Microbe Roundup
Fighting disease involves maintaining the healthy populations of microbes that live inside us.
Fragile X Neurons
Fragile X Syndrome, a leading genetic cause of intellectual impairments, may actually result from too much brain activity.
Humidity vs. The Flu
Low humidity may increase the transmissibility of the influenza virus indoors.
Immune System Passports
Researchers have successfully copied a molecule that protects our bodies from our own immune systems.
Dental Roundup
Ancient people had beneficial bacteria to fight dental plaque that is absent in modern populations.
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.
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.
Storm Cloud Life
A world of bacterial life inhabits storm clouds high in the atmosphere.
HIV Ancestry
The type of virus that includes HIV may have been circulating in primates for 12 million years.
Staph Strategy
Researchers have figured out how Staph bacteria transfer antibiotic resistance to one another.
Parkinson’s Test
A salivary gland biopsy may finally make it possible to definitively diagnose Parkinson's Disease in living patients.
Microbe Roundup
Microbes in the human gut could be partially responsible for food cravings.
Fatty Acid Fuels
Modifying the digestive process of bacteria could produce a useful fuel from common fats.
Cold Viruses vs. Cancer
Scientists hope to design viruses that fight cancer.
Rescuing Eggs
A substance called putrescine has the potential to boost fertility in women over 40.
Ice Melt & Ice Age
A meltdown of Arctic ice may have triggered the last deep freeze in the Northern Hemisphere.
Blind Mole Rats
The blind mole rat, like its distant cousin the naked mole rat, never gets cancer.
Lupus vs. Cancer
Lupus antibodies may become an unlikely ally against cancer.
UV Disinfectant
Short-wave ultraviolet radiation can clear dangerous germs from hospital rooms.
Amniotic Fluid Medicine
Cells from amniotic fluid can be reprogrammed more stably than traditional stem cells.
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.
Exergame Roundup
Video "exergames" may be helping young people get more exercise.
Inflammation Roundup
Scientists have identified a key to the soothing qualities of mineral baths.
Healthy Viruses Roundup
Most viruses are actually harmless, and some can even help us stay healthy.