| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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?
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| January 20, 2012 |
Podcast for 20 January 2012
- ANIMALS & PEOPLE - Levitating flies, what dogs and babies have in common, how oxytocin makes kinder, gentler monkeys, a fish that mimics an octopus that mimics a fish, and how bats hear with both sides of the brain.
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| January 13, 2012 |
Podcast for 13 January 2012
- SOUNDS & SENSES - Researchers replay some of the first audio recordings ever made. Chimpanzees, like humans, associate certain sounds with certain colors. Can your posture affect how you perceive numbers? Pigeons that learn to count. And spiders with brainy legs.
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| December 30, 2011 |
Podcast for 30 December 2011
- DRUGS & ROCK 'N ROLL - Predicting drug side-effects before they can harm patients. A blood test for antidepressant effectiveness. Is 27 really an unlucky number for famous musicians? Are collecting and hoarding related? And why babies favor vigilante justice.
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| December 22, 2011 |
Podcast for 23 December 2011
- CHANGING BRAINS - Why London taxi drivers have bigger brains, how eye movements reveal what we've really seen, and why emulating the eye movements of experts produces better surgeons. And, what long-dead brains can tell us about mental illness. Also: how violent video games could be changing young men's brains.
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| December 16, 2011 |
Podcast for 16 December 2011
- BEHAVIOR, ECOLOGY & ENVIRONMENT - why dirty laundry could be damaging the environment, how to make wine growing compatible with wildlife, what the Monarch butterfly genome can tell us about their epic migrations, and how wasps see faces.
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| December 2, 2011 |
Podcast for 2 December 2011
- THE BRAIN, MOOD & BEHAVIOR - Could dreaming help heal emotional wounds? The relationship between the placebo effect and chronic pain. New research into the genetics of empathy. Also: a computer program to help prevent depression in girls, and exploring sex differences in mood disorders.
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| November 18, 2011 |
Podcast for 18 November 2011
- EVOLUTION - Did a giant beaver that once roamed North America communicate by whistling? A newly discovered mammalian fossil that sported fangs. And, did the advent of cooking drive human evolution? Also: new research suggests that Neanderthals' shorter legs were actually an advantage for navigating mountainous terrain.
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| November 11, 2011 |
Podcast for 11 November 2011
- ANIMALS & HEALTH - Why one insect's mating habits could lead to its downfall, why predators are literally scaring dragonflies to death, and pythons reveal the benefits of having a big heart. Also: why animals swimming in the ocean may be affecting the global climate.
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| November 4, 2011 |
Podcast for 4 November 2011
- THE SCIENCE OF LIGHT & VISION - A pacemaker that restarts the heart with light, and a secret code made from fluorescent bacteria. And, could a lack of outdoor activity be making kids more nearsighted? Also: new research suggests that IQ might not be as stable as once thought.
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| October 28, 2011 |
Podcast for 28 October 2011
- SCIENCE UNDERWATER - Why the seas of the future may belong to jellyfish, why fish tanks can be breeding grounds for aggression, how chatter between ocean bacteria contributes to climate change, and good news about sea turtles. Also, scientists unveil the first underwater cloaking device.
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| October 21, 2011 |
Podcast for 21 October 2011
- PREVENTIVE HEALTH - Vitamin D and ethnicity, a breath test for toxins, drinking and the immune system, measuring pain in the brain, and a new weapon to combat allergic reactions.
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| October 6, 2011 |
Podcast for 7 October 2011
- MERCURY SPECIAL REPORT - The MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing new discoveries about the planet closest to our Sun.
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| September 30, 2011 |
Podcast for 30 September 2011
- HORMONES & BEHAVIOR - Testosterone and fatherhood, the genetics of oxytocin and depression, gender and spatial reasoning revisited, where taste is found in the brain, and more.
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| September 23, 2011 |
Podcast for 23 September 2011
- PLANETS & PATHOGENS - Gardening for Mars, the darkest planet, a parasite that turns rats against themselves, telling the viruses from the bacteria, and the link between caffeine and skin cancer prevention.
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| September 9, 2011 |
Podcast for 9 September 2011
- MARVELS OF EVOLUTION - A prehistoric pregnancy clears up a Mesozoic mystery. The economics of plant-fungi cooperation. How to get six butterflies in one. Counting up the species on earth. And how your stress could be bad news for your mate if you're a finch.
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| August 26, 2011 |
Podcast for 26 August 2011
- FEAR, LIES & SHRINKING BRAINS - Why our brains shrink, but chimps' don't, why computers are better at spotting lies than we are, and an enzyme for fear. Also, medical electronics that resemble tattoos, and how organic chicken farms could be a boon to public health.
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| August 19, 2011 |
Podcast for 19 August 2011
- WATER EVERYWHERE - Astronomers have discovered the largest cache of water ever, and researchers are developing new software for detecting contamination of municipal water supplies. Also: Round robots to help safeguard nuclear power plants.
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| August 5, 2011 |
Podcast for 5 August 2011
- BATS & DOLPHINS: Dolphins that heal themselves, and dolphins that use electroreception in addition to echolocation. Also, How vampire bats find their prey, and how a Cuban plant takes advantage of a bat's ability to echolocate.
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| July 29, 2011 |
Podcast for 29 July 2011
- REPTILES & AMPHIBIANS - Fossil anatomy sheds light on whether dinosaurs were warm-blooded, why some lizards are smarter than you think, opossums and snakes locked in a deadly arms race, and why frogs don't lose their grip.
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| July 22, 2011 |
Podcast for 22 July 2011
- THE BRAIN & SOCIETY: How the brain experiences beauty, what soccer reveals about the mind, and why lazing around in a hammock could benefit your memory. Also, how your cell phone could help you kick the habit.
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| July 15, 2011 |
Podcast for 15 July 2011
- THE SCIENCE OF FACES: when pigeons look at us, and the genes behind how we look at faces. Also: what causes hot flashes, determining your age from your DNA, and the hormone behind stress eating.
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| July 8, 2011 |
Podcast for 8 July 2011
- NOISE & NAVIGATION: Bats maneuver in the dark with the help of microscopic wing hairs, researchers expose a dolphin's secret sonar, killer whale ears inspire better microphones, and how a tiny bug with a big sound has eluded biologists for centuries. Also: Do humans have an internal compass?
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| July 1, 2011 |
Podcast for 1 July 2011
- A failing grade for fat substitutes, a master regulator gene for fat, a brainwave that helps control memory, and turning skin cells into brain cells.
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| June 24, 2011 |
Podcast for 24 June 2011 – Birds of a Feather
- The genes behind unfaithful finches, mapping the diversity of bird plumage colors, what feathers can tell us about pollution, and what baby birds drink. Also: could living with a dog or cat decrease a child's risk of developing allergies?
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| June 10, 2011 |
Podcast for 10 June 2011 – Vision & The Brain
- What reindeer can see that we can't. How some blind people are using echolocation to navigate the world. And, how the retinas of deaf people change their experience of the world. Also: better noses spelled bigger brains for ancient mammals, and: what the teeth of Neanderthals tell us about their hands.
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| June 3, 2011 |
Podcast for 3 June 2011 – Searching for Life in Outer Space
- Astronomers are using new tools to look for life in outer space. And, the search for intelligent life in the universe is targeting the best candidate planets. Also: how tsunamis impact sealife.
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| May 27, 2011 |
Podcast for 27 May 2011
- Why sleep deprivation clouds thinking, what the brainwaves of sleeping teenagers reveal, and how a video game helps sick kids strengthen their lungs. Also, why a team of epidemiological sleuths invaded school graduations across Maryland last year. And, new study reveals extreme gender bias in children’s books.
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| May 20, 2011 |
Podcast for 20 May 2011 – All That Glitters
- The soaring price of gold drives deforestation in the Amazon, colonoscopies laced with gold could help detect cancer, and honey protects against antibiotic resistance. Also: a starless starfish, and a jellyfish that navigates without a brain.
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| May 13, 2011 |
Podcast for 13 May 2011 – Neuropsychology
- Researchers erase sea snail memories, the brain's sarcasm detector, why a lack of embarrassment could be a sign of dementia, and schizophrenia in a petri dish.
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| April 29, 2011 |
Podcast for 29 April 2011 – Whale Songs & Zebra Stripes
- Cultural revolutions in humpback whale songs, a barcode scanner for zebra stripes, a prehistoric toothache, and changing skull sizes in the Iberian Peninsula.
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| April 15, 2011 |
Podcast for 15 April 2011 – The Five Senses
- Justice and lunch breaks, autism and visual processing, a case of beat deafness, and the hormone of smell.
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| April 9, 2011 |
Podcast for 8 April 2011
- Football and family violence, rooting out insects, a question of taste, and a bird's eye view for danger.
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| March 25, 2011 |
Podcast for 25 March 2011
- A new generation of self-conscious robots, how sunshine affects drugs in the body, new research into the prevention of cleft lips, why it's hard to stay focused for long periods of time, and what sound recordings can tell us about the health of natural habitats.
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| March 18, 2011 |
Podcast for 18 March 2011
- An early screening test for autism, a car controlled by thoughts, the safety of fruit seeds, blaming the hero, and testing an ancient Egyptian prosthetic.
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| March 11, 2011 |
Podcast for 11 March 2011: Animal Adaptations
- Regional dialects in gibbons, a squid attack pheromone, bats and carnivorous plants, and why frogs are slimy.
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| February 25, 2011 |
Podcast for 25 February 2011: Language & Behavior
- The surprising way the brain processes Braille, bilingualism staves off dementia, and new research on stuttering. Also: why being lonely could change how your immune system works, and the relationship between popularity and bullying.
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| February 20, 2011 |
Podcast for 20 February 2011
- ANNUAL MEETING SPECIAL: The new science of aeroecology, deconstructing taste preferences, new ways to store energy, and 3-D printers that could one day produce replacement organs.
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