American Scientist Podcast

On the tough decision of whether to use chemotherapy to treat cancer while pregnant, and the resources available to help patients and their doctors make that decision.

A low-emission method of combustion is full of puzzles and potential.

Prospero, the world's first graphene-coated airplane, took flight this year. Hear a short conversation with University of Central Lancashire's Billy Beggs, the leader of the team who created it.

A short conversation with--and reading by--Jamie Bartlett, author of The Dark Net.

Initial studies from the U.S. National Toxicology Program indicate that black cohosh extract -- widely marketed to treat women's health issues -- is genotoxic.

A discussion with Virginia Tech graduate student Siddharta Roy on his experiences uncovering the Flint water crisis and how it has affected his outlook on science and his career.

A discussion on the use of computer models to screen chemicals for their toxicity--virtually--and so avoid time-intensive and expensive toxicology screenings, including animal testing.

A discussion about the what happens in the part of the Internet that's anonymous but where market mechanisms, technology, ethics, and human behavior still mix.

An evolutionary anthropologist thinks there are three particular ways that natural selection has made our sleep different from that of other great apes.

How and why did we evolve to dance? It's only human, but the benefits are like what chimps get from grooming one another.

Geochemist Avner Vengosh of Duke University describes the water issues posed by fracking that he thinks should be of top concern and discusses the politically charged environment surrounding this practice of shale gas extraction.

Right now, if one of your body parts fails, the only option for replacement is a transplant. Enter regenerative medicine, a fledgling field with the aim of regrowing parts from a person’s own cells. Researchers in that field are now amplifying their efforts with 3D printing technology, to create scaffolds from organic materials that cells need to grow into their final forms. Richard Wysk, a profes...

Caryn Babaian, an artist and a biology instructor at Bucks County Community College, in Newtown, Pennsylvania, has found a visual format that encourages her students to see and think about these all-important interactions. Here she explains why the mandala, a Buddhist or Hindu graphic symbol of the universe, lends itself so well to the teaching of biology.

Biologist Rob Dunn of North Carolina State University sat down to discuss the evolution of the heart, including why dog years are different than people years and the fascinating overlooked research of cardiologist Helen Taussig. At the end of the interview, Dunn divulges how he finds obscure science stories and his advice for students looking to do novel research like his.

Ana Barros, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke University and a Sigma Xi Distinguished Lecturer, discusses how engineering can prepare us for extreme weather events, but also how changing climate and population conditions can affect the ability of infrastructure to hold up over time. She suggests that more investment needs to be in place for ensuring infrastructure is maint...

Biologist Michael Eisen, who is also one of the founders of the open-access publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS), discussed how the idea for PLOS and the open-access movement began.

Terrence Holt, PhD, is a research associate professor in the Department of Social Medicine and a clinical assistant professor of geriatric medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC). Alongside his medical background, he is also an adjunct assistant professor of English and comparative literature also at UNC, where he teaches courses on medicine and society and on the writing...

Cosmic rays have mysterious qualities about them that scientists continue to research in order to better understand their origins and composition. Dr. Eun-Suk Seo, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, and her colleagues, fly enormous balloons as large as a football stadium and a volume of 40-million-cubic feet for extended periods over Antarctica to reach as close to the top of th...

Have you ever wondered whether animals have personalities the way people do? Dr. Andy Sih, a professor of ecology at the University of California, Davis, researches animal personalities and shows that traits, such as an individuals level of aggressiveness versus passivity, can impact an individuals survival as well as the well-being of its surrounding group. Dr. Sih's work on insects even has impl...

F. Ivy Carroll is a distinguished fellow for medicinal chemistry at the Research Triangle Institute, where he is the director of their Center for Organic and Medicinal Chemistry. Carroll has spent more than 30 years studying potential treatments for substance abuse. Among them are two compounds, RTI-336 and JDTic, that he and colleagues studied as potential treatments for cocaine abuse, as well as...

Its difficult to envision what dimensions beyond 3D are, and why physicists, chemists, and mathematicians want to study them. Duke University chemist Patrick Charbonneau studies the theory behind the formation of glass, tackling questions about an area of research called the glass problem. His research has helped progress this field to a new paradigm. American Scientist associate editor Katie L. B...

When people think of the fastest animals, most consider running cheetahs, flitting hummingbirds, or jumping kangaroos. But there's a level above what we think of as fast: Ultrafast organisms conserve energy and move in nano- or even micro-seconds. Sheila Patek, PhD, an associate professor in the biology department at Duke University, discusses her research on ultrafast creatures, including the pow...

When people think of the fastest animals, most consider running cheetahs, flitting hummingbirds, or jumping kangaroos. But there's a level above what we think of as fast: Ultrafast organisms conserve energy and move in nano- or even micro-seconds. Sheila Patek, PhD, an associate professor in the biology department at Duke University, discusses her research on ultrafast creatures, including the pow...

There are major discrepancies between model predictions and observations on cosmic dust and the theories of dust nucleation and formation. New additions to the theory may improve its performance and its ability to predict the properties and formation of nanoparticles. Listen to Dr. Lazzati discuss his research on cosmic dust with managing editor Fenella Saunders in this podcast

Gene therapy and genomic engineering are rapidly burgeoning areas of research. Dr. Charles Gersbach of Duke University sat down with associate editor Katie L. Burke to discuss the history of gene therapy and what we can do now that we couldn’t do even a few years ago.