How we measure the world with our bodies, and hunting critical minerals
Body-based units of measure in cultural evolution, and how the geologic history of the United States can be used to find vital minerals First up t...
Talking tongues, detecting beer, and shifting perspectives on females
Why it’s so hard to understand the tongue, a book on a revolutionary shift toward studying the female of the species, and using proteomics to find bee...
The earliest evidence for kissing, and engineering crops to clone themselves
Cloning vigorous crops, and finding the first romantic kiss First up this week, building resilience into crops. Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins h...
Debating when death begins, and the fate of abandoned lands
A new approach promises to increase organ transplants but some question whether they should proceed without revisiting the definition of death, and wh...
Building big dream machines, and self-organizing landscapes
Builders of the largest scientific instruments, and how cracks can add resilience to an ecosystem First up this week, a story on a builder of the ...
The value of new voices in science and journalism, and what makes something memorable
Science’s editor-in-chief and an award-winning broadcast journalist discuss the struggles shared by journalism and science, and we learn about what ma...
Mapping uncharted undersea volcanoes, and elephant seals dive deep to sleep
What does it mean that we have so many more seamounts than previously thought, and finding REM sleep in seals First up on the show this week: so m...
More precise radiocarbon dating, secrets of hibernating bear blood, and a new book series
Anchoring radiocarbon dates to cosmic events, why hibernating bears don't get blood clots, and kicking off a book series on sex, gender, and science ...
Why not vaccinate chickens against avian flu, and new form of reproduction found in yellow crazy ants
Why some countries, such as China, vaccinate flocks against bird flu but others don’t, and male ants that are always chimeras First up this week, ...
How the Maya thought about the ancient ruins in their midst, and the science of Braille
On this week’s show: How people in the past thought about their own past, and a detailed look at how Braille is read First up this week, what did ...