How far out we can predict the weather, and an ocean robot that monitors food webs
The app on your phone tells you the weather for the next 10 days—that’s the furthest forecasters have ever been able to predict. In fact, every decade for the past hundred years, a day has been added ...
14 Feb 201918min
Possible potato improvements, and a pill that gives you a jab in the gut
Because of its genetic complexity, the potato didn’t undergo a “green revolution” like other staple crops. It can take more than 15 years to breed a new kind of potato that farmers can grow, and genet...
7 Feb 201927min
Treating the microbiome, and a gene that induces sleep
Orla Smith, editor of Science Translational Medicine joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what has changed in the past 10 years of microbiome research, what’s getting close to being useful in treatme...
31 Jan 201921min
Pollution from pot plants, and how our bodies perceive processed foods
The “dank” smelling terpenes emitted by growing marijuana can combine with chemicals in car emissions to form ozone, a health-damaging compound. This is especially problematic in Denver, where ozone l...
24 Jan 201933min
Peering inside giant planets, and fighting Ebola in the face of fake news
It’s incredibly difficult to get an inkling of what is going on inside gas giants Saturn and Jupiter. But with data deliveries from the Cassini and Juno spacecraft, researchers are starting to learn m...
17 Jan 201925min
A mysterious blue pigment in the teeth of a medieval woman, and the evolution of online master’s degrees
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) provide free lectures and assignments, and gained global attention for their potential to increase education accessibility. Plagued with high attrition rates and fe...
10 Jan 201928min
Will a radical open-access proposal catch on, and quantifying the most deadly period of the Holocaust
Plan S, an initiative that requires participating research funders to immediately publish research in an open-access journal or repository, was announced in September 2018 by Science Europe with 11 pa...
3 Jan 201920min
End of the year podcast: 2018’s breakthroughs, breakdowns, and top online stories
First, we hear Online News Editor David Grimm and host Sarah Crespi discuss audience favorites and staff picks from this year’s online stories, from mysterious pelvises to quantum engines. Megan Cant...
20 Des 201830min
