Podcast for 30 September 2011
HORMONES & BEHAVIOR - Testosterone and fatherhood, the genetics of oxytocin and depression, gender and spatial reasoning revisited, where taste is found in the brain, and more.
Darkest Planet
Scientists have identified the darkest known extrasolar planet.
Podcast for 19 August 2011
WATER EVERYWHERE - Astronomers have discovered the largest cache of water ever, and researchers are developing new software for detecting contamination of municipal water supplies. Also: Round robots to help safeguard nuclear power plants.
Black Hole Water
Water was abundant in the universe just 1.6 billion years after the Big Bang - in one of the most inhospitable places imaginable.
Medical Roundup
New research lends clues to why a bad sunburn hurts so much.
Appliance Roundup
Some of the world’s most forbidding environments occur right in our own homes, but microorganisms are finding a way to colonize them.
Rainbow Polymer
Color-shifting polymers could make money and other documents harder to copy.
Secret Ingredient Roundup
A compound found in apple peels could prevent muscle wasting.
Habitable Exoplanet
Climate modeling has identified the first exoplanet that really could support life.
Sleep-Deprived Brains
A brain chemical called adenosine plays a major role in symptoms of sleep deprivation.
Podcast for 3 June 2011 – Searching for Life in Outer Space
Astronomers are using new tools to look for life in outer space. And, the search for intelligent life in the universe is targeting the best candidate planets. Also: how tsunamis impact sealife.
Toxic Animal Roundup
Cats are transmitting a dangerous brain disease to wildlife.
Gold Nanoparticles
Nano-sized gold-silica particles may help catch tumors in colonoscopies.
Anti-Explosive Spray
An inky spray changes color when explosives are detected.
Vehicle Nanoparticles
Nano-sized particles from vehicles damage brain cells, according to an animal study.
The Smell Hormone
A hormone called ghrelin enhances our sense of smell and increases appetite.
Podcast for 29 April 2011 – Whale Songs & Zebra Stripes
Cultural revolutions in humpback whale songs, a barcode scanner for zebra stripes, a prehistoric toothache, and changing skull sizes in the Iberian Peninsula.
Toxin Filters Roundup
In the event of a nuclear accident, a new filter made of natural materials could treat water contaminated with radioactive iodine.
Podcast for 15 April 2011 – The Five Senses
Justice and lunch breaks, autism and visual processing, a case of beat deafness, and the hormone of smell.
Vitamin C & Pasteurization
A listener asks if pasteurizing orange juice destroys its vitamin C.
Podcast for 8 April 2011
Football and family violence, rooting out insects, a question of taste, and a bird's eye view for danger.