Science, Spoken

Under the Constitution, federal laws overrule state ones. But challenges to medication abortion will test the agency’s ability to make nationwide regulations. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Powering plant growth with solar panels instead of photosynthesis could be a more efficient way of using the sun’s energy for food. But it’s not all good news. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists are getting closer to understanding the neurology behind the memory problems and cognitive fuzziness that an infection can trigger. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists show how microbes living in a salty spring near the North Pole might resemble those that could have survived on the Red Planet—or in ocean worlds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Genomic analysis of ancient remains has shed light on the origins of the black death and offers insights into the coevolution of humans and diseases. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mars is littered with craters made by binary asteroids. These collisions are as intriguing as they are powerful. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From acoustic tweezers to holograms, engineers are taking inspiration from the field of optics—and riding the sound wave. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hesitancy, bureaucracy, inequity, and the need to explain new formulas could slow down vaccine delivery to the last unprotected group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Over 100 million women are estimated to use oral contraceptives, but studies on the pill’s mental health effects raise more questions than answers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate change and natural variability are making 2022 a year of big weather events—so get ready for more heat waves, droughts, and hurricanes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mucus keeps the microbiome healthy. Now scientists have clues about how it stops good microbes from going bad. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers say that the rising number of space launches around the world will warm parts of the atmosphere and thin the ozone layer. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In physics, experiments to answer the big questions can take decades to run—and might not produce any findings at all. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The economics are clear: Renewables are cheap enough for the country to rapidly decarbonize. Less evident is the political will to pull it off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The newly elected government has promised stricter emission limits and more renewables in the wake of fires, droughts, and floods. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

SpaceX must address dozens of environmental issues before it can upgrade Starbase in Boca Chica. The launch license needed for the Starship program remains pending. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Testing, vaccinating, and contact tracing can control the virus in Europe and North America—unless complacency allows it to take hold. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists are using genomics to create high-protein soybeans and peas. Their aim? To make meat and milk substitutes that can rival the real thing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Instead of deleting genes, epigenetic editing modulates their activity. A new paper tests if it’s able to undo a genetic effect of early alcohol exposure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers at the B612 Foundation’s Asteroid Institute developed a new tool for tracking space-rock trajectories—even with limited data. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A repeat encounter with Covid used to be a rarity. But now that Omicron has changed the game, expect reinfections to be the new normal. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When faced with food insecurity, studies show that people opt for cheap, energy-dense meals that are bad for their health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Photons wander through snow like ants through a nest. That inspired a clever new NASA technique for measuring the fluffy stuff from orbit. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Finnish company says it has found a way to incorporate bone into ground chicken, lowering the production cost and environmental impact of the meat. But will anyone eat it? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It doesn’t even work yet, but nuclear fusion has encountered a shortage of tritium, the key fuel source for the most prominent experimental reactors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices