WIRED

Science, Spoken

Science EN ↓ 2376 episodes

Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.

Be sure to visit the podcast's website and support the creator: play.prx.org

Author

WIRED

Episodes

Wildfire Smoke Is Loaded With Microbes. Is That Dangerous? 31.12.2020 12:04

Researchers are putting out a call to study the potential effects of bacteria- and fungi-filled haze on human health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Super Slow Computer Programs Reveal Math's Fundamental Limits 30.12.2020 15:05

The goal of the “busy beaver” game is to find the longest-running computer program. Its pursuit has surprising connections to profound questions in math. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All the Stuff Humans Make Now Outweighs Earth’s Organisms 29.12.2020 11:07

Anthropogenic mass—concrete, metal, and other human creations—has grown to be heavier than plants, animals, and microbes combined. Planet Earth is not happy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Vaccines Are Here. We Have to Talk About Side Effects 28.12.2020 18:02

Disinformation could thwart distribution before government messages have a chance to push back. Debunking might turn out to be everyone’s job. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Rocket From 1966 Has Found Its Way Back to Earth’s Orbit 24.12.2020 10:14

More than 50 years after its course correction failure, Surveyor 2’s rocket booster seems to have reappeared. Â Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An Atlas Reveals Climate Change Is Pushing Birds Further North 23.12.2020 10:43

Data from 120,000 birdwatchers in 48 countries shows forest birds have expanded their range while area occupied by farmland birds has shrunk. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Physicists Are Closer to Knowing the Size of a Proton … Sort of 22.12.2020 7:54

A new and potentially improved measurement of a proton’s charge radius brings scientists closer to an answer. But the issue is still unresolved. Â Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Bees Paint Animal Poo on Their Homes to Repel Giant Hornets 21.12.2020 13:25

What at first seems like terrible housekeeping turns out to be a clever ploy to fend off huge predators, which can otherwise easily destroy a hive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who Will We Be When This Is All Over? 18.12.2020 12:02

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought incalculable suffering and trauma. But it also offers ways for people—and even societies—to change for the better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the Second Time Ever, an Asteroid Sample Returns to Earth 17.12.2020 13:34

The Japanese Hayabusa2 mission to asteroid Ryugu marks a major milestone this weekend with the return of pristine space rock. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Another Victim of Global Warming: The Great British Bake Off 16.12.2020 9:00

Increasing summer temperatures are proving a menace to butter, chocolates, and baked Alaska. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Underground Brine Could Be a Source of Oxygen on Mars 15.12.2020 6:18

A new study tests a device that can efficiently split the resource’s water into pure oxygen and hydrogen in Martian conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Incredible Journey of the Electronic Plastic Bottle 14.12.2020 10:56

Researchers loaded containers with trackers and released them in the Ganges and the Bay of Bengal, giving new insight into how plastic pollution travels. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Endangered Vancouver Island Marmots Are Making a Comeback 11.12.2020 8:42

Canada’s most endangered mammal is back from the brink of extinction—and offers hope as an “ambassador” for the conservation of less adorable species. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's a Semi-Log Plot and How Can You Use It for Covid Data? 10.12.2020 8:38

It is very useful for showing data that spans different orders of magnitude—like case numbers in South Korea compared to the numbers in the United States. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Physicists Pin Down the Nuclear Reaction Just After the Big Bang 09.12.2020 10:27

The newly measured rate of a key nuclear fusion process that forged the first atomic nuclei matches the picture of the universe 380,000 years later. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet the Microbes Living on Da Vinci’s Iconic Sketches 08.12.2020 9:29

Think you’ve got an interesting microbiome? Your body ain’t got nothing on what’s accumulated on Leonardo’s drawings over 500 years. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This Squishy 3D-Printed Human Heart Feels Like the Real Thing 07.12.2020 9:25

A clever technique allows scientists to scan a heart and reconstruct it in a soup of gelatin. It's like making jello, only way more useful for surgeons. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate Change Is Intensifying the Tsunami Threat in Alaska 04.12.2020 10:12

As glaciers retreat and permafrost thaws, massive landslides threaten coastal communities. Those, in turn, could trigger giant sea waves. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Solar-Powered Rocket Might Be Our Ticket to Interstellar Space 03.12.2020 12:35

The idea for solar thermal propulsion has been around for decades, but researchers tapped by NASA just conducted a first test. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An Enormous Iceberg Is Headed for South Georgia Island—Again 02.12.2020 9:39

If they collide, it could cause big problems for breeding penguins and seals by cutting off their access to the open sea. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Physics of Materials at Minus 80 Degrees Celsius 01.12.2020 12:20

Pfizer's new vaccine has to be stored at extremely low temperatures. Here's how things work when it gets that cold. Â Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

‘Godzilla’ Wasp Swims—So Its Young Can Burst Out of Caterpillars 26.11.2020 8:39

In non-election news, Microgaster godzilla dives to find a caterpillar, forces it to the surface, and injects it with a baby that eats the host from the inside out. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fireball Is Werner Herzog’s Ode to Space Rocks 25.11.2020 7:06

A new documentary from the German auteur examines the influence of meteorites on cultures around the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Confused About Covid Brain Fog? Doctors Have Questions, Too 24.11.2020 12:08

Physicians have seen this recovery symptom before, but they still don’t know why so many coronavirus survivors are being affected. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices