Science, Spoken

When NASA designed its first space suits, they were tailored to fit the all-male crews who flew in the early 1960s and landed on the moon in 1969. But as NASA has become a more diverse agency, both in space and on the ground, the limitations of its suits have become a growing source of embarrassment. Since the final Moon mission in 1972, more than 40 American women have flown on the space shuttle...

If it seems too good to be true, the old cliché goes, it probably is. And it doesn’t get much gooder than the bizarre hand of the aye-aye, a specialized lemur that uses a hyper-elongated middle finger to tap along hollow tree branches, listens for grubs within, gnaws a hole in the wood, and reaches that middle finger inside to fish out the food. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoic...

When Cypher is selling out his compatriots over dinner with Agent Smith in The Matrix, he muses: “I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.” In a simulation like the Matrix, ones and zeroes represent every nuance of that steak—the texture, the...

Presidential candidates are in the business of making big promises, and few of the Democratic contenders for the 2020 nomination have promised more than Andrew Yang. An entrepreneur turned politico, Yang has styled himself as the techie’s candidate. His platform is defined by its embrace of high-tech solutions for a variety of social problems and earned him endorsements from Silicon Valley heavywe...

Andrew Anzalone was restless. It was late fall, 2017. The year was winding down, and so was his MD/PhD program at Columbia. Trying to figure out what was next in his life, he’d taken to long, leaf-strewn walks in the West Village. One night as he paced up Hudson Street, his stomach filled with La Colombe coffee and his mind with Crispr gene editing papers, an idea began to bubble through the caffe...

The Trump administration this week proposed ending the so-called Roadless Rule, which banned logging, development, and road construction in Alaska’s Tongass, the biggest national forest in the US. If the USDA Forest Service has its way, it would “remove all 9.2 million acres of inventoried roadless acres and would convert 165,000 old-growth acres and 20,000 young-growth acres previously identified...

It’s official: Humans are canceled. If we’re not intent on slowly destroying the planet, then we’re getting busy being downright nasty to each other online. But in a world increasingly devoid of human role models, there are some unlikely sources of inspiration out there. Wired UK This story originally appeared on WIRED UK. Enter The Blob—a yellowish chunk of slime mold set to make its debut at the...

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Opinion: Brain scans, aided by AI, reveal as much about you as your DNA. Grappling with their ethical implications is vital to scientific integrity. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new measurement seems to eliminate an anomaly that has captivated physicists for nearly a decade. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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New shape-shifting liquids can move or morph on command. One scientist even used them to make liquid cables for his headphones. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If successful, India will become the fourth country to put a lander on lunar soil. The spacecraft will then collect data on the south pole's many mysteries. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Called the eDumper, the massive truck relies on regenerative braking to recover some of its energy as it slows down. Let's break down the physics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new paper tracked possible bias among scientists awarding prestigious research positions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers quantify the emissions of every road and building in the nearly 5,000 square miles of the Los Angeles metro area. Your city could be next. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The country was going to start a herd of genetically dehorned cows. Then errors in the cows' DNA cropped up. Link Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first anatomically correct model of the visual cortex seeks to capture how the brain sees the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An investigation into respiratory illnesses connected to e-cigs by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention turned up the first known death this week. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At the core of Brazil's out-of-control fires in the Amazon is deforestation. Here's how human meddling fundamentally transforms a rainforest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Economic activity appears to be causing the rainforest to burn, unlike the other epic fires ravaging the world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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