Mysteriously male crocodiles, the future of negotiating AIs, and atomic bonding between the United States and China
This week we hear stories on involving more AIs in negotiations, tiny algae that might be responsible for killing some (not all) dinosaurs, and a chemical intended to make farm fish grow faster that m...
31 Aug 201725min
What hunter-gatherer gut microbiomes have that we don’t, and breaking the emoji code
Sarah Crespi talks to Sam Smits about how our microbial passengers differ from one culture to the next—are we losing diversity and the ability to fight chronic disease? For our books segment, Jen Gol...
24 Aug 201718min
A jump in rates of knee arthritis, a brief history of eclipse science, and bands and beats in the atmosphere of brown dwarfs
This week we hear stories on a big jump in U.S. rates of knee arthritis, some science hits and misses from past eclipses, and the link between a recently discovered thousand-year-old Viking fortress a...
17 Aug 201720min
Coddled puppies don’t do as well in school, some trees make their own rain, and the Americas were probably first populated by ancient mariners
This week we hear stories on new satellite measurements that suggest the Amazon makes its own rain for part of the year, puppies raised with less smothering moms do better in guide dog school, and wha...
10 Aug 201719min
The biology of color, a database of industrial espionage, and a link between prions and diabetes
This week we hear stories on diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease in chimps, a potential new pathway to diabetes—through prions—and what a database of industrial espionage says about the economics of spying...
3 Aug 201728min
DNA and proteins from ancient books, music made from data, and the keys to poverty traps
This week we hear stories on turning data sets into symphonies for business and pleasure, why so much of the world is stuck in the poverty trap, and calls for stiffening statistical significance with ...
27 Juli 201729min
Paying cash for carbon, making dogs friendly, and destroying all life on Earth
This week we have stories on the genes that may make dogs friendly, why midsized animals are the fastest, and what it would take to destroy all the life on our planet with Online News Editor David Gri...
20 Juli 201730min
Still-living dinosaurs, the world’s first enzymes, and thwarting early adopters in tech
This week, we have stories on how ultraviolet rays may have jump-started the first enzymes on Earth, a new fossil find that helps date how quickly birds diversified after the extinction of all the oth...
13 Juli 201727min
