-next-giant-particle-collider/  Supersymmetry Washes Out at the Large Hadron Collider https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/supersymmetrys-long-fall-from-grace/  Physicists Are Closer Than Ever to Solving the Puzzle of the Ghostly Neutrino’s Mass https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/neutrino-mass-mystery-shrinks-with-latest-katrin-results/  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Casey Johnston is not your typical health and fitness influencer. She joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss how finding joy in strength training changed her relationship to fitness, food and body image. Johnston’s new book, A Physical Education, reflects on engaging with exercise in a balanced way. Recommended reading: You can get Johnston’s book A Physical Education here You can also get Johnston’s training program book LIFTOFF: Couch to Barbell here Read her newsletter She’s a Beast Or follow her on Bluesky   Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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 congressionally mandated National Climate Assessment grinds to a halt. Amazon launches its first round of Internet satellites. The European Space Agency launches a satellite to measure the biomass of Earth’s trees. New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft offer insights into Jupiter and Io. Claims of Tyrannosaurus rex leather are, predictably, misleading.  Recommended reading: Trump Dismisses Scientists Writing Key Climate Reporthttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-dismisses-scientists-writing-the-national-climate-assessment/  Jupiter’s Supervolcanic Moon Io Dazzles in Photos from NASA’s Close Flybyshttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/jupiters-supervolcanic-moon-io-dazzles-in-photos-from-nasas-close-flybys/  Tell us what you think! Take our survey for the chance to win some SciAm swag! http://sciencequickly.com/survey  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Conservationists are ringing the alarm about the fungi facing extinction. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List features vulnerable pandas and endangered tortoises, but it also highlights more than 400 fungi species that are under threat. Gregory Mueller, chief scientist emeritus at the Chicago Botanic Garden and coordinator of fungal conservation programs at the IUCN, and Anders Dahlberg, a professor of mycology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, explain the critical role fungi play in our environment and ways we can protect these threatened species. Recommended reading: Mysterious ‘Dark Fungi’ Are Lurking Everywhere  For fans of The Last of Us, our 2023 podcast on real zombifying fungi 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Griefbots, artificial intelligence chatbots that mimic deceased loved ones, are increasingly in popularity. Researcher Katarzyna Nowaczyk-Basińska reflects on what death, grief and immortality look like in the digital age. She shares insights from a project that she is leading as a AI2050 Early Career Fellow: Imaginaries of Immortality in the Age of AI: An Intercultural Analysis. Plus, we discuss the ethical and privacy concerns surrounding how the data of the deceased are used and what consumers should be on the lookout for if they want to use griefbots.  Recommended reading: You can read a recent paper on griefbots co-authored by Nowaczyk-Basińska: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13347-024-00744-w And you can keep up with her research: https://katarzynanowaczykbasinska.pl/en/dr-katarzyna-nowaczyk-basinska/ Read our coverage of the tricky ethical debates around AI: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-god-chatbots-changing-religious-inquiry/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

We’re taking a break from our usual weekly news roundup to do a little time travel. In 1925 Scientific American covered a total solar eclipse that featured some surprising solar shadow play and a prediction about today’s eclipses. Plus, we review some long-gone sections of the magazine that tried to verify mediums and show off zany inventions! Recommended reading: You can read more from our archives here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/archive/issues/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Wild NYC author Ryan Mandelbaum takes host Rachel Feltman through New York City’s Prospect Park to find urban wildlife. They explore the city’s many birds, surprising salamanders and unexpected urban oases. Plus, they discuss what the rules of engagement with wildlife are and how you can find wildlife in your own urban or suburban environment.  Recommended reading: Read Wild NYC: Experience the Amazing Nature in and around New York City, which is out now. Listen to our episode on protecting wildlife wherever you are.  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

When writer Stephen S. Hall was a child, he would capture snakes—much to his mother’s chagrin. Now the science journalist is returning to his early fascination In his latest book, Slither: How Nature’s Most Maligned Creatures Illuminate Our World. The book explores our long, complicated relationship with snakes. Plus, Hall chats about humans’ and other animals’ evolved reactivity to the presence of snakes and the adaptations that keep snakes alive in even the most extreme environments. Recommended reading: Slither is out now: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/stephen-s-hall/slither/9781538741337/  An Evolutionary ‘Big Bang’ Explains Why Snakes Come in So Many Strange Varieties https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/an-evolutionary-big-bang-explains-why-snakes-come-in-so-many-strange-varieties/  Venomous Snakes May Spread into Vulnerable Communities because of Climate Change https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/venomous-snakes-are-spreading-because-of-climate-change/  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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Measles cases are going up—and a federal scientist has warned that case counts have probably been underreported. Another vaccine-preventable illness, whooping cough, sees a troubling increase in cases. Ancient humans found sun-protection solutions when Earth’s magnetic poles wandered. A colossal squid has been captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time. Plus, we discuss evidence that Mars once had a carbon cycle and a planet that is orbiting a pair of brown dwarfs.  Recommended reading: This Is the First Colossal Squid Filmed in the Deep Sea—And It’s a Baby! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f8leNRUXdo&t=1s  RFK, Jr., Is Wrong about Cause of Rising Autism Rates, Scientists Say https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-reason-autism-rates-are-rising/  How to Talk about Vaccines in an Era of Scientific Mistrust https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-vaccine-hesitancy-occur-and-how-can-people-combat-it/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Senior mind and brain editor Gary Stix has covered the breadth of science and technology over the past 35 years at Scientific American. He joins host Rachel Feltman to take us through the rise of the Internet and the acceleration of advancement in neuroscience that he’s covered throughout his time here. Stix retired earlier this month, and we’d like to thank him for his intellect, inquisitiveness and inspiring run at Scientific American!  Read some of Gary Stix’s recent coverage of neuroscience and psychology: Even Four-Year-Olds Instinctively Fact-Check for Misinformation https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/even-four-year-olds-instinctively-fact-check-for-misinformation/  You Don’t Need Words to Think https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/you-dont-need-words-to-think/ Wikipedia Searches Reveal Differing Styles of Curiosity https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wikipedia-searches-reveal-differing-styles-of-curiosity/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest (and now retired senior editor!) Gary Stix. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Hypochlorous acid is a promising disinfectant that is difficult to commercialize because it is not very shelf-stable. Senior features editor Jen Schwartz takes us through what the science of this nontoxic disinfectant is and explains why its popularity in the beauty aisle is only the beginning.  Recommended reading:  The Nontoxic Cleaner That Kills Germs Better Than Bleach—And You Can Use It on Your Skin https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hypochlorous-acid-is-trending-in-skin-care-and-cleaning-but-does-it-work/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Jen Schwartz. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Caffeine-motivated researchers find that pour height may be the key to a perfect cup of coffee. A new study of plastics finds that less than 10 percent of such products are made with recycled materials. And once the plastics are used, only 28 percent of them make it to the sorting stage—and only half of that plastic is actually recycled. Data from the Hubble Telescope show how a day on Uranus lasts longer than previously thought. Plus, we discuss how scientists thought dinosaurs were in decline even before their mass extinction—until now.  Recommended reading: Challenging Big Oil’s Big Lie about Plastic Recycling A Day on Uranus Is Longer Than We Thought, Hubble Telescope Reveals  The Horned and Armored Dinosaurs Were the Gladiators of the Mesozoic  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Noninvasive prenatal blood testing, or NIPT, is a routine screening that is offered during pregnancy and looks for placental DNA to diagnose chromosomal disorders in a fetus. But in some cases, these tests can also find cancer in the pregnant person. How do the tests work, and why are they uncovering cancer? Genetic counselor and writer Laura Herscher speaks with host Rachel Feltman about IDENTIFY (Incidental Detection of Maternal Neoplasia through Non-invasive Cell-Free DNA Analysis), a broader study that seeks to understand why usual results from NIPT can correlate with a cancer diagnosis in a pregnant patient. Plus, we discuss why treating pregnant patients for cancer can be complicated for obstetricians and oncologists. Recommended reading: A Prenatal Test of the Fetus Turns Up Cancers in Pregnant Mothers https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-prenatal-test-of-the-fetus-turns-up-cancers-in-pregnant-mothers/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), an overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria in the vagina, affects nearly one in three people with a vagina. While you can get BV without ever having sex, a new study has found that, in some cases, it could be functioning more like a sexually transmitted infection. That’s in part because of the increased risk of BV after sex with a new partner and a high recurrence of BV symptoms after treatment.The study examined women with BV who were in a monogamous relationship with a male partner and found that treating both people was significantly more effective than treating the woman alone. Host Rachel Feltman speaks with study co-authors Lenka Vodstrcil, a senior research fellow at Melbourne Sexual Health Center at Monash University in Australia, and Catriona Bradshaw, a professor of sexual health medicine at Monash University and Australia’s Alfred Hospital. Recommended reading: Read the study Resources for patients and health professionals  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

We're surrounded by risks of all sizes, every day. Some people might be risk-takers, while others do whatever they can to avoid them. But how can we tackle the risks that impact society on a global scale, like those linked to sustainable energy, societal health and digital technology? Science journalist Izzie Clarke explores this question in the latest podcast from Scientific American Custom Media. She sat down with Chris Cramer, chief research officer and interim president for the leading safety science organization UL Research Institutes. This podcast was produced for UL Research Institutes by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazine’s board of editors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Trump administration continues to make cuts to U.S. science and health agencies. Now some states are fighting back, suing the Department of Health and Human Services for slashing $11 billion in public health funds. A study finds that Americans live shorter lives than Europeans with the same income—stress and other systemic issues could be to blame. While much-hyped asteroid 2024 YR4 is no longer a risk to Earth, it could still hit the moon—a possibility that has some scientists excited. Plus, we give an update on the U.S.’s measles outbreak and the troubling hesitancy that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is showing toward communicating with the public.  Recommended reading: As Measles Continues to Rise, CDC Muffles Vaccine Messaging  JWST Delivers Best-Yet Look at That Worrisome Asteroid Americans Are Lonelier Than Europeans in Middle Age 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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 U.S. Department of State recently announced plans to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID. While some of USAID’s functions will continue under the Department of State, there is real concern that the cuts will jeopardize public health efforts across the world, including immunization programs and other efforts that have saved the lives of millions of children. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman to explore the agency’s lifesaving programs and to discuss the devastating effects that will occur when the U.S. divests from global public health efforts.  Recommended reading: USAID Funding Saved Millions of Children’s Lives. Recent Cuts Put It in Jeopardy  Watch now: John Green on How Tuberculosis Shaped Our Modern World 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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 human body is capable of some truly incredible things. One of the most mysterious and debated phenomena is a release of fluid during sex that is often referred to as “squirting.” What’s actually happening, and why does it stir so much speculation? Wendy Zukerman, host of the hit podcast Science Vs, breaks down the science behind this fascinating topic, exploring what we know, what we don’t and what the controversy surrounding it is. Recommended reading: What a Survey On Anal Sex and Masturbation Reveals About Prostates and Pleasure E-mail 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Long-chain alkanes discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover point to the possibility that there may have been fatty acids on Mars—and that they could have come from past microbial life. Paleontologists have found a huge dinosaur claw that was probably made for foraging, not fighting. Researchers studying ocean life have recorded the sounds of sharks and the tricks of cuttlefish. Plus, cuts to jobs and funding for U.S. federal science and health agencies continued last week. Tens of thousands of federal workers are on the chopping block, as is funding for COVID testing, vaccinations and equity initiatives.  Recommended reading: Scientists Record First Known Shark Sounds https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-record-first-known-shark-sounds/  HHS’s Long COVID Office Is Closing. What Will This Mean for Future Research and Treatments? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hhss-long-covid-office-is-closing-what-will-this-mean-for-future-research/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio.This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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 cutting edge of research is very small—and very clean. In this episode, host Rachel Feltman joins Vladimir Bulović, director of MIT.nano, on a tour of this facility’s nanoscale capabilities. Its tightly controlled clean room hosts research across several fields, from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology. You can see Bulović’s tour of the lab at: https://youtu.be/ucGFcLjX30Q  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is 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

When you hear “invasive plant,” you might picture an aggressive species taking over and harming the environment. But what if the way we think about invasive plants is part of the problem? Host Rachel Feltman chats with Mason Heberling, associate curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, about why these plants are more complicated than we think. He’s one of the experts behind Uprooted: Plants Out of Place, a new exhibition that challenges the way we label and manage plant invasions. Recommended reading: Invasive Species Can Sometimes Help an Ecosystem “Lost in Translation: The Need for Updated Messaging Strategies in Invasion Biology Communication,” by Rachel A. Reeb and J. Mason Heberling, in Plants, People, Planet. Published online November 8, 2024 Email 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 Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Two NASA astronauts are finally back on Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay in space. What kept them up there so long? Meanwhile scientists have discovered that gray seals have a built-in oxygen gauge that helps them hold their breath for more than an hour. And in the Antarctic, researchers found that penguin poop seriously stresses out krill. Catch up on these stories and more in our Monday news roundup. Recommended reading: After 286 Days in Space, NASA Astronauts Return to Earth with a Splash  E-mail 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 Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What if you could completely separate your work and personal life—with the help of a brain implant? That’s the unsettling premise of Severance, the hit Apple TV+ show that just wrapped its second season. To make the science fiction feel as real as possible, the creators brought in an actual neurosurgeon, Vijay Agarwal, chief of the Skull-Base Tumor Center at Montefiore Einstein, as a consultant for the show. Host Rachel Feltman met with Agarwal to break down the real neuroscience behind Severance—and whether a procedure like the one it depicts could ever exist. Mild spoilers ahead! We recommend you at least watch through episode seven of season two before you listen. Recommended reading: The Neuroscience of Severance: What’s Real? What’s Fake?  What Severance Life Would Really Be Like, according to a Psychologist  Email 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Colonoscopy gets a bad rap, but how much of what you’ve heard is actually true? In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we’re tackling the biggest myths that keep people from getting this potentially lifesaving screening. John Nathanson, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, joins host Rachel Feltman to clear up what the misconceptions are, explain what to expect and share why this test is so important. Recommended reading: The Colon Cancer Conundrum  Colon Cancer Linked to Mouth Bacteria  Email 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator plans to get rid of or weaken critical environmental rules and policies, such as regulations around greenhouse gases and clean water protections. The deregulation effort follows the recent cancellation of hundreds of grants. NASA launched two missions last week. The first, SPHEREx, will make a three-dimensional map of the sky. The second, PUNCH, is a collection of satellites meant to study solar wind. Plus, Saturn gains some moons, and whale urine balances ecosystems. Recommended reading: Trump EPA Unveils Aggressive Plans to Dismantle Climate Regulation  New NASA Space Telescope Will See the Universe in 102 Colors Heliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Dennis Hong, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered a love of robots at an early age while watching the “droid” characters in Star Wars. As director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at U.C.L.A., Hong has worked on functional humanoid robots for tasks such as firefighting and disaster relief. Then the Russo brothers came calling. To promote their new Netflix movie The Electric State, film directors Anthony and Joseph Russo wanted to move beyond CGI and create a version of the lead robot, Cosmo, for events. Hong joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss the challenges of blending practical robotics with a Hollywood vision. You can watch The Electric State on Netflix. Recommended reading: Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong?  Spiderlike Mars Robot Might One Day Crawl through Unexplored Volcanic Caves  A Brief History of Automatons That Were Actually People  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s been five years since COVID was declared a global pandemic. Local, national and global public health agencies mobilized to contain the spread of COVID, but experts worry that backlash against measures like lockdowns have made today’s systems less capable of handling a disease of similar scale. Now the U.S. faces a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas that underscores the importance of public health infrastructure. Recommended reading: On COVID’s Fifth Anniversary, Scientists Reflect on Mistakes and Successes https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/on-covids-fifth-anniversary-scientists-reflect-on-mistakes-and-successes/ Read Michelle Mello’s research on how public health legal powers have changed since the beginning of the COVID pandemic: https://www.bmj.com/content/384/bmj-2023-076269  And check out Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga’s ongoing health equity reporting: https://www.kcur.org/bek-shackelford  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with producer Fonda Mwangi. Our show is 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

With measles cases on the rise, experts are pushing back against misleading claims about vitamin A as a substitute for vaccination. A Supreme Court ruling has reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority over water pollution, raising concerns about future environmental protections. And in the world of biotechnology, scientists have genetically engineered woolly mice—an experiment with implications for de-extinction efforts. Recommended reading: Company Seeking to Resurrect the Woolly Mammoth Creates a ‘Woolly Mouse’ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/company-seeking-to-resurrect-the-woolly-mammoth-creates-a-woolly-mouse/  Trump Gives EPA One Week to Decide on Abandoning Climate Pollution Regulation https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-gives-epa-one-week-to-decide-on-abandoning-climate-pollution/  Email 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

John Green is an author, advocate and one half of the Vlogbrothers. His latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, comes out on March 18. Green joins host Rachel Feltman to share how tuberculosis shaped history, geography and culture. He discusses how he came to understand the inequities of tuberculosis and the dire risk public health interruptions pose to patients today. Recommended reading: You can preorder Everything Is Tuberculosis: https://everythingistb.com/#book How Advocates Pushed Big Pharma to Cut Tuberculosis Drug Priceshttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-advocates-pushed-big-pharma-to-cut-tuberculosis-drug-prices/  The Heroic Black Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosishttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-heroic-black-nurses-who-helped-cure-tuberculosis/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura and Naeem Amarsy 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

Not much passes into our brain from the rest of our body, to the chagrin of drug makers everywhere. So it should be cause for concern when a study found that microplastics were somehow ending up in our brain, says chief opinion editor Megha Satyanarayana. She takes a step back and brings us into the wider world of plastics and the way petroleum chemicals can become pollutants far beyond the factories where they are made. Plus, Satyanarayana discusses the Scientific American opinion section and her column Cross Currents, which aims to decode the science from the headlines. Recommended reading: Why Aren’t We Losing Our Minds over the Plastic in Our Brains?  Subscribe to receive weekly emails alerts for Satyanarayana’s column Cross Currents:  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Megha Satyanarayana. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Officials have confirmed the first measles death in an outbreak in West Texas. A meeting to discuss which strains to focus on for next year’s flu vaccines was canceled by the Food and Drug Administration. Public health officials are investigating two outbreaks of an unknown disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Plus, new research discovers the importance of microbes in space for astronauts’ health and sheds light on the way the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. turned a brain to glass. Recommended reading: The Measles Outbreak in Texas Is Why Vaccines Matter | Opinion https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-measles-outbreak-in-texas-is-why-vaccines-matter/ The International Space Station May Need More Microbes to Keep Astronauts Healthy https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-international-space-station-may-need-more-microbes-to-keep-astronauts/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura 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

Have you ever had a song continue to loop in your brain no matter how hard you tried to shake it? These “earworms” are more than just an annoyance—they’re a phenomenon scientists have studied for years. This episode dives into what makes certain melodies stick, why some tunes are more persistent than others and what our listeners shared as their most unforgettable earworms. Recommended reading: How Do You Solve a Problem Like an Earworm?  Email 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, Naeem Amarsy, and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was reported and co-hosted by Josh Fischman. Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses, and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Gaia spacecraft stopped collecting data this January after about 11 years and more than three trillion observations. Senior space and physics editor Lee Billings joins host Rachel Feltman to review Gaia’s Milky Way–mapping mission and the tidal streams, black holes and asteroids the spacecraft identified.  Recommended reading: New Maps of Milky Way Are Biggest and Best Yet https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gaias-multi-billion-star-map-of-the-milky-way-keeps-getting-better/  Astronomers Discover Milky Way’s ‘Sleeping Giant’ Black Hole Shockingly Close to Earth https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/milky-way-sleeping-giant-black-hole-shockingly-close-to-earth/  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lee Billings. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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 black hole at the center of our galaxy is emitting near-constant, random light. The European Space Agency has approved astronaut candidate John McFall, making McFall the first physically disabled candidate to be cleared to fly. The risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth rose to more than 3 percent and then dipped down to 1.5 percent with new data—our February 12 episode explained why this risk has been changing. Recommended reading: Hear our February 12 episode about asteroid 2024 YR4: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/what-we-know-about-2024-yr4-the-asteroid-with-a-2-percent-chance-of-impact/  Read more of guest host Allison Parshall’s exceptional coverage: https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/allison-parshall/  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 Allison Parshall, Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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

It’s fairly strange that humans, unlike many other mammals, don’t have hair all over. Our lack of body hair and wide geographic distribution led to the variation of sun-protective melanin in our skin. For the hair that remains, why did some groups develop curls while others did not? Biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi takes host Rachel Feltman through her work on understanding the roots of hair types. Plus, they discuss what we might learn from “chemo curls” and how developmental shifts change the extent and texture of hair during puberty. Recommended reading: Read more about Tina Lasisi at her website Read papers on hair and thermoregulation published by Lasisi and her colleagues in 2024 and 2023 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is 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

Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission. But during the early days of the disease, public health officials suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The subsequent back-and-forth over how COVID spread brought science journalist Carl Zimmer into the world of aerobiology. In his new book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, Zimmer examines the unseen life in the air around us. He joins host Rachel Feltman to look back at the history of the field, from ancient Greek “miasmas” to Louis Pasteur’s unorthodox experiments to biological warfare.  You can preorder Zimmer’s new book And stay up-to-date on his work at his website 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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

Love isn’t just about romance. This Valentine’s Day, we’re exploring the power of deep nonromantic bonds. Host Rachel Feltman sits down with Rhaina Cohen, a producer and editor for NPR’s podcast Embedded and author of The Other Significant Others, to discuss the history and psychology of friendship—and the reasons these connections deserve just as much celebration as romantic partnerships. Recommended reading: —The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship —How to Reconnect with Old Friends Who Have Become Strangers Subscribe to Rhaina Cohen’s newsletter. 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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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 European Space Agency recently announced that the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2 percent chance of hitting our planet in 2032. The probability of impact is difficult to predict exactly and will be clearer in 2028, when 2024 YR4 will whiz by us. But if the asteroid really is on a collision course with Earth, what can we do about it? Senior space and physics editor Lee Billings joins host Rachel Feltman to unpack this headline-making story. Recommended reading: Newfound Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2032, Scientists Say  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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lee Billings. Our show is 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

A subtype of H5N1 bird flu that has been found in cattle for the first time suggests that the virus jumped from birds to the animals twice. A headline-making study estimates that we have a spoon’s worth of microplastics in our brain. Streams of rock from a cosmic impact created the moon’s two deep canyons, Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck. A large study shows that people feel their best in the morning and their worst at midnight. Bonobos can tell when humans don’t know something—and try to help us. Recommended reading: The U.S. Is Not Ready for Bird Flu in Humans  Bonobos Can Tell When a Human Doesn’t Know Something  Is Snoozing the Alarm Good or Bad for Your Health?   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, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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 first few weeks of the Trump administration have been marked by chaos and confusion for the nation’s health and science agencies. A funding freeze broadly targeting language around diversity, equity and inclusion has agencies evaluating research and initiatives. A hold on public communications from health agencies is affecting public health reporting to people in the U.S.—and to the World Health Organization. Entire websites have gone dark as agencies have tried to comply, though archivists are preventing critical datasets from disappearing. Max Kozlov, a Nature reporter who covers biomedical science, joins host Rachel Feltman to walk through what the next four years might hold for research and researchers in the U.S. Overall, the orders have caused uncertainty for scientists in the nation, and associate health editor Lauren Young discusses the frustration and fear she’s hearing from them. Read more of Max Kozlov’s reporting: –Trump Abruptly Cancels Crucial Science Reviews at NIH, World’s Largest Public Funder of Biomedical Research  –Exclusive: How NSF Is Scouring Research Grants for Violations of Trump’s Orders –Chaos Erupts in US Science as Trump’s Team Declares Freeze on Federal Grants 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 Lauren Young. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

It’s almost impossible not to feel outraged these days. But overexposure to information that makes us angry can wear us down. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss how to combat outrage fatigue. Plus, we discuss a surprising finding about outrage and the spread of misinformation. Recommended reading: –Read Tanya Lewis’s full story on outrage fatigue –Listen for tips on converting cynicism into hopeful skepticism  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 Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

This week we’re recapping Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings. Highly pathogenic H5N9, a strain of bird flu, was found in U.S. poultry. A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is making headlines—but how severe is the spread? Health equity reporter Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga of the Kansas News Service and KCUR joins host Rachel Feltman to unpack the situation. Plus, we discuss fossilized puke and ice-resistant polar bear hair. Recommended reading: –Shackelford-Nwanganga’s reporting on the tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas –The Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Cats and Chickens –RFK, Jr., Confirmation Hearing Showed 5 Ways He Threatens Public Health  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 Madison Goldberg 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

It’s easy to be cynical about the state of the world—even when you’re a researcher who studies empathy and kindness. Stanford University psychologist Jamil Zaki turned his own negativity into his new book Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. The book busts common myths about cynicism and explores what it could be doing to our body and brain. Zaki reflects on the imperfections of cynicism and hope and presents a third option: hopeful skepticism. Recommended reading: Read Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness.  Follow Jamil Zaki’s work at www.jamil-zaki.com and www.ssnl.stanford.edu 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

The sun is in the middle of its solar maximum, the part of its 11-year solar cycle that was responsible for the stunning auroras seen across the globe last year. This year is looking equally exciting, with more incoming space weather and a handful of science missions to study the sun’s wide-reaching behavior. Senior reporter Meghan Bartels reviews the missions that are launching in 2025 and explains the reasons why you should be excited by heliophysics. Recommended reading: Heliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025  Should You Really Worry about Solar Flares?  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 Meghan Bartels. Our show is 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

Executive orders that impact science and health in the U.S. came quickly after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Tanya Lewis, senior editor of health and medicine, explains how grievances over COVID and funding led Trump to order the U.S.’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization—and what that withdrawal would mean for global health. Plus, we present an update on the spread of bird flu in the U.S. and other news on topics from animal behavior to astronomy. –Listen to our episode about the mishandled response to the bird flu outbreak –Read more about Trump’s executive orders around science and health –Check out some lighthearted animal behavior research 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 Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the news these days and to fear for the future. What if you could interrupt doomscrolling and contribute to conservation at the same time? That’s the idea behind programs like Adventure Scientists, eBird and iNaturalist. Guest Gregg Treinish, founder and executive director of Adventure Scientists, joins host Rachel Feltman to talk about community science in the great outdoors.  Learn more about Adventure Scientists Contribute to the California Biodiversity project Contribute to the Tracking Eastern Hemlock project Read Treinish’s opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle 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

Net neutrality, the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, was heralded by the Federal Communications Commission and open Internet advocates. A federal court struck down the FCC’s ability to enforce the policy earlier this month. What does that mean for the free and open Internet? Associate technology editor Ben Guarino joins host Rachel Feltman to review the state rules that could preserve net neutrality and ways that telecommunications giants could leverage the lack of federal regulation against their competitors.  Recommended reading: What the End of U.S. Net Neutrality Means  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 Ben Guarino. 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

A report that was recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services highlights the risks of drinking alcohol, even moderately. The Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of the dye Red No. 3 in food and other products. Experts argue that body mass index (BMI) is a flawed way to diagnose “obesity.” A SpaceX rocket successfully brought two lunar landers into orbit—but in another launch, part of a separate SpaceX vehicle exploded after takeoff. Plus, Australia has another scary spider. Recommended reading: – What to Know about the Ban on Red Dye in Foods and Drugs  – Blue Ghost, a Private U.S. Lunar Lander, Launches to the Moon  – People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding Obesity  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 Madison Goldberg 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

Ouch! Ah! Aïe! The words we use when we stub our toe or receive a pinch may point to a common way to express pain across languages. Associate news editor Allison Parshall explores what linguistic commonalities in expressions of pain and joy might mean for our shared biology. Plus, Parshall and host Rachel Feltman chat about onomatopoeias, the “bouba-kiki” effect and linguistic news you may have missed in 2024. Recommended reading: Ouch! Linguists Find Universal Language for Pain  How Our Thoughts Shape the Way Spoken Words Evolve  My Synesthesia Transforms Speech into Text I ‘See’ in My Head  Eight, Ocho, Acht Most Fascinating Language Discoveries of 2024  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 Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

H5N1 avian influenza has now reached almost 1,000 herds of dairy cattle in 16 states and has infected around 66 people, many of them agricultural workers, in the U.S. Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Amy Maxmen, a public health reporter at KFF Health News, to get the latest on bird flu. They explore how government and industry players lost control of the outbreak and what we can do to prevent a future pandemic of this evolving disease. Read the full story: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-has-spread-out-of-control-after-mistakes-by-u-s-government-and/ Read more of Amy Maxmen’s work: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/author/amy-maxmen/ Sign up for Healthbeat’s newsletters here. 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

Norovirus cases are up this year, with 91 reported outbreaks nationwide. Human metapneumovirus (HMPV) cases are up in China and India. There has also been an increase in the U.S., but HMPV is currently a cause for concern in the nation, where its relative commonality gives many people some immunity. Louisiana has reported the first U.S. death from H5N1 avian influenza. Experts say the risk of bird flu to most people is low, though several factors can cause severe disease. Medical debts are set to be removed from U.S. credit reports, which could raise credit scores by an average of 20 points for the 15 million Americans who will be affected.  Wildfires raged in the Los Angeles area last week, caused in part by a hot, dry winter and the speeds of the Santa Ana winds. Those winds made it difficult to fight the Palisades and Eaton Fires. As of last Thursday evening, firefighters were continuing to get a handle on these fires.  Plus, a new study uncovers the cosmic kiss between Pluto and its largest moon Charon. Recommended reading: What Does First U.S. Bird Flu Death Tell Experts about Disease Severity? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/first-human-bird-flu-death-in-u-s-reported-how-worried-should-we-be/ HMPV Cases Are Rising across Asia, but Experts Say Not to Panichttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-human-metapneumovirus-and-why-are-cases-rising-in-china/  Palisades and Eaton Fires Show Rising Dangers of Fast-Moving Blazes https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/palisades-and-eaton-fires-show-rising-dangers-of-fast-moving-fires/  Pluto May Have Won Its Moon Charon with a ‘Kiss’ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pluto-may-have-won-its-moon-charon-with-a-kiss/  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 Andrea Thompson. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pluto was unseated as our solar system’s ninth planet in 2006. Since then astronomers have found signs that a real ninth planet could be hiding at the edges of our solar system. Clara Moskowitz, senior editor for space and physics, explains how the forthcoming Vera Rubin Observatory could give researchers a way to find the real Planet Nine—if it’s out there. Recommended reading: – We May Be on the Brink of Finding the Real Planet Nine – How to Move the World’s Largest Camera from a California Lab to an Andes Mountaintop 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 Clara Moskowitz, senior editor for space and physics. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck.  The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Going outside has many benefits, from positively affecting our nervous system to diversifying our microbiome. But you don’t need a forest preserve to benefit from nature—sometimes even a houseplant or the smell of lavender can improve our life. Kathy Willis, a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss her new book Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health. Willis suggests ways for even city dwellers to reap the benefits of nature, such as strolling through urban parks or keeping plants in their office. Read Willis’s book: Good Nature: Why Seeing, Smelling, Hearing, and Touching Plants Is Good for Our Health (Pegasus Books, 2024) Listen to our previous episodes about plants: Do Plants ‘Think’? We Might Not Know Enough about Consciousness to Be Certain How to Grow Your Houseplant Collection Ethically  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  Kathy Willis. 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

2024 brought heat waves and hurricanes, bird flu and breakthroughs, and an overwhelming amount of progress in AI. Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman is joined by sustainability editor Andrea Thompson, health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis and technology editor Ben Guarino to recap a busy year and weigh in on the stories they’re watching in 2025. Happy Holidays from all of us at Science Quickly! Thank you for your support and your curiosity. We’ll see you next year. Recommended reading: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/wildest-things-science-learned-about-the-human-body-in-2024/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/summer-2024-was-the-hottest-ever-measured-beating-last-year/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/78-books-scientific-american-recommends-in-2024/ 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 guests Tanya Lewis, Andrea Thompson and Ben Guarino. 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

Tens of thousands of animal species are facing extinction, mostly because of human activity. But thanks to conservationists, there are some animals that are making a comeback. This is part four of “The New Conservationists,” a four-part series about the evolving world of animal conservation. Listen to part one, part two and part three. Recommended reading: – The Panda Factories  – Flying Conservationists Teach Endangered Birds to Migrate – The Last Wild Horses Are Finally Returning to Their Natural Habitat – Great Nicobar Island Is a Paradise in Danger 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 co-host Ashleigh Papp. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

Ashleigh Papp, an animal scientist turned storyteller, shifts our perspective on the modern conservationist. With low wages and expectations of free work, conservation science lacks diversity as a field—but dedicated graduate students and new programs are trying to change that. Isaac Aguilar, a graduate student in the geology division at the California Institute of Technology, tells Papp about his journey into conservation. Plus, join a night patrol with crime prevention sergeant Malungane Naledi. She's a member of the Black Mambas, an all-woman anti-poaching unit in South Africa’s Greater Kruger National Park. This is part three of The New Conservationists, a four-part series about the evolving world of animal conservation. Listen to part one and part two. Recommended reading: – Flying Conservationists Teach Endangered Birds to Migrate – The Last Wild Horses Are Finally Returning to Their Natural Habitat – Great Nicobar Island Is a Paradise in Danger 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 co-host Ashleigh Papp. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

Ashleigh Papp, an animal scientist turned storyteller, takes us on into the field. Conservationists and animal behaviorists were once restricted to wildlife data gathered manually. Now new technologies are expanding the amount of passively collected data—and machine learning is helping researchers cut through the noise. This is part two of The New Conservationists, a four-part series about the evolving world of animal conservation. Recommended reading: – Flying Conservationists Teach Endangered Birds to Migrate – The Last Wild Horses Are Finally Returning to Their Natural Habitat – Great Nicobar Island Is a Paradise in Danger 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 co-host Ashleigh Papp. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

Ashleigh Papp, an animal scientist turned storyteller, takes us on a trip to the zoo. People are divided on zoos, but as Papp explains, the thoughtful work that goes into caring for animals makes modern zoos conservation powerhouses. This is part one of The New Conservationists, a four-part Friday Fascination series about the evolving world of animal conservation. Recommended reading: – Flying Conservationists Teach Endangered Birds to Migrate – The Last Wild Horses Are Finally Returning to Their Natural Habitat – Great Nicobar Island Is a Paradise in Danger 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 co-host Ashleigh Papp. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

If you were intrigued—or disturbed—by the artificial intelligence podcast on your Spotify Wrapped, you may wonder how AI audio works. Audio Overview is a feature of the tool NotebookLM, released by Google, that allows for the creation of short podcasts with AI “hosts” summarizing information. But questions remain about the accuracy, usefulness and environmental impacts of this application. Host Rachel Feltman and associate news editor Allison Parshall are joined by Google Labs’ editorial director Steven Johnson and AI researchers Anjana Susarla and Emily Bender to assess the promise of this buzzy tech. Recommended reading: Google’s Project Green Light Uses AI to Take on City Traffic  Can One Chatbot Catch Another’s Lies?  Please Don’t Ask AI If Something Is Poisonous  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 Allison Parshall 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

An outbreak of an unknown illness has occurred in the Democratic of the Congo, which has already been dealing with the spread of mpox. A new study finds that leaded gasoline could be responsible for 151 million cases of mental health disorders, with impacts highest among members of Generation X. Upping your daily movement could protect you from cardiovascular events. Plus, we look at Venus’s past and fashion-forward orcas.  Recommended reading: For Orcas, Dead Salmon Hats Are Back in Fashion after 37 Years Mpox Is a Global Health Emergency. Here’s What We Know  Lead from Old Paint and Pipes Is Still a Deadly Hazard in Millions of U.S. Homes 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 Jeffery 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

Low iron levels can cause fatigue and impact mental health, but doctors often miss cases of iron deficiency and anemia. Pediatric hematologist Angela Weyand, a clinical associate professor at the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor, points to one population that could be at a higher risk—young women with heavy menstrual bleeding. In one study from a national database, nearly 40 percent of otherwise healthy adolescent women were iron-deficient, and 6 percent were additionally anemic. Awareness and self-advocacy could help people receive accessible and inexpensive treatments for low iron levels. Recommended reading: “Prevalence of Iron Deficiency and Iron-Deficiency Anemia in US Females Aged 12–21 Years, 2003–2020,” by Angela C. Weyand et al., in JAMA, Vol. 329, No. 24; June 27, 2023 What Is Implicit Bias, and How Might It Affect Your Next Medical Visit? 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

Anthony Fauci speaks with Tanya Lewis, senior editor for health and medicine at Scientific American, about his remarkable career, as detailed in his new book On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service. They discuss the experiences he faced while guiding the U.S. through the pandemic, the lessons learned by public health practitioners and the challenges posed by future threats, such as bird flu and other potential pandemics. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Recommended reading: New Bird Flu Cases in Young People Are Raising Concerns about Mutating Virus What Bird Flu in Wastewater Means for California and Beyond  H5N1 Bird Flu Isn’t a Human Pandemic—Yet  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 our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was reported and co-hosted by Tanya Lewis. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Black Friday sales have gone from one-day in-person shopping bonanzas to a multiday deals extravaganza. It’s tempting to give in to the seasonal pressures to shop, but knowing the tricks companies use to make sales so appealing can help us avoid overconsumption. Cathrine Jansson-Boyd, a professor of consumer psychology at Anglia Ruskin University in England, explains how to spot marketing ploys and shop sustainably.  Recommended reading: It’s Actually Healthier to Enjoy Holiday Foods without the Anxiety https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/enjoy-holiday-food-without-the-anxiety/  Eating Turkey Does Not Really Make You Sleepy https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eating-turkey-sleepy-thanksgiving/  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

Donald Trump has nominated RFK, Jr., to run the Department of Health and Human Services, a position that includes oversight of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis explains what that would mean for antivaccine policies, food safety and unproven therapies that Kennedy backs. Tobacco use is down across the U.S., but the drop has been uneven across groups. Astronomers have released the first-ever close up image of a star—and scientists are excited over an unexpected ring. Plus, studies of chimpanzees explore the role of social contagion on their behaviors and point to play in adult chimps. Recommended reading: RFK, Jr., Is a Bad Prescription for U.S. Public Health | Opinion  Chimps Share Knowledge like Humans Do, Spurring Innovation  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 senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Anaissa Ruiz Tejada 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

Writings and records are how we understand long-gone civilizations without being able to interact with ancient peoples. A recent opinion paper suggested we could feed chatbots writings from the past to simulate ancient participants for social psychology studies. Similar survey experiments with modern participant data closely matched the outcomes of the real people they were based on. We speak with the opinion paper’s co-author Michael Varnum, an associate professor at Arizona State University, about what the limits of this spooky proposal are and what the ghosts of cultures past could teach us today.  Recommended reading: “Large Language Models Based on Historical Text Could Offer Informative Tools for Behavioral Science,” by Michael E. W. Varnum et al., in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Vol. 121, No. 42, Article No.  e2407639121; October 9, 2024 https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2407639121  Inside the AI Competition That Decoded an Ancient Herculaneum Scroll https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/inside-the-ai-competition-that-decoded-an-ancient-scroll-and-changed/  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 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

Disparities in health are not indicated by adverse outcomes alone. Adriana Corredor-Waldron, an assistant professor of economics at NC State University, sought to understand why Black infants are more likely to be delivered by C-section than white infants. A working paper she co-authored found that the elevated number of low-risk Black pregnant people who were given C-section surgeries in New Jersey from 2008 to 2017 was likely caused by physician discretion. Corredor-Waldron explains why unnecessary C-sections can be risky and what medical education and financial incentives could do to close the gap.  Recommended viewing: What Is Implicit Bias, and How Might It Affect Your Next Medical Visit? https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/what-is-implicit-bias-and-how-might-it-affect-your-next-medical-visit/  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 Adriana Corredor-Waldron Our show is 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

A wildfire in Brooklyn, N.Y.’s Prospect Park was in part linked to drought conditions nationally. Plastic waste is set to grow with our expanding economy, but potential solutions look promising. Drops in gonorrhea and early-stage syphilis point to the first decline in sexually transmitted infections in 20 years. Voyager 2’s fly-by of Uranus in the 1980s collected data that led scientists to believe the planet’s moons were inactive. A reassessment of those data shows that Uranus could have just been having an off day. Plus, Alec Luhn reports from the 29th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) in Azerbaijan. Recommended reading: Melting Glaciers Are Causing Billions of Dollars of Damage  The U.S. Has Its First Plan for Plastic Pollution. This Is What’s in It  This Astoundingly Simple Ancient Technique Is Helping to Beat Back Drought  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 associate editor Andrea Thompson. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

Tomorrow marks the 50th anniversary of a transmission from the Arecibo Observatory, intended as our first attempt to send a message to intelligent life across the universe. Journalist Nadia Drake talks about the careful crafting of the signal and her personal connection with the astronomer who authored the transmission: her father Frank Drake.  Recommended reading: The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50 Arecibo Observatory Shuts Down Its Science 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 Nadia Drake. 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

What does the Declaration of Independence have in common with Vincent van Gogh’s sketches? The ink used to produce them came from wasps. From pests to products, insects have played an enormous role in human history. Entomologist and animal behaviorist Barrett Klein encourages a historical and scientific perspective on these creatures and invites us to marvel at their beauty and biodiversity. – Read Barrett Klein’s book The Insect Epiphany – See more from Klein – Explore our coverage 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 Madison Goldberg 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

A wooden solution to metal satellites polluting space. Water woes create droughts in 48 of the 50 U.S. states—and climate change is of course a culprit. Microplastics could make wastewater recycling more challenging. And researchers figure out how mud from a secret spot off the Delaware River makes baseballs easier to grip.  Recommended reading: How Baseball Got Faster but Riskier  Microplastics Linked to Heart Attack, Stroke and Death  Space Junk Is Polluting Earth’s Stratosphere with Vaporized Metal  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. Our show is edited by Anaissa Ruiz Tejada with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could our fixation on weight actually be harming, rather than helping, people’s health? Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Ragen Chastain, a writer, researcher and board-certified patient advocate, to discuss how weight stigma could be fueling many of the negative health outcomes we commonly link to weight gain. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Sign up for Chastain’s Substack newsletter, Weight and Healthcare Recommended reading: People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding Obesity Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia. Sabrina Strings. NYU Press, 2019 Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness. Da’Shaun L. Harrison. North Atlantic Books, 2021 Email 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. Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rising Signs: The Medieval Science of Astrology, a new exhibit at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, takes a look at medieval manuscripts to showcase the importance of astrology to the period’s elites. Larisa Grollemond, an assistant curator at the museum, takes us through the impact of astrology on day-to-day decisions and the way it became tied up in the medieval obsession with humoral balances. Plus, we discuss how today’s astrology split from the modern science of astronomy. Rising Signs is on display at the Getty Museum through January 5, 2025. https://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/rising-signs/index.html  Recommended reading: How to Survive Mercury in Retrograde https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-survive-mercury-in-retrograde/  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 Larisa Grollemond, an assistant curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum. 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 U.S. presidential candidates have very different visions for the country. On today’s show, host Rachel Feltman is joined by associate sustainability editor Andrea Thompson to talk about the climate choices faced by the next president and the shifting energy landscape. Senior news reporter Meghan Bartels reviews the gun control policies of the Biden administration and the complicated cultural dynamics around gun ownership that faces the next president. Plus, we discuss how public education could be stymied by a future Trump administration and how immigration decisions will shape the STEM workforce. Read more about the election: – In-depth coverage explains the candidates’ climate and energy policies – Kamala Harris and Donald Trump offer starkly different responses to gun violence – How the 2024 election could reshape education, from pre-K to college – The 2024 Election Will Define America’s Stance on Immigration, with Consequences for Science and Technology – Deep dives from other SciAm editors report on the candidates’ positions on artificial intelligence, heath care, and more 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 guests associate news editor Allison Parshall, senior editor of mind and brain Gary Stix, senior news reporter Meghan Bartels and associate editor of sustainability Andrea Thompson. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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 U.S. presidential candidates offer very different policy perspectives. On today’s show, host Rachel Feltman is joined by health editors Tanya Lewis and Lauren Young to discuss how Kamala Harris and Donald Trump plan to address reproductive rights and health care accessibility and affordability. Plus, senior opinion editor Dan Vergano draws on his coverage of nuclear weapons to preview what a win for each candidate would mean for the U.S.’s approach to nuclear policy.  Read more about the election: – In-depth coverage of the candidates’ health policies – The nuclear decisions awaiting the next president – Deep dives from other SciAm editors on the candidates’ positions on artificial intelligence, climate, and more 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 associate editor of health and medicine Lauren Young, senior editor of health and medicine Tanya Lewis and senior opinion editor Dan Vergano. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg, 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

Why do so many of us love a good scare? Whether it’s horror movies, haunted houses or creepy podcasts, there’s something thrilling about feeling spooked—especially around Halloween. In this episode, host Rachel Feltman dives into our fascination with fear and morbid curiosity with Coltan Scrivner, a behavioral scientist at the Recreational Fear Lab at Aarhus University in Denmark. They explore the evolutionary and psychological reasons behind why we’re drawn to the dark and eerie and why a dose of fear can be so much fun. Recommended reading: The Evolutionary Reasons We Are Drawn to Horror Movies and Haunted Houses Email 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, along with Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An enormous meteorite’s impact 3.26 billion years ago may have made conditions on Earth more hospitable for life in the long run. Washington State is the sixth state to report cases of bird flu in humans. Weight-loss procedures and treatments could lead to an uptick in scurvy cases if patients and physicians aren’t vigilant about vitamin C. And scientists are learning more from the remains of a Norse soldier whose body was dumped in a well some 800 years ago. Recommended Reading Bird Flu Is Infecting Pet Cats. Here’s What You Need to Know  Teenagers Are Taking New Weight-Loss Drugs, but the Science Is Far from Settled  We value your input! Take our quick survey to share your feedback. 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

Artist and author Geo Rutherford created Spooky Lake Month to highlight the strange and eerie waters of the world. She first fell in love with the Great Lakes during graduate school in Milwaukee. Rutherford was an early educational video creator, but it was a video about spooky lakes that skyrocketed her to viral fame. She has a new book, Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet. Rutherford joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss art, natural wonders and the deepest lake in the world.  You can get Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet at  www.georutherford.com/book  Watch Spooky Lakes videos at www.tiktok.com/@geodesaurus We’re still looking for listener submissions for our upcoming episode on the science of earworms. We’d love to hear a song you just can’t get out of your head. If you’re up for the challenge, sing or hum a few bars in a voice memo and send it over to ScienceQuickly@sciam.com with your name and where you’re from.  We value your input! Take our quick survey to share your feedback. 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 Geo Rutherford. 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

Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Jasmine McDonald, an assistant professor of epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, to discuss the disturbing trend of an increase in early-onset breast cancer diagnoses. They explore how chronic exposure to endocrine disruptors could be fueling this rise and examine the surprising role that societal beauty standards may play in shaping these risks. We value your input! Take our quick survey to share your feedback. Email 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. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration have confirmed we’re in the solar maximum, a period of increased solar activity that could lead to more auroras. Also, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported a fivefold surge in whooping cough cases. And a new study suggests that some microbes might be using our disinfectants against us by chowing down on them. Recommended reading: Whooping Cough Is Spreading Again after Years of Relative Quiet Email 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 edited by Anaissa Ruiz Tejada. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a lot of excitement and apprehension over the seemingly sudden proliferation of artificial intelligence in just about everything. Technological progress often outpaces regulation, and the next U.S. president will set the tone for AI policy. Scientific American’s associate technology editor Ben Guarino walks us through AI policies and plans from Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Plus, we discuss the role AI generated images, videos and even voices could play in spreading misinformation around the election. Recommended reading: How the Next President Will Determine the Future of AI  Lethal AI Weapons Are on the Rise. What’s Next?  We Cannot Cede Control of Weapons to Artificial Intelligence  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 associate technology editor Ben Guarino. 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

How do you stop implicit bias from getting in the way of better health? This doctor wants to make learning how to manage bias as important as learning how to suture. SHOWNOTES: Have you ever felt judged at the doctor’s office, even before you said a word? Unfortunately, that’s not uncommon, and it’s often not intentional. Like everyone, doctors have unconscious biases that can affect how they treat patients, which can pose real risks to health outcomes. In this episode, host Rachel Feltman is joined by Cristina Gonzalez, a physician and professor of medicine and population health at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, to discuss how these biases form and what can be done to address them. This podcast is part of “Health Equity Heros,” an editorially independent special report that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. E-mail 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. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Everything you need to know about last week’s physics, chemistry, and physiology or medicine Nobels. COVID could raise the risk of heart attacks and strokes years after original infection. Hurricane Milton causes tornadoes across Florida and delays the launch of Europa Clipper. Recommended reading: How Does Sharing a Nobel Prize Work? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-chemistry-physics-and-medicine-nobel-prizes-can-be-shared-and-how-that/  Why Hurricane Milton Caused So Many Tornadoes https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-hurricane-milton-caused-so-many-tornadoes/  NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission Carries Special Cargo: A Poem https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasas-europa-clipper-mission-carries-special-cargo-a-poem/  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 Anaissa Ruiz Tejada 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

Scientific American associate news editor and music enthusiast Allison Parshall takes Science Quickly through what we know about how singing came to be. Scientists aren’t sure why humans evolved to sing, but commonalities in traditional music offer clues to how the practice evolved. Neuroscience shows us where speech and singing live in the brain and what information the forms hold. And an upcoming experiment will look into how singing might make us more connected to one another. Recommended reading: New Folk Song Analysis Finds Similarities around the World How Artificial Intelligence Helped Write This Award-Winning Song 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 Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Marielle Issa, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices