Science, Spoken

Triso particles are an alien-looking fuel with built-in safety features that will power a new generation of high-temperature reactors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today a Senate committee will hear about a bill that would help farmers adopt practices to release less carbon from the soil, reducing planetary warming. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Engineers are turning to generative design algorithms to build components for NASA’s next-generation space suit—the first major update in decades. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Without a DNA sequencer, two Los Angeles entomologists relied on two of biology’s oldest tools: microscopes and lots of free time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tiny bits of plastic are corrupting every corner of the planet. The major culprits: cheap synthetic clothing and washing machines. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every summer, an atmospheric event propels desert dust thousands of miles across the Atlantic. This year is particularly bad, and timed terribly with Covid-19. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Later this year, astronauts on the American module of the ISS will be able to test out the toilet before NASA puts it on crewed vehicles for deep-space missions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new study estimates that there might only be 36 communicating extraterrestrial civilizations in our galaxy. But that number doesn’t tell the whole story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Public health experts think Covid-19 risk is lower outside, and restaurateurs want to fill tables. It’s an easy solution—except for all the hard parts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Health experts want a 9/11 Commission-style report on the US pandemic response. They say we must forecast and prepare for outbreaks as we do for wars or weather. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

So far, no studies have shown that the anti-malarial drug can fight Covid-19, and agency officials say its potential benefits do not outweigh its risks. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Boston Dynamics is finally making its mechanical canine available for businesses and developers. But know that this puppy ain't for everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bristol Bay is heating up, killing fish as they try to swim upriver to spawn. It's a harbinger of climate change and hard times for fisheries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The origin of these explosions of radio waves has long been an astrophysics mystery. Now one has been traced to an ultra-dense spinning magnetized stellar core. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This year, coal usage has dropped in the US, and renewables now generate more electricity. To some experts, the financial crisis is a clean energy opportunity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Microbes are well known for working together in stressful environments. Scientists wanted to see how they would fare at a labyrinthine brain teaser. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s a difference between people who never develop symptoms and people who just don’t have them yet. And that matters when calculating public health risk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The structure, believed to have served as a ceremonial center 3,000 years ago, was discovered in Tabasco, Mexico. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sure, large crowds already carry a risk of transmission. It's just worse when you teargas people, make them cough on each other, and bus them to jail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amid the Covid-19 pandemic, more doctors are turning to telemedicine. That's a problem for tens of millions on the wrong side of the digital divide. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Passenger jets and cruise ships normally gather key weather data. But full docks and empty skies make it hard to predict the details of incoming storms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To go that fast, it would need a ridiculous amount of fuel—and even then, it might never come back down. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The simplest hygiene tasks are the toughest to maintain—take it from the health care experts who have advice about how to make the habit stick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Worried about infiltration from extremist groups or police surveillance, residents are turning to pre-internet tactics to help protect homes and local stores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new analysis revealed what scientists believe is a passage from the book of Ezekiel. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices