| September 7, 2011 |
Opinion Spam
- A computer program can distinguish real hotel reviews from fake ones.
|
| August 31, 2011 |
Free-Market Fungi
- Symbiotic plants and fungi reward generous trade partners and punish stingy ones.
|
| June 29, 2011 |
Rainbow Polymer
- Color-shifting polymers could make money and other documents harder to copy.
|
| 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.
|
| May 11, 2011 |
Gold & Deforestation
- Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest increases as gold prices rise.
|
| October 22, 2010 |
Podcast
- PSYCHOLOGY: Why listening to half of a cell phone conversation is so distracting, how we choose which hand to use, why we'll pay more if we can touch a product, and the mechanisms behind a fast-acting antidepressant.
|
| October 19, 2010 |
Teamwork Roundup
- Just because a group has the smartest people doesn't mean it makes the smartest decisions.
|
| October 15, 2010 |
Beer Science Roundup
- Brewing beer is an art, but a new beer analysis project could make it more of a science.
|
| October 7, 2010 |
Touchy-Feely Buyers
- We're willing to shell out more money for items we can touch.
|
| April 2, 2010 |
Rare Earth Roundup
- Rare earth elements make many modern technologies possible, but extracting them results in large amounts of toxic waste.
|
| December 15, 2009 |
Accounting Fraud Alert
- A new algorithm looks for accounting fraud by analyzing non-financial statistics.
|
| October 22, 2009 |
Corporate Apologies
- Dissatisfied customers may respond better to an apology than a cash rebate.
|
| August 25, 2009 |
Rising Health Costs
- Rising health care costs have slowed the growth of companies that subsidize employees' insurance.
|
| August 10, 2009 |
Early Life & Chronic Disease
- People who were poor early in life have a biological tendency towards inflammation – which could contribute to chronic diseases.
|
| July 1, 2009 |
Computer Composer
- A new computer program can generate an infinite amount of original music.
|
| June 2, 2009 |
Online Antiquities
- Online auction sites have transformed both legal and illegal antiquities markets.
|
| April 10, 2009 |
Bad Judgment Roundup
- Dumb decisions made by smart investors can lead to crashes in the stock market, and Americans flunk basic science.
To take the California Academy of Sciences science quiz visit: www.calacademy.org.
|
| April 3, 2009 |
Podcast
- Why smart people sometimes make really dumb decisions, the neural consequences of not paying attention, and our complicated relationship with food.
|
| December 5, 2008 |
Eco Plants Roundup
- Researchers try a new approach to protecting tropical mangrove forests.
|
| August 14, 2008 |
New Energy
- A Nobel laureate says the key to solving the energy crisis is to take bold, risky steps and seek diverse solutions.
|
| June 23, 2008 |
Frog Legs
- Scientists estimate that the global trade in frog legs is worth about 50 million dollars per year.
|
| June 6, 2008 |
Podcast
- CO2's dangerous overlooked cousin, the origins of the southern hemisphere, why magnetic credit cards don't stick to the fridge and why so many white cats are deaf.
|
| June 4, 2008 |
Magnetic Stripe
- A listener asks why credit cards with magnetic stripes don't stick to the fridge.
|
| May 8, 2008 |
Stock Market Hormones
- Testosterone may make stock traders take bigger risks, leading to price bubbles.
|
| January 4, 2008 |
Materials Roundup
- Researchers test the strength of bamboo as a structural material.
|
| December 14, 2007 |
Podcast
- Science or Nonsense? Science confronts alternative medicine and vaccine myths. Also: Can we learn anything from violent video games?
|
| December 11, 2007 |
Social Brains
- A new brain study shows that comparing your own financial situation to someone else's can affect your well-being.
|
| November 30, 2007 |
Fuelish Roundup
- Low grade, high-sulfur bunker fuel is deadly to wildlife and humans. So why is it still in use?
|
| November 20, 2007 |
Bus Schedule Math
- Engineers have developed a mathematical algorithm for optimizing bus schedules.
|
| October 26, 2007 |
Podcast
- Chewing gum that's not sticky. Worms and bacteria team up. Some very hairy genetics. And more.
|
| October 23, 2007 |
Non-Stick Chewing Gum
- A non-stick chewing gum may eliminate some major cleaning headaches.
|
| October 12, 2007 |
Podcast
- Whale-inspired windmills. Tracing the origins of a killer asteroid. Using vowels to sell. And more.
|
| October 8, 2007 |
Meaningful Vowels
- Vowel sounds in product names may imply what kind of product they're best suited for.
|
| September 11, 2007 |
Chicken Diet
- Special diets are helping curb the environmental impact of chickens.
|
| September 5, 2007 |
Opinion Repetition
- Hearing one person repeat same opinion is surprisingly influential.
|
| June 29, 2007 |
Energy Roundup
- Power could go wireless, and sound could be made into electricity.
|
| May 31, 2007 |
Ceiling Height
- The height of your ceilings can affect how you think.
|
| May 18, 2007 |
Podcast
- Grilling could take a toll on your health, smarter doesn't equal richer, an infection could help prevent asthma, a step toward fusion reactors, and the closest living descendants of dinosaurs.
|
| May 3, 2007 |
Choice Curve
- It's not always good business to offer too many choices.
|
| April 25, 2007 |
Celebrity Endorsements
- Celebrity endorsements may not work as well as companies thought.
|
| April 23, 2007 |
Fab@Home
- Devices called fabricators are making the leap from factories to homes.
|
| March 12, 2007 |
Car Rattling
- Scientists are trying to get the rattles out of cars.
|
| March 2, 2007 |
Podcast
- Using ultrasound to find expensive wood, how cheese is helping to fight a tree fungus, the connection between prostate cancer and a lack of male sons, the division in your brain, and the secret to a ultra-white beetle.
|
| February 16, 2007 |
Podcast
- Where insects go in winter, winged dinosaurs, fish that cannibalize their young, calculating the value of polio vaccinaton, and mining can cause earthquakes.
|
| February 6, 2007 |
Sitting Up
- Sitting up straight may not be such great advice after all.
|
| December 8, 2006 |
Podcast
- Your birthday greetings to us, hopeful news about malaria in Africa, robots that can recover from injury, news about Neanderthals, the truth about lie detectors, and money brings out the best and the worst in us.
|
| November 3, 2006 |
Podcast
- Kids on caffeine, prairie dogs in love, trading shoelace tags for gold in 15th century Cuba, how aspirin shrinks tumors, and a boy who can play video games with his mind.
|
| October 27, 2006 |
Podcast
- Cycles in the Earth's orbit and tilt may cause extinctions, what got the Oracle of Delphi high, why farming salmon hurts their wild cousins, the masculine face of compulsive shopping, and the health benefits of smoking bans.
|
| October 25, 2006 |
Smoking Ban
- Although smoking bans are controversial, new evidence of the benefit to bar workers is strong.
|
| October 20, 2006 |
Podcast
- The truth about star naming, a practical plan for getting rid of fossil fuels, imitating gecko feet, worms in your diet, and why we have a bias against foreigners.
|
