Episodes

  • Shark Sounds, Molecules on Mars and Continued Federal Cuts

    Shark Sounds, Molecules on Mars and Continued Federal Cuts
    Mar 31 2025
    Long-chain alkanes discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover point to the possibility that there may have been fatty acids on Mars—and that they could have come from past microbial life. Paleontologists have found a huge dinosaur claw that was probably made for foraging, not fighting. Researchers studying ocean life have recorded the sounds of sharks and the tricks of cuttlefish. Plus, cuts to jobs and funding for U.S. federal science and health agencies continued last week. Tens of thousands of federal workers are on the chopping block, as is funding for COVID testing, vaccinations and equity initiatives. Recommended reading: Scientists Record First Known Shark Sounds https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-record-first-known-shark-sounds/ HHS’s Long COVID Office Is Closing. What Will This Mean for Future Research and Treatments? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hhss-long-covid-office-is-closing-what-will-this-mean-for-future-research/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio.This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • Go Inside M.I.T.'s 50,000 Square Foot Clean Room

    Go Inside M.I.T.'s 50,000 Square Foot Clean Room
    Mar 28 2025
    The cutting edge of research is very small—and very clean. In this episode, host Rachel Feltman joins Vladimir Bulović, director of MIT.nano, on a tour of this facility’s nanoscale capabilities. Its tightly controlled clean room hosts research across several fields, from microelectronics to medical nanotechnology. You can see Bulović’s tour of the lab at: https://youtu.be/ucGFcLjX30Q E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    20 mins
  • Are These Plants Out of Place? A New Look at Invasive Species

    Are These Plants Out of Place? A New Look at Invasive Species
    Mar 26 2025
    When you hear “invasive plant,” you might picture an aggressive species taking over and harming the environment. But what if the way we think about invasive plants is part of the problem? Host Rachel Feltman chats with Mason Heberling, associate curator of botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, about why these plants are more complicated than we think. He’s one of the experts behind Uprooted: Plants Out of Place, a new exhibition that challenges the way we label and manage plant invasions. Recommended reading: Invasive Species Can Sometimes Help an Ecosystem “Lost in Translation: The Need for Updated Messaging Strategies in Invasion Biology Communication,” by Rachel A. Reeb and J. Mason Heberling, in Plants, People, Planet. Published online November 8, 2024 Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    16 mins
  • NASA Astronauts Finally Return, Seals Hold Their Breath, and Penguin Poop Stresses Out Krill

    NASA Astronauts Finally Return, Seals Hold Their Breath, and Penguin Poop Stresses Out Krill
    Mar 24 2025
    Two NASA astronauts are finally back on Earth after an unexpected nine-month stay in space. What kept them up there so long? Meanwhile scientists have discovered that gray seals have a built-in oxygen gauge that helps them hold their breath for more than an hour. And in the Antarctic, researchers found that penguin poop seriously stresses out krill. Catch up on these stories and more in our Monday news roundup. Recommended reading: After 286 Days in Space, NASA Astronauts Return to Earth with a Splash E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    10 mins
  • Severance’s Consulting Neurosurgeon Explains the Science behind the Show’s Brain Procedure

    Severance’s Consulting Neurosurgeon Explains the Science behind the Show’s Brain Procedure
    Mar 21 2025
    What if you could completely separate your work and personal life—with the help of a brain implant? That’s the unsettling premise of Severance, the hit Apple TV+ show that just wrapped its second season. To make the science fiction feel as real as possible, the creators brought in an actual neurosurgeon, Vijay Agarwal, chief of the Skull-Base Tumor Center at Montefiore Einstein, as a consultant for the show. Host Rachel Feltman met with Agarwal to break down the real neuroscience behind Severance—and whether a procedure like the one it depicts could ever exist. Mild spoilers ahead! We recommend you at least watch through episode seven of season two before you listen. Recommended reading: The Neuroscience of Severance: What’s Real? What’s Fake? What Severance Life Would Really Be Like, according to a Psychologist Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    17 mins
  • What Everyone Gets Wrong about Colonoscopies

    What Everyone Gets Wrong about Colonoscopies
    Mar 19 2025
    Colonoscopy gets a bad rap, but how much of what you’ve heard is actually true? In recognition of Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month, we’re tackling the biggest myths that keep people from getting this potentially lifesaving screening. John Nathanson, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center, joins host Rachel Feltman to clear up what the misconceptions are, explain what to expect and share why this test is so important. Recommended reading: The Colon Cancer Conundrum Colon Cancer Linked to Mouth Bacteria Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    11 mins
  • NASA Launches New Missions, Saturn Gains Some Moons, and Whale Urine Balances Marine Ecosystems

    NASA Launches New Missions, Saturn Gains Some Moons, and Whale Urine Balances Marine Ecosystems
    Mar 17 2025
    The new Environmental Protection Agency administrator plans to get rid of or weaken critical environmental rules and policies, such as regulations around greenhouse gases and clean water protections. The deregulation effort follows the recent cancellation of hundreds of grants. NASA launched two missions last week. The first, SPHEREx, will make a three-dimensional map of the sky. The second, PUNCH, is a collection of satellites meant to study solar wind. Plus, Saturn gains some moons, and whale urine balances ecosystems. Recommended reading: Trump EPA Unveils Aggressive Plans to Dismantle Climate Regulation New NASA Space Telescope Will See the Universe in 102 Colors Heliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025 E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    9 mins
  • Movie Magic Meets Practical Robotics for Netflix’s The Electric State

    Movie Magic Meets Practical Robotics for Netflix’s The Electric State
    Mar 14 2025
    Dennis Hong, a mechanical and aerospace engineering professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered a love of robots at an early age while watching the “droid” characters in Star Wars. As director of the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at U.C.L.A., Hong has worked on functional humanoid robots for tasks such as firefighting and disaster relief. Then the Russo brothers came calling. To promote their new Netflix movie The Electric State, film directors Anthony and Joseph Russo wanted to move beyond CGI and create a version of the lead robot, Cosmo, for events. Hong joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss the challenges of blending practical robotics with a Hollywood vision. You can watch The Electric State on Netflix. Recommended reading: Scientists Are Putting ChatGPT Brains Inside Robot Bodies. What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Spiderlike Mars Robot Might One Day Crawl through Unexplored Volcanic Caves A Brief History of Automatons That Were Actually People E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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    18 mins