| May 17, 2013 |
Podcast for 17 May 2013
- VISION SCIENCE - A camera modeled after the compound eyes of insects. How the brain compensates for worsening color vision as we age. And, could electrical simulation to the brain improve math performance? Also: Young people are still flocking to tanning booths, despite the risk of developing life-threatening melanoma.
|
| May 10, 2013 |
Podcast for 10 May 2013
- EYES, EARS & THE BRAIN - How short-term hearing loss protects the ears. The brain's number hotspot. And: could lasers wipe out cocaine addiction? Also: A nanosponge that soaks up toxins in the body.
|
| April 30, 2013 |
Podcast for 19 April 2013
- GIANT SNAILS & ANCIENT TREES - Giant aliens attack Florida, unsticking geckos, the worlds within carnivorous plants, and mapless migrant monarchs.
|
| April 12, 2013 |
Podcast for 12 April 2013
- ATHLETES & ROBOTS - Elite athletes are far from dumb jocks. A common ingredient in energy drinks could promote heart disease. Also: Robots that learn by watching us, and robots that can walk on sand.
|
| April 6, 2013 |
Podcast for 5 April 2013
- LESSONS FROM THE DEAD - Scientists attempt to bring back an extinct frog. Mummies showing signs of heart disease make researchers rethink assumptions about lifestyle and diet. The mysterious death zone within African "fairy circles" explained. Also: a miniature laboratory under the skin monitors blood chemistry.
|
| March 29, 2013 |
Podcast for 29 March 2013
- EARLY HEALTH - A molecule that could make it possible to jumpstart the newborn immune system. Why too many brain cells could be a bad thing. And, could humidity affect flu transmission? Also: The effects of sleep deprivation on your genes.
|
| March 15, 2013 |
Podcast for 15 March 2013
- An ancient pigment with futuristic applications, the hidden electricity between flowers and bees, and a new, improved anti-fog coating. Also: the unlikely history of camels.
|
| March 8, 2013 |
Podcast for 8 March 2013
- INSECTS & ALCOHOL - Insects that arm their offspring with alcohol. Drinking may have a 10 million year history. And the importance of wild insects to the worldwide food supply. Also: prosthetic ears from a 3-D printer and seals that sleep with one eye open.
|
| March 1, 2013 |
Podcast for 1 March 2013
- SWEET SCIENCE - What tomatoes can tell us about cutting back on sugar and a diabetes cure for dogs. Also, behind the mechanics of beatboxing, the evolution of whales, and writing your way to a better relationship.
|
| February 16, 2013 |
Podcast for 16 February 2013
- 2013 AAAS ANNUAL MEETING, BOSTON, MA - Researchers are discussing how to treat psychological problems in chimpanzees, and why childbirth is such an ordeal in humans but not in apes. Also: scientific detectives have solved an art mystery. And researchers have unveiled ultrathin, wireless sensors that can monitor your brain activity.
|
| February 11, 2013 |
Podcast for 8 February 2013
- MICROBIAL LIFE - How antibiotic-resistant bacteria spread, tracing HIV back millions of years, and how life thrives among the storm clouds. Also, a listener's question about the common cold.
|
| February 2, 2013 |
Podcast for 1 February 2013
- LIGHT - Lightning bugs inspire LED design. A new type of light makes others look dim by comparison. And, could lightning be related to migraine headaches?
|
| January 25, 2013 |
Podcast for 25 January 2013
- MEDICINE & MEMORY - Scientists have developed a test for Parkinson's disease. Also, drugs for the condition may have beneficial side effects. There's good news about cancer. And, researchers say babies start learning their native tongue before they're even born. Also: why grown-ups don't form long-term memories as well as kids do.
|
| January 17, 2013 |
Podcast for 18 January 2013
- HEARING & SOUND - Why hyenas are anything but funny. Can animals dance to a beat? Using sound to save the whales. And physical fitness worsens hearing, but estrogen improves it. Encore presentation from May 22, 2009.
|
| January 5, 2013 |
Podcast for 4 January 2013
- OLD & NEW - Why we might be better tree climbers than we think, what ancient wells can tell us about Neolithic technology, and plants that sense pests. Also: exploring the growing link between fructose consumption and obesity.
|
| December 21, 2012 |
Podcast for 21 December 2012
- THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT - What a scallop's cough can tell us about environmental health, how melting Arctic ice may have caused the earth's last big freeze, and why climate change may have undone the Maya empire. Also: using weather forecasting techniques to predict flu outbreaks, and revisiting the apocalypse myth surrounding the fictional planet Nibiru.
|
| December 7, 2012 |
Podcast for 7 December 2012
- ARE YOU WREN ENOUGH? Why fairy wrens require their babies to show ID, how coral reefs ask for help, and how one microscopic animal patches itself up with borrowed genes. Also: Host Bob Hirshon went down to NASA Headquarters to report on the discovery of water on the planet Mercury.
|
| November 30, 2012 |
Podcast for 30 November 2012
- CHILD DEVELOPMENT - Are kids naturally stingy? Why children's self-control could depend on the adults around them. And why math anxiety "hurts". Also: What monsters from Dungeons & Dragons can tell us about the importance of eyes.
|
| November 16, 2012 |
Podcast for 16 November 2012
- BIRDS, BUTTERFLIES & BEETLES - How radar helped solve a migration mystery, why malaria could be heading north, and how dung beetles cool themselves off. Also: a 21st century technology that's helping archaeologists crack an ancient code.
|
| November 9, 2012 |
Podcast for 9 November 2012
- SURVIVAL - Why female Komodo dragons die young, a whale that sounded like a person, and algae that flee their predators. Also: how the brain's insulation differs between us and chimpanzees, and why that insulation is so important to social development.
|
| October 26, 2012 |
Podcast for 26 October 2012
- MEDICAL INNOVATION - Medical implants that just melt away, how cancer research could make the plastics industry less dependent on fossil fuels, and why ultraviolet light is cleaning up hospital rooms. Also: scientists find a surprising new source of re-programmable cells in amniotic fluid. And a new genetic test that could help babies in the neonatal intensive care unit.
|
| October 19, 2012 |
Podcast for 19 October 2012
- ANIMAL GENES & BEHAVIOR - The genes responsible for cat coat patterns, why male killer whales are momma's boys, what's behind the hummingbird's aerial acrobatics, and how epigenetics explains honeybee castes.
|
| October 12, 2012 |
Podcast for 12 October 2012
- WEIRD SCIENCE: Listen to an archival podcast that delves into the weird and wacky side of science: Behind the legend of the chupacabra, does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis? A physiological explanation for near-death experiences, and animals that live without oxygen.
|
| October 5, 2012 |
Podcast for 5 October 2012
- SOUNDS & SIGNALS: We revisit one of Science Update's most memorable podcasts about the science of communication, from 2009: Prairie dogs sound the alarm, turning bed bugs against themselves, bird songs vary by climate, and improving forensic voice comparison.
|
| September 28, 2012 |
Podcast for 28 September 2012
- ENERGY & AGRICULTURE - New developments in wind power, a solar cell made from spinach, transparent soil clarifies plant research, extending the growing season, and how rainforests prevent drought in farmland.
|
| September 21, 2012 |
Podcast for 21 September 2012
- ANIMAL CONSERVATION - Nepalese tigers co-exist with people, aggression is giving Tasmanian Devils cancer, tadpoles keep their personalities when they become frogs, and a new monkey species is discovered in Africa.
|
| September 7, 2012 |
Podcast for 7 September 2012
- MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGHS - A new drug that could block heroin addiction, how mice could speed up AIDS research, and why we're more prone to cancer than our closest living relatives. Also: the two brain chemicals behind sleep paralysis.
|
| August 31, 2012 |
Podcast for 31 August 2012
- WHALES, APES & BIRDS - Chimps don't share our sense of justice. What gibbons on helium can tell us about opera singers. Deciphering the peacock's hidden message. What an endangered whale has in common with songbirds. Also: Did a Central American rodent save a tree species from extinction?
|
| August 17, 2012 |
Podcast for 17 August 2012
- PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMPTION - Why planning a lifestyle change often backfires, why buying larger quantities doesn't always mean a better deal, and the relationship between speed of consumption and satisfaction, Also: did hunter-gatherers really use more calories than people living today? And an unmanned aircraft maps an archaeological site in Peru in record time.
|
| August 10, 2012 |
Podcast for 10 August 2012
- Dad's diversity and perilous parenthood.
|
| August 3, 2012 |
Podcast for 3 August 2012
- INVENTION - More lifelike robots. Headlights that can see past raindrops. And a pair of goggles that could improve your memory. Also, scientists have developed the world's lightest material.
|
| July 27, 2012 |
Podcast for 27 July 2012
- ANIMAL SURVIVAL - Naked mole-rats defy old age, vampire spiders attack Franken-mosquitoes, dogs protect babies against asthma, what the genes of parrots reveal about speech, and the relationship between fox populations and Lyme disease.
|
| July 19, 2012 |
Podcast for 20 July 2012
- HISTORY MEETS SCIENCE - Dairy detectives discover ancient milk, the historical practice of bloodletting gets a second look, and revisiting failed ideas for saving lives. Also: What migraine headaches and the Mutiny on the Bounty have in common.
|
| July 6, 2012 |
Podcast for 6 July 2012
- OUR SOLAR SYSTEM - Scientists discover organic carbon in meteorites from Mars and take a new look at the asteroid Vesta. Also: zebrafish meet their robotic overlords, and someone finally invents a blind-spot-free side-view mirror.
|
| June 29, 2012 |
Podcast for 29 June 2012
- BRAINS & BEHAVIOR - How the brain quickly overcomes arachnophobia. Why psychopaths' brains are different. And how the stress of great-grandparents is visited upon their great-grandchildren. Also: paralyzed rats walk again, and a robotic arm controlled by thoughts.
|
| June 8, 2012 |
Podcast for 8 June 2012
- The link between touch and hearing. And, why bilinguals hear better in noisy environments. Also: new brain research could illuminate why we’re willing to share so much personal information on social networking sites. And, how much money would it take for you to give someone an electric shock? The answer may surprise you.
|
| May 25, 2012 |
Podcast for 25 May 2012
- FARM SCIENCE - Does exposure to farms and forests stave off asthma and allergies? How to combat viruses with pigs. And why milk goes sour faster than other beverages.
|
| May 11, 2012 |
Podcast for 11 May 2012
- BIRDS & DINOSAURS - Scientists discover T. Rex's feathered cousin, did dino gas warm the ancient earth? And giant fleas that may have pestered the prehistoric giants. Also: why the amorous pursuits of an Australian bird has turned it into a horticulturalist, and how ravens keep track of friend and foe.
|
| April 27, 2012 |
Podcast for 27 April 2012
- Why some planets are on the run. How to harpoon a comet. And counting penguins from space.
|
| April 20, 2012 |
Podcast for 20 April 2012
- SOUND SCIENCE - Can sounds influence dreams? Emotional similarities between music and speech. Does a deeper voice lead people to vote for a political candidate? Baboons that recognize words. And baby goats with accents.
|
| April 13, 2012 |
Podcast for 13 April 2012
- CHEMISTRY & LIFE - What 2-billion-year-old raindrop fossils can tell us about conditions on the early earth. What science is revealing about the artwork of Leonardo da Vinci and Vincent Van Gogh. And a breakthrough in materials science technology yields plastic that can repair itself.
|
| April 6, 2012 |
Podcast for 6 April 2012
- MEDICINE - A promising new drug that could work on all types of cancer. New evidence linking antibiotic use to asthma. Also, a test that takes the guesswork out of choosing the right antibiotic when one is needed. And, how your biological clock affects your health.
|
| March 30, 2012 |
Podcast for 30 March 2012
- GERMS & PEOPLE - Does opening the windows spread germs around? Why health-related websites may be scaring people unnecessarily. And, how the heart burns fat.
|
| March 23, 2012 |
Podcast for 23 March 2012
- EVOLUTION & EXTINCTION - What really happened to Australia's missing megafauna, how carnivores lost their sweet tooth, why lovelorn fruit flies resort to alcohol, strategic miscarriages in monkeys, and a new frog species is discovered in plain sight.
|
| March 16, 2012 |
Podcast for 16 March 2012
- SCIENCE OF SOCIETY - Do wealthier people tend to have fewer scruples? The social costs of mass incarceration. Seeing-eye smartphones for the blind. And, new evidence calls an accepted tenet of science into question. Also: how to make plastic from plants.
|
| March 9, 2012 |
Podcast for 9 March 2012
- NEW MEDICINE - A rare mutation that protects people from diabetes and cancer. How the pancreas "tastes" sugar. And a new implantable microchip that delivers an osteoporosis drug. Also: chimpanzees may yawn for the same reason humans do.
|
| March 2, 2012 |
Podcast for 2 March 2012
- ALL ABOUT LANGUAGE - Neuroscientists are beginning to reconstruct what we've heard by listening to brainwaves, how scientists measure language delays around the world, using technology to keep endangered languages vibrant, and a musical instrument that allows you to sing...with your hands, Also: decoding the secret language of worms.
|
| February 18, 2012 |
Podcast for 18 February 2012
- AAAS 2012 ANNUAL MEETING SPECIAL - This week, we're coming to you from Vancouver, British Columbia, where scientists are gathering to tackle issues or global importance, such as how to boost crop productivity to feed a growing population, and making cookstoves safer for the world's poor. Also: video games to combat cataracts, and ultra-thin electronics printed with silver ink.
|
| February 10, 2012 |
Podcast for 10 February 2012
- Are cyclones and earthquakes related? Why recent bad winters may be the result of global warming. And what life might be like on a planet with two stars. Also: we answer a listener's question about the temperature of the sun.
|
| February 3, 2012 |
Podcast for 3 February 2012
- BABY SCIENCE - Why babies read lips, and how toddlers' napping habits could affect their mood for the rest of their lives. Also: Do Stradivarius violins really sound better?
|
