How humans survived an ancient volcanic winter and how disgust shapes ecosystems

How humans survived an ancient volcanic winter and how disgust shapes ecosystems

When Indonesia’s Mount Toba blew its top some 74,000 years ago, an apocalyptic scenario ensued: Tons of ash and debris entered the atmosphere, coating the planet in ash for 2 weeks straight and sending global temperatures plummeting. Despite the worldwide destruction, humans survived. Sarah Crespi talks with Online News Editor Catherine Matacic about how life after Toba was even possible—were humans decimated, or did they rally in the face of a suddenly extra hostile planet? Next, Julia Buck of the University of California, Santa Barbara, joins Sarah to discuss her Science commentary piece on landscapes of disgust. You may have heard of a landscape of fear—how a predator can influence an ecosystem not just by eating its prey, but also by introducing fear into the system, changing the behavior of many organisms. Buck and colleagues write about how disgust can operate in a similar way: Animals protect themselves from parasites and infection by avoiding disgusting things such as dead animals of the same species or those with disease. This week’s episode was edited by Podigy. Listen to previous podcasts. [Image: Emma Forsber/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Avsnitt(642)

Fighting deepfakes, and using bacteria to deliver medicine inside the body

Fighting deepfakes, and using bacteria to deliver medicine inside the body

First up on the podcast, Meagan Cantwell produced a segment with Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt on the fight against deepfakes. Kupferschmidt talks with Hany Farid, professor at the Univ...

14 Maj 31min

A team effort to save a giant fish, the power of moonlight, and how scientists can navigate a tough political environment

A team effort to save a giant fish, the power of moonlight, and how scientists can navigate a tough political environment

First up on the podcast, along Brazil’s Juruá River, local residents have been working with scientists to manage a giant fish called the arapaima—affecting the land, the people, and the economy. Contr...

7 Maj 53min

Watching a spiders’ heart beat, epigenetic ethics, and what science biographies reveal about fame

Watching a spiders’ heart beat, epigenetic ethics, and what science biographies reveal about fame

First up on the podcast, Online News Editor David Grimm shares a batch of fun stories with podcast host Sarah Crespi—from spider hearts racing when traffic gets loud to a disease-preventing house. Sta...

30 Apr 46min

Cleaning up uranium mining, and how the heart avoids cancer

Cleaning up uranium mining, and how the heart avoids cancer

First up on the podcast, freelance science and environmental journalist Quentin Septer joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a controversial uranium mine getting fast-tracked in South Dakota. Septer c...

23 Apr 30min

The normals | Episode 3

The normals | Episode 3

The final of a three-part limited Science Podcast series that looks at the history of normal human subjects in research In episode two, we heard what happened to the normals program after church volu...

21 Apr 33min

How to keep quantum computers cool, whether prediction markets harm public health, and podcasting on podcasting

How to keep quantum computers cool, whether prediction markets harm public health, and podcasting on podcasting

First up on the podcast, quantum computers require extremely low temperatures—less than 1°C away from absolute zero. But getting down to those temperatures has usually required dilution fridges using ...

16 Apr 50min

The Normals | Episode 2

The Normals | Episode 2

Last time on The Normals, we learned that in the 1950s, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) wanted to recruit many healthy volunteers for basic research. Two peace churches, the Mennonites and the...

14 Apr 27min

A chimpanzee ‘civil war,’ and NASA plans for nuclear propulsion

A chimpanzee ‘civil war,’ and NASA plans for nuclear propulsion

First up on the podcast, freelance science journalist Hannah Richter joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss NASA’s plans to send a nuclear-powered spacecraft to Mars in less than 3 years. Having not launc...

9 Apr 42min

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