Podcast
The better way to commute, resetting your internal food clock, why we don't remember our dreams, fungi that live in plants, and the problem with some drug companies' patient headhunting practices.
Alcohol and Colds
We answer this listener's question: Can a shot of alcohol stop a cold in its tracks?
Podcast
Music could help treat Parkinson's, new ways to probe for underground bacteria, a handy test for caffeine, stress in pregnancy may be good, and an explanation for how Ritalin works.
The Microbes Below
To study underground bacteria, scientists have been pretty much just digging holes. Until now.
Podcast
Testosterone could treat multiple sclerosis, the end to mowing lawns, nature's super-strong superglue, finding dread in the brain, and the connection between vaccines and beer.
Podcast
Microbes on Mars, cell phones tracking weather, the relationship between brain size and intelligence, humans controlling sharks and cockroaches, and the pros and cons of having lots of testosterone.
Podcast
A super memory, elephant dung and the oil crisis, girls go online, navigating the asteroid belt, and heart-healthy bacon.
Podcast
A parasite from cats, how comets kick the bucket, the next best thing to dino DNA, helping disabled kids find their voices, and using lasers in medicine.
Podcast
The dangers of toxic algae, the intelligence of autistics, antibiotic resistance in dirt, rats' sense of smell, and diagnosing dinosaurs.
Podcast
What makes a song popular, spite in chimps, the up-side of parasites, the physics of cracking, and fighting flesh-eating viruses and tuberculosis.
Podcast
How to catch lying politicians, black holes are for real, a virus that could make you fat, having deja vu over and over again, and man versus beast.
Podcast
A better way to browse music, sexual orientation in the brain, a great locust migration, the tectonic future of California, and why the desert is an Amazon.
Medical Roundup
Scientists have found an explosive new way to pack several weeks' worth of vaccines into a single shot.
Podcast
A working air guitar, the smallest living thing, tips on raising pandas, exercising the brain, and our relationship to the fruitfly
Smallest Thing
Everyone's interested in world records. Bob Hirshon answers a listener's questions about the world's smallest living creature.
Podcast
Long-term effects of a winter birthday, a genetic basis for MS, women downplay heart disease, bacteria that might treat cancer, and what the colorblind actually see.
Good Bugs
A mix of bacteria helps patients with intestinal ailments, and bacteria that fight bad breath.
Zoo in You
The human gut has nearly 400 species of microorganisms, and microbes in the gut affect the action of medicines.
Alcohol & Bacteria
Why does rubbing alcohol kill bacteria? (Disrupts their cell membranes)
Bugs with Bugs
Bacteria on a wasp's antennae prevent infection in baby wasps, and bacteria inside nematodes kill insects.
Dirt Appreciation
Creatures that live underground prevent the world from being a stinking cesspool.
Fat-Burning Mice
Mice missing a gene for an enzyme burn fat instead of storing it.