Science Quickly
Episodes
Did the Eclipse Give You the Amateur Astronomy Bug? Here’s How to Get Started
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is a professional astronomer—with a passion for amateur astrophotography—and she's here to offer tips and tricks for ...
A Veteran Eclipse Chaser Explains the Thrill of Totality
08 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The feeling of a total solar eclipse is intense, and the sights, sensations and emotions can overwhelm you even if you think you know what's coming. A...
Three Times Eclipses Eclipsed Previous Science
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From the discovery of new elements to the testing of novel theories of gravity, solar eclipses have helped spark scientific progress for centuries. Le...
Humans Find Total Eclipses Startling. What About a Komodo Dragon?
03 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eclipses can affect animals, and biologists are preparing to see what happens during totality on April 8. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit mega...
Inside the Race to Protect Artists from Artificial Intelligence
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
AI-generated art is creating new ethical issues—and competition—for digital artists. Nightshade and Glaze are two tools helping creators fight bac...
The Tale of the Snail Slime Wrangler
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Mucus is a miracle of evolution, and some researchers are trying to re-create what nature makes naturally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
Mucus Saves Your Life Every Day
27 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The slimy substance is so powerful that doctors once made hog stomach mucus milkshakes to treat ulcers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaph...
Magical Mucus: On the Benefits of Getting Slimed by a Hagfish
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you take a journey into the depths of the slime all around us, you find yourself starting to understand that mucus is a miracle. Learn more about y...
How Artificial Intelligence Helped Write this Award-Winning Song
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Machine-learning algorithms allow composers to create all-new instruments. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Why Short Naps Are Good for You
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A quick nap can boost your memory, your mood and even your creativity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Great Debate: Could We Ever Travel through Time?
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our space and physics editors go head-to-head over a classic mind-bending question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Science behind Humpback Whales’ Eerie Songs
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have long wondered how baleen whales make their songs, and a new study has finally uncovered the anatomical workings behind their melod...
Large Study of ME/CFS Patients Reveals Measurable Physical Changes
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, long dismissed by doctors, causes immune system dysfunction and other problems. But treatments are...
Hunger in Gaza Could Affect Survivors' Health for Decades
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Epigenetics research reveals how famines can cause health problems later in life — and how these changes might be passed down to later generations. ...
These Invasive Ants Are Changing How Lions Hunt
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On the African savanna, a single invasive ant species has upset the delicate balance between predator and prey. Learn more about your ad choices. Visi...
Should You Swab Your Throat Plus Your Nose for COVID?
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nose-plus-throat could increase test accuracy—but could create problems too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is This the Earliest Evidence of Human Cannibalism?
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A newly-examined munch mark on a tibia has become a real pleistocene whodunit. By Natalia Raegan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone....
What Do You Mean, Bisexual People Are ‘Risk-Taking’? Why Genetic Studies about Sexuality Can Be Fraught
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A recent GWAS investigation on risk-taking and bisexuality made some assumptions that some experts don’t agree with. Learn more about your ad ch...
Asexuality Research Has Reached New Heights. What Are We Learning?
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A grassroots online movement has helped shift the way scientists think about asexuality. But much is still unknown. This is part four of a four-part s...
How to Close the Orgasm Gap for Heterosexual Couples
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers once faced death threats for asking women what gives them pleasure. Now they’re helping individuals and couples figure it out themselves...
Dominatrices Are Showing People How to Have Rough Sex Safely
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Research shows rough sex is becoming more common. Dominatrices are helping the general public catch up. Hosted by Meghan McDonough, this is part two o...
How to Explore Your Sexuality, according to Science
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Part one of a four-part series on the science of pleasure, hosted by Meghan McDonough. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You Can't Fix Burnout With Self-Care
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Individual interventions for burnout don’t work. Researchers explain why. Hosted by Shayla Love. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.f...
How April’s Eclipse Will Solve Solar Mysteries
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On April 8, we’re in for a treat. A total solar eclipse will be visible across a broad swath of North America, giving us a view of the edges of the ...
When Will We Finally Have Sex In Space?
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How Is This Ancient Cattle Breed Fighting Wildfires in Portugal?
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Portugal is one of the most vulnerable countries in Europe to climate change. Straddling the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic regions, it’s part o...
The Government's Former UFO Hunter Has a Lot to Say
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For the last decade, reports of UFO sightings have filled headlines and news broadcasts, and some of these have from a surprising place—the Pentagon...
Quantum Computers Might Make All of Your Private Data Less Secure
31 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Experts are starting to plan for the moment when a quantum computer large enough to crack the backbone of the math that keeps things secret will be tu...
For 60+ years, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccines have evaded scientists. But now that's changed [Sponsored]
30 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year, healthcare providers have tools to help prevent lower respiratory tract disease caused by RSV for older adults. Learn more about your ad ...
New IVF Test Could Increase Chances of Pregnancy Success
29 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today’s episode covers a topic that many parents-to-be have struggled with: fertility. In vitro fertilization offers a path to pregnancy for people ...
How to Save Indigenous Languages
27 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
From Papua New Guinea to the Andaman Islands, Indigenous languages are under threat. An Indian linguist helped preserve one language family. Learn mor...
Can AI Predict When You Die?
23 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new study used machine learning on 6 million Danish people to "autocomplete" their life trajectories –— and when they might kick the bucket. Lea...
The Best Way to Use Home COVID Tests Right Now
19 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In today’s episode, we want to talk about some of the current challenges with using home COVID tests. When you first have symptoms, a change in how ...
From Drunken Stupor to Sober with One (Hormone) Shot
17 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We all have our tricks for sobering up after a night of drunken revelry: maybe a pot of black coffee or an ice-cold shower. But for mice in a certain ...
How Does the World’s Largest Seabird Know Where to Fly?
12 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Imagine for a moment that you’re a very hungry bird soaring over 30-foot ocean swells in high winds, with no land for thousands of miles. How do you...
Without the Moon, You Wouldn't Exist (Probably)
08 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The moon has guided our movements and cultures, and though we may think we know it well, it still guards some of its deepest secrets from us. A new bo...
The Strange and Beautiful Science Of Our Lives
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Nell Greenfieldboyce discusses her new book Transient and Strange, the intimacy of the essays and the science that inspired them. Learn more about y...
The Surprising Health Benefits of Dog Ownership
03 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dogs are good for you, science says Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Podcasts of the Year: Cleo, the Mysterious Math Menace
29 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In 2013 a new user named Cleo took an online math forum by storm with unproved answers. Today she’s an urban legend. But who was she? 2023 editor's ...
Podcasts of the Year: Talking to Animals using Artificial Intelligence
27 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Advanced sensors and artificial intelligence could have us at the brink of interspecies communication Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphon...
How to Avoid Holiday Hangovers
22 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The holidays are a time for indulgence, but there are ways to drink alcohol without suffering the painful effects. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Podcasts of the Year: What Better Gift for the Holidays Than a Monstrous Mystery?
20 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We’re looking back at 2023 for our favorite podcast shows and one about the largest bird to ever fly the skies just flew to the top of the list....
Are Orca Whales Friends or Foes?
18 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The stories we tell about orcas might say more about us than about them Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Turns Out Undersea Kelp Forests Are Crucial to Salmon
15 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The beloved fish that feed orcas and humans depend on kelp forests’ unique habitat. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Researchers Just Created the World's First Permafrost Atlas of the Entire Arctic
13 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Arctic Permafrost Atlas, which took years to create, is both beautiful and sobering, given the pace of climate change. Learn more about your ad ch...
A New Type of Heart Disease is on the Rise
11 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Problems with the heart, kidneys and metabolic health are all connected Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
AI Can Now Read Your Cat's Pain
08 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks to researchers, new AI tech is delving into feline feelings to see when cats could need medical help. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
These Researchers Put Sperm Through a Kind of 'Hunger Games'
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The research focused on figuring out what enables certain sperm to gain some competitive advantage over millions of others fighting for the same pr...
Is Too Little Play Hurting Our Kids?
04 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A long-term decline in unsupervised activity may be contributing to mental health declines in children and adolescents. Learn more about your ad choic...
How Misinformation Spreads through Conflict
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Three experts break down how misinformation and propaganda spread through conflict and how to debunk it yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. V...
Why Childhood Vaccination Rates Are Falling
29 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Fewer kids got their routine childhood vaccines since before the pandemic. Are lack of access and a loss of trust in science to blame? Learn more abou...
Climate Adaptation Can Backfire If We Aren't Careful
27 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The choices we make in how we adapt to climate change can sometimes come back to bite us Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoice...
The Members of This Reservation Learned They Live with Nuclear Weapons. Can Their Reality Ever Be the Same?
24 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara peoples are learning more about the missiles siloed on their lands, and that knowledge has put the preservation of th...
What Would It Mean to 'Absorb' a Nuclear Attack?
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The missiles on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota make it a potential target for a nuclear attack. And that doesn’t come close to descri...
If You Had a Nuclear Weapon in Your Neighborhood, Would You Want to Know about It?
20 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota has had nuclear missile silos on its land for decades. Now the U.S. government wants to take the o...
Just One U.S. Reservation Hosts Nuclear Weapons. This Is The Story of How That Came to Be
17 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
15 nuclear missiles deployed in underground concrete silos across the Fort Berthold reservation in North Dakota. It took displacement and flood to g...
How Did Nuclear Weapons Get on My Reservation?
14 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A member of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation digs into a decades-long mystery: how 15 intercontinental ballistic missiles came to be siloed on h...
Quick Naps Are Good for Your Brain
13 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daytime naps of about 30 minutes really improve your thinking and may spark creativity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Funding for Research on Psychedelics Is on the Rise, Along with Scientists' Hopes for Using Them
10 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As interest and support for psychedelic research grows, scientists share their hopes for the future. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...
Do You Need to 'Trip' for Psychedelics to Work as Medicine?
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Psychedelic researchers are engaged in heated debate over whether the mind-altering effects of the drugs are necessary for realizing their therapeutic...
The Search for New Psychedelics
06 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
As companies join the hunt, can the field of mind-altering synthetic substances stay true to its original pioneering spirit of wonder, curiosity and c...
What Are Ultraprocessed Foods, and Are They Bad for You?
01 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
More than half of our diet consists of foods that have been industrially processed in some way, and they may be harmful to our health Learn more about...
These Creatures Are Probably the Closest Thing Nature Has to Real Werewolves
30 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Under the right conditions, the spadefoot tadpole will transform into a voracious predator of its own species. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
The World's Most Frightening Animal Sounds like This
27 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lions, tigers, bears: this creature sends all of those beasts running for the hills. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Tale of the Rotifer That Came Back to Life after 25,000 Years in an Icy Tomb
25 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Can something spring back to life if it last moved around when woolly mammoths roamed the earth? The answer appears to be yes. Learn more about your a...
Generative AI Models Are Sucking Up Data from All Over the Internet, Yours Included
23 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In the rush to build and train ever larger AI models, developers have swept up much of the searchable Internet, quite possibly including some of your ...
Some Parents Show Their Kids They Care with a Corpse
20 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re a silphid beetle, a dead body is all your children really want, and it’s your job—no matter how difficult—to get one for them. Learn...
How to Handle This New COVID Season
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The dangerous virus is still here. Here’s how you can stay safe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As Arctic Sea Ice Breaks Up, AI Is Starting to Predict Where the Ice Will Go
16 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Sea ice is changing fast. Are forecasts created by artificial intelligence the best way to keep up with the pace of a warming climate in the far nort...
Scientists Argue Conservation Is under Threat in Indonesia
13 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers have been banned from working in Indonesia’s tropical rain forests after the government disagreed with their scientific conclusions. Lea...
A Soggy Mission to Sniff Out a Greenhouse Gas 'Bomb' in the High Arctic
11 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A needlelike tower, hung with sensors, “sniffs” the air above the Arctic Circle for signs of catastrophic thaw in the sodden ground below. Learn ...
This Indigenous Community Records the Climate Change That Is Causing Its Town to Erode Away
09 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In a tiny village north of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, the Inuvialuit of Tuktoyaktuk have taken climate science into their own ...
Journey to the Thawing Edge of Climate Change
06 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What is a permafrost thaw slump? Just imagine a massive hole with an area the size of more than nine football fields—and growing—where ice-cold ...
A Popular Decongestant Doesn't Work. What Does?
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The popular decongestant phenylephrine is not effective, an FDA panel found. Here’s what to use instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...
The State of Large Language Models
02 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We present the latest updates on ChatGPT, Bard and other competitors in the artificial intelligence arms race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit...
Song of the Stars, Part 3: The Universe in all Senses
29 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
An astronomy festival in Italy opted to make all of its events and workshops multisensory. The organizers wanted to see whether sound, touch and smell...
Song of the Stars, Part 2: Seeing in the Dark
27 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A blind astronomer “sonified” the universe’s most explosive events: gamma-ray bursts. By listening to, rather than looking at, the data, she ma...
Song of the Stars, Part 1: Transforming Space into Symphonies
25 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Space is famously silent, but astronomers and musicians are increasingly turning astronomical data into sound as a way to make discoveries and inspire...
This Researcher Captured Air from the Amazon in Dive-Bombs--And Found Grim Clues That the Forest Is Dying
22 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
One researcher has been hiring planes to strafe the sky over the Amazon rain forest to collect the air coming off the trees, and what she is finding i...
Should You Get a Blood Test For Alzheimer's?
20 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Consumers can now get easy tests for Alzheimer’s. But these tests may not really help patients that much—yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
Ada Limón's Poem for Europa, Jupiter's Smallest Galilean Moon
18 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón discusses her involvement in NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the inspiration behind her poem, which will travel onbo...
How the Woolly Bear Caterpillar Does Something Pretty Amazing to Survive the Winter
15 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Caterpillars can’t regulate their body temperatures, so they have to come up with a totally different strategy to make it through the coldest months...
Bees 'Buzz' in More Ways Than You Might Think
13 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A honeybee swarm has as much electric charge as a thundercloud, and the insects’ mass movements in the atmosphere might even have some influence on ...
Scientists Are Beginning to Learn the Language of Bats and Bees Using AI
11 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The new field of digital bioacoustics is using machine learning to try decipher animal speak, including honeybee toots and quacks and whoops. Learn...
Trying to Train Your Brain Faster? Knowing This Might Help with That
08 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Are you working really hard to learn something? Remember this counterintuitive fact, and you might improve your learning curve. Learn more about your...
This Tick Bite Makes You Allergic to Red Meat
06 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The bite of the lone star tick makes people allergic to a sugar found in mammalian products, and many doctors don’t know about it. Learn more about ...
This Lesbian Monkey Love Triangle Tells Us Something Really Interesting about Darwin's 'Paradox'
04 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A “Darwinian paradox” is that homosexual activity occurs even though it does not lead to or aid in reproduction. But if you visit three capuchi...
What the Luddites Can Teach Us about AI
01 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
The Luddites did not hate technology—but they did fight the way it was used to exploit humans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/...
A Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Human Body, and It Is Still Working
30 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Xenotransplants could help to solve the organ transplant crisis—if researchers can get the science right. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...
Migratory Birds Are in Peril, but Knowing Where They Are at Night Could Help Save Them
28 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Light is a very dangerous, if not so obvious, threat to birds who migrate at night. But researchers are using weather radar to track birds and provide...
Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Us 'See' Some of the Billions of Birds Migrating at Night
25 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Science is turning to machines to unlock the secrets of the vast, mysterious pulse-of-the-planet phenomenon that is nocturnal migration. Learn more ab...
Here's How You Go Birding in the Middle of the Night
23 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
If you really want to challenging your bird identification skills, try using them at night, when bird calls are less than 100 milliseconds long. Lear...
Using Human-Sized Microphones and Hay Bales, They Unlocked the Mysteries of Bird Migration
21 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For thousands of years, no one truly knew how birds migrated—that is, until a few unlikely pioneers sat in an empty field with hundreds of pounds...
They Tap Into the Magical, Hidden Pulse of the Planet, but What is the Nighttime Bird Surveillance Network?
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
On any given night, dense clouds of dark, ghostly figures pass over your head as you sleep. Maybe you never knew they were there, but there are people...
Hearing Aids Stave Off Cognitive Decline
16 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Hearing aids may help maintain better brain functions in older people and better health overall. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...
In This Ancient Garden, Plants Can Cure or Kill You
14 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Apothecaries founded this famous garden—one of the most ancient botanical gardens in Europe—to teach their students which plants poison and which...
The Fungi Economy, Part 3: Can Climate Modeling from Space Save Our Forests?
09 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Here’s how scientists are planning on getting underground fungi data from space using satellites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...
The Fungi Economy, Part 2: Here's How Plants and Fungi Trade beneath Our Feet
07 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Atmospheric carbon is a currency that plants use to “buy” nutrients from fungi in the soil. To find out where this economy will go next, the devi...
The Fungi Economy, Part 1: Just like Us, Trees Are Experiencing Inflation
04 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Like us, plants and fungi have complex economies. By burning fossil fuels, we’ve been devaluing their currency. Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...
Could Weight-Loss Drugs Curb Addiction? Your Health, Quickly, Episode 12
02 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Drugs such as Wegovy and Ozempic might help people tackle substance abuse as well as shed pounds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm...