Episodes

A look at traumatic brain injuries in the military, and their possible connection to PTSD. Plus, new windows into the origins of some of our planetary neighbors.

An entomologist explains why he’s spent decades ranking the pain of insect stings, many of which were self-induced. And we revisit the future of electric vehicles and alternative fuels—as predicted in 1992.

A look at the political and financial roadblocks preventing scientists from answering basic questions about guns. And one expert’s forecast for a revolution in human reproductive technology.

How do you snap a picture of a black hole? Easy: with a telescope the size of the Earth. Plus, meet a professional Google “Doodler.”

Doctors are reviving ideas from the pre-antibiotic age to fight drug-resistant bacteria. And a look at how bumblebees know where to buzz.

A provocative new study suggests Alzheimer’s could be the toxic side-effect of infection. And our listeners predict the future of online news—in a flashback to 1994.

What do the fundamentals of physics reveal about the human experience? Plus, lessons from the fraught history of human genetics.

Celebrating spring science with observations of wild birds, bees, and edible mushrooms. Plus, the story of Srinivasa Ramanujan—the “man who knew infinity.”

How GPS might be changing our cognitive maps of the world. And what scientists learn from animal “selfies.”

A tour of the quantum world, where physics gets philosophical. And genomics pioneer Craig Venter discusses how the field has changed since the mapping of the first human genome.