Science, Spoken

Human cases keep ticking up, are very likely to be underreported, and offer the virus the opportunity to learn how to spread from person to person. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Measles, bedbugs, and dengue have all been cited as concerns for tourists and athletes at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, with the tropical virus in particular forcing authorities into action. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guilt-free air travel is a beautiful dream, but there’s simply no way to get enough solar energy to keep a cabin full of people in the air. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers believe they have discovered oxygen being produced 4,000 meters below the sea surface, and think polymetallic nodules—the sought-after bounty of deep-sea miners—could be the source. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The next wave of obesity drugs could help people lose even more weight—and make some pharma companies a fortune. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Activists believe that the vice president, who is already the leading voice for reproductive rights in the Biden administration, will champion their cause. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Doctors find themselves without critical systems and diagnostic tools—and face the daunting reality that a full recovery could take days—after CrowdStrike’s botched deployment of a software update. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Analysis of lunar imagery has ended a longstanding debate over whether there are accessible underground areas on the Moon; an emptied lava tube in the Sea of Tranquility is of particular interest. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Missions to explore other worlds, like Mars or Saturn’s moon Titan, could disrupt or destroy extraterrestrial life in the process of seeking it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Legislation in coming years will set up a publicly owned clean power company and leverage the Crown Estate for investment in green infrastructure. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Improperly discarded batteries leak toxic chemicals and are prone to exploding. A new program funded by the Department of Energy will prop up battery drop-off sites across the US. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robotics researchers are exploring how large language models can give physical machines more smarts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a livestreamed update on X, Elon Musk and Neuralink executives gave an update on the company's next study participant—and its next-generation brain implant. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Generative artificial intelligence tools, now part of the everyday user experience online, are causing stress on local power grids and mass water evaporation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Deepfake scam services. Victim data. Electrified shackles for human trafficking. Crypto tracing firm Elliptic found all were available for sale on an online marketplace linked to Cambodia’s ruling family. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cheap, low-energy evaporative cooling devices are keeping water, food, people, and even whole buildings cool across India. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Much of health care is designed with the “comfortable middle” of society in mind, says designer Yves Behar, when it should be tailored to children, the elderly, and those with disabilities. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When butterflies not native to South America appeared on a beach in French Guiana, entomologists started sleuthing to prove where they came from—and how they might have got there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than 30 million Brits have the NHS app. This represents an opportunity to transform the health service, which shadow health secretary Wes Streeting calls “an analog system in a digital age.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To improve outcomes for female patients, all evidence needs to be considered—while outdated myths about the significance of sex differences need to be retired. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For many patients, GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy lead to substantial weight loss. But some see much less benefit, and researchers are trying to figure out why. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Collins Aerospace is expected to back out of a contract with NASA, while high interest rates and a difficult supply chain environment have affected Axiom. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There are biological underpinnings to aging—and so researchers are investigating cell manipulations, transfusions of young blood, and chemical compounds that can mimic low-calorie diets. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Google’s AI research lab DeepMind is steadily building knowledge of how genes and their products work inside the body—and how and why they sometimes go wrong. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thomas Heatherwick believes architecture has a “nutritional value” to society—and that the public desperately deserve a better offering. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a question of when, not if, highly effective treatments become available, says the CEO of Alzheimer’s Research UK. But that doesn’t solve the problem of one-third of dementia patients still going undiagnosed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new project is paying researchers to find errors in other scientists’ work. The only problem? Even error hunters make mistakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With chatbot and AI development largely coming from the US, some EU entrepreneurs and politicians say local champions are needed to prevent a cultural flattening. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To understand how to take a match-winning penalty, you’ve got to understand the physics behind the perfect kick. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The vehicle mostly survived launch and reentry—key stepping stones toward operational flights of the largest rocket in history. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme weather threatens the investment value of many properties, but financing for climate mitigation efforts are only just getting going. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

UK retailers have accused Amazon of using its Buy Box section to choke their businesses, reigniting a years-long debate over whether there was foul play. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Generative AI Is Coming for Sales Execs’ Jobs—and They’re Celebrating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Players, aided by technology, are hitting the ball farther than ever, and courses can’t keep getting longer—meaning operators are having to find smarter ways to keep the sport challenging. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple introduced its first serious foray into generative AI, with a focus on app integrations and data privacy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some residents of Yellowknife are staying behind to fight back wildfires that could soon engulf the Canadian city. Others have shared harrowing stories as they race to escape the flames. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apple Intelligence will make apps and services smarter. But Apple’s most notable innovations focus on ensuring the technology doesn't disappoint, annoy, or offend. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A popular AI training dataset is “stealing and weaponizing” the faces of Brazilian children without their knowledge or consent, human rights activists claim. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Research is uncovering the key role that fungi play in getting soils to absorb carbon, and how humanity’s actions aboveground are wreaking havoc in the mysterious fungal world below. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fireflies of Moriyama City have long been prized (and hunted) for their yellow-green glow. To bring populations back up, amateur conservationists are hitting the books. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mounting research suggests that cephalopods experience pain. Now, the National Institutes of Health is considering new animal welfare rules that would put them in the same category as monkeys. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists use microphones and AI to automatically detect species by their chirps and croaks. This bioacoustics research could be critical for protecting ecosystems on a warming planet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Experiments show that asking AI chatbots to work together on a problem can compensate for some of their shortcomings. WIRED enlisted two bots to help plan this article. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show What's New. Here’s what the science really says about teens and screens—and how to start the conversation with young people of any age.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

During a tour of Silicon Valley, EU vice president Věra Jourová said she expects tech giants to prioritize stamping out content that could distort democracy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Surgeons at NYU took out the pig kidney because it wasn’t getting enough blood flow. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What goes on in artificial neural networks work is largely a mystery, even to their creators. But researchers from Anthropic have caught a glimpse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drought-stricken hydro dams have led to daily electricity cuts in Ecuador. As weather becomes less predictable die to climate change, experts say other countries need to take notice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show Security, Spoken. New research shows the number of deepfake videos is skyrocketing—and the world's biggest search engines are funneling clicks to dozens of sites dedicated to the nonconsensual fakes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show Business, Spoken. Book publishers are experimenting with chatbot editions of new titles, providing "conversational companions" for readers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anthropic and other big AI startups are teaching chatbots “tool use,” to make them more useful in the workplace. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Noland Arbaugh is the first to get Elon Musk’s brain device. The 30-year-old speaks to WIRED about what it’s like to use a computer with his mind—and gain a new sense of independence. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We're bringing an extra episode from our show What's New. Ecologist Thomas Crowther’s research inspired countless tree-planting campaigns, greenwashing, and attacks from scientists. Now he’s back with a new plan for nature restoration. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Authorities and conservation groups are investigating the deaths of dozens of howler monkeys in Tabasco, where extreme heat and land-use change appear to be threatening the vulnerable species. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Increasing solar activity over the next year could bring more opportunities to see fantastic displays of the northern lights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not only do heat pumps work fine in cold weather, they’re still more efficient than gas furnaces in such conditions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Research at Microsoft shows it’s possible to make AI models small enough to run on phones or laptops without major compromises to their smarts. The technique could open up new use cases for AI. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Viruses called phages offer a promising treatment option for bacterial infections when antibiotics stop working, but they have limitations.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Not only is black carbon terrible for human health, but ever-fiercer wildfires are covering the Arctic with the dark particles, accelerating melting. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate change is robbing some hydro dams of water while oversupplying others—forcing managers to employ new forecasting technology and clever strategies to capitalize on what they have. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Green spaces significantly cool our ever-hotter cities. New research suggests more trees could cut heat-related ER visits in LA by up to two-thirds. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We wanted to bring back a favorite episode from 2023: A deep learning model has joined a vigorous debate over whether volcanoes began dinosaur doomsday well before the asteroid hit. Thanks for listening to WIRED. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A store in Singapore is selling lab-grown chicken, but it only contains 3 percent animal cells. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The preliminary results of a clinical trial of using heat exposure to combat depression are in—and are fueling cautious optimism that sauna practice could become an accepted treatment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hospital that carried out the procedure two months prior says there’s “no indication” that the transplant was related to his death. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Platelets help blood clot, but they have a short shelf life. With blood in short supply, synthetic platelets could help meet demand. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two cicada broods, XIX and XIII, are emerging in sync for the first time in 221 years. They’re bringing the banquet of a lifetime for birds, trees, and humans alike. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Anyone found guilty of selling or manufacturing cultivated meat in Alabama will face up to a three-month jail sentence and $500 fine. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s not the technology itself. It’s that we don’t yet have enough trained workers to install heat pumps for full-tilt decarbonization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Seven years behind schedule, on Monday Starliner will send two astronauts to space on a mission for NASA. The troubled company still has lots of catching up to do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Synthetic DNA could be used to spark a pandemic. A move by President Biden aims to create new standards for the safety and security of mail-order genetic material. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

China's brain-computer interface technology is catching up to the US. But it envisions a very different use case: cognitive enhancement. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fashion influencer’s struggles to unblock her Instagram account highlight a long-standing problem with Meta’s lackluster customer service. Users and regulators say the company must step up. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a chaotic housing market that has shut many buyers out, fractional home ownership and investing trends are taking off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The back of the plane is safest, according to common wisdom, but that’s not really true. Let us explain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After months of secrecy, Neuralink revealed that the partner site for its brain implant study is the Barrow Neurological Institute. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first procedure of its kind, a 54-year-old New Jersey woman received a genetically engineered pig kidney and thymus after getting a heart pump. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Heavy rain has triggered flash flooding in Dubai. But those pointing the finger at cloud seeding are misguided. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Amsterdam is experimenting with roofs that not only grow plants but capture water for a building’s residents. Welcome to the squeezable sponge city of tomorrow. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An infection can upset your microbiome, and if certain gut fungi run riot, this can kick the immune system into overdrive. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Farmers around the world are reigniting the less intensive agricultural practices of yesteryear—to improve soil health, raise yields, and trap carbon in the atmosphere back down in the soil. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WIRED spoke with US transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg about recent grants to fix ancient roads, bridges, and other critical infrastructure before it’s too late. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk’s Neuralink and others are developing devices that could provide blind people with a crude sense of sight. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Humanity needs to burn less fossil fuels. But that means fewer aerosols to help cool the planet—and a potential acceleration of global warming. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To pull off this classic Hollywood stunt, you gotta know your physics! Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An attempt to reauthorize Section 702, the so-called crown jewel of US spy powers, failed for a third time in the House of Representatives after former president Donald Trump criticized the law. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Subsidence is causing parts of Mexico City to sink, and it’s happening at an uneven rate. That’s bad news for its sprawling public transportation system. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers think a combination of genetic edits and an experimental immunosuppressive drug could make the first pig kidney transplant a long-term success. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Friday morning's earthquake was felt from New York City all the way to Washington, DC. Blame ancient fault lines and bedrock for the jolt. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here’s a cool way to watch the eclipse—and learn about the weird physics of light while you’re at it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, more women have been crossing the border to Mexico for abortion medications and procedures. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here’s some advice for safely experiencing the total solar eclipse on April 8 as the moon casts a slender shadow across Mexico, the United States, and eastern Canada. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donor livers are in short supply for transplants. A startup is attempting to grow new ones in people instead. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Afshin Mehin has helped design some of the most futuristic neurotech devices. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New heat pumps easily fit over window sills, meaning they could replace clunky apartment air-conditioning units. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The abortion pill mifepristone went in front of the US Supreme Court on Tuesday. Antiabortionists say an increase in emergency room visits shows it’s unsafe. Medical experts disagree. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Injectable immunotherapy drugs can be made, in theory, but gravity prevents them from crystallizing correctly. A startup thinks the solution could be right above us. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Steel structures aren’t as strong as you might think—and the immense power of a container ship shouldn’t be underestimated. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A 62-year-old Massachusetts man with failing kidneys is the first living patient to receive a genetically-altered kidney from a pig. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every person has a different idea of what makes noise “loud,” but there are some things we all can do to turn the volume down a little. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A fatal bear attack in Slovakia reignited accusations that conservationists are protecting the animals at the expense of human safety. Experts argue it's a people problem, not a bear problem. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new UN report finds that humanity is generating 137 billion pounds of TVs, smartphones, and other e-waste a year—and recycling less than a quarter of it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A soccer AI model created by Google DeepMind makes predictions about where corners will go, and suggests tweaks to make goals more or less likely. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Unloved buildings turn to ruin, leading to a deluge of construction waste worldwide. Designer Thomas Heatherwick tells WIRED why cities need to prioritize human health and joy in architecture. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your pets can already eat a chewable tablet for tick prevention. Now, a pill that paralyzes and kills ticks has shown positive results in a small human trial. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rising temperatures are a threat regardless of where you live on the planet—they’re just dangerous in different ways. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sex differences explain some of the gaping health inequalities between men and women—but a lot of the time, it’s sexism. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When everyone's hooking their brains up to computers, we'll need surgeons to install the hardware. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Meet the amazing azolla, a nutritious fern that grows like crazy, capturing carbon in the process. Could it be a food—and fertilizer and biofuel—of the future? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

BetaVolt’s nuclear battery lasts for decades, but you won’t see one in your next iPhone—powering a mobile device would require a cell the size of a yak. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Coastal land is dropping, known as subsidence. That could expose hundreds of thousands of additional Americans to inundation by 2050. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An experimental device developed by Cognito Therapeutics seeks to slow cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients using light and sound. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The carbon removal market is fast growing, with an array of different removal methods available to businesses keen to mitigate their environmental impact. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Climate Policy Radar's tools scan global environmental laws to see what works and what doesn't. What its AI is discovering today will help shape the regulations of tomorrow. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A deadly tower block blaze in Spain has focused attention on notorious flammable building materials—but around the world, there's little momentum to stop using them. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

With better infrastructure and “spongy” green spaces, urban areas have made progress but should be soaking up way more free stormwater. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme heat waves are already here, and they are killing tens of thousands of people. Blasting through 2 degrees Celsius of warming means they’ll happen many times more frequently. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“I feel so powerless in this state.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Getting these climate superheroes into more US homes would massively cut emissions, and it would be cost-effective. Here’s how the revolution would play out. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Americans eat too much sugar. Food tech company Zya is developing a substance to add to sweet foods that can convert some of that sugar into fiber in the digestive system. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hydrogen-powered planes, more fuel-efficient aircraft designs, and all-electric parcel delivery services are just some of the ways in which the transport sector is looking to decarbonize. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s a multibillion-dollar global problem, and in a rapidly electrifying world, the profits—and ease—of stealing metals are only going to increase. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Priscilla Chomba-Kinywa, CTO of Greenpeace, says technology firms must shape up—and consumers and business clients should walk away if they don’t. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As relentless rains pounded LA, the city’s “sponge” infrastructure helped gather 8.6 billion gallons of water—enough to sustain over 100,000 households for a year. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Millions of Ukrainians are suffering the mental health implications of two years of Russian bombs and shells. The country’s recovery depends on building systems to help treat the trauma. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Upside Foods is putting plans for its Illinois-based cultivated-meat factory on hold and laying off staff to focus on its existing plant. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An alternative to environmentally harmful plastic is already within reach: seaweed. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Farmers and scientists are getting better at growing more crops on less land, but they’re not focusing on plants that people eat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A slalom skier just achieved a remarkable result in the Alpine Ski World Cup—coming from last place to win. As mountains get warmer and conditions less predictable, expect more freak occurrences like this. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It started as a big old ball of dust, so how did it end up like a giant pancake? Get the true story using fake forces. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

They may be tiny, but phytoplankton and aerosols power pivotal Earth systems. Scientists are about to learn a whole lot more about them at a critical time. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You need a heat pump, ASAP. Now nine states are teaming up to accelerate the adoption of this climate superhero. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From data access to scientific merit, Dr. Norman is working to make astronomy—and all STEM fields—more inclusive. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

WIRED experimented with a new form of voice assistant that can browse the web and perform tasks online. Siri, Alexa, and other virtual helpers could soon be much more powerful. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Houston-based rBIO has invented a new process to churn out insulin at higher yields using custom-made bacteria. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Big Beef is wooing science teachers with webinars and lesson plans in an attempt to change kids’ perceptions of the industry. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Distributed acoustic sensing” looks for disturbances in fiber to detect earthquakes and even insects. Can it also improve rail safety? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Details are scarce, but Elon Musk says initial results are “promising.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to the world’s foremost training ground for saving space from disasters, disputes, and—perhaps one day—colonizers named Musk. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Several gene therapies aim to restore a protein necessary for transmitting sound signals from the ear to the brain. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The winter sport is becoming more treacherous as the world warms and icefalls become less and less stable. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New research finds that the groundwater systems that hydrate your life are in rapid, sometimes accelerating decline around the globe. Here’s how to stop the retreat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On Monday, Cameroon became the first nation to establish routine childhood malaria immunizations. The race is on to give protection to as many people as possible. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Strand Therapeutics has figured out a way to turn the molecule on and off in certain tissues to more precisely treat tumors. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After doubts were raised about a 31-year-old dog, Guinness World Records has paused its records for the world’s oldest dogs, leaving one super-old dog in limbo. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Researchers want to use genetically engineered pig organs to help support people with liver failure. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cases of scabies, a highly contagious parasitic skin disease, are on the rise across Europe. The UK in particular is struggling with a shortage of treatments. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The numbers are in: 2023’s global temperatures not only soared, but smashed the previous record set in 2016. This year could be even hotter. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two tragic crashes over the past six years, then a third plane with loose bodywork—the aircraft designed to send Boeing’s reputation soaring has sent it into a tailspin. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Politicians claim the move could provide vital minerals for the green transition. Critics say opening up exploration creates geopolitical headaches and is environmentally unsound. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Startups are processing plant waste into concentrated carbon to be buried or injected underground. It’s like fossil fuels, but in reverse. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The US is in the midst of the largest Covid surge since Omicron, but with minimal testing and good population immunity, the wave is largely being ignored. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists are finding a dynamic story in human physiology linked to frigid temperatures—a story that climate change may rewrite. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is the year that “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas” summed up the climate emergency. But dramatic descriptors extend to the huge gains humanity has made too. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Up and down the Atlantic Coast, the land is steadily sinking, or subsiding. That’s destabilizing levees, roads, and airports, just as sea levels are rising. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Biotech company Contraline has safely implanted a sperm-blocking hydrogel in 23 men. It’s designed to be a fully reversible vasectomy. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Carbon-neutral concrete could transform construction’s footprint—if it can scale in time. At Partanna Global, Bahamian basketball star and actor Rick Fox is trying to speed things up. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eating organic and switching to low-energy light bulbs feels like the green thing to do, but are people missing the bigger opportunities right in front of them? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A tiny proportion of Americans—particularly boomers—eat the majority of the nation’s beef. Can clever framing sway a younger generation? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Delegates agreed on a historic climate deal at COP28. But without more ambition, humanity will have to rely ever more on a contentious strategy: carbon removal. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme conditions caused by climate change are making winter sports more risky. From Colorado to Washington, that’s also making mountain rescue missions even more perilous. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As researchers try to make sense of “open-label” placebos—fake drugs that proudly announce their fakeness—the mysterious effect is starting to show up beyond the world of medicine. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When Hurricane Larry made landfall two years ago, it dropped over 100,000 microplastics per square meter of land per day. It’s another ominous sign of how plasticized the environment has become. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An animal welfare advocacy group claims in a letter to the SEC that Elon Musk again made statements about the health of Neuralink test subjects that may have misled investors. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This particle physicist, science communicator, and member of the team who uncovered the Higgs Boson wants everyone to know that art and science aren’t mutually exclusive. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The agreement at COP28 satisfies no-one. But it’s probably the best that countries could have hoped for. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Free-ranging domestic cats eat over 2,000 animal species across the globe, including hundreds at risk of extinction. It’s a problem with no easy solution. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An ingestible “digital pill” that measures heart rate and breathing from inside the stomach could detect the warning signs of sleep apnea, cardiac distress, and even opioid overdoses. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The one-time gene editing fix is meant to halt debilitating pain crises for sickle cell patients, who formerly could only be cured with a risky stem cell transplant. Read the full story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Methane hydrate is an ice-like substance you can set on fire. Now scientists have found that more of it may be in danger of melting—and releasing powerful greenhouse gas—than previously realized. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All but raised in oncology wards, Dr. Subbiah is on a mission to make cancer care work for everyone, including those usually overlooked. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mounting evidence bolsters the idea that drugs like semaglutide—better known as Ozempic or Wegovy—can hamper a thirst for booze. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

French startup Biomemory is rolling out a credit-card-sized storage device that uses DNA to encode a kilobyte of text data. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The dean of MIT’s School of Science embraces skepticism and failure, and she wants the next generation of scientists to jump right in. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2021, scientists experimenting with fiber optics picked up a strange signal: the cacophony of cicadas. It could lead to a new way of monitoring insects. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

CAR-T cell therapy harnesses the immune system to attack blood cancers. Six years after approving the first treatment, the FDA is investigating whether it can give rise to secondary cancers. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Pioneering a new field in cosmology, Dr. Pasterski explores diverse perspectives in physics and astronomy—and whether the universe might actually be a hologram. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An accomplished cardiologist and the first Black woman president of Wellesley College, Dr. Johnson's life's work is improving quality of care for women and women of color around the world. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

There’s a devastating amount of heavy news these days. Psychology experts say you need to know your limits—and when to put down the phone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As project scientist on NASA’s Exoplanet Archive, Dr. Christiansen is a huge advocate for citizen science—and making sure anyone can be a planet hunter. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ahead of COP28, a scathing new UN report warns that the world is barreling toward an avoidable catastrophe. It’s a plea for world leaders to step up their ambition. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The gene-editing therapy, called Casgevy, uses Crispr to prevent debilitating pain in patients with sickle cell disease. It also eliminates the need for regular blood transfusions in people with beta thalassemia. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An inventor, molecular biologist, and diagnostic scientist, Dr. Todd cofounded SpeedDx, which serves communities worldwide. And that’s just the beginning. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Misinformation about skincare runs rampant on social media. The chemist behind the Lab Muffin Beauty Science blog is here to clear things up. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It’s still early days for a novel form of gene therapy called base editing, but this small study in people with extremely high cholesterol shows striking results. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The drug semaglutide is already widely used for weight loss. Now its maker is presenting new evidence that it can reduce cardiovascular illnesses and deaths. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As ocean temperatures climb, so do creatures’ metabolisms. If extra food isn’t available, they’ll starve. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Eli Lilly is about to release Zepbound, a new entrant in the superheated competition for blockbuster weight loss drugs. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All US states take pinpricks of blood from newborns to test for diseases. New Jersey stores them for decades and may allow them to be used in police investigations. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Images from the European Space Agency’s newest telescope show the power of instruments that will create 3D surveys of a third of the sky, covering 10 billion years of cosmic history. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The hidden costs of the global food system are equivalent to 10 percent of global GDP, according to new analysis from the United Nations. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Astronomers show how a 50-meter space rock orbiting near Earth isn’t a typical asteroid: It probably blasted off the moon millions of years ago. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Take a tour of a rooftop laboratory where scientists show how growing crops under solar panels can produce both food and clean energy. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dangerously hot days are becoming more common. That will trigger heart attacks and strokes in people made vulnerable by age, race, and the layout of cities. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Cats purr when they’re happy and kittens purr so their mothers can find them. But it turns out purring may be more like a snore than a smile. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Genetically engineering plants to change colors when they encounter a contaminant could help scientists better understand their needs—and the environment. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists are getting an ever-clearer picture of the undersides of deteriorating glaciers. It’s not looking good. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A clinical trial reveals the first evidence of how the brain restructures physically in the first month on SSRIs—and the link between neuroplasticity and depression. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New research from two teams shows that these fleeting blips can be faster and brighter, and come from much further away, than previously thought. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Himalayan lake fed by melting ice just released a devastating flood in northern India. Thousands of other unstable lakes are getting bigger every year. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As if we needed another reason to quickly ditch fossil fuels: Cleaner snow melts much more slowly. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first time, researchers are testing an approach that involves replacing a mutated gene in the inner ears of children with severe hearing loss. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Avian influenza can wipe out entire poultry flocks. An early experiment with Crispr suggests that gene editing can protect chickens against infection. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The fish may be a harbinger of dramatic warming in the north—and rapidly transforming ecosystems. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Humans are teaming up with dogs to eliminate the blood-sucking pests, but there's no overarching strategy, just eye-watering costs. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Psyche probe is heading to its namesake metal-rich asteroid. Along the way, it will demonstrate a near-infrared laser system to send high-rate data hundreds of millions of miles home. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The comprehensive collection of 21 studies attempts to map all the brain’s cell types, and offers hope of one day being able to trace brain diseases to their genetic roots. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists finally opened the rock sample from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx captured a treasure trove of material from the solar system’s earliest days. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Human donor kidneys are in short supply. A new experiment that tested gene-edited organ transplants in monkeys showed that pig kidneys may one day be viable substitutes. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The atmosphere is rapidly warming, but the soil is also prone to heat waves. Scientists are racing to understand the consequences. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A malaria vaccine that could protect millions of children against the parasite-borne disease is expected to roll out early next year. It follows another formula that has already had moderate success. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Elon Musk’s brain-chip startup conducted years of tests at UC Davis, a public university. A WIRED investigation reveals how Neuralink and the university keep the grisly images of test subjects hidden. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mini-brains that work and grow like their full-size counterparts could offer an alternative to animal testing, and advance the quest for personalized medicine. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last month was so hot, scientists are struggling to find words for it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Foam rubber—like the filling inside your couch—produces an enormous amount of CO2. A Norwegian company called Agoprene thinks seaweed could be the solution. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Covid seems to spike twice a year—but unlike with flu season, not in a predictable pattern. That could be due to the virus, the environment, or the people it is infecting. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trees make clouds by releasing small quantities of vapors called “sesquiterpenes.” Scientists are learning more—and it’s making climate models hazy. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Police are hosting events to collect DNA samples that can help solve missing persons cases. But when people put their DNA in a commercial database, it can used for other purposes. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first human to receive a genetically engineered pig heart survived two months. Surgeons are hoping this transplant will last longer. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The OSIRIS-REx capsule containing a “treasure trove” of space rocks has now arrived at Johnson Space Center, where scientists will gingerly unpack it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The OSIRIS-REx probe is carrying rock samples from the asteroid Bennu, millions of miles away. If it works, it will be only the third such retrieval in history. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christopher Columbus was blamed for bringing syphilis to Europe. New DNA evidence suggests it was already there. Maybe both stories are true. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The American Climate Corps will employ tens of thousands to prepare the country for the pain ahead. But it'll need to get much, much bigger. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The solar corona is hotter than expected, and scientists are using European Space Agency and NASA spacecraft to figure out why. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Startup Light Bio has created a bioluminescent petunia using mushroom genes and plans to start shipping the plants next spring. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The UN has released a draft of what might become a landmark agreement to protect human health and the environment. Emphasis on might. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The agency assembled a panel of experts to figure out how to handle future sightings, in case the truth is out there. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Entire neighborhoods of the Libyan city of Derna have vanished following devastating floods wrought by Storm Daniel. Such storms are rare—but climate change will supersize them. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The latest vaccines are designed to target XBB.1.5, the dominant variant throughout much of 2023—until now. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Harmful algal blooms are taking over as the world warms and grows richer in carbon dioxide—and there’s no easy fix. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Following a joint “mishap investigation” by SpaceX and the FAA, the federal agency listed 63 issues that must be addressed before launches can resume at the Texas site. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transplant organs are scarce. Could growing ones with human cells in pigs alleviate the shortage? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Tiny houses started as a minimalist revolution. They ended up as an Instagram aesthetic. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Vibrio vulnificus pathogen thrives in hot coastal waters, and beachgoers can contract it via a small cut or scrape. It can also kill them in two days. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new study shows that semaglutide reduces heart failure symptoms like fatigue and swelling by bringing down body weight. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Investigators are eying the Lahaina wildfire as yet another deadly blaze started by electrical equipment. Putting lines underground would help—at a steep cost. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Supposedly eco-friendly cups are still coated with a thin layer of plastic, which scientists have discovered can leach chemicals that harm living creatures. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Last year’s NASA mission proved it was possible to knock an incoming near-Earth object off course. But that creates debris—which might also be a threat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Raccoons are a main carrier of rabies in the US. A government effort distributes millions of tasty vaccines to protect both animals and people. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Some residents of Yellowknife are staying behind to fight back wildfires that could soon engulf the Canadian city. Others have shared harrowing stories as they race to escape the flames. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fungal infections are rising worldwide and climate change may be to blame. Medicine isn’t ready. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While India’s spacecraft landed on the lunar surface, the Russian one collided with it. The mixed record shows that developing a lunar economy won’t be easy. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Gusts primed the Maui landscape to burn, then drove an out-of-control blaze. It’s a worst-case scenario that’s growing increasingly common around the world. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mexico and the western US are reeling from record-shattering rainfall. Blame high ocean temperatures—and prepare for worse to come as the planet warms. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A victory for Montanans’ right to a clean, healthy environment could set a precedent for other climate lawsuits throughout the United States. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Robotic spacecraft from both countries are aiming to touch down on the moon’s southern hemisphere, as one’s space program waxes and the other wanes. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ethics watchdogs are looking out for potentially undisclosed use of generative AI in scientific writing. But there’s no foolproof way to catch it all yet. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From the Hawaii Community Foundation to the Maui Food Bank, donations to these groups aid people impacted by the recent disaster in Lahaina. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Humans figured out how to prevent huge fires in urban areas over a century ago. Why have they gotten so bad again? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chronic drinking depletes the brain’s dopamine levels. A single dose of a gene therapy reset them, and stopped the craving for alcohol. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The space agency lost touch with the beloved spacecraft following a faulty command signal. Here’s how it happened—and how engineers worked to bring it back. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wildfires were once rare across the Aloha State. But drought, invasive species, and human development have pushed Hawaii into a fiery new age. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Wastewater fuels blooms of reef-smothering algae. Better engineering and an army of funny-looking fish can come to the rescue. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nobody knows what around a fifth of your genes actually do. It’s hoped they could hold the secret to fixing developmental disorders, cancer, neurodegeneration, and more. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An unprecedented look at dopamine in the brain reveals that psychosis drugs get developed with the wrong neurons in mind. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Covid-19 cases are slowly increasing across the US for the fourth summer in a row. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A prosthetic arm that connects directly to the nervous system gives the user fine control over the motions of individual fingers—just by thinking and trying to move. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Current treatments for depression after giving birth are either slow to work or hard to get. The FDA is considering a new tablet that relieves symptoms within days. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Snow is falling—but it doesn’t show up to replenish the river. In a drying West, researchers are racing to find out where it goes. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When humans and a neural network viewed pieces of art, they all found the same images memorable. What those images have in common offers a glimpse into what fascinates the brain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This summer's extraordinary heat is but a preview of what's to come: Humidity not only makes daytime highs more miserable, it extends the hotness through the night. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is the system of currents that runs through the Atlantic about to shut down, creating climate chaos? Depends on who you ask. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Extreme heat and other weather events are driving bears closer to humans’ campgrounds and hiking trails—and that’s no good for either species. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patients with hairy tongue syndrome—which can also turn tongues black, brown, yellow, or blue—often report gagging, mouth dryness, or bad breath. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A UK company cofounded by an astrophysicist combines AI with radar satellite imagery to keep track of vegetation, and eventually to make forecasts about its growth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A small study showed that feeding deer a type of ivermectin reduced the number of ticks drinking their blood. (Yes, it’s that ivermectin. No, you shouldn’t eat it.) Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Maybe it’s a commercial jingle, a TikTok song, or a new summer bop. Here’s how to trick your brain into hitting pause. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

By early 2024, a tablet called Opill will be sold in pharmacies without a prescription, making it easier for uninsured and young buyers to access. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Millions of years ago, retroviruses invaded the human genome. Today some of these viral remnants threaten the developing embryo while others fight to defend it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Flight delays, cancellations, and violent turbulence are becoming increasingly common as extreme weather ramps up. Things are likely to get worse with climate change. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

As glaciers retreat, methane-rich groundwater is bubbling to the surface. That may be warming the climate, accelerating the Arctic’s rapid decline. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A protein secreted by seemingly dormant cells in skin moles causes hair to grow again. That’s a big—and potentially useful—surprise. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Creating a memory takes energy, and brains only have so much. A study using snails shows how they can be primed for future learning. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Plastic production is skyrocketing, pushing microplastic pollution to dangerous new levels. Now research shows even the Arctic is increasingly contaminated. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Drugs like semaglutide—better known as Ozempic or Wegovy—could be lifelong treatments for obesity, but what little data scientists have suggests that people don't stick with them for long. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The mosquito-borne disease was eliminated here long ago. Now “revenge travel,” global migration, poor public funding—and maybe climate change—could help it come back. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

An early experiment in older rhesus macaques suggests that an injection of klotho improves working memory. Could it one day help people? Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After decades of frustration, researchers have determined how an airborne scent molecule links to shapeshifting olfactory receptors in the nose. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The spotted-wing drosophila is a threat to fruit growers across the US and Europe. Crispr could thwart the pest’s numbers. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Poor air quality doesn’t just cause lung cancer. It may also be responsible for other cancers, strokes, diabetes, and more. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Patients and clinicians generate huge amounts of data that could advance care. But turning the system into an R&D powerhouse means ripping up the rules. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early detection is crucial for treating eye disease. AI-enhanced eye scan analyses could spot warning signs quicker—and reach patients at scale. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Virtual wards provide people with remote care and monitoring, allowing patients to go home sooner and hospitals to run more efficiently. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Indian cities, afflicted by rising temperatures and poor air quality, are becoming hot spots of ozone pollution, which has proven a difficult problem to fix. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The continent’s abortion laws are a patchwork of progress and setbacks. And for many, accessing the right care at the right time is still a lottery. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rescue teams are scrambling to find the sub, which has gone missing near the wreckage of the Titanic, before those aboard run out of oxygen. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Humans rely on birds to eat insects, spread seeds, and pollinate plants—but these feathered friends can’t survive without their habitats. Read the story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Faced with the difficult task of decarbonizing, some shipping companies are taking another look at a polarizing solution—nuclear fission.   Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Here’s what to know about wildfire smoke and invisible pollutants, and how you can use your phone to decide whether it’s safe to spend time outside. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Psilocybin is on the cusp of becoming legally available in Oregon—but not as a medical treatment. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Stimulating the frontal lobes of sleeping epilepsy patients improved their recall of information—and may one day help treat Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A new technique could aid Hubble Space Telescope users, but the problem will get worse for observatories on Earth. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More research is showing that moths are secret, critical pollinators, even of crops that feed humanity. Save the bees, but save the moths too. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Water surging from the broken Ukrainian dam is killing animals, destroying habitats, and unleashing pollution. The effects may be irreversible. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Canadian wildfires are spewing smoke into New York City and Washington, DC, threatening the health of millions. Welcome to the “Pyrocene.” Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The 100,000 Genomes Project has a massive database to help doctors and patients solve baffling medical cases and diagnose cancers. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While weight-loss drugs are dialing down the urge to eat for many, others desperately need something that can convince their body to consume more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists just figured out that thousands of air quality stations have been accidentally gathering invaluable DNA data on local organisms. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Sign in Space encourages the public to imagine what a real message from extraterrestrials might be like—and figure out how to interpret it. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The injectable weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy are already popular. Oral forms could lead to even more demand. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hospitals are evolving at warp speed, and autonomous surgical robots are just the beginning. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Prolonged exposure to strobe lights has a psychedelic effect, which researchers are investigating as a way to heal the brain. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The number of oceangoing birds has declined 70 percent since the 1950s, but restoring their populations can bolster marine ecosystems that sequester carbon. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Scientists are “watching with bated breath” to see if ice will return to normal levels. The planetary consequences could be huge. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Allergy rates are on the rise. Blame climate change and people’s urbanized lifestyles. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Antibody treatments clear amyloid protein from patients’ brains, slowing the progression of their disease but potentially inducing deadly swelling. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The spaceflight sets the stage for the aging International Space Station's private successors, and for an influx of paying customers. Read the story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Fitbits and Apple Watches weren’t designed for people with atypical health conditions. But the tech can be extremely useful—with some creativity. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Warming waters in the Pacific can trigger droughts, wildfires, and extreme rainfall around the world, potentially leading to $3 trillion in losses in the coming years. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The first large-scale comparison of DNA mutation rates in 68 different vertebrate species gives insights into how quickly life can evolve. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A startup used gene editing to make mustard greens more appetizing to consumers. Next up: fruits. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chill materials to extreme temperatures, and their vibrations show properties that could one day be exploited to create memory in quantum computers. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The NASA team hopes the iconic spacecraft and its twin can continue taking data beyond the solar system past their 50th birthdays. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Every year, thousands of pets develop tumors very similar to those found in people. Find drugs that work for canines, and human treatments should follow. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In 2019 and 2020, the out-of-control blazes sent clouds of smoke across the Pacific, where they brightened clouds and cooled the ocean. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The highest alerts are being unraveled globally. But with some 7 million people dead, there are hard lessons to learn from the pandemic—and a lot of work still to do. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices