Blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease, and what earthquakes on Mars reveal about the Red Planet’s core

First this week, Associate Editor Kelly Servick joins us to discuss a big push to develop scalable blood tests for Alzheimer’s disease and how this could advance research on the disease and its treatment. Next, Amir Khan, a senior scientist at the Physics Institute of the University of Zurich and the Institute of Geophysics at ETH Zürich, talks with...

3d

Science after COVID-19, and a landslide that became a flood

First this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a new series on how COVID-19 may alter the scientific enterprise and they look back at how pandemics have catalyzed change throughout history. Next, Dan Shugar, associate professor of geoscience and director of the environmental science program at the University...

2w

Scientists’ role in the opioid crisis, 3D-printed candy proteins, and summer books

First this week, Editor-in-Chief Holden Thorp talks with author Patrick Radden Keefe about his book Empire of Pain and the role scientists, regulators, and physicians played in the rollout of Oxycontin and the opioid crisis in the United States. Next, Katelyn Baumer, a Ph.D. student in the chemistry and biochemistry department at Baylor University,...

3w

Preserving plastic art, and a gold standard for measuring extreme pressure

First this week, Contributing Correspondent Sam Kean talks with producer Joel Goldberg about techniques museum conservators are using to save a range of plastic artifacts—from David Bowie costumes to the first artificial heart.  Next, Dayne Fratanduono, an experimental physicist at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, talks with producer Meagan...

4w

Does Botox combat depression, the fruit fly sex drive, and a series on race and science

First this week, Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady talks with host Sarah Crespi about controversy surrounding the use of Botox injections to alleviate depression by suppressing frowning. Next, researcher Stephen Zhang, a postdoctoral fellow at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, discusses his Science Advances paper on what turns on...

Jun 2021

Keeping ads out of dreams, and calculating the cost of climate displacement

First this week, News Intern Sofia Moutinho joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss scientists concerns about advertisers looking into using our smart speakers or phones to whisper ads to us while we sleep.  Next, Bina Desai, head of programs at the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva, discusses how to predict the economic impact of human...

Jun 2021

Finding consciousness outside the brain, and using DNA to reunite families

First this week, Contributing Correspondent Emily Underwood talks with host Sarah Crespi about the surprising role of the vagus nerve—which connects the brain to organs like the heart and digestive tract—in processes once thought to be solely controlled by the brain, such as consciousness and memory. Next, Sara Katsanis, a research assistant professor...

Jun 2021

Cicada citizen science, and expanding the genetic code

First this week, freelance journalist Ian Graber-Stiehl discusses what might be the oldest community science project—observing the emergence of periodical cicadas. He also notes the shifts in how amateur scientists have gone from contributing observations to helping scientists make predictions about the insects’ schedules. Next, Jason Chin, program...

Jun 2021

Cracking consciousness, and taking the temperature of urban heat islands

First this week, Lucia Melloni, a group leader in the department of neuroscience at the Max Planck Institute for Empirical Aesthetics, talks with host Sarah Crespi about making the hard problem of consciousness easier by getting advocates of opposing theories to collaborate and design experiments to rule in or rule out their competing theories. Next,...

May 2021

Ecstasy plus therapy for PTSD, and the effects of early childhood development programs on mothers

Staff Writer Kelly Servick talks with host Sarah Crespi about the pairing of a specific type of psychotherapy with the drug 3,4-methyl​enedioxy​methamphetamine, commonly known as ecstasy, for treating post-traumatic stress disorder. Also this week, Pamela Jakiela, an economics professor at Williams College, discusses the importance of knowing how...

May 2021