| 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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Dinosaur Roundup
- Dinosaurs may have contributed to ancient global warming.
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| May 9, 2012 |
Sewage Power
- Microbial fuel cells, which clean wastewater and generate electricity, are getting closer to practicality.
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| May 8, 2012 |
Gardening Birds
- Male Spotted Bowerbirds unintentionally cultivate ornamental plants while attempting to woo the opposite sex.
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| May 7, 2012 |
T. Rex’s Feathered Cousin
- Paleontologists discover a cousin of T. Rex in China – that had feathers.
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| May 3, 2012 |
Body Clock Reset
- Adjusting a mouse's body clock improves its metabolism and promotes weight loss.
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| May 1, 2012 |
Room Bacteria
- Just by entering a room, you stir up millions of microorganisms.
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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 24, 2012 |
Matching the Drug to the Bug
- A new technique can quickly identify a pathogen and size up its drug resistance, all with one test.
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| April 23, 2012 |
Penguins from Space
- Researchers have estimated the total number of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica using satellite images.
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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 11, 2012 |
Tumor-Shrinking Drug
- Scientists are testing a drug that shrinks a wide variety of cancerous tumors.
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| April 10, 2012 |
Sugar-Free Carnivores
- Each group of carnivores has a different set of genetic mutations that has knocked out its sweet tooth.
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| April 9, 2012 |
Antibiotics and Asthma
- Taking antibiotics early in life can lead to asthma, according to a study in mice.
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| April 5, 2012 |
NYC Frog
- Researchers found a previously unknown frog species in New York City.
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| March 29, 2012 |
Sex, Flies & Alcohol
- Sex-deprived male fruit flies consume more alcohol than sexually satisfied flies.
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| March 28, 2012 |
Blowing Away Germs
- A listener asks if opening all the windows will spread cold and flu germs around.
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| March 27, 2012 |
Naked Mole Rat Brains
- Researchers have figured out why naked mole rats are resistant to stroke.
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| March 26, 2012 |
Australian Extinction
- Human hunters drove Australia’s largest animals to extinction around 40,000 years ago.
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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 15, 2012 |
Extremely Tiny Horses
- Ancient horses shrank when global temperatures rose.
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| March 14, 2012 |
Cellular Quality Control
- A newly discovered protein regulates the quality of our DNA.
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| March 12, 2012 |
Egg-Producing Stem Cells
- Contrary to popular belief, women can produce new egg cells in adulthood.
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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 6, 2012 |
Fructose-Tasting Pancreas
- Taste receptors on the pancreas may enable fructose sweeteners to boost obesity.
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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 24, 2012 |
Nanotech Roundup
- The flight of butterflies could inspire miniature flying robots.
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| February 22, 2012 |
Boosting Photosynthesis
- Researchers are trying to boost the efficiency of photosynthesis in crops like soybeans, rice and potatoes to feed the world’s growing population.
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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 15, 2012 |
Worm Language
- Nematode worms have a surprisingly complex communication system.
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| February 14, 2012 |
Music-Powered Sensor
- Sound waves from music, particularly rap, could charge up medical implants.
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| February 13, 2012 |
Brain Window
- Researchers have captured images of single brain cells in a live animal.
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| February 9, 2012 |
Death by Clock Shift
- A fruit fly study clearly links biological clock disruption to neurodegeneration and early death.
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| January 26, 2012 |
A Dog’s Eye View of People
- One key to our successful long-term relationship with dogs may lie in the eyes.
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| January 25, 2012 |
Kinder, Gentler Monkeys
- Rhesus macaque monkeys become kinder after inhaling the hormone oxytocin.
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| January 23, 2012 |
Weightless Flies
- Magnetically levitated flies may help researchers study the effects of weightlessness.
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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 18, 2012 |
Mimic Mimic
- When an Indonesian octopus mimics poisonous fish, a smaller fish takes advantage.
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| January 16, 2012 |
Bat Brains
- Like humans, bats process some types of sounds on the right side of their brains and other sounds on the left side of their brains.
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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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| January 12, 2012 |
Muscle Regeneration
- Researchers have used reprogrammed human cells to create new muscle tissue in mice.
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| January 11, 2012 |
Sounds & Colors
- Like humans, chimpanzees associate high-pitched sounds with bright colors and low-pitched sounds with dark colors.
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| January 10, 2012 |
Antidepressant Drug Test
- A blood test reveals how well a patient may respond to a particular antidepressant.
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| January 5, 2012 |
Predicting Side Effects
- Computer scientists have developed a mathematical model to predict a drug’s side-effects before they can harm patients.
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| January 3, 2012 |
Spider Brains
- Some spiders' brains are so big they spill over into their 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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