Transistor
PRXTransistor
Transistor is podcast of scientific curiosities and current events, featuring guest hosts, scientists, and story-driven reporters. Presented by radio and podcast powerhouse PRX, with support from the Sloan Foundation.
Copyright 2016 PRX
Transistor is podcast of scientific curiosities and current events, featuring guest hosts, scientists, and story-driven reporters. Presented by radio and podcast powerhouse PRX, with support from the Sloan Foundation.
Copyright 2016 PRX
Cosmic rays from outer space sound like science fiction. They’re not—invisible particles flung from outer space pass through our bodies every minute.
A tale of vaccinations and the American Revolution
Every October 16th, hundreds of people walk from the Dunsink Observatory to Broom Bridge to celebrate Ireland's greatest mathematician.
In some areas of the country, floods are growing in intensity. What are we doing to prepare ourselves?
What if food itself is just a small part of our tasting experience?
Find a quiet place to listen to the science of soundscapes.
Come along as scientists get to the bottom of a killer pesticide.
Thirty-six-year-old twins Carol and Katy are physically identical in every way but one: Katy was born without ovaries, and wanted to start a family.
The data used for the "fertility cliff" is old... really old! Come along as we find out why.
The science of controlling the weather (or trying to).
Math and art meet at the museum.
Head underground to hear how the first subways were built and how they are built today.
Listen in on a channel deep in the ocean where sound travels for thousands of miles.
An astronomer has turned the night sky into a symphony.
Besties, enemies, or frenemies? The Smithsonian finds out.
Scientific deception and trickery with the Smithsonian.
Bronwyn Tarr with Carimbó dancers. Oxford evolutionary neuroscientist Bronwyn Tarr was in a remote area of Brazil to begin an experiment. On her first night there, she heard distant drumbeats, went looking for them,
Don't judge the music by its composer.
Travel the Pacific Ocean without maps or instruments.
Schools are remaking science fairs to include more actual science.
When you need diapers more than your kid.
What's lost when a song is compressed into an MP3?
The science of surviving (or not) in the desert heat.
Free trip to the desert. You may not return...
What life is really like after being struck by lightning.
We humans are SO noisy. Birds are working around us.
An electric mystery.
Bio-hacking is so hot right now.
Special episode from Outside Magazine and PRX: Frozen Alive.
Magic and robots meet.
What if you were no longer afraid of... anything.
Science + graphic design. The invention of the home pregnancy test.
“Biophilia” refers to the instinctive affection humans have for nature. This story is about one such connection.
Casey is just four, but he already has an imaginary grandson.
What's it take to be a CDC Disease Detective? Join two rookies as they find out.
Why do aliens get all the credit for weird stuff in space?
What kind of music do animals like?
“52 Hz” is the name given to a mysterious whale that vocalizes at a different frequency than other whales. Some refer to him as “The World’s Loneliest Whale,” but other scientists aren’t convinced that its unique call has left the whale isolated at all...
The sci-fi epic "Dune" takes place on a desert planet. Can "Dune" offer lessons for the drought-stricken California of 2015?
Join us for a math adventure. Just bring your thickest jacket.
Over the past 20 years, there’s been a revolution in the science of arson investigations. Many of the clues that had been used for decades to determine that a fire was not accidental have been proven to be false.
What happens if you commit a crime and blame it on PMS?
Step inside an archaic machine on the brink of extinction: the iron lung.
Some things can be better left unsaid. Who would have thought that math could be one of them?
Told by the couple who lived it, this is a story of how Crohn’s disease can change lives when you least expect it. And it’s a story of how science can present multiple paths to — hopefully — relief or recovery.
Science and violin-making meet to try to create an electric violin that sounds like a Stradavarius.
A story of movement, memory, and mentors.
What gender stereotypes get in the way of science?
When plant researcher David Rhoades found evidence that plants could communicate, it was a paradigm-shifting discovery. But it could not have come at a worse time.
What motivates young people to become scientists? Meet Maricruz Jaramillo and Samoa Asigau, two young women scientists from opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean, whose professional aspirations have taken them to the Galapagos Islands.
Scents and tastes are powerfully evocative -- one whiff of perfume or cooking aromas can transport you back to a particular moment, a particular place, a particular person. Dr. Wendy Suzuki speaks with neuroscientist Howard Eichenbaum,
Your skin is your largest organ and is also is a thriving ecosystem, covered in bacteria. While many of us consider regular showers key to keeping our skin healthy, a group of scientists -- and artists -- are starting to ask: Could the future of skin c...
Looking through a telescope is like being inside a time machine -- you are seeing light from the past. And some space telescopes allow astronomers to see light that is billions of years old and existed before there was an Earth or sun.
In the fall of 1902, twelve young men in suits regularly gathered for dinners in the basement of a government building in Washington, D.C. The men ate what they were served, even though they knew that their food was spiked with poison.
Many depictions of amnesia in TV, movies and even in cartoons are just plain wrong -- some laughably so. Host Dr. Wendy Suzuki talks with Prof. Neal Cohen, a Neuroscientist from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. For 20 years,
Everybody knows about white noise -- that sound that comes out of your TV when it's not working quite right. But there are many other colors of noise, too: pink, brown, blue, and purple. Marnie Chesterton brings us this story on the colorful science of...
For one disease, poop -- yes, human poop -- is nothing short a miracle cure. Microbiologist Christina Agapakis takes a look at Fecal Microbiota Transplants or FMT and what happens when you take the really complex gut microbiome from a healthy person an...
Space scientists are acutely aware of what can happen when climates change in other parts of our solar system. Take Venus, where it rains sulfuric acid and is 900°F on the surface, but it wasn’t always that way.
Imagine remembering your childhood, your parents, the history you learned in school, but never being able to form a new long term memory after the age of 27. Welcome to the life of the famous amnesic patient “HM”.
In her episodes of Transistor, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki introduces us to scientists who have uncovered some of the deepest secrets about how our brains make us who we are. She begins by talking with groundbreaking experimental psychologist Brenda M...
In her episodes of Transistor, biologist Christina Agapakis is exploring the microbiome: the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live in and on our body. She starts with food. Bacteria-rich foods such as tempeh, cheese,
We're closer than ever before to discovering if we're not alone in the universe. The host for this episode of Transistor, astrophysicist Michelle Thaller, visits the NASA lab that discovered that meteorites contain some of the very same chemical elemen...
Cosmic Ray Catchers
October 30, 201710min 48sec
Cosmic rays from outer space sound like science fiction. They’re not—invisible particles flung from outer space pass through our bodies every minute. But not all cosmic rays are equal; Some are immensely powerful and very rare. For decades scientists have wondered where they're coming from – and what could possibly be hurling them at Earth. Now, they're getting closer to finding out. Ross Chambless has the story.