On this week’s show: A special issue on grass, and revealing hot spots of ant diversity
This week’s special issue on grasses mainly focuses on the importance of these plants in climate change, in ecosystems, on land, and in the water. But for the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about their dark side: invasive grasses that feed fires and transform ecosystems.
Also this week on the show, Evan Economo, a professor in the biodiversity and biocomplexity unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, joins Sarah to discuss his Science Advances paper on creating a worldwide map of ant diversity. Such maps help us better understand where vertebrate and invertebrate diversity do and don’t overlap and what this means for conservation. If you want to explore the data, you can see them at antmaps.org. 
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: NTPFES; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: grassland fire in Northern Australia with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Warren Cornwall  
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade2512
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Invasive grasses get help from fire, and a global map of ant diversity

On this week’s show: Plans to push a modern space probe beyond the edge of the Solar System, crustaceans that pollinate seaweed, and the latest in our series of author interviews on food, science, and nutrition
After visiting the outer planets in the 1980s, the twin Voyager spacecraft have sent back tantalizing clues about the edge of our Solar System and what lies beyond. Though they may have reached the edge of the Solar System or even passed it, the craft lack the instruments to tell us much about the interstellar medium—the space between the stars. Intern Khafia Choudhary talks with Contributing Correspondent Richard Stone about plans to send a modern space probe outside the Solar System and what could be learned from such a mission.
Next up on the show, Myriam Valero, a population geneticist at the evolutionary biology and ecology of algae research department at Sorbonne University, talks with host Sarah Crespi about how a little crustacean might help fertilize a species of algae. If the seaweed in the study does use a marine pollinator, it suggests there may have been a much earlier evolutionary start for pollination partnerships.
Finally, we have the next in our series on books exploring the science of food and agriculture. This month, host Angela Saini talks with biochemist T. Colin Campbell about his book The Future of Nutrition: An Insider’s Look at the Science, Why We Keep Getting It Wrong, and How to Start Getting It Right.
 
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
 
[Image: Johns Hopkins APL/Mike Yakovlev; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
 
[alt: illustration of an interstellar probe crossing the boundary of the heliosphere with podcast symbol overlay]
 
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Rich Stone; Angela Saini; Khafia Choudhary
 
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LINKS FOR MP3 META
 
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade1292  
 
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Probing beyond our Solar System, sea pollinators, and a book on the future of nutrition

On this week’s show: Troubling signs of fraud threaten discoveries key to a reigning theory of Alzheimer’s disease, and calculating the saltiness of the ocean on one of Saturn’s moons
Investigative journalist Charles Piller joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles brought to light by a neuroscientist whistleblower.
Next, researcher Wan Ying Kang talks with Sarah about Saturn’s bizarre moon Enceladus. Kang’s group wrote in Science Advances about modeling the salinity of the global ocean tucked between the moon’s icy shell and solid core. Their findings spell bad news for potential habitability on Enceladus.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: Enceladus as viewed from Cassini with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Charles Piller
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade0384
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Possible fabrications in Alzheimer’s research, and bad news for life on Enceladus

On this week’s show: The first images from the James Webb Space Telescope hint at the science to come, and disentangling the itch-scratch cycle
After years of delays, the James Webb Space Telescope launched at the end of December 2021. Now, NASA has released a few of the first full-color images captured by the instrument’s enormous mirror. Staff Writer Daniel Clery joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss these first images and what they mean for the future of science from Webb.
Next on the podcast, Jing Feng, principal investigator at the Center for Neurological and Psychiatric Research and Drug Discovery at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’s Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, discusses his Science Translational Medicine paper on why scratching sometimes triggers itching. It turns out, in cases of chronic itch there can be a miswiring in the skin. Cells that normally detect light touch instead connect with nerve fibers that convey a sensation of itchiness. This miswiring means light touches (such as scratching) are felt as itchiness—contributing to a vicious itch-scratch cycle.
Also this week, in a sponsored segment from Science and the AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for the Custom Publishing Office, interviews Paul Bastard, chief resident in the department of pediatrics at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris and a researcher at the Imagine Institute in Paris and Rockefeller University. They talk about his work to shed light on susceptibility to COVID-19, which recently won him the Michelson Philanthropies & Science Prize for Immunology. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: NASA; ESA; CSA; STSCI; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: James Webb Space Telescope image of image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add9123
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Webb Space Telescope’s first images, and why scratching sometimes makes you itchy

On this week’s show: A shortage of tritium fuel may leave fusion energy with an empty tank, and an attempt to improve police responsiveness to violence against women
First up this week on the podcast, Staff Writer Daniel Clery talks with host Sarah Crespi about a new hurdle for fusion: not enough fuel. After decades of delays, scientists are almost ready to turn on the first fusion reactor that makes more energy than it uses, but the fast-decaying fuel needed to run the reactor is running out.
Also this week, we highlight an intervention aimed at increasing police responsiveness to gender-based violence in India. Sandip Sukhtankar, an economist at the University of Virginia, talks about creating dedicated spaces for women in local police stations, staffed by trained officers. The presence of these “help desks”—when staffed by women officers—increased the recording by police of crimes against women, opening up access to social services and possibly a path to justice.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: DAVID PARKER/SCIENCE SOURCE; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: The interior of the ITER fusion megareactor (artist’s concept) with podcast overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add8229 
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Running out of fuel for fusion, and addressing gender-based violence in India

On this week’s show: A boost in research ships from an unlikely source, and how the 2022 Tonga eruption shook earth, water, and air around the world
For decades, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society caused controversy on the high seas; now it’s turning its patrolling ships into research vessels. Online News Editor David Grimm discusses how this change of heart came about with host Sarah Crespi.
Also this week, how atmospheric waves can push tsunamis around the globe. Producer Meagan Cantwell talks with Emily Brodsky, an earthquake physicist at University of California, Santa Cruz, about data from a multitude of sensors showing how waves in the air drove the fast-moving tsunamis that raced around the planet after the January Hunga eruption in Tonga.
Read the related papers:

Global fast-traveling tsunamis driven by atmospheric Lamb waves on the 2022 Tonga eruption
Atmospheric waves and global seismoacoustic observations of the January 2022 Hunga eruption, Tonga

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: NASA Earth Observatory; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha‘apai eruption as seen from space with podcast overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; David Grimm
Episode page: https://www.science.org/content/podcast/former-pirates-help-study-seas-and-waves-atmosphere-can-drive-global-tsunamis
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast 
 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Former pirates help study the seas, and waves in the atmosphere can drive global tsunamis

On this week’s show: Whether biofuels for planes will become a reality, mitigating climate change by working with nature, and the second installment of our book series on the science of food and agriculture
First this week, Science Staff Writer Robert F. Service talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about sustainable aviation fuel, a story included in Science’s special issue on climate change. Researchers have been able to develop this green gas from materials such as municipal garbage and corn stalks. Will it power air travel in the future?
Also in the special issue this week, Nathalie Seddon, a professor of biodiversity at the University of Oxford, chats with host Sarah Crespi about the value of working with nature to support the biodiversity and resilience of our ecosystems. Seddon emphasizes that nature-based solutions alone cannot stop climate change—technological approaches and behavioral changes will also need to be implemented.
Finally, we have the second installment of our series of author interviews on the science of food and agriculture. Host and science journalist Angela Saini talks to Jessica Hernandez, an Indigenous environmental scientist and author of Fresh Banana Leaves: Healing Indigenous Landscapes Through Indigenous Science. Hernandez’s book explores the failures of Western conservationism—and what we can learn about land management from Indigenous people.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: USDA NCRS Texas; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: cows in a forest]
Authors: Meagan Cantwell; Robert Service, Sarah Crespi, Angela Saini
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add6320
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Using waste to fuel airplanes, nature-based climate solutions, and a book on Indigenous conservation

On this week’s show: Tracing the roots of Long Covid, and an argument against using the same DNA markers for suspects in law enforcement and in research labs for cell lines
Two years into the pandemic, we’re still uncertain about the impact of Long Covid on the world—and up to 20% of COVID-19 patients might be at risk. First on the podcast this week, Staff Writer Jennifer Couzin-Frankel joins host Sarah Crespi to share a snapshot of the current state of Long Covid research, particularly what researchers think are likely causes.
Also this week, Debra Mathews, assistant director for science programs in the Berman Institute of Bioethics and associate professor of genetic medicine at Johns Hopkins University, talks with Sarah about why everyone using the same DNA kits—from FBI to Interpol to research labs—is a bad idea. 
Finally, in a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for custom publishing, interviews Bobby Soni, chief business officer at the BioInnovation Institute (BII), about what steps scientists can take to successfully commercialize their ideas. This segment is sponsored by BII.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: A. Mastin/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: illustration of potential causes for Long Covid ]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add4887
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A look at Long Covid, and why researchers and police shouldn’t use the same DNA kits

Two decades after it disappeared in nature, the stunning blue Spix’s macaw will be reintroduced to its forest home, and lessons learned from Texas’s major power crisis in 2021
The Spix’s macaw was first described in scientific literature in 1819—200 years later it was basically poached to extinction in the wild. Now, collectors and conservationists are working together to reintroduce captive-bred birds into their natural habitat in northeastern Brazil. Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt discusses the recovery of this highly coveted and endangered parrot with host Sarah Crespi.
Also this week, in an interview from the AAAS annual meeting, Meagan Cantwell talks with Varun Rai, Walt and Elspth Rostow professor in the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas, Austin, about how to prepare energy grids to weather extreme events and climate change.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: PATRICK PLEUL/PICTURE ALLIANCE VIA GETTY IMAGES; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: two blue Spix’s macaws with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Kai Kupferschmidt; Meagan Cantwell
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add3733
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast
 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saving the Spix’s macaw, and protecting the energy grid

On this week’s show: Exploring the historic Maya’s astronomical knowledge and how grasshoppers clone themselves without decreasing their fitness
First this week, Science contributing correspondent Joshua Sokol talks with producer Meagan Cantwell about the historic Maya’s sophisticated astronomical knowledge. In recent decades, researchers have set out to understand how city structures relate to astronomical phenomena and decipher ancient texts. Now, collaboration between Western scholars and living Indigenous people hopes to further illuminate the field.
Also this week, Mike Kearney, a professor at the school of biosciences at the University of Melbourne, chats with host Sarah Crespi about a species of grasshopper that can reproduce asexually. After studying the insect’s genetics, Kearney and his group didn’t find harmful mutations—or traits that made the grasshopper better adapted to its environment than the two species of grasshopper it hybridized from. Kearney and his team suggest this way of reproducing might not be rare because it’s harmful, but because most animal have safeguards in place to prevent asexual reproduction from arising.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: Sergio Montúfar/pinceladasnocturnas.com—Estrellas Ancestrales “Astronomy in the Maya Worldview”; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
Authors: Meagan Cantwell; Joshua Sokol; Sarah Crespi
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add3058 
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The historic Maya’s sophisticated stargazing knowledge, and whether there is a cost to natural cloning

What we learned from a seismometer on Mars, why it’s so difficult to understand the relationship between our microbes and our brains, and the first in our series of books on the science of food and agriculture
First up this week, freelance space journalist Jonathan O’Callaghan  joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the retirement of NASA’s Mars InSight lander. After almost 4 years of measuring quakes on the surface of the Red Planet, the  lander’s solar panels are getting too dusty to continue providing power. O'Callaghan  and Crespi look back at the insights  that InSight has given us about Mars’s interior, and they talk about where else in the Solar System it might make sense to place a seismometer.
Also this week, we have a special issue on the body’s microbiome beyond the gut. As part of the special issue, John Cryan, principal investigator at APC Microbiome Ireland, University College Cork, wrote a commentary piece  on tightening the connections research has made between microbes and the brain—the steps needed to go from seeing connections to understanding how the microbiome might be tweaked to change what’s happening in the brain.
Finally this week, we have the first installment of our series of author interviews  on the science of food and agriculture. In this inaugural segment, host and science journalist Angela Saini talks to Ousmane Badiane, an expert on agricultural policy and development in Africa, and a co-author of Food For All In Africa: Sustainable Intensification for African Farmers, a 2019 book looking at the possibilities and reality of sustainable intensive farming in Africa.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Illustration: Hannah Agosta; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: overlapping drawings of microbial populations]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Jonathan O’Callaghan; Angela Saini
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.10.1126/science.add1406
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saying farewell to Insight, connecting the microbiome and the brain, and a book on agriculture in Africa

On this week’s show: The shadow of Milky Way’s giant black hole has been seen for the first time, and bottlenose dolphins recognize each other by signature whistles—and tastes 
It’s been a few years since the first image of a black hole was published—that of the supermassive black hole at the center of the M87 galaxy came about in 2019. Now, we have a similar image of the black hole at the center of the Milky Way—our very own galaxy. Staff Writer Daniel Clery joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss why these images look so much alike, even though M87’s black hole is 1600 times larger than ours. We also discuss what’s next for the telescope that captured these shots.
Also this week, we take to the seas. Bottlenose dolphins are known to have a “signature whistle” they use to announce their identity to other dolphins. This week in Science Advances, Jason Bruck and colleagues write about how they may also recognize other dolphins through another sense: taste. Jason, an assistant professor in the department of biology at Stephen F. Austin State University, talks with Sarah about what this means for dolphin minds.
In a sponsored segment from the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor, interviews Gary Michelson, founder and co-chair of Michelson Philanthropies, about the importance of supporting research in the field of immunology—and where that support should be directed. This segment is sponsored by Michelson Philanthropies.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: Dolphin Quest ; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: bottlenose dolphin peeking its head out of the water with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Daniel Clery
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.add0515
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seeing the Milky Way’s central black hole, and calling dolphins by their names

On this week’s show: Lipid nanoparticles served us well as tiny taxis delivering millions of mRNA vaccines against COVID-19, but they aren’t optimized—yet, and why we might need inflammation to stop chronic pain
The messenger RNA payload of the mRNA vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 is wrapped up in little fatty packets called lipid nanoparticles (LNPs). These fat bubbles were originally designed for something much different—carrying molecules into cells to silence genes. But they were useful and we were in a hurry, so not much was changed about them when they were pressed into service against COVID-19. Science journalist Elie Dolgin talks with host Sarah Crespi about ongoing efforts to improve LNPs as a delivery system for mRNA vaccines and therapeutic treatments.
Next on the show, we hear about “pain chronification.” Have you ever thought about chronic pain? What happens in the body when it heals—no specific thing is broken—but the pain never subsides? Sarah chats with Luda Diatchenko, professor on the faculties of medicine and dentistry at McGill University, about her Science Translational Medicine paper on the need for inflammation to prevent pain chronification. 
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: V. Altounian/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: lipid nanoparticle illustration with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Elie Dolgin
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adc9455
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fixing fat bubbles for vaccines, and preventing pain from turning chronic

On this week’s show: Geoscientists eye contenders for where to mark the beginning of the human-dominated geological epoch, and how sunscreen turns into photo toxin
We live in the Anthropocene: an era on our planet that is dominated by human activity to such an extent that the evidence is omnipresent in the soil, air, and even water. But how do we mark the start? Science Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about how geoscientists are choosing the one place on Earth that best shows the advent of the Anthropocene, the so-called “golden spike.”
 
Also this week, Djordje Vuckovic, a Ph.D. candidate in the department of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, joins Sarah to talk about how sunscreen threatens coral reefs. Reefs are under a lot of stress these days, from things like warming waters, habitat destruction, and the loss of their fishy friends to voracious fishermen. Another suspected stressor is chemical sunscreens, which drift off swimming tourists. It turns out that common chemicals in sunscreen that protect skin from the Sun are modified by sea anemones and corals into a photo toxin that damages them when exposed to the Sun’s rays.
 
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
 
[Image: Amanda Tinoco; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
 
[alt: photo of healthy corals at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia with podcast symbol overlay]
 
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen
 
TWEET
New @ScienceMagazine Podcast:
@voooos
Djordje Vuckovic @cee_stanford
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq8294
 
This week on the @ScienceMagazine Podcast, reporter @voooos
 
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq8294
 
 
 
 
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Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq8294
 
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Staking out the start of the Anthropocene, and why sunscreen is bad for coral

On this week’s show: How physicists are using quantum sensors to suss out dark matter, how rabies thwarts canine vaccination campaigns, and a kickoff for our new series with authors of books on food, land management, and nutrition science
Dark matter hunters have turned to quantum sensors to find elusive subatomic particles that may exist outside physicists’ standard model. Adrian Cho, a staff writer for Science, joins host Sarah Crespi to give a tour of the latest dark matter particle candidates—and the traps that physicists are setting for them.
Next, we hear from Katie Hampson, a professor in the Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine at the University of Glasgow, about her work contact tracing rabies in Tanzania. Her group was able to track rabies in a population of 50,000 dogs over 14 years. The massive study gives new insight into how to stop a virus that circulates at superlow levels but keeps popping up, despite vaccine campaigns.
Finally, we launch our 2022 books series on food and agriculture. In six interviews, which will be released monthly for the rest of the year, host and science journalist Angela Saini will speak to authors of recent books on topics from Indigenous land management to foods that are going extinct. This month, Angela talks with Lenore Newman, director of the Food and Agriculture Institute at the University of the Fraser Valley, who helped select the books for the series.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: Suzanne McNabb; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: Dogs in Tanzania with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini, Adrian Cho
Episode page: https://www.science.org/content/podcast/using-quantum-tools-track-dark-matter-why-rabies-remains-and-book-series-science-and
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Using quantum tools to track dark matter, why rabies remains, and a book series on science and food

On this week’s show: Saving birds from city lights, and helping astronauts inhabit robots
First up, Science Contributing Correspondent Josh Sokol talks with host Sarah Crespi about the millions of migrating birds killed every year when they slam into buildings—attracted by brightly lit windows. New efforts are underway to predict bird migrations and dim lights along their path, using a bird-forecasting system called .
Next, we hear from Aaron Pereira, a researcher at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and a guest researcher at the human robot interaction lab at the European Space Agency. He chats with Sarah about his Science Robotics paper on controlling a robot on Earth from the International Space Station and the best way for an astronaut to “immerse” themselves in a rover or make themselves feel like it is an extension of their body. 
In a sponsored segment from Science and the AAAS Custom Publishing Office, Sean Sanders, director and senior editor for custom publishing, interviews Alberto Pugliese, professor of medicine, microbiology, and immunology at the University of Miami, about a program he leads to advance research into type 1 diabetes. This segment is sponsored by the Helmsley Charitable Trust and nPod (the Network for Pancreatic Organ Donors with Diabetes).
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: M. Panzirsch et al., Science Robotics (2022); Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: remote-controlled rover with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Josh Sokol
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq5907
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Protecting birds from brightly lit buildings, and controlling robots from orbit

On this week’s show: Climate change is killing critical soil organisms in arid regions, and early evidence for the Maya calendar from a site in Guatemala
Staff Writer Elizabeth Pennisi joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how climate change is affecting “biocrust,” a thin layer of fungi, lichens, and other microbes that sits on top of desert soil, helping retain water and create nutrients for rest of the ecosystem. Recent measurements in Utah suggest the warming climate is causing a decline in the lichen component of biocrust, which is important for adding nitrogen into soils.
Next, Sarah talks with Skidmore College anthropologist Heather Hurst, who directs Guatemala’s San Bartolo-Xultun Regional Archaeological Project, and David Stuart, a professor of art history and director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas, Austin, about their new Science Advances paper. The study used radiocarbon dating to pin down the age of one of the earliest pieces of the Maya calendar. Found in an archaeological dig in San Bartolo, Guatemala, the character known as “seven deer” (which represents a day in the Maya calendar), was dated to 300 B.C.E. That early appearance challenges what researchers know about the age and origins of the Maya dating system.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: Heather Hurst; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: Ixbalamque painting from San Barolo, Guatemala, with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Liz Pennisi
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq4848
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast
 
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Desert ‘skins’ drying up, and one of the oldest Maya calendars

On this week’s show: A new measurement of the W boson could challenge physicists’ standard model, and an abundance of marine RNA viruses
Staff Writer Adrian Cho joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a new threat to the standard model of particle physics—a heavier than expected measurement of a fundamental particle called the W boson. They chat about how this measurement was taken, and what it means if it is right.
Next, Sarah talks about the microscopic denizens of Earth’s oceans with Ahmed Zayed, a research scientist in the department of microbiology at Ohio State University, Columbus. They talk about findings from a global survey of marine RNA viruses. The results double the number of known RNA viruses, suggesting new classifications will be needed to categorize all this viral diversity.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: A. Mastin/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: illustration of three RNA viruses with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Adrian Cho
Episode page:  https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq3391
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast 
 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A surprisingly weighty fundamental particle, and surveying the seas for RNA viruses

On this week’s show: A journey to the center of the center of the Earth, and what was missing from the first human genome project
Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about the many mysteries surrounding the innermost part of our planet—from its surprisingly recent birth to whether it spins faster or slower than the rest of the planet.
Next, Sarah chats with Adam Phillippy about the results from the Telomere-to-Telomere (T2T) Consortium, an effort to create a complete and detailed read of the human genome. Phillippy, a senior investigator and head of the Genome Informatics Section at the National Human Genome Research Institute, explains what we can learn by topping up the human genome with roughly 200 more megabases of genetic information—practically a whole chromosome’s worth of additional sequencing.
See all the T2T papers.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: V. Altounian/Science; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: An array of the human chromosomes showing newly sequenced parts from the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abq1885
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Probing Earth’s mysterious inner core, and the most complete human genome to date

On this week’s show: Why it’s tougher than ever to be a researcher on Twitter, and a highlight from this year’s AAAS Annual Meeting
First up, Contributing Correspondent Cathleen O’Grady talks with host Sarah Crespi about the harassment that COVID-19 researchers are facing and a survey conducted by Science that shows more media exposure is linked to higher levels of abuse.
Next, producer Meagan Cantwell shares another interview from this year’s AAAS Annual Meeting. She talks with Delores Knipp, a research professor in the Ann and H.J. Smead aerospace engineering sciences department at the University of Colorado, Boulder, about what happens when our well-behaved Sun behaves badly.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: SkyLab 4/NASA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: solar flare image taken from Skylab 4]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Cathleen O'Grady
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adb2091
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcastSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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