Science, Spoken

Scientists find that cyanobacteria cause sediments on glaciers to clump, thus absorbing more sunlight. It's not great news for fans of lower sea levels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Three-dimensional computer simulations have solved the mystery of why doomed stars explode at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Facilities that suck carbon dioxide out of the air could be powerful weapons for fighting climate change. But their deployment requires a huge wartime-style investment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mega-sites need a lot of personnel and pose problems of access and equity.  But other vaccination campaigns might point us in the right direction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

No one was calling it a pandemic yet, at least publicly. Then came more troubling evidence about transmission, as the US ignored warning signs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Using voice-activation tech and nature-inspired soundscapes, these space are designed to give medical workers some respite from the Covid-19 front lines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An algorithm discovered dozens of Martian craters. It’s a promising remote method for exploring our solar system and understanding planetary history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists say they've got 20-million-year-old evidence of giant worms that hunted in pretty much the most nightmarish way possible. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Computational biologists used an algorithm meant to model human language to instead predict how viruses could evolve to evade the immune system. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists find an average of 40 microplastic particles per cubic meter of the northern water. The likely source? The synthetic clothing in our washing machines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Launching rockets from planes is a decades-old concept that never really took off. Billionaire Richard Branson thinks its time has come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When humans over-exploit underground water supplies, the ground collapses like a huge empty water bottles. It's called subsidence, and it could affect 1.6 billion people by 2040. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It won't prevent teens from later becoming smokers. But some health experts say that focusing on the risk of addicting new smokers cuts off a chance to help adults quit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Most claims of running on “clean” electricity come with caveats, and many technologies required for round-the-clock renewable energy aren’t quite ready yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A small group of king penguins have appeared on Martillo Island in Argentina. How they got there, and whether they will stay, is unknown. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The airplane in the movie is stripped down and doesn't have all of its brakes installed, making the calculations even more fun. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new model estimates that by 2100, cities across the world could warm as much as 4.4 degrees Celsius. It’s a deadly consequence of the “heat island” effect. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet Bluebot, a friendly swimming robot with big camera eyes. Put a few in a tank together and they’ll collaborate to complete surprisingly complex tasks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers slap a living antenna on a drone to give the machine an insanely keen sense of smell. Ladies and gentlemen, meet the “Smellicopter.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With lots of research, arrows, and an inviting color palette, artists helped transform complex research into useful information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The high-altitude tree is vital to its ecosystem, but it’s being decimated by a fungus. Its admirers are fusing old and new methods to bring it back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The most massive database of microbial gene sequences so far shows that the tree of life is much larger than we knew. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Between glimpses of a medical cure and winning science’s shiniest prize, this proved to the gene-editing technology’s biggest year yet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Washington state, scientists, coastal communities, and state agencies are banding together to manage the growing threat of harmful algal blooms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A team at Oxford University has reverse engineered fuel from the greenhouse gas—but so far just in the lab. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices