Sparrow Song
Song dialects make a big difference when white-crowned sparrows choose mates and defend territories.
Podcast
Do women really talk more than men? Insects that explode to foil predators. Energy from vibrations. What happens to our brains when we get thirsty. A skin test to predict behavioral problems.
Podcast
How fetuses breathe inside the womb, rats that help out other rats, ancient chile peppers found in Mexico, why we yawn, and the surprising forms alien life might take.
Alien Life Roundup
Extraterrestrial life could be very different from life as we know it.
Podcast
Listening to muscles, yoga may stave off depression, a blood-based bandage, a protein inhibits aging in fruitflies, and whether lizards or snakes evolved first.
Snake v. Lizard
A listener asks: Which came first, the lizard or the snake?
Podcast
Why cows have four stomachs, a new development in wireless electricity, babies' surprising eye for language, a genetic typo detector, and an archaeological debunking.
Babies’ Eye for Language
Babies can see the differences between languages, even without hearing them.
Genetic Typo Detector
A new technique could spot errors in genetic sequences.
Helpful Cows Roundup
Some dairy cows naturally make skim milk, and manure could be a source of ethanol.
Podcast
IQ is overrated, why we have wisdom teeth (and why some people don't), an ancient Chinese remedy for malaria, how not to repel mosquitoes, and your skin's natural defenses against bacteria.
Wisdom Teeth, Part II
A listener asks: Why do some people fail to get wisdom teeth?
Dino Descendant
A listener asks: What are the closest living relatives of dinosaurs?
Boy Decline
Fewer baby boys are being born. Scientists are looking for the reason.
Animal Genes Roundup
One gene can determine whether a mouse is a wallflower or a party animal.
Podcast
Taking a picture of an itch, the genetics of social behavior, the drying of the American Southwest, looking a hurricane in the eye, and a stop-smoking diet.
Podcast
Deciphering the calls of blue whales, genetic tests for mental conditions, a three-way symbiotic relationship, studying tear film, and the truth about tanning beds.
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.
Sons and Prostate Cancer
Is there a link between prostate cancer and lacking male children?
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.
Podcast
Where insects go in winter, winged dinosaurs, fish that cannibalize their young, calculating the value of polio vaccinaton, and mining can cause earthquakes.
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.
Vestigial Organs
Believe it or not, our bodies have parts that don't have any use.