Monitoring wastewater for SARS-CoV-2, and looking back at the biggest questions about the pandemic
On this week’s show: We have highlights from a special COVID-19 retrospective issue on lessons learned after 2 years of the pandemic First up, Contributing Correspondent Gretchen Vogel joins host Sar...
10 Mar 202233min
A global treaty on plastic pollution, and a dearth of Black physicists
On this week’s show: The ins and outs of the first global treaty on plastic pollution, and why the United States has so few Black physicists First up, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Cres...
3 Mar 202221min
Securing nuclear waste for 100,000 years, and the link between math literacy and life satisfaction
On this week’s show: Finland puts the finishing touches on the world’s first high-level permanent nuclear repository, and why being good at math might make you both happy and sad First up, freelance ...
24 Feb 202233min
COVID-19’s long-term impact on the heart, and calculating the survival rate of human artifacts
On this week’s show: A giant study suggests COVID-19 takes a serious toll on heart health—a full year after recovery, and figuring out what percentage of ancient art, books, and even tools has survive...
17 Feb 202226min
Merging supermassive black holes, and communicating science in the age of social media
On this week’s show: What we can learn from two supermassive black holes that appear to be on a collision course with each other, and the brave new online world in which social media dominates and gat...
10 Feb 202229min
Building a green city in a biodiversity hot spot, and live monitoring vehicle emissions
On this week’s show: Environmental concerns over Indonesia building a new capital on Borneo, and keeping an eye on pollution as it comes out of the tailpipe First up this week, Contributing Correspon...
3 Feb 202222min
Fecal transplants in pill form, and gut bacteria that nourish hibernating squirrels
On this week’s show: A pill derived from human feces treats recurrent gut infections, and how a squirrel’s microbiome supplies nitrogen during hibernation First up this week, Staff Writer Kelly Servi...
27 Jan 202226min
A window into live brains, and what saliva tells babies about human relationships
On this week’s show: Ethical concerns rise with an increase in open brain research, and how sharing saliva can be a proxy for the closeness of a relationship Human brains are protected by our hard sk...
20 Jan 202229min
