Credit Card Fraud
How do cyber criminals steal your credit card information?
Self-Sustaining Buildings
The next generation of green buildings may be self-sufficient.
Pollution & Drought
Pollution in the Northern Hemisphere was largely responsible for deadly droughts in late 20th century Africa.
Podcast for 28 June 2013
BRAINS & BEHAVIOR - When apes take a gamble. The value of precision in negotiations. And a new approach to targeting drug addiction in the brain. Also: what above-ground nuclear tests in the mid-20th century can tell scientists about the brain.
Podcast for 31 August 2012
WHALES, APES & BIRDS - Chimps don't share our sense of justice. What gibbons on helium can tell us about opera singers. Deciphering the peacock's hidden message. What an endangered whale has in common with songbirds. Also: Did a Central American rodent save a tree species from extinction?
Precision Decisions
People trust products more when precise language is used to market them.
The Color of Money
The color red may be associated with more aggressive bidding in online auctions.
Podcast for 17 August 2012
PSYCHOLOGY OF CONSUMPTION - Why planning a lifestyle change often backfires, why buying larger quantities doesn't always mean a better deal, and the relationship between speed of consumption and satisfaction, Also: did hunter-gatherers really use more calories than people living today? And an unmanned aircraft maps an archaeological site in Peru in record time.
When Planning Backfires
Planning a major lifestyle change can be a good idea, but only if you feel good about yourself to begin with.
When More is Less
New research suggests that we’re prone to think a package deal is a better value if quantity is listed before price.
Robotic Gait
Engineers have developed a two-legged robot with a more lifelike walking gait.
Social Poker
Neuroscientists used poker games and MRI scans to separate social from purely strategic decision making.
Opinion Spam
A computer program can distinguish real hotel reviews from fake ones.
Free-Market Fungi
Symbiotic plants and fungi reward generous trade partners and punish stingy ones.
Rainbow Polymer
Color-shifting polymers could make money and other documents harder to copy.
Podcast for 20 May 2011 – All That Glitters
The soaring price of gold drives deforestation in the Amazon, colonoscopies laced with gold could help detect cancer, and honey protects against antibiotic resistance. Also: a starless starfish, and a jellyfish that navigates without a brain.
Gold & Deforestation
Deforestation of the Amazon rainforest increases as gold prices rise.
Podcast
PSYCHOLOGY: Why listening to half of a cell phone conversation is so distracting, how we choose which hand to use, why we'll pay more if we can touch a product, and the mechanisms behind a fast-acting antidepressant.
Teamwork Roundup
Just because a group has the smartest people doesn't mean it makes the smartest decisions.
Beer Science Roundup
Brewing beer is an art, but a new beer analysis project could make it more of a science.
Touchy-Feely Buyers
We're willing to shell out more money for items we can touch.
Rare Earth Roundup
Rare earth elements make many modern technologies possible, but extracting them results in large amounts of toxic waste.
Accounting Fraud Alert
A new algorithm looks for accounting fraud by analyzing non-financial statistics.