Sensitive Reptile Roundup
Some dinosaurs may have used feathers to show off, much like some modern birds.
Podcast for 18 January 2013
HEARING & SOUND - Why hyenas are anything but funny. Can animals dance to a beat? Using sound to save the whales. And physical fitness worsens hearing, but estrogen improves it. Encore presentation from May 22, 2009.
Plants Smell Danger
A type of plant can sense mating chemicals from fruit flies, and builds up its defenses when it does.
Birdsong Bluster
Female songbirds sometimes have a hard time separating truly worthy male crooners from the fly-by-night wannabees.
Microbe Roundup
Microbes in the human gut could be partially responsible for food cravings.
Stressed-out Scallops
Scientists can assess the health of marine ecosystems by recording the coughing sounds made by scallops.
Fatty Acid Fuels
Modifying the digestive process of bacteria could produce a useful fuel from common fats.
Bioengineering Roundup
Tiny microorganisms are playing a big role in chemical manufacturing.
Terahertz Waves
Terahertz waves, which could greatly improve scanning, imaging, and communication, just got a lot more practical.
Sex & Aging
Removing sperm and egg-producing cells from roundworms makes them live longer, and a new study reveals why.
Podcast for 21 December 2012
THE CHANGING ENVIRONMENT - What a scallop's cough can tell us about environmental health, how melting Arctic ice may have caused the earth's last big freeze, and why climate change may have undone the Maya empire. Also: using weather forecasting techniques to predict flu outbreaks, and revisiting the apocalypse myth surrounding the fictional planet Nibiru.
Rescuing Eggs
A substance called putrescine has the potential to boost fertility in women over 40.
Bird Passwords
An Australian bird thwarts nest invaders by requiring its young to sing a secret call to get fed.
Ice Melt & Ice Age
A meltdown of Arctic ice may have triggered the last deep freeze in the Northern Hemisphere.
Podcast for 7 December 2012
ARE YOU WREN ENOUGH? Why fairy wrens require their babies to show ID, how coral reefs ask for help, and how one microscopic animal patches itself up with borrowed genes. Also: Host Bob Hirshon went down to NASA Headquarters to report on the discovery of water on the planet Mercury.
Blind Mole Rats
The blind mole rat, like its distant cousin the naked mole rat, never gets cancer.
Podcast for 30 November 2012
CHILD DEVELOPMENT - Are kids naturally stingy? Why children's self-control could depend on the adults around them. And why math anxiety "hurts". Also: What monsters from Dungeons & Dragons can tell us about the importance of eyes.
Coral SOS Signals
Seaweed-covered corals emit a chemical that entices goby fish to clean them.
Owning Genes
In an upcoming case, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider whether diagnostic genes for breast cancer can be patented.
Anti-Cheating Hormone
The hormone oxytocin has many functions in the human body. Scientists now think it may also help deter cheating.
Snake Venom Painkiller
Scientists have isolated a potent painkiller from the venom of the deadly black mamba snake.