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Weekly podcasts from Science Magazine, the world's leading journal of original scientific research, global news, and commentary.
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Science Magazine Podcast
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All your COVID-19 vaccine questions answered, and a new theory on forming rocky planets
28:45
28:45
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28:45
Science Staff Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to take on some of big questions about the COVID-19 vaccines, such as: Do they stop transmission? Will we need boosters? When will life get back to “normal.”Sarah also talks with Anders Johansen, professor of planetary sciences and planet formation at the University of Copenhagen, about his Sci…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Building Africa’s Great Green Wall, and using whale songs as seismic probes
21:46
21:46
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21:46
Science journalist Rachel Cernansky joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about progress on Africa’s Great Green Wall project and the important difference between planting and growing a tree.Sarah also talks with Václav Kuna, a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the Czech Academy of Sciences, about using loud and long songs from fi…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Looking back at 20 years of human genome sequencing
34:15
34:15
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34:15
This week we’re dedicating the whole show to the 20th anniversary of the publication of the human genome. Today, about 30 million people have had their genomes sequenced. This remarkable progress has brought with it issues of data sharing, privacy, and inequality.Host Sarah Crespi spoke with a number of researchers about the state of genome science…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Calculating the social cost of carbon, and listening to mole rat chirps
22:17
22:17
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22:17
On its first day, the new Biden administration announced plans to recalculate the social cost of carbon—a way of estimating the economic toll of greenhouse gases. Staff Writer Paul Voosen and host Sarah Crespi discuss why this value is so important and how it will be determined. Next up, Alison Barker, a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Delbrück …
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Counting research rodents, a possible cause for irritable bowel syndrome, and spitting cobras
27:42
27:42
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27:42
Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a controversial new paper that estimates how many rodents are used in research in the United States each year. Though there is no official number, the paper suggests there might be more than 100 million rats and mice housed in research facilities in the country—doubling or even tripl…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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An elegy for Arecibo, and how our environments change our behavior
23:18
23:18
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23:18
Science Senior Correspondent Daniel Clery regales host Sarah Crespi with tales about the most important work to come from 57 years of research at the now-defunct Arecibo Observatory and plans for the future of the site.Sarah also talks with Toman Barsbai, an associate professor in the school of economics at the University of Bristol, about the infl…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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The uncertain future of North America’s ash trees, and organizing robot swarms
23:58
23:58
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23:58
Freelance journalist Gabriel Popkin and host Sarah Crespi discuss what will happen to ash trees in the United States as federal regulators announce dropping quarantine measures meant to control the emerald ash borer—a devastating pest that has killed tens of millions of trees since 2002. Instead of quarantines, the government will use tiny wasps kn…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Areas to watch in 2021, and the living microbes in wildfire smoke
25:04
25:04
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25:04
We kick off our first episode of 2021 by looking at future trends in policy and research with host Meagan Cantwell and several Science news writers. Ann Gibbons talks about upcoming studies that elucidate social ties among ancient humans, Jeffrey Mervis discusses relations between the United States and China, and Paul Voosen gives a rundown of two …
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Breakthrough of the Year, top online news, and science book highlights
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41:53
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41:53
Our last episode of the year is a celebration of science in 2020. First, host Sarah Crespi talks with Online News Editor David Grimm about some of the top online news stories of the year—from how undertaker bees detect the dead to the first board game of death. (It’s not as grim as it sounds.)Sarah then talks with Online News Editor Catherine Matac…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Making ecology studies replicable, and a turnaround for the Tasmanian devil
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22:49
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22:49
The field of psychology underwent a replication crisis and saw a sea change in scientific and publishing practices, could ecology be next? News Intern Cathleen O’Grady joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the launch of a new society for ecologists looking to make the field more rigorous.Sarah also talks with Andrew Storfer, a professor in the Scho…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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How the new COVID-19 vaccines work, and restoring vision with brain implants
21:43
21:43
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21:43
Staff Writer Meredith Wadman and host Sarah Crespi discuss what to expect from the two messenger RNA–based vaccines against COVID-19 that have recently released encouraging results from their phase III trials and the short-term side effects some recipients might see on the day of injection.Sarah also talks with researcher Xing Chen, a project co-le…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Keeping coronavirus from spreading in schools, why leaves fall when they do, and a book on how nature deals with crisis
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39:32
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39:32
Many schools closed in the spring, during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic. Many opened in the fall. Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about what was learned in spring about how coronavirus spreads in schools that might help keep children safe as cases surge once again.Also this week: What makes leaves f…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Fish farming’s future, and how microbes compete for space on our face
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38:25
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38:25
These days, about half of the protein the world’s population eats is from seafood. Staff Writer Erik Stokstad joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about how brand-new biotech and old-fashioned breeding programs are helping keep up with demand, by expanding where we can farm fish and how fast we can grow them.Sarah also spoke with Jan Claesen, an assista…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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How the human body handles extreme heat, and improvements in cooling clothes
23:31
23:31
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23:31
This week the whole show focuses on keeping cool in a warming world. First up, host Sarah Crespi talks with Senior News Correspondent Elizabeth Pennisi about the latest research into how to stay safe when things heat up—whether you’re running marathons or fighting fires. Sarah also talks with Po-Chun Hsu, assistant professor of mechanical engineeri…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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What we can learn from a mass of black hole mergers, and ecological insights from 30 years of Arctic animal movements
27:55
27:55
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27:55
First up, host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Adrian Cho about new gravitational wave detections from the first half of 2019—including 37 new black hole mergers. With so many mergers now recorded, astrophysicists can do different kinds of research into things like how new pairs of black holes come to be and how often they merge.Sarah also tal…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Taking the politicians out of tough policy decisions; the late, great works of Charles Turner; and the science of cooking
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43:53
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43:53
First up, host Sarah Crespi talks to News Intern Cathleen O’Grady about the growing use of citizens’ assemblies, or “minipublics,” to deliberate on tough policy questions like climate change and abortion. Can random groups of citizens do a better job forming policy than politicians?Next, we feature the latest of a new series of insight pieces that …
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Early approval of a COVID-19 vaccine could cause ethical problems for other vax candidates, and ‘upcycling’ plastic bags
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23:33
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23:33
First up, host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Jon Cohen about some tricky ethical questions that may arise after the first coronavirus vaccine is authorized for use in the United States. Will people continue to participate in clinical trials of other vaccines? Will it still be OK to give participants placebo vaccines?Next, producer Meagan Can…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Making sure American Indian COVID-19 cases are counted, and feeding a hungry heart
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21:57
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21:57
First up, host Meagan Cantwell speaks with Abigail Echo-Hawk, director of the Urban Indian Health Institute and chief research officer for the Seattle Indian Health Board. Echo-Hawk shares what inspired her journey in public health and explains the repercussions of excluding native people from health data. This story was originally reported by Lizz…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Visiting a once-watery asteroid, and how buzzing the tongue can treat tinnitus
23:29
23:29
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23:29
First up, Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) mission to the asteroid Bennu. After OSIRIS-REx’s up-close surveys of the surface revealed fewer likely touchdown points than expected, its sampling mission has been rejiggered…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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FDA clinical trial failures, and an AI that can beat curling’s top players
28:36
28:36
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28:36
Investigative journalist Charles Piller joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss his latest Science exclusive: a deep dive into the Food and Drug Administration’s protection of human subjects in clinical trials. Based on months of data analysis and interviews, he uncovered long-term failures in safety enforcement in clinical trials and potential problems…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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How Neanderthals got human Y chromosomes, and the earliest human footprints in Arabia
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21:04
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21:04
Contributing Correspondent Ann Gibbons talks with host Sarah Crespi about a series of 120,000-year-old human footprints found alongside prints from animals like asses, elephants, and camels in a dried-up lake on the Arabian Peninsula. These are the earliest human footprints found so far in Arabia and may help researchers better understand the histo…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Performing magic for animals, and why the pandemic is pushing people out of prisons
23:46
23:46
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23:46
Staff Writer Kelly Servick joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how jail and prison populations in the United States have dropped in the face of coronavirus and what kinds of scientific questions about public health and criminal justice are arising as a result.Also this week, Elias García-Pelegrín, a Ph.D. student at the University of Cambridge, talk…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Alien hunters get a funding boost, and checking on the link between chromosome ‘caps’ and aging
24:07
24:07
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24:07
First up this week, Senior Correspondent Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about how Breakthrough Listen—a privately funded initiative that aims to spend $100 million over 10 years to find extraterrestrial intelligent life—has changed the hunt for alien intelligence. And as part of a special issue on the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) pr…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Fighting Europe’s second wave of COVID-19, and making democracy work for poor people
29:21
29:21
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29:21
First up this week, Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt talks with host Sarah Crespi about rising numbers of coronavirus cases in Europe. Will what we’ve learned this summer about how the virus is transmitted and treated help prevent a second peak?Read all of our coronavirus news coverage.And as part of a special issue on democracy, Rohini…
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Science Magazine Podcast
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Arctic sea ice under attack, ancient records that can predict the future effects of climate change, and Carl Bergstrom's Calling Bullshit
31:37
31:37
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31:37
Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about how Arctic sea ice is under attack from above and below—not only from warming air, but also dangerous hot blobs of ocean water.Next, Damien Fordham, a professor and global change ecologist at the University of Adelaide, talks about how new tools for digging into the past are helping catalo…
