The folate debate, and rewriting the radiocarbon curve

The folate debate, and rewriting the radiocarbon curve

Some 80 countries around the world add folic acid to their food supply to prevent birth defects that might happen because of a lack of the B vitamin—even among people too early in their pregnancies to know they are pregnant. This year, the United Kingdom decided to add the supplement to white flour. But it took almost 10 years of debate, and no countries in the European Union joined them in the change. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the ongoing folate debate. Last year, a highly anticipated tool for dating ancient materials was released: a new updated radiocarbon calibration curve. The curve, which describes how much carbon-14 was in the atmosphere at different times in the past 55,000 years, is essential to figuring out the age of organic materials such as wood or leather. Sarah talks with Tim Heaton, senior lecturer in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Sheffield, and Edouard Bard, a professor at the College of France, about how the curve was redrawn and what it means, both for archaeology and for our understanding of the processes that create radiocarbon in the first place—like solar flares and Earth’s magnetic fields. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. [Image: Andrew Shiva/Wikipedia; Music: Jeffrey Cook] [Alt text: close-up photograph of layers in volcanic tephra] Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Death in a gene-editing trial, and insect larvae surviving in deep waters

Death in a gene-editing trial, and insect larvae surviving in deep waters

First up on the podcast, freelance science journalist Brendan Borrell talks about his work reporting on the previously undisclosed death of a 6-year-old girl in a gene-editing clinical trial in China ...

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Health care in Malawi after USAID’s end, and a rocky exoplanet with an atmosphere

Health care in Malawi after USAID’s end, and a rocky exoplanet with an atmosphere

First up on the podcast, we continue our coverage of the fallout from cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), this time focusing on how one of the largest recipients of aid is c...

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Owl wars and the immune system’s memory

Owl wars and the immune system’s memory

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall goes on an owl hunt in the woods of Northern California. After surviving logging and habitat destruction in the 1990s, the endangere...

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How Antarctica got its ice sheets, and what happens when geopolitical relationships turn chilly in the Arctic

How Antarctica got its ice sheets, and what happens when geopolitical relationships turn chilly in the Arctic

First up on the podcast, relationships turn chilly in the polar research haven of Svalbard in Norway. Senior International Correspondent Richard Stone joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the impacts of...

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Cracking color vision, U.S. science policy changes, and a trailblazing biography

Cracking color vision, U.S. science policy changes, and a trailblazing biography

First up on the podcast, ScienceInsider editor Jocelyn Kaiser joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss big policy stories from the past month, including a proposal from President Donald Trump’s administrati...

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An electronic nose that detects spoiled chicken, and wolves make a spectacular comeback in Europe

An electronic nose that detects spoiled chicken, and wolves make a spectacular comeback in Europe

First up on the podcast, wrangling wolves in Europe. After near extermination in much of the continent, wolf numbers have surged up to about 20,000 individuals. Contributing Correspondent Gretchen Vog...

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How childhood environments shape the brain, and how susceptible is the Atlantic Ocean’s current to climate change?

How childhood environments shape the brain, and how susceptible is the Atlantic Ocean’s current to climate change?

First up on the podcast, producer Kevin McLean talks with Staff Writer Paul Voosen about the latest on the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, or AMOC. Researchers have long been concerned th...

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Will AI replace astronomers, how healthy are ultraprocessed foods, and a peek behind the scenes of ‘The Normals’

Will AI replace astronomers, how healthy are ultraprocessed foods, and a peek behind the scenes of ‘The Normals’

First up on the podcast, freelance science journalist Joshua Sokol talks about the intense discussion happening in the astrophysics community as artificial intelligence and machine learning become inc...

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