Podcast
Headbanging termites, why we eat salmon before--and not after--they spawn, a "smart bomb" for dental plaque, an ancient Greek sky calculator, and how your first language affects your sense of rhythm.
Salmon Harvest
A listener asks: Why don't we eat salmon after they spawn, to help conserve them?
Seagrass Roundup
Rainforests and coral reefs are poster children for environmental conservation. But seagrass beds are just as important.
Podcast
The secret of a Stradivarius violin, how giraffes block a head rush, using bees for homeland security, saving seagrass, and a strange new ingredient in the interstellar soup.
Space Molecules
Space is not empty. In fact, there are some pretty surprising molecules floating around up there.
Podcast
Something unexpected at the North Pole, World Toilet Day and other toilet news, why golf balls have dimples but racecars don't, how a father's pheromones may control his daughter's growth, and using satellites for archaeology in Egypt.
Arctic Forests
Scientists haven't yet discovered Santa Claus at the North Pole, but they've found something that they think is just about as surprising.
Podcast
Our special birthday show! A louse killer that's evolution-proof, what comes after Hubble, the universality of color, listening to icebergs, and how physics was different in the early universe.
Iceberg Songs
Scientists are listening to the sounds icebergs make, and trying to figure out what they mean.
Podcast
Whiskers could help robots feel, how bee brains are like human brains, a genetic disorder with musical gifts, how a storm at the North Pole damaged an iceberg at the South Pole, and what science is telling scholars about the Dead Sea Scrolls.
GeoRoundup
Humans and horses have long lived in harmony. But exactly how long, and where were they domesticated?
Solar Flares and GPS
Strong solar flares could render some GPS receivers temporarily useless.
Geo-Gases Roundup
The Oracle of Delphi may have had some geological help in entering her prophetic trance.
Extinction Cycles
Changes in the Earth's orbit and tilt could be responsible for the extinctions of many ancient species.
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.
Fossil Fuel Switch
A new study shows that we can wean ourselves off of fossil fuels faster than we might suspect.
Podcast
Underwater noise pollution, genes for alcoholism, PCBs may compromise vaccines, proof of dark matter, and uvulas in animals.
PCBs and Vaccines
A common environmental pollutant may stifle the effectiveness of childhood vaccines.
Podcast
Music composed by a volcano, how quickly we judge others, wildfires release mercury, good news about recovering from stroke and heart attacks, and a contagious cancer in dogs.
Listening to Volcanoes
A new technique to analyze data from volcanoes may be music to scientists' ears.
Escaping Mercury
By setting off a chain reaction, global warming may cause centuries' worth of stored mercury to escape back into the environment.
Podcast
The world's sharpest needle, a cancer treatment from a war paint plant, how men are like dogs, an outdoor greenhouse, and your brain's reaction to exercise.
Acid Ocean Roundup
Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is working its way into the oceans.