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Science, Quickly podcast

Science, Quickly

Leading science and tech journalists dive into a rich world of scientific discovery in this bite-size science variety show. To view all of our archived material, go to: www.scientificamerican.com/podcast .

Leading science and tech journalists dive into a rich world of scientific discovery in this bite-size science variety show. To view all of our archived material, go to: www.scientificamerican.com/podcast .

 

#500

The State of Large Language Models

We present the latest updates on ChatGPT, Bard and other competitors in the artificial intelligence arms race. ... Read more

Yesterday

11 MINS

11:18

Yesterday


#499

Song of the Stars, Part 3: The Universe in all Senses

An astronomy festival in Italy opted to make all of its events and workshops multisensory. They wanted to see whether sound, touch and smell can, like sight, transmit the wonders of the cosmos. ... Read more

29 Sep 2023

10 MINS

10:16

29 Sep 2023


#498

Song of the Stars, Part 2: Seeing in the Dark

In 2014, a blind astronomer “sonified” the universe’s most explosive event: a gamma-ray burst. By listening to, rather than looking at, the data, she made a critical discovery and changed the field of astronomy. ... Read more

27 Sep 2023

10 MINS

10:25

27 Sep 2023


#497

Song of the Stars, Part 1: Transforming Space into Symphonies

Space is famously silent, but astronomers and musicians are increasingly turning astronomical data into sound as a way to make discoveries and inspire people who are blind or visually impaired. ... Read more

25 Sep 2023

10 MINS

10:32

25 Sep 2023


#496

This Researcher Captured Air from the Amazon in Dive-Bombs--And Found Grim Clues That the Forest Is ...

One researcher has been hiring planes to strafe the sky over the Amazon rain forest to collect the air coming off the trees, and what she is finding is cause for alarm. ... Read more

22 Sep 2023

15 MINS

15:13

22 Sep 2023


#495

Should You Get a Blood Test For Alzheimer's?

Consumers can now get easy tests for Alzheimer’s. But these tests may not really help patients that much–yet. ... Read more

20 Sep 2023

09 MINS

09:16

20 Sep 2023


#494

Ada Limón's Poem for Europa, Jupiter's Smallest Galilean Moon

U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón discusses her involvement in NASA’s Europa Clipper mission and the inspiration behind her poem, which will travel onboard the spacecraft. ... Read more

18 Sep 2023

14 MINS

14:27

18 Sep 2023


#493

How the Woolly Bear Caterpillar Does Something Pretty Amazing to Survive the Winter

Caterpillars can’t regulate their body temperatures, so they have to come up with a totally different strategy to make it through the coldest months of the year. ... Read more

15 Sep 2023

07 MINS

07:16

15 Sep 2023


#492

Bees 'Buzz' in More Ways Than You Might Think

A honeybee swarm has as much electric charge as a thundercloud, and the insects’ mass movements in the atmosphere might even have some influence on the weather. ... Read more

13 Sep 2023

06 MINS

06:09

13 Sep 2023


#491

Scientists Are Beginning to Learn the Language of Bats and Bees Using AI

The new field of digital bioacoustics is using machine learningto try decipher animal speak, includinghoneybeetoots and quacks and whoops. ... Read more

11 Sep 2023

11 MINS

11:10

11 Sep 2023


#490

Trying to Train Your Brain Faster? Knowing This Might Help with That

Are you working really hard to learn something? Rememberthis counterintuitive fact, and you might improve your learning curve. ... Read more

08 Sep 2023

04 MINS

04:46

08 Sep 2023


#489

This Tick Bite Makes You Allergic to Red Meat

The bite of the lone star tick makes people allergic to a sugar found in mammalian products, and many doctors don’t know about it. ... Read more

06 Sep 2023

08 MINS

08:21

06 Sep 2023


#488

This Lesbian Monkey Love Triangle Tells Us Something Really Interesting about Darwin's 'Paradox'

A “Darwinian paradox”is that homosexual activity occurs even though it does not lead to or aid inreproduction. Butif you visit three capuchin monkeys in Los Angeles, they’ll show you how beneficial their liaisonsare. ... Read more

04 Sep 2023

13 MINS

13:38

04 Sep 2023


#487

What the Luddites Can Teach Us about AI

The Luddites did not hate technology—but they did fight the way it was used to exploit humans. ... Read more

01 Sep 2023

10 MINS

10:04

01 Sep 2023


#486

A Pig Kidney Was Just Transplanted Into a Human Body, and It Is Still Working

Xenotransplants could help to solve the organ transplant crisis—if researchers can get the science right. ... Read more

30 Aug 2023

12 MINS

12:14

30 Aug 2023


#485

Migratory Birds Are in Peril, but Knowing Where They Are at Night Could Help Save Them

Light is a very dangerous, if not so obvious, threat to birds who migrate at night. But researchers are using weather radar to track birds and provide “lights out” forecasts to help keep their paths clear of visual distraction. ... Read more

28 Aug 2023

14 MINS

14:10

28 Aug 2023


#484

Artificial Intelligence Is Helping Us 'See' Some of the Billions of Birds Migrating at Night

Science is turning to machines to unlock the secrets of the vast, mysterious pulse-of-the-planet phenomenon that is nocturnal migration. ... Read more

25 Aug 2023

12 MINS

12:01

25 Aug 2023


#483

Here's How You Go Birding in the Middle of the Night

If you really want to challenging your bird identification skills, try using them at night, when bird calls areless than 100 milliseconds long. ... Read more

23 Aug 2023

11 MINS

11:34

23 Aug 2023


#482

Using Human-Sized Microphones and Hay Bales, They Unlocked the Mysteries of Bird Migration

For thousands of years, no one truly knew how birds migrated—that is, until a few unlikely pioneers sat in an empty fieldwith hundreds of pounds of kludged together recording gear andwaited to hear sounds that no one had ever captured. ... Read more

21 Aug 2023

15 MINS

15:25

21 Aug 2023


#481

They Tap Into the Magical, Hidden Pulse of the Planet, but What is the Nighttime Bird Surveillance N...

On any given night, dense clouds of dark, ghostly figures pass over your head as you sleep. Maybe you never knew they were there, but there are people out there who are deciphering all the unseen movement that happens amid the darkness. ... Read more

18 Aug 2023

09 MINS

09:02

18 Aug 2023