Early Memories
Why don't you have memories from your babyhood? A scientist explains.
Podcast
Using ultrasound to find expensive wood, how cheese is helping to fight a tree fungus, the connection between prostate cancer and a lack of male sons, the division in your brain, and the secret to a ultra-white beetle.
Brain Divide
A listener asks: Why does each half of the brain control the opposite side of the body?
Podcast
How addiction is like hunger, a new therapy that targets a virus's genes, the best math students perform the worst, pollution could contribute to obesity, and new immigrants face color and height biases.
Addiction and Hunger
Addiction and hunger seem to activate the same brain circuits.
Podcast
Why you're not perfect, sitting up straight could be bad for you, the downfalls of two ancient civilizations coincided with climate change, the study of procrastination, and your useless organs.
Podcast
A recipe for life on Mars, how Alzheimer's and herpes are related, amnesia obscures the future as well as the past, a zoo exhibit features humans, and what the appendix is for.
Alzheimer’s and Herpes
New research in animals suggests that a common virus may play a role in Alzheimer's.
Future Amnesia
Some patients with amnesia not only can't remember the past, but they can't imagine the future.
Podcast
Small distractions could be big trouble, the effects of cell phone waves on our health, how nature cleans itself, eels and grouper hunt together, and squirrels and spruce trees outwit each other for seeds.
Subliminal Distractions
The most insidious distractions may be the ones we're not aware of.
Podcast
Giving blood could be good for you, backpacks are better with bungee cords, taking a census of the air's bacteria, happiness helps ward off colds and flu, genetic engineering protects against mad cow disease
Podcast
An update to the stethoscope, why fevers may be healthy, how whales' brains are like ours, making robots from DNA, and lessons from the fat and skinny genes.
Cultural Rhythms
How you interpret a simple rhythm depends on what language you speak.
Podcast
The secret of a Stradivarius violin, how giraffes block a head rush, using bees for homeland security, saving seagrass, and a strange new ingredient in the interstellar soup.
Giraffe Stroke
Giraffes have big-time blood pressure to get blood to their heads. So why don't they burst a blood vessel when they bend down?
Father Pheromones
Fathers may emit pheromones that keep their daughters young.
Podcast
Your birthday greetings to us, hopeful news about malaria in Africa, robots that can recover from injury, news about Neanderthals, the truth about lie detectors, and money brings out the best and the worst in us.
Money Mentality
Thinking about money can encourage both self-reliance and self-centeredness.
Podcast
Our special birthday show! A louse killer that's evolution-proof, what comes after Hubble, the universality of color, listening to icebergs, and how physics was different in the early universe.
Color Categories
Despite dramatic differences in the number of categories and color names, people categorize colors in universal ways.