Rising infections from a dusty devil, and nailing down when our ancestors became meat eaters
Science Magazine Podcast16 Tammi 2025

Rising infections from a dusty devil, and nailing down when our ancestors became meat eaters

First up this week, growing numbers of Valley fever cases, also known as coccidioidomycosis, has researchers looking into the disease-causing fungus. They’re exploring its links to everything from drought and wildfires to climate change and rodent populations. Staff Writer Meredith Wadman joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss her visit to a Valley fever research site in the desert near Bakersfield, California, where researchers are sampling air and soil for the elusive fungus. Next up, scientists are trying to pin down when meat eating became a habit for human ancestors. It’s long been hypothesized that eating meat drove big changes in our family tree—such as bigger brains and more upright posture. Tina Lüdecke, a group leader at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry and honorary research fellow at the Evolutionary Studies Institute at the University of the Witwatersrand, investigated the diet of our ancient hominin relatives Australopithecus. Her team used nitrogen isotope ratios from the tooth enamel in seven Australopithecus individuals in South Africa to determine what predominated in their diets at the time—meat or veg. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meredith Wadman https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zulg8oo Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(641)

Resolving the dispute over the speed of the expanding universe, and seeking new drug targets for cognitive dysfunction

Resolving the dispute over the speed of the expanding universe, and seeking new drug targets for cognitive dysfunction

First up on the podcast, a new path to calculating the Hubble constant. This value for the universe’s speed of expansion is typically determined in one of two ways, one favored by cosmologists, the ot...

2 Huhti 33min

Resurrection plants, Project Hail Mary, and the trouble with sycophantic AI

Resurrection plants, Project Hail Mary, and the trouble with sycophantic AI

First up on the podcast, Deputy News Editor Martin Enserink talks about so-called resurrection plants. These specialized plants can survive up to 95% water loss, whereas most plants struggle when thei...

26 Maalis 36min

Rethinking the peopling of the Americas, and the best ways to get groundwater back

Rethinking the peopling of the Americas, and the best ways to get groundwater back

First up on the podcast, we discuss a finding that’s likely to reignite debate over how humans first spread through the Americas. In the late 1990s, a site in southern Chile called Monte Verde forced ...

19 Maalis 33min

What Alaska’s eroding coastline says about Earth’s future, and how Yellowstone ravens use their smarts to find wolf kills

What Alaska’s eroding coastline says about Earth’s future, and how Yellowstone ravens use their smarts to find wolf kills

First up on the podcast, freelance journalist Evan Howell traveled to Cape Blossom, Alaska, where the receding coastline has revealed an ancient trove of glacial ice that may have survived for 350,000...

12 Maalis 42min

An alleged nuclear blast may reignite weapons testing, and who owns the Moon

An alleged nuclear blast may reignite weapons testing, and who owns the Moon

First up on the podcast, a peek into the roiling seas of U.S. science policy. ScienceInsider Editor Jocelyn Kaiser talks about shifting leadership at the National Science Foundation and the Cente...

5 Maalis 38min

Tropical birds’ ‘silent spring,’ and mapping people’s brains during surgery

Tropical birds’ ‘silent spring,’ and mapping people’s brains during surgery

First up on the podcast, producer Meagan Cantwell talks to Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall about his visit to Brazil, where he observed firsthand what it takes for researchers to understand...

26 Helmi 32min

Matching sounds to shapes, and stories from the AAAS annual meeting

Matching sounds to shapes, and stories from the AAAS annual meeting

First up on the podcast, Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox, Associate Online News Editor Michael Greshko, and intern Perri Thaler share their experiences from the AAAS annual meeting in Phoenix. Chri...

19 Helmi 41min

Building better working dogs, and watching a black hole form

Building better working dogs, and watching a black hole form

First up on the podcast, more than half of all dogs going through service animal training don’t make it to graduation. Producer Kevin McLean journeys with Online News Editor David Grimm to Canine Comp...

12 Helmi 34min

Suosittua kategoriassa Politiikka ja uutiset

uutiscast
aikalisa
politiikan-puskaradio
rss-ootsa-kuullut-tasta
viisupodi
tervo-halme
ootsa-kuullut-tasta-2
rss-podme-livebox
rss-asiastudio
rss-pinnalla
rikosmyytit
otetaan-yhdet
the-ulkopolitist
et-sa-noin-voi-sanoo-esittaa
rss-ulkopoditiikkaa
aihe
linda-maria
rss-mina-ukkola
rss-kaikki-uusiksi
rss-hyvaa-huomenta-bryssel