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PODCAST

Science, Spoken

Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.

science

All Episodes

6:57

Scientists Journey Into the Dark Side of Cannabis

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/18

Cannabis is a hell of a drug. It can treat inflammation, pain, nausea, and anxiety, just to name a few ailments. But like any drug, cannabis comes with risks, chief among them something called cannabis use disorder, or CUD. Studies show that an estimated 9 percent of cannabis users will develop a dependence on the drug. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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4:22

A 'Roadless Trip' in a 3D-Printed, Solar-Powered Snow...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/18

Antarctica is the driest, highest, windiest, and, of course, coldest continent. Since it’s nearly uninhabitable for humans, it’s also the cleanest. That makes it the perfect place to launch an odyssey aimed at persuading people to curb their plastic-pitching habits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

5:37

Embrace a Fake Meat Future for Its Lesser-Known Benefits

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/17

Recently I rolled into a local restaurant to try an Impossible Burger, an all-plant patty invented by the Silicon Valley startup Impossible Foods. It’s renowned for having an eerily chewy, even bloody, meatlike quality, a startling verisimilitude that has made it “perhaps the country’s most famous burger,” as New York magazine recently wrote. One bite into its gorgeous, smoky flavor and, damn, I was convinced. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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8:07

No GPS? A DIY Radio Transmitter Can Help You Navigate

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/17

Suppose you traveled back in time—say 40,000 years into the past—and then you got stuck. What would you do? How would you rebuild all the stuff that you like? That's the premise of the book How to Invent Everything: A Survival Guide for the Stranded Time Traveler, by Ryan North. Without getting into the nitty-gritty details, it gives you the general idea of how things like an electric motor or wifi work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

8:42

Sci-Fi Promised Us Home Robots. So Where Are They?

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/14

Science fiction has promised us a whole lot of technology that it’s rudely failed to deliver—jetpacks, flying cars, teleportation. The most useful one might be the robot companion, à la Rosie from The Jetsons, a machine that watches over the home. It seemed like 2018 was going to be the year when robots made a big leap in that direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

8:46

A Designer Seed Company Is Building a Farming Panopticon

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/14

When Geoffrey von Maltzahn was first pitching farmers to try out his startup’s special seeds, he sometimes told them, half-acknowledging his own hyperbole, that “if we’re right, you shouldn’t just see results in the field, you should be able to see them from outer space.” As the co-founder of a company called Indigo Ag, von Maltzahn was hawking a probiotic that he hoped would increase their crop yields dramatically. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

5:52

Even Zoos Are Learning the Art of Doomsday Prepping

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/13

When smoke from California’s wildfires was smothering the Bay Area last month, the Oakland Zoo closed to the public. The staff worked in shifts, many of them wearing N95 face masks, monitoring how animals dealt with the smoke from the fires more than a hundred miles away. Southern California was also dealing with wildfires and heavy smoke. In both regions, zoos had to make some tough decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

5:18

As Snow Disappears, the Sierras and Rockies Are...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/13

The mountains of the High Sierra and the Rockies are, in effect, shrinking, according to a new analysis of the nation’s snowpack over the past 36 years. These places are experiencing a shorter winter with less snow, just like regions closer to sea level. That’s not good news for ski resorts and snowmobilers, as well as rural homeowners worried about wildfires that erupt in the summer and fall, experts say. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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8:02

Quantum Computing Needs You to Help Solve Its Core...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/12

Since 2016, IBM has offered online access to a quantum computer. Anyone can log in and execute commands on a 5-qubit or 14-qubit machine located in Yorktown Heights, New York, from the comfort of their own home. This month, I finally tried it—nervously. I did not know what I was doing and worried I might break the hardware. “You won’t mess anything up,” IBM physicist James Wootton assured me via Skype. Courtesy of Sophia ChenI chose the 5-qubit machine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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11:48

To Clean Up Space Junk, Some People Grabbed a Net and...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/12

Clyde Tombaugh spent much of his life peering at telescope data. He discovered Pluto in 1930, and he spent years poking around the outer solar system. But as the scientific community began to dream about launching a vehicle into the great beyond, he focused his gaze much closer to home. At the time, the smaller stuff in our immediate space environment remained largely a mystery. People like Tombaugh worried whether orbiting gunk would make spaceflight that much harder. Learn more about your ad

en

11:53

How Do You Publish the Work of a Scientific Villain?

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/11

How do you handle the data of a scientist who violates all the norms of his field? Who breaches the trust of a community that spans the entire globe? Who shows a casual disregard for the fate of the whole human species? On the one hand, you might want to learn from such a person’s work; to have a full and open dissection of everything that went wrong. Because, spoiler, there was a lot that went wrong in the case in question. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

9:18

The Science of Growing a Perfect Christmas Tree

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/11

Every winter, millions of Americans descend on farms and lots across the country with the express purpose of inspecting, and ultimately choosing from, their local selection of coniferous evergreen trees. I'm talking, of course, about Christmas tree shopping—the widely practiced pastime of publicly scrutinizing spruces, pines, and firs in search of the ideal yuletide centerpiece. Many people are practiced at picking the perfect tree. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

11:52

An Energy Evolution: From Delicious to Dirty to...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/10

If you think about the history of humans (disclaimer, I'm a human) you could make the argument that history is about the quest for energy. Not just any old energy, we want it cheap or maybe even free. If you have nearly limitless energy, you can do pretty much anything. You can extract the materials you need from the air, water, or land. You can build stuff. You can go to space. Energy is the key. But our quest for endless energy has caused some problems too. Learn more about your ad choices

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8:41

Even China Roundly Condemns Editing the Genes of Babies

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/10

The birth of Lulu and Nana—the first two babies believed to be born with Crispr-edited DNA—has triggered soul-searching in China as tech innovators, scientific researchers, and government bureaucrats reconcile conflicting values. At first Chinese media celebrated Jiankui He, the scientist who last week announced he had edited the girls' DNA. Some pundits even speculated whether a Nobel prize might be in the making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

12:52

The SpaceX 'Clown Car' Launch Actually Worked—Here's How

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/07

A few years ago, a company called Spaceflight had a wacky plan. The plan, in the words of CEO Curt Blake, was “Let’s buy a Falcon!” Not, like, the bird of prey. Like the big SpaceX rocket that, similar to its avian namesake, swoops back down to Earth once it’s done its job. Buying the full capacity of such a big launcher is like booking out the town's largest, schmanciest bar: You really hope people will come to your party, and also that they'll pay their own tabs. Learn more about your ad choices

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8:07

A Global Climate Summit Is Surrounded By All Things Coal

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/07

This story originally appeared on Grist and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. There’s a specter hanging over the COP24 climate talks, happening this week in the small city of Katowice, Poland. It’s not the goalpost-moving report that the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released two months ago about the need to limit warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (instead of 3.6 degrees). It’s not the conspicuous absence of prominent U.S. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit

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4:42

SpaceX’s Failed Landing Still Ended With a Clean Plop

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/06

SpaceX launched its 20th rocket of the year just two days after lofting a record 64 satellites into orbit. On this flight, a brand-new Falcon 9 hoisted a Dragon spacecraft into orbit, bound for the International Space Station. But unlike Monday’s textbook touchdown, today’s landing didn’t quite go as planned. The Falcon’s first stage, the largest and most expensive portion of the rocket, was expected to navigate itself back to land after launching the Dragon spacecraft. Learn more about your ad

en

11:02

America's Corn Fields Are Making the Weather Really...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/06

This story originally appeared on Atlas Obscura and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Corn farmers in Eastern Nebraska have long claimed weather patterns are changing, but in an unexpected way. “It’s something I’ve talked about with my dad and grandad many times,” says fifth-generation corn farmer Brandon Hunnicutt. Along with his father and brother, the 45-year-old lives in the 400-person village of Giltner and grows about 2,000 acres of corn each year. Learn more about your ad choices

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15:04

A SpaceX Delivery Capsule May Be Contaminating the ISS

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/05

In February 2017, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted through low clouds, pushing a Dragon capsule toward orbit. Among the spare parts and food, an important piece of scientific cargo, called SAGE III, rumbled upward. Once installed on the International Space Station, SAGE would peer back and measure ozone molecules and aerosols in Earth’s atmosphere. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

en

6:56

Thousands of Unstudied Plants May Be at Risk of...

Science, Spoken ·

2018/12/05

Pleurothallis portillae is one odd-looking orchid. Sporting a small nub of a flower nestled in a long, bulbous leaf that droops like a pair of string beans, it’s considered fashionably drab by collectors. But its true home is in the remote cloud forest of the Ecuadorian Andes---a region where, according to an algorithm, it’s most likely under threat of extinction. Plants have long gotten short shrift in conservation circles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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