Episodes

In the past 15 years, C-sections have nearly doubled worldwide. We’ll talk about why. Plus, honey bees, bumble bees, ants, and even spiders can live complicated social lives.

How ready is our voting infrastructure for the upcoming midterm elections? Plus, what can squirrel monkeys teach us about the evolution of human language?

We all think we’re logical. So why do we have so many disagreements? Plus, a conversation with Nobel laureate Frances Arnold.

Yemen is gripped by civil war—and some experts say it could be the first of many ‘water wars’ to come. Plus, a look at missions to retrieve samples from asteroids.

We find out what it’s like to step into a paleontologist’s boots and discover some dino gold. Plus, efforts to preserve some species in Hawaii found nowhere else on Earth.

Algorithms can influence so much more than what’s on your social media feed, like who gets parole. Plus, scientists can now see how one leaf talks to another—in real time.

How strong is the human-robot bond? How do you know how to relate to a mechanical device? We talk robot relationships. Plus, how do we navigate our work-life boundaries?

NASA is exploring a deep-sea volcano near Hawaii as a test run for human and robotic missions to Mars and beyond. Plus, how technology is changing our relationship with death.

The SciFri Book Club closes the book on the Stephen Hawking classic, “A Brief History of Time.” Plus, research into real-time tracking of viral infections, and a look at probiotics.

The Army is investigating sea barriers to protect New York from a future Sandy. But others have doubts. Plus, the discovery that a methane-burping microbe was not a bacterium added a new branch to the tree of life: The Archaea.