Science, Spoken

One year later, researchers are still marveling at the power of the Hunga Tonga explosion—and wondering how to monitor hundreds of other undersea volcanoes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate change is straining the world’s two favorite coffee species. Could a resilient 19th-century alternative solve the brew’s existential crisis? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The state is ping-ponging between severe drought and catastrophic flooding. The solution to both? Making the landscape spongier. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Need to estimate, from trillions of miles away, how likely another world is to host life? There’s a flowchart for that. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Lab animals have long borne the brunt of drug safety trials. A new law allows drugmakers to use miniature tissue models or "organs on chips" instead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hottest West Coast tech 16,000 years ago was a “projectile point” for hunting game. Though tiny, the artifact tells an outsize tale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

ClientEarth helps shape new laws and enforce old ones to protect the planet and its most vulnerable inhabitants. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

World Weather Attribution ties disasters and extreme conditions to climate change—providing crucial leverage for legal and policy battles. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new study shows that as temperatures drop, nasal cells release fewer of the tiny protectors that bind and neutralize invading germs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Flu meds and prescription drugs have been in short supply all winter—but the problem goes back over a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Data from Sweden and the US suggests cash incentives increase uptake without denting people’s trust in vaccines or future willingness to get them. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year was one of the warmest measured, say NASA and NOAA. It would have been even more sweltering if not for La Niña, which will soon fade away. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Space agencies and companies aim to send people to the Red Planet. But settling there would be hell on—well, you know what we mean. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some environmentalists warn the planet can’t handle so many people, but we may need to rethink our approach to rising populations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

2022 was a breakthrough year for xenotransplantation, a procedure that could be a lifeline for patients in desperate need of a donor. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Holiday feasts tend to be salt-heavy—but early animal experiments are finding that overindulging in the condiment could take an emotional toll. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instead of cutting out chunks of the genome to disable malfunctioning genes, base editing makes a smaller, more precise swap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The epidemic has largely subsided, but largely because queer men seem to have learned more from AIDS and Covid-19 than the authorities did. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Europe’s energy crisis is forcing companies to switch strategies or close down. The industry’s future hangs in the balance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vast swathes of the country have been vindictively laced with explosives, threatening the civilian population both physically and mentally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Whale-sized shonisaurs dominated the ocean 230 million years ago. A fossil cluster offers a fascinating glimpse at how they lived—based on where they died. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Growing crops to make plastic could theoretically reduce reliance on fossil fuels and even pull carbon out of the atmosphere, but at an enormous environmental cost. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The answer explains why electric cars are everywhere, but electric aircraft are still a novelty. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Big Data, drones, diagnostics—the United Nations and other groups hope to innovate the world out of a maternal and reproductive health crisis. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During the coronavirus lockdowns, emissions of the potent greenhouse gas somehow soared. The culprit wasn't humans—but the Earth itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices