Paper Boys
Activity Overview
Episode publication activity over the past year
Episodes
What happened to the mice of Universe 25? (BONUS EPISODE)
21 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What happens when you give a scientist, obsessed with biblical death, near unlimited control over a utopian city of mice? Well...a lot of death, it t...
Is solar reflective pavement the cure for hot cities?
14 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As urban environments grow and natural vegetation gets replaced with concrete and asphalt, “Urban Heat Islands” develop, where urbanized areas ret...
What’s inside a Martian meteorite?
07 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Returning rock samples from planets and asteroids can provide new insights into how the solar system, the universe, and life formed. But how much can ...
Is eating sugar a gut instinct?
30 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
What happened in the Stanford Prison Experiment? (Bonus episode)
23 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week is a bit different - instead of a fresh episode, we are sharing one of our bonus episodes covering the Stanford Prison Experiment. Tune in ...
Did Oumuamua come from a destroyed planet?
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Oumuamua is an interstellar object that passed through our solar system in late 2017. It originally made the news thanks to several scientists suggest...
Does traffic spread like a virus?
09 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
Why is Uranus losing its atmosphere?
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
Why do water balloons pop?
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Any kid can intuitively understand how much you need to fill a water balloon to effectively drench someone. But it turns out that predicting this quan...
How can we suppress COVID-19?
19 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The coronavirus, COVID-19, has been spreading around the world since it was first detected in December 2019. Since then, drastic measures have been ta...
Why do gray whales strand during solar storms?
12 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Gray whales have some of the longest migrations on the planet--between 10,000-12,000 miles long each year! Sadly, they often get stranded on beaches. ...
What has InSight discovered on Mars?
05 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Over a year ago we covered the challenges that NASA’s InSight lander overcame to land on Mars and begin performing the first detailed seismographic ...
Can you stimulate consciousness?
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Consciousness is challenging to study. We interact with consciousness everyday, and yet there are still so many questions. Learning about how consciou...
Why do extragalactic “fast radio bursts” repeat?
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Fast radio bursts are millisecond-long signals we detect coming from distant galaxies. They were only recently discovered in 2007 and we still have n...
Do penguins speak like humans?
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It’s clear that birds can communicate. All you have to do is listen to their songs. But when they communicate, do their songs conform to the same li...
How should you talk to babies?
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
How did Mount Vesuvius' victims die?
30 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the year 79 A.D., the infamous Mt. Vesuvius transformed the towns of Pompeii and Herculaneum--as well as its residents. For a long time, archaeolog...
How fast is the world's fastest spin?
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
Does tongue fat cause sleep apnea?
16 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is estimated that sleep apnea affects nearly 1 billion worldwide. However, many of the mechanisms behind sleep apnea are still a mystery. New resea...
What's OSIRIS-REx doing at asteroid Bennu?
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
OSIRIS-REx is an exciting mission from NASA that seeks to return samples from asteroid Bennu back to Earth, providing insight into the original buildi...
The best science of 2019
02 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Join us this new year as we discuss the best science of 2019 that we never got to present on Paper Boys! Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of ...
Christmas special - Why do we believe in Santa?
24 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
(WARNING: Do not listen with young children!!) For Christmas Eve, the Paper Boys tackle the everlasting mythos of Santa Claus. Why do parents encourag...
Does Europa actually have water plumes?
19 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jupiter’s moon Europa garners a lot of attention for its potential to house life, particularly thanks to what are predicted to be vast oceans beneat...
Why does Enceladus have “tiger stripes”?
12 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus is of great interest to scientists for its unique features and potential for life. Despite its far distance from the su...
Is eating healthier better for the planet?
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Food has a big impact on the world. What we eat can drastically affect our health. It can also have major consequences for the environment. But is the...
How does hibernation work genetically?
28 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With winter setting in, it’s easy to wonder why we humans can’t simply hibernate. How is it that animals like bears can simply bypass eating and d...
Is there a universal "bit rate" of speech?
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Certain languages have reputations for speaking faster. But, over the same amount of time do these languages actually convey more information than oth...
Can we save penguins from climate change?
14 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
With their habitats heavily dependent on sea ice, Emperor penguins are extremely impacted by climate change in Antarctica. The 2015 Paris Climate agre...
Can lasers hack your voice devices?
07 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Cell phones, tablets, home assistants, and even cars are leveraging voice control technology to add convenience to our lives. But are our voice contro...
Did Google really achieve quantum supremacy?
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In a new paper in Nature, Google recently claimed that they achieved "quantum supremacy," or using a quantum computer to achieve a task that a classic...
Could Skin-On make your smartphone ticklish?
24 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Touch screens are ubiquitous in technology today. We’ve grown very accustomed to using our fingers to tap and swipe our way through most tasks. But ...
Can physical exertion lead to mental burnout?
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Endurance athletes are used to pushing themselves; most people would give up if they attempted similar feats. Does this constant push towards finishin...
Nobel Prize edition: what was the first exoplanet?
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to three researchers whose work significantly advanced our understanding of the universe. Two of the rese...
Is Planet 9 actually a black hole?
03 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Astronomers have noticed a strange clustering of objects orbiting our solar system very far from the sun. Their grouping suggests that there might be ...
How is the "darkest black" created?
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The material Vantablack made headlines a few years ago as being the “blackest black” color ever known. People were shocked by how this color would...
What’s the difference between vegetarians and meat-eaters?
19 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Health studies continuously debate the pros and cons of different diets, particularly vegetarian diets vs. carnivorous diets. Will one type of diet lo...
Is intermittent fasting healthy?
12 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Talk of intermittent fasting has grown in the news. Some feel intermittent fasting is a new dieting fad, others claim that it’s an amazing technique...
Can you find a supernova in Antarctic snow?
05 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Our planet is bombarded with tons of extraterrestrial dust every year. While much of the dust comes from asteroids, some of these particles may have c...
Are self-citations a problem for science?
29 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tracking the productivity and impact of research has always been problematic. Especially in the highly competitive environment of today where hiring a...
How does an artificial tongue taste whiskey?
22 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For the average person, the words used to describe whiskey can seem strange, if not completely arbitrary. Dignified vs. subtle, austere vs. rich, mout...
Can you hide secret messages in music?
15 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Check out the paper, news articles, and more at www.paperboyspodcast.com. Like the show? Want more every month? Fan of universal constants? Check out ...
Do you really need 10,000 steps a day?
08 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nearly everyone has heard the advice “walk 10,000 steps per day to be healthy!” As fitness trackers like FitBit have grown in popularity, many peo...
How is Neuralink hacking the brain?
01 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
News channels have been buzzing with the new press releases from Elon Musk’s brain-computer interface company, Neuralink. The company hopes to devel...
Was Stonehenge built using pig fat?
25 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Stonehenge has puzzled people for centuries. What was the purpose of such a massive rock formation? And how were people able to move such large boulde...
Can your brain see into the future?
18 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Recent research has sparked popular news headlines about the brain “seeing what’s around the corner.” Can your brain actually look around corner...
How can you measure the expansion of the universe?
11 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the early 20th century, Einstein, Hubble, and other scientists confirmed the universe was expanding. With the exception of a few nearby galaxies, n...
Does caffeine make you burn fat?
04 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Most people don’t need an excuse to drink caffeine in the morning. Pick your poison: whether it’s coffee, tea, or an extra large Red Bull, caffein...
Can seals learn to sing and talk?
27 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers have long been puzzled about how human language evolved. Humans’ ability to create complex, flexible, spoken language stands out in the ...
Is the Critical Brain Hypothesis correct?
20 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1980s, neuroscientists put forth the Critical Brain Hypothesis, which suggests our brain operates on a teetering edge between different "phases...
Does human endurance have a hard limit?
13 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Humans love to test their limits. Some people run marathons, race triathlons, or climb the world’s highest peaks. All of these endeavors are challen...
Did supernovae make us walk upright?
06 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Recent science news has been covering a paper drawing a connection between supernovae and the advent of human ancestors walking upright. The new headl...
How deep does "bomb carbon" go?
30 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Nuclear weapons have obviously had a big impact on the world since their development more than 70 years ago. But new research on the diets of small cr...
Are synthetic genomes in our future?
23 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A huge breakthrough of the last few decades is our ability to sequence genomes - pulling out the order of bases in our DNA to understand exactly what ...
Are moonquakes reshaping the Moon?
16 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When people think of the moon, they often envision it as a cold, static body. However, when the Apollo moon missions landed on the moon’s surface, t...
How bad is the Replication Crisis? feat. Ood Gallifrey from Occultae Veritatis
09 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The so-called Replication Crisis has plagued all areas of academia, and especially psychology, in the last few decades. The astonishing number of stu...
Is there a wrong side of the time zone?
02 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Daylight Savings Time gets a bad rap every year when it's time to turn the clocks forward - it's bad for your health, it's bad for the economy...but D...
Can you bring a dead brain back to life?
25 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Once an animal dies, there isn't much hope of bringing it back to life - especially when that animal is a slaughtered pig. There has been past resear...
Do mosquitoes hate Skrillex?
18 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on the planet (which we all know from Episode 10 of Paper Boys, of course!) so scientists are always looking for w...
How do you image a black hole?
11 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the Event Horizon Telescope unveiled something truly groundbreaking - the first ever direct image of a black hole. The telescope consisted...
Are eggs really bad for you?
04 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's one of the most controversial topics in all of diet science: are eggs good or bad for you? It seems there are contradicting studies all the time...
Does space affect male and female astronauts differently?
28 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's long been known that going to space can have negative effects on the health of astronauts. Space is a harsh environment with too much radiation ...
Did F-words come from a change in diet?
21 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You may not realize it, but having an overbite makes it a lot easier to say words with "f" and "v" in them. Go ahead, bring your lower teeth forward ...
Why does pain hurt?
14 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When you touch a hot stove, you reflexively pull your hand away in an instant. If you get burned (and you're like us), you'll grunt and whine about t...
Is Titan's organic atmosphere coming from inside?
07 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Titan is the only moon in the solar system that has an atmosphere, and its origin is still a hotly studied mystery. However, ESA's Rosetta mission th...
How did tardigrades become immortal?
28 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It seems every few months, a news article pops up talking about the indestructible Tardigrade - otherwise known as the "water bear" or "moss piglet." ...
Are female brains really "more youthful?"
21 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Some clues have indicated that female brains may stave off aging better than male brains, such as better cognitive ability later in life and longer li...
Can you understand talking brain waves?
14 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Brain-computer interfaces promise to change everything about our lives in the future, but are still in their early infancy technology-wise. However, ...
How did the Curiosity rover weigh a mountain on Mars?
07 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Curiosity rover on Mars has some pretty amazing experiments aboard, but curiously enough never had a gravimeter, a device used for measuring the g...
How can 3D printed filters improve chemotherapy?
31 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Even though it's our best way of fighting cancer today, chemotherapy can be extremely damaging to the human body. The drugs spread through your entir...
Why is the giant ice disk in Maine spinning?
24 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
There's a giant ice disk hanging out in the Presumpscot River in Westbrook, Maine that's garnered international attention, and rightfully so - it's an...
Can an LED control your nervous system?
17 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Optogenetics is a breakthrough technology that you may not have heard of. So what exactly is it and how might it change our future? James brings in ...
Did Leonardo da Vinci have strabismus?
10 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When you look at Da Vinci's art, it's not hard to see why he's hailed as a genius. But he may have had a little trick up his sleeve that helped him s...
How often did humans breed with Neanderthals?
03 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It's long been known that many modern humans have around 2% Neanderthal in their DNA. However, scientists don't have an exact answer for how it got t...
Does negative mass explain dark matter?
27 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cosmologists claim that all the matter we can see in the universe really only accounts for 5% of everything that's out there - the other 95% is so-cal...
How does an "ion plane" actually fly?
20 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Airplanes are responsible for 10% of the carbon footprint of the US. Recently the news reported on a new "ion plane" that could revolutionize the ind...
Did climate change cause the "Great Dying?"
13 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The worst mass extinction in known history happened 250 million years ago, wiping out an astonishing 96% of all marine life. Scientists have offered ...
Could you prove you're human in one word?
06 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hypothetical scenario: you and a robot are before a judge who cannot see you. You each must pick one word from the english dictionary to give to the ...
How hard was the InSight Mars landing?
29 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It seems everyone and their mother watched the InSight lander touching down on Mars this past monday, and it was impossible to turn on the TV without ...
Is paralysis a thing of the past?
22 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Most paralysis patients are told that if they can't regain the ability to walk in 6 months they will never walk again. Then how did three research te...
Is Oumuamua an alien spacecraft?
15 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Last year, astronomers discovered a bizarre rock from outside our solar system zipping past Earth. This year, two researchers have made the extroardi...
Does cloud seeding work?
08 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What does a phytoplankton virus have to do with the annual snowfall at a ski resort? It turns out they're more related than you think! James brings ...
How many faces do you know?
01 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How many different people could you recognize if you passed them on the street? As it turns out, this is a question science had never answered until ...
Should we kill all the mosquitoes?
25 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know mosquitoes are the deadliest animal on Earth? (Neither did we!) With gene editing, it may be possible to eradicate these bugs that tran...
Can we terraform Mars?
18 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
From Carl Sagan to Elon Musk, people have discussed making Mars more like Earth through terraforming. But are we sure that Mars even has the ingredie...
Can you hear meteors?
11 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When you wish upon a star, you'd be freaked out if you heard it falling. Witnesses reporting to hear the sound of meteors have been called crazy for ...
Magnetic fields can blow up your lab
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone knows about magnetic fields, but very few people know what they really are and what they're capable of. Charlie brings in a paper from an ex...
Are microwave weapons attacking the US embassy?
27 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
US embassy workers abroad have been reporting strange sicknesses and hearing imaginary sounds, and news reports say that microwave weapons may be to b...
Can goats read your face?
20 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Next time you meet a goat, make sure you put your best face on...but be careful which side you're standing on. Find out why when Charlie unravels a ne...
Pollution is damaging your cognition
13 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Nobody likes pollution, but did you know it could actually harm your brain? James looks at a study on pollution in Chinese cities that will make you w...
Saturn is whistling to Enceladus
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Want to know what a plasma wave from outer space sounds like? Well, it's kind of like whistling (or aliens, according to Nikola Tesla). Charlie brin...
How to find water on Mars
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When it comes to the search for life on other planets, scientists like to "follow the water." But finding water in the solar system is its own challe...
How do spiders fly?
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know how spiders fly? (Who even knew spiders could fly?) Charlie brings in new research that turns two centuries of conventional wisdom on it...