60-second Science

Where does math come from? Mathematicians are still debating whether math is an inherent part of nature or an invention of the human mind. Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne will guide you through the question of what math really is in this three-part Friday miniseries. Recommended reading: – Gift Wrapping Five Oranges Has Outwitted the Best Minds in Mathematics for Generations  – The SAT Problem That Everybody Got Wrong E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman and Kyne Santos. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Makowski and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) affects up to five million people in the U.S., yet it remains poorly understood. Many people with PCOS go undiagnosed while experiencing symptoms such as irregular periods, changes in hair and body shape, acne and infertility. Even after a diagnosis, they’re often told to lose weight to manage symptoms—advice that some researchers now say can be harmful.  A recent study found that people with PCOS are more likely to have eating disorders, regardless of their body mass index. Laura Cooney, an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, co-authored the study. She joins host Rachel Feltman to discuss why the focus on weight loss for PCOS treatment needs to be reconsidered. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we shoul

In this week’s news roundup: Earth might have previously had a giant ring of space rocks like the one around Saturn, “scuba diving” lizards are using bubbles to breathe, and a new study mapped brain changes in a person throughout pregnancy. Additionally, we describe how NASA’s stranded astronauts will vote from space. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Anaissa Ruiz Tejada. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mathematics communicator and drag queen Kyne Santos will help you discover the beauty and power of math in this three-part Friday miniseries. Kyne takes us back to ancient Greece to illustrate the elegance of mathematics. We meet mathematician Tom Crawford, who combines fieldwork and modeling to predict the impacts of pollution, as well as philosopher and logician Mark Jago.  Recommended reading: – Gift Wrapping Five Oranges Has Outwitted the Best Minds in Mathematics for Generations – The SAT Problem That Everybody Got Wrong E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman and Kyne Santos. Our show is edited by Madison Goldberg with fact-checking by Shayna Posses, Emily Mako

In recognition of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month this September, host Rachel Feltman sits down with Alfred Winkler, chief of urology at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, to discuss proactive steps individuals can take to protect themselves against prostate cancer. Black American men, in particular, face some of the highest rates of the disease in the world, with multiple factors contributing to this elevated risk. This episode explores efforts to raise awareness and promote early screening within this high-risk group. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Recommended reading: New Prostate Cancer Treatments Offer Hope for Advanced Cases  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Scie

This week's news roundup: The European Space Agency’s Juice mission tested its instruments with a flyby of Earth in preparation for studying habitability on moons of Jupiter’. Also, a study found that Massachusetts has reduced food waste through composting and enforcement while four other states have not successfully done so despite also having bans on disposing of such waste in landfills. And researchers tested the generative artificial intelligence platform GPT-4 Turbo’s ability to counter conspiracy theories through personalized, fact-based conversations, yielding promising results. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-c

Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman interviewed NASA flight engineer Matthew Dominick live—from space! In this first-ever interview conducted from the International Space Station’s (ISS’s) iconic cupola, Dominick talks about his path to space, his experience on the ISS and his incredible astrophotography. You can listen to the full video and watch the changing light from the cupola at the link below. Watch the First-Ever Interview from the ISS Cupola https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/learn-how-astronauts-take-photos-from-nasa-in-flight-engineer-matthew/  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Matthew Dominick. Our show is edited by Jeff DelVisci

Content warning: This episode contains some details about the 9/11 attacks and victims’ remains. Twenty-three years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, forensic scientists are still working to identify victims from the World Trade Center site. Host Rachel Feltman speaks with Kathleen Corrado, forensics executive director at Syracuse University’s College of Arts & Sciences, about what unique challenges have been posed by the massive scale of the tragedy and how the lessons learned are now helping investigators solve cases from wildfires to criminal investigations—in addition to aiding efforts to identify the remaining victims of 9/11. Recommended reading: Health Effects of 9/11 Still Plague Responders and Survivors What Structural Engineers Learned from 9/11 E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly i

In this week’s new roundup, a new study finds no clear connection between phone use and brain or head cancers, putting some fears to rest. Meanwhile Sweden’s new screen-time guidelines suggest keeping kids under age two away from screens entirely and limiting time for older children—and echo concerns from other countries about how much time young people spend on devices. Also, jellyfish clones are invading lakes in British Columbia, Oregon faces its worst measles outbreak in three decades, and NASA clears up the mystery behind the strange noise on the ill-fated Boeing Starliner spacecraft. Recommended reading: How to Check If You’re Immune to Measles How Worried Should We Be about Starliner’s Stranded Astronauts? When Should Kids Get a Smartphone? E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Learn more about your ad

As people live longer and family sizes shrink, fewer relatives are available to share the burden of caregiving for aging loved ones. The second episode of our two-part miniseries on caregiving explores what this means for the family members who take on this critical role. How do they provide the best care while also maintaining their own well-being? To hear firsthand how caregivers are navigating this challenge, Lauren Young and Tanya Lewis, Scientific American’s respective associate and senior editors of health and medicine, visited a support center in Queens, N.Y. Young shares some of the stories they gathered from the community there. Listen to part one of this series. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Recommended reading: Shrinking Family Sizes May Change Our Experience with Aging E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we sho

Discrimination may be speeding up the aging process for people of color and other minoritized groups. Research is revealing that structural and interpersonal racism could be key factors in why these communities often age faster and face age-related diseases sooner. Alexis Reeves, a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University, studies how racism affects aging, with a focus on early menopause. In a conversation with Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman, Reeves discusses how traditional research methods might be overlooking these critical disparities. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Recommended reading: Discrimination May Hasten Menopause in Black and Hispanic Women How Racism in Early Life Can Affect Long-Term Health “Systematic Exclusion at Study Commencement Masks Earlier Menopause for Black Women in the Study of Women’s Health across the Nation (SWAN),” by Alexis Reeves et al.,

In this first episode of a two-part miniseries on caregiving, Tanya Lewis, Scientific American’s senior editor of health and medicine, shares her personal experience with becoming a caregiver for her mother after her mom was diagnosed with a serious illness. Her journey inspired her to explore the broader challenges faced by caregivers. Lewis and her colleague Lauren J. Young, SciAm’s associate editor of health and medicine, reached out to listeners and investigated the stresses of caregiving, uncovering common experiences and insights. Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman to delve into the scope of the caregiving crisis. This episode is part of “Health Equity Heroes,” an editorially independent special project that was produced with financial support from Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is prod

Marc Hachadourian, senior curator of orchids and director of glasshouse horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden, joins host Rachel Feltman to explore houseplant trends from the past and the present. Plus, they discuss how ethically sourcing your plants can prevent fad-driven overcollection. Listen to the New York Botanical Garden’s new podcast Plant People. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with Marc Hachadourian, senior curator of orchids and director of glasshouse horticulture at the New York Botanical Garden. Our show is edited by Jeff DelViscio and Fonda Mwangi with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed b

NASA’s Perseverance rover cautiously climbs Jezero Crater on Mars in search of new discoveries. We also explore recent revelations about the Red Planet’s hidden water reserves and puzzling sulfur findings. On the health front, a new device, described as an implant that acts like a pacemaker for the brain, shows promise for Parkinson’s treatment by reducing symptoms more effectively than conventional methods. Plus, we discuss a concerning side effect of the popular weight-loss drug semaglutide, fears of a polio outbreak in Gaza and the latest on mpox, which the World Health Organization declared a global health emergency earlier this month. Recommended Reading:  Mars Hides Colossal Ocean Deep Below Its Surface People Are Overdosing on Semaglutide Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy Mpox Is a Global Health Emergency. Here’s What We Know Email us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and

The Democratic presidential ticket has literally diverse voices. While Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech is influenced by her Californian origins, the way Minnesota governor Tim Walz talks reflects his roots in Nebraska. In our podcast, linguist Nicole Holliday expands on her viral TikTok analyses of Harris’s speech patterns and the ideological stereotypes we attach to pronunciation and intonation.  Recommended reading: Watch one of Holliday’s viral TikToks Bilingualism Is Reworking This Language’s Rainbow  Grammar Changes How We See, an Australian Language Shows  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. 

Polymetallic nodules litter a stretch of ocean between Mexico and Hawaii. They contain metals, such as manganese and cobalt, that mining companies want to use for battery production. Researchers recently found that these seafloor blobs might make their own oxygen—and no one knows exactly how. Scientific American’s associate news editor Allison Parshall explains the hype behind this “dark oxygen.” Recommended reading: ‘Dark Oxygen’ Discovered Coming from Mineral Deposits on Deep Seafloor https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/dark-oxygen-discovered-coming-from-mineral-deposits-on-deep-seafloor/ Earth’s Coral Reefs Face a New, Deadly Mass Bleaching. They Can Still Be Saved https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earths-coral-reefs-face-a-new-deadly-mass-bleaching-they-can-still-be-saved/  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our

Doris Tsao is the 2024 recipient of The Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for her research on facial recognition. Her work has provided insights into the complex workings of the brain and has the potential to advance our understanding of perception and cognition. This podcast was produced for The Kavli Prize by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazines board of editors. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Cameron is known for his ambitious filmmaking. His newest project is a six-part National Geographic miniseries that goes beneath the waves with the crew of the OceanXplorer. Cameron joins Science Quickly host Rachel Feltman to talk about the origins of his fascination with the ocean and the importance of seeing scientists at work. Recommended reading: Mysterious Galápagos Reefs Harbor Strawberry Squid and Other Fantastic Creatures https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mysterious-galapagos-reefs-harbor-strawberry-squid-and-other-fantastic-creatures1/  Healthy Coral Reefs Sound like a Symphony https://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode/this-is-how-a-healthy-coral-reef-sounds-and-why-it-matters/  Earth’s Coral Reefs Face a New, Deadly Mass Bleaching. They Can Still Be Saved https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/earths-coral-reefs-face-a-new-deadly-mass-bleaching-they-can-still-be-saved/  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we s

When the hit podcast Science Vs went to find the facts about the “male G-spot,” it was faced with remarkably little research to draw from. So the team collaborated with academics on one of the largest surveys about anal sex and masturbation. We discuss what they learned, on this episode of Science Quickly with Rachel Feltman and special guest Wendy Zukerman of Science Vs.  Recommended reading: Mind-Blowing Orgasms: Does the Male G-Spot Exist?  How to Explore Your Sexuality, according to Science   Asexuality Research Has Reached New Heights. What Are We Learning?  E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman with guest Wendy Zukerman, host of Science Vs. Our show is edi

Debris from satellites, rockets and other space infrastructure are crowding low-Earth orbit. Occasionally, that space junk crashes down to Earth. For Samantha Lawler, an associate professor of astronomy at the University of Regina in Saskatchewan, such debris was mostly a theoretical nuisance. Then a nearby farmer found remnants of a SpaceX craft on his land, and Lawler was pulled into the murky legal landscape around space junk in the skies and on the ground. Recommended reading:  SpaceX Dropped Space Junk on My Neighbor’s Farm. Here’s What Happened Next  Space Junk Is Polluting Earth’s Stratosphere with Vaporized Metal  Space Trash Threatens the Global Economy E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.  Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Kelso Harper, Madison Goldberg and Jeff DelViscio. Th