On Today's Podcast
A Trailblazing Geneticist Reflects On Her Life And Work
Dr. Mary-Claire King was the first to link a gene to hereditary cancer risk with the identification of BRCA1. She was just getting started.
Listen NowSeptember 12, 2025
Octopuses can use their suckers to detect harmful microbes on the surface of objects like crab shells, or their own eggs. Plus, a new book charts the millennia-old history of our fascination with aliens, and how myth transformed into research. And, golden oyster mushrooms have escaped from home growing kits into the wild. Could they affect fungal diversity in North American forests?
From Undiscovered: Mouse’s Vineyard
Martha’s Vineyard has a Lyme disease problem. Now a scientist is coming to town with a possible fix: genetically engineered mice.
From Undiscovered: Kurt Vonnegut And The Rainmakers
In the mid 1940s, no one would publish Kurt Vonnegut’s stories. But when he gets hired as a press writer at General Electric, the company’s fantastical science inspires some of his most iconic novels.
From Undiscovered: The Wastebook
After a senator calls her research a waste of taxpayer dollars, biologist Sheila Patek heads to Capitol Hill to prove what her science is worth.
From Undiscovered: Six Degrees
Are you just six handshakes away from every other person on Earth? Two mathematicians set out to prove we’re all connected.
From Undiscovered: Sick And Tired
When researchers publish a new study on chronic fatigue syndrome, a group of patients cry foul—and decide to investigate for themselves.
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From Undiscovered: Born This Gay
At the turn of the 20th century, a German doctor sets out to prove that homosexuality is rooted in biology—but his research has consequences he never intended.
From Undiscovered: The Meteorite Hunter
From our new podcast Undiscovered: Deep in Antarctica, a rookie meteorite hunter helps collect a mystery rock. Could it be a little piece of Mars?
Listen To The First Episode Of Our New Podcast, Undiscovered
A podcast about the backstories of science.
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