Scientific American Podcast: Science Talk

Officials have confirmed the first measles death in an outbreak in West Texas. A meeting to discuss which strains to focus on for next year’s flu vaccines was canceled by the Food and Drug Administration. Public health officials are investigating two outbreaks of an unknown disease in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Plus, new research discovers the importance of microbes in space for astronauts’ health and sheds light on the way the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 C.E. turned a brain to glass. Recommended reading: The Measles Outbreak in Texas Is Why Vaccines Matter | Opinion https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-measles-outbreak-in-texas-is-why-vaccines-matter/ The International Space Station May Need More Microbes to Keep Astronauts Healthy https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-international-space-station-may-need-more-microbes-to-keep-astronauts/ 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

Have you ever had a song continue to loop in your brain no matter how hard you tried to shake it? These “earworms” are more than just an annoyance—they’re a phenomenon scientists have studied for years. This episode dives into what makes certain melodies stick, why some tunes are more persistent than others and what our listeners shared as their most unforgettable earworms. Recommended reading: How Do You Solve a Problem Like an Earworm? 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 reported and co-hosted by Josh Fischman. Emily Makowski, 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

The Gaia spacecraft stopped collecting data this January after about 11 years and more than three trillion observations. Senior space and physics editor Lee Billings joins host Rachel Feltman to review Gaia’s Milky Way–mapping mission and the tidal streams, black holes and asteroids the spacecraft identified. Recommended reading: New Maps of Milky Way Are Biggest and Best Yet https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gaias-multi-billion-star-map-of-the-milky-way-keeps-getting-better/ Astronomers Discover Milky Way’s ‘Sleeping Giant’ Black Hole Shockingly Close to Earth https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/milky-way-sleeping-giant-black-hole-shockingly-close-to-earth/ 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, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lee Billings. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

The black hole at the center of our galaxy is emitting near-constant, random light. The European Space Agency has approved astronaut candidate John McFall, making McFall the first physically disabled candidate to be cleared to fly. The risk of asteroid 2024 YR4 hitting Earth rose to more than 3 percent and then dipped down to 1.5 percent with new data—our February 12 episode explained why this risk has been changing. Recommended reading: Hear our February 12 episode about asteroid 2024 YR4: https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/what-we-know-about-2024-yr4-the-asteroid-with-a-2-percent-chance-of-impact/ Read more of guest host Allison Parshall’s exceptional coverage: https://www.scientificamerican.com/author/allison-parshall/ 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 Allison Parshall, Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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

It’s fairly strange that humans, unlike many other mammals, don’t have hair all over. Our lack of body hair and wide geographic distribution led to the variation of sun-protective melanin in our skin. For the hair that remains, why did some groups develop curls while others did not? Biological anthropologist Tina Lasisi takes host Rachel Feltman through her work on understanding the roots of hair types. Plus, they discuss what we might learn from “chemo curls” and how developmental shifts change the extent and texture of hair during puberty. Recommended reading: Read more about Tina Lasisi at her website Read papers on hair and thermoregulation published by Lasisi and her colleagues in 2024 and 2023 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, Madison Goldberg, 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

Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission. But during the early days of the disease, public health officials suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The subsequent back-and-forth over how COVID spread brought science journalist Carl Zimmer into the world of aerobiology. In his new book Air-Borne: The Hidden History of the Life We Breathe, Zimmer examines the unseen life in the air around us. He joins host Rachel Feltman to look back at the history of the field, from ancient Greek “miasmas” to Louis Pasteur’s unorthodox experiments to biological warfare. You can preorder Zimmer’s new book And stay up-to-date on his work at his website 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, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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

Love isn’t just about romance. This Valentine’s Day, we’re exploring the power of deep nonromantic bonds. Host Rachel Feltman sits down with Rhaina Cohen, a producer and editor for NPR’s podcast Embedded and author of The Other Significant Others, to discuss the history and psychology of friendship—and the reasons these connections deserve just as much celebration as romantic partnerships. Recommended reading: —The Evolutionary Origins of Friendship —How to Reconnect with Old Friends Who Have Become Strangers Subscribe to Rhaina Cohen’s newsletter. 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, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

The European Space Agency recently announced that the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2 percent chance of hitting our planet in 2032. The probability of impact is difficult to predict exactly and will be clearer in 2028, when 2024 YR4 will whiz by us. But if the asteroid really is on a collision course with Earth, what can we do about it? Senior space and physics editor Lee Billings joins host Rachel Feltman to unpack this headline-making story. Recommended reading: Newfound Asteroid May Hit Earth in 2032, Scientists Say 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, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lee Billings. 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

A subtype of H5N1 bird flu that has been found in cattle for the first time suggests that the virus jumped from birds to the animals twice. A headline-making study estimates that we have a spoon’s worth of microplastics in our brain. Streams of rock from a cosmic impact created the moon’s two deep canyons, Vallis Schrödinger and Vallis Planck. A large study shows that people feel their best in the morning and their worst at midnight. Bonobos can tell when humans don’t know something—and try to help us. Recommended reading: The U.S. Is Not Ready for Bird Flu in Humans Bonobos Can Tell When a Human Doesn’t Know Something Is Snoozing the Alarm Good or Bad for Your Health? 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, Madison Goldberg, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Naeem Amarsy 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

The first few weeks of the Trump administration have been marked by chaos and confusion for the nation’s health and science agencies. A funding freeze broadly targeting language around diversity, equity and inclusion has agencies evaluating research and initiatives. A hold on public communications from health agencies is affecting public health reporting to people in the U.S.—and to the World Health Organization. Entire websites have gone dark as agencies have tried to comply, though archivists are preventing critical datasets from disappearing. Max Kozlov, a Nature reporter who covers biomedical science, joins host Rachel Feltman to walk through what the next four years might hold for research and researchers in the U.S. Overall, the orders have caused uncertainty for scientists in the nation, and associate health editor Lauren Young discusses the frustration and fear she’s hearing from them. Read more of Max Kozlov’s reporting: –Trump Abruptly Cancels Crucial Science Reviews at NIH, World’s Largest Public Funder of Biomedical Research –Exclusive: How NSF Is Scouring Research Grants for Violations of Trump’s Orders –Chaos Erupts in US Science as Trump’s Team Declares Freeze on Federal Grants 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Lauren Young. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

It’s almost impossible not to feel outraged these days. But overexposure to information that makes us angry can wear us down. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss how to combat outrage fatigue. Plus, we discuss a surprising finding about outrage and the spread of misinformation. Recommended reading: –Read Tanya Lewis’s full story on outrage fatigue –Listen for tips on converting cynicism into hopeful skepticism 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

This week we’re recapping Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings. Highly pathogenic H5N9, a strain of bird flu, was found in U.S. poultry. A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is making headlines—but how severe is the spread? Health equity reporter Bek Shackelford-Nwanganga of the Kansas News Service and KCUR joins host Rachel Feltman to unpack the situation. Plus, we discuss fossilized puke and ice-resistant polar bear hair. Recommended reading: –Shackelford-Nwanganga’s reporting on the tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas –The Latest on Bird Flu in Humans, Cats and Chickens –RFK, Jr., Confirmation Hearing Showed 5 Ways He Threatens Public Health 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

It’s easy to be cynical about the state of the world—even when you’re a researcher who studies empathy and kindness. Stanford University psychologist Jamil Zaki turned his own negativity into his new book Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. The book busts common myths about cynicism and explores what it could be doing to our body and brain. Zaki reflects on the imperfections of cynicism and hope and presents a third option: hopeful skepticism. Recommended reading: Read Hope for Cynics: The Surprising Science of Human Goodness. Follow Jamil Zaki’s work at www.jamil-zaki.com and www.ssnl.stanford.edu 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi 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

The sun is in the middle of its solar maximum, the part of its 11-year solar cycle that was responsible for the stunning auroras seen across the globe last year. This year is looking equally exciting, with more incoming space weather and a handful of science missions to study the sun’s wide-reaching behavior. Senior reporter Meghan Bartels reviews the missions that are launching in 2025 and explains the reasons why you should be excited by heliophysics. Recommended reading: Heliophysics Is Set to Shine in 2025 Should You Really Worry about Solar Flares? 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Meghan Bartels. 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

Executive orders that impact science and health in the U.S. came quickly after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Tanya Lewis, senior editor of health and medicine, explains how grievances over COVID and funding led Trump to order the U.S.’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization—and what that withdrawal would mean for global health. Plus, we present an update on the spread of bird flu in the U.S. and other news on topics from animal behavior to astronomy. –Listen to our episode about the mishandled response to the bird flu outbreak –Read more about Trump’s executive orders around science and health –Check out some lighthearted animal behavior 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Tanya Lewis. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the news these days and to fear for the future. What if you could interrupt doomscrolling and contribute to conservation at the same time? That’s the idea behind programs like Adventure Scientists, eBird and iNaturalist. Guest Gregg Treinish, founder and executive director of Adventure Scientists, joins host Rachel Feltman to talk about community science in the great outdoors. Learn more about Adventure Scientists Contribute to the California Biodiversity project Contribute to the Tracking Eastern Hemlock project Read Treinish’s opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi 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

Net neutrality, the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, was heralded by the Federal Communications Commission and open Internet advocates. A federal court struck down the FCC’s ability to enforce the policy earlier this month. What does that mean for the free and open Internet? Associate technology editor Ben Guarino joins host Rachel Feltman to review the state rules that could preserve net neutrality and ways that telecommunications giants could leverage the lack of federal regulation against their competitors. Recommended reading: What the End of U.S. Net Neutrality Means 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Ben Guarino. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi 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

A report that was recently released by the Department of Health and Human Services highlights the risks of drinking alcohol, even moderately. The Food and Drug Administration has banned the use of the dye Red No. 3 in food and other products. Experts argue that body mass index (BMI) is a flawed way to diagnose “obesity.” A SpaceX rocket successfully brought two lunar landers into orbit—but in another launch, part of a separate SpaceX vehicle exploded after takeoff. Plus, Australia has another scary spider. Recommended reading: – What to Know about the Ban on Red Dye in Foods and Drugs – Blue Ghost, a Private U.S. Lunar Lander, Launches to the Moon – People Who Are Fat and Healthy May Hold Keys to Understanding Obesity 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg 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

Ouch! Ah! Aïe! The words we use when we stub our toe or receive a pinch may point to a common way to express pain across languages. Associate news editor Allison Parshall explores what linguistic commonalities in expressions of pain and joy might mean for our shared biology. Plus, Parshall and host Rachel Feltman chat about onomatopoeias, the “bouba-kiki” effect and linguistic news you may have missed in 2024. Recommended reading: Ouch! Linguists Find Universal Language for Pain How Our Thoughts Shape the Way Spoken Words Evolve My Synesthesia Transforms Speech into Text I ‘See’ in My Head Eight, Ocho, Acht Most Fascinating Language Discoveries of 2024 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Allison Parshall. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Emily Makowski, Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

H5N1 avian influenza has now reached almost 1,000 herds of dairy cattle in 16 states and has infected around 66 people, many of them agricultural workers, in the U.S. Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Amy Maxmen, a public health reporter at KFF Health News, to get the latest on bird flu. They explore how government and industry players lost control of the outbreak and what we can do to prevent a future pandemic of this evolving disease. Read the full story: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/bird-flu-has-spread-out-of-control-after-mistakes-by-u-s-government-and/ Read more of Amy Maxmen’s work: https://kffhealthnews.org/news/author/amy-maxmen/ Sign up for Healthbeat’s newsletters here. 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, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Fonda Mwangi 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