What killed off North American megafauna, and making languages less complicated
Ancient wildfires may have doomed Southern California’s big mammals, and do insular societies have more complex languages?
First up on this week’s show, what killed off North America’s megafauna, such as dire wolves and saber-toothed cats? Online News Editor Mike Price joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the likely culprits: climate or humans, or one that combines both—fire. They discuss how the La Brea Tar Pits are helping researchers figure this out. Read the related Science paper.
Next up, do languages get less complex when spoken in multilingual societies? Olena Shcherbakova, a doctoral researcher a...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
What killed off North American megafauna, and making languages less complicated
Ancient wildfires may have doomed Southern California’s big mammals, and do insular societies have more complex languages?
First up on this week’s show, what killed off North America’s megafauna, such as dire wolves and saber-toothed cats? Online News Editor Mike Price joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the likely culprits: climate or humans, or one that combines both—fire. They discuss how the La Brea Tar Pits are helping researchers figure this out. Read the related Science paper.
Next up, do languages get less complex when spoken in multilingual societies? Olena Shcherbakova, a doctoral researcher a...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 17, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Why some trees find one another repulsive, and why we don ’t know how much our hands weigh
First up on this week’s show, we hear about the skewed perception of our own hands, extremely weird giant viruses, champion regenerating flatworms, and more from Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox. Christie also chats with host Sarah Crespi about her work on a daily newsletter and what it takes to do it 5 days a week. Read more newsletters and sign up for your daily dose of Science and science.
Next on the show, AAAS Intern Andrew Saintsing learns about why trees are repulsive—to one another. Michael Kalyuzhny, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, discusse...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 10, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Why some trees find one another repulsive, and why we don ’t know how much our hands weigh
First up on this week’s show, we hear about the skewed perception of our own hands, extremely weird giant viruses, champion regenerating flatworms, and more from Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox. Christie also chats with host Sarah Crespi about her work on a daily newsletter and what it takes to do it 5 days a week. Read more newsletters and sign up for your daily dose of Science and science.
Next on the show, AAAS Intern Andrew Saintsing learns about why trees are repulsive—to one another. Michael Kalyuzhny, a postdoctoral fellow in the department of integrative biology at the University of Texas at Austin, discusse...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 10, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Tracing the genetic history of African Americans using ancient DNA, and ethical questions at a famously weird medical museum
Bringing together ancient DNA from a burial site and a giant database of consumer ancestry DNA helps fill gaps in African American ancestry, and a reckoning for Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum
First up on this week’s show, ancient DNA researchers and ancestry giant 23andMe joined forces to uncover present day ties to a cemetery at the Catoctin Furnace ironworks in Maryland, where enslaved people were buried. Contributing producers and hosts of the Dope Labs podcast Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley spoke with authors Éadaoin Harney and David Reich about the historical significance of this work and how it may help som...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 3, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Tracing the genetic history of African Americans using ancient DNA, and ethical questions at a famously weird medical museum
Bringing together ancient DNA from a burial site and a giant database of consumer ancestry DNA helps fill gaps in African American ancestry, and a reckoning for Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum
First up on this week’s show, ancient DNA researchers and ancestry giant 23andMe joined forces to uncover present day ties to a cemetery at the Catoctin Furnace ironworks in Maryland, where enslaved people were buried. Contributing producers and hosts of the Dope Labs podcast Titi Shodiya and Zakiya Whatley spoke with authors Éadaoin Harney and David Reich about the historical significance of this work and how it may help som...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - August 3, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Researchers collaborate with a social media giant, ancient livestock, and sex and gender in South Africa
On this week’s show: evaluating scientific collaborations between independent scholars and industry, farming in ancient Europe, and a book from our series on sex, gender, and science.
First up on this week’s show, a look behind the scenes at a collaboration between a social media company and 17 academics. Host Sarah Crespi speaks with Michael Wagner, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication who acted as an impartial observer for Meta’s U.S. 2020 election project. Wagner wrote a commentary piece about what worked and what didn’t in this massive projec...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 27, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Researchers collaborate with a social media giant, ancient livestock, and sex and gender in South Africa
On this week’s show: evaluating scientific collaborations between independent scholars and industry, farming in ancient Europe, and a book from our series on sex, gender, and science.
First up on this week’s show, a look behind the scenes at a collaboration between a social media company and 17 academics. Host Sarah Crespi speaks with Michael Wagner, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication who acted as an impartial observer for Meta’s U.S. 2020 election project. Wagner wrote a commentary piece about what worked and what didn’t in this massive projec...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 27, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Adding thousands of languages to the AI lexicon, and the genes behind our bones
A massive effort by African volunteers is ensuring artificial intelligence understands their native languages, and measuring 40,000 skeletons
Our AI summer continues with a look at how to get artificial intelligence to understand and translate the thousands of languages that don’t have large online sources of text and audio. Freelance journalist Sandeep Ravindran joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss Masakhane, a volunteer-based project dedicated to spurring growth in machine learning of African languages. See the whole special issue on AI here.
Also this week on the show, Eucharist Kun, a Ph.D. student at the Univers...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Adding thousands of languages to the AI lexicon, and the genes behind our bones
A massive effort by African volunteers is ensuring artificial intelligence understands their native languages, and measuring 40,000 skeletons
Our AI summer continues with a look at how to get artificial intelligence to understand and translate the thousands of languages that don’t have large online sources of text and audio. Freelance journalist Sandeep Ravindran joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss Masakhane, a volunteer-based project dedicated to spurring growth in machine learning of African languages. See the whole special issue on AI here.
Also this week on the show, Eucharist Kun, a Ph.D. student at the Univers...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 20, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
The AI special issue, adding empathy to robots, and scientists leaving Arecibo
Science’s NextGen voices share their thoughts on artificial intelligence, how to avoid creating sociopathic robots, and a visit to a historic observatory as researchers pack their bags
As part of a Science special issue on finding a place for artificial intelligence (AI) in science and society, Producer Kevin McLean shares voices from the next generation of researchers. We hear from students about how they think human scientists will still need to work alongside AI in the future.
Continuing the AI theme, we learn about instilling empathy to get better decisions from AI. Researcher Leonardo Christov-Moore, a neu...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 13, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
The AI special issue, adding empathy to robots, and scientists leaving Arecibo
Science’s NextGen voices share their thoughts on artificial intelligence, how to avoid creating sociopathic robots, and a visit to a historic observatory as researchers pack their bags
As part of a Science special issue on finding a place for artificial intelligence (AI) in science and society, Producer Kevin McLean shares voices from the next generation of researchers. We hear from students about how they think human scientists will still need to work alongside AI in the future.
Continuing the AI theme, we learn about instilling empathy to get better decisions from AI. Researcher Leonardo Christov-Moore, a neu...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 13, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Putting the man-hunter and woman-gatherer myth to the sword, and the electron's dipole moment gets closer to zero
Worldwide survey kills the myth of “Man the Hunter,” and tightly constraining the electric dipole moment of the electron
First up this week on the show, freelance science writer Bridget Alex joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss busting the long-standing myth that in our deep past, virtually all hunters were men and women tended to be gatherers. It turns out women hunt in the vast majority of foraging societies, upending old stereotypes.
After that, we learn about a hunt for zero. Tanya Roussy, a recent Ph.D. graduate in quantum physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, discusses her work trying to const...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 6, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Putting the man-hunter and woman-gatherer myth to the sword, and the electron's dipole moment gets closer to zero
Worldwide survey kills the myth of “Man the Hunter,” and tightly constraining the electric dipole moment of the electron
First up this week on the show, freelance science writer Bridget Alex joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss busting the long-standing myth that in our deep past, virtually all hunters were men and women tended to be gatherers. It turns out women hunt in the vast majority of foraging societies, upending old stereotypes.
After that, we learn about a hunt for zero. Tanya Roussy, a recent Ph.D. graduate in quantum physics from the University of Colorado, Boulder, discusses her work trying to const...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - July 6, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
Putting organs into the deep freeze, a scavenger hunt for robots, and a book on race and reproduction
On this week’s show: Improvements in cryopreservation technology, teaching robots to navigate new places, and the latest book in our series on sex and gender
First up this week on the show, scientists are learning how to “cryopreserve” tissues—from donor kidneys to coral larvae. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the latest in freezing and thawing technology.
Next up: How much does a robot need to “know” about the world to navigate it? Theophile Gervet, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University, discusses a scavenger hunt–style experiment that involv...
Source: Science Magazine Podcast - June 29, 2023 Category: Science Authors: Science Magazine Source Type: podcasts
