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May 9, 2025
Some car designers are turning from touchscreen controls back to physical buttons. Two researchers explain why that could be better. Plus, geneticists used CRISPR gene editing to grow bigger fruits without sacrificing flavor. And, an executive order could change the political tides for deep sea mining.
17:27
Lacking Funding, Some Scientists Turn to the Crowd
Scientists frustrated by a lack of research dollars are turning to crowdfunding.
11:47
The First Touchdown On A Comet
The European Space Agency’s Philae lander is the first probe to touch down on a comet.
12:40
George Washington Carver: Renaissance Man
Carver was a painter, singer, and piano teacher, taught farmers the virtues of crop rotation, and developed hundreds of recipes for peanuts, sweet potatoes, soybeans and pecans.
17:17
Spilling Our Guts: Decreased Diversity in the Human Microbiome
How can hospital stays and the evolution from apes to humans change the diversity of our microbiome?
17:48
Opening Up the Synthetic Biology Toolkit
Synthetic biologist Christopher Voigt and biotechnologist Stephen Streatfield discuss current trends in synthetic biology.
12:08
Piecing Together the Puzzle of Insect Evolution
One hundred researchers studied 144 insect species to fill in the blanks of insects’ evolutionary history.
22:17
Apple Science, From American Beauty to Zestar
Between new crosses and old heritage varieties, there’s a world of apples beyond the Red Delicious.
12:08
U.S. High-Speed Internet Lags Behind on Price, Cost
For less than $40 a month, residents of Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Bucharest, and Paris can enjoy lightning-fast Internet download and upload speeds of 1,000 Mbps.
17:05
Behind the Monster Music: Why Some Tunes Scare Us
Neuroscientist Daniel Levitin and Sound Opinions co-host Jim DeRogatis discuss the neuroscience of spooky songs.
17:34
A Haunted House Turned Scientists’ Lab
Scientists turn Pittsburgh’s ScareHouse into a real-world lab to discover why some brains thrive on fear.