This past week, beavers were legally released into the English countryside for the first time since they were hunted into extinction there in the 17th century. Conservationists hailed it as a watershed moment for this keystone species, which helps combat flooding and drought by engineering the landscape with dams and channels. Alex Thomson of Independent Television News reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Sea turtles are considered one of the oldest living species on Earth, but it’s been a mystery where their babies go after heading out to sea. Known as their “lost years,” the lack of information makes it hard for conservationists to protect these turtles. Now, a team of marine scientists is working to change that. John Yang reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
The wetness of water seems blindingly obvious - but dive into the science and things aren’t so clear.
CrowdScience listeners Rachel and Callum were washing their hands one day and it got them thinking about wetness. Why does water feel the way it does? And what makes a liquid wet?
To find out, presenter Anand Jagatia takes a closer look at the behaviour of liquids with materials scientist Mark Miodownik, and finds out why they might not be as wet as we think.
We learn what’s really behind the sensation of feeling something wet on your skin, with the help of physiologist Davide Filingeri and PhD student Jade Ward.
And we turn to a philosopher, Vanessa Seifert, and a chemist, Tim Neudecker, to puzzle out exactly how many water molecules you need before the property of wetness emerges.
Presenter: Anand Jagatia
Producer: Anand Jagatia
Editor: Cathy Edwards
Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano
Studio Manager: Bob Nettles and Andrew Garratt
(Image: A photo of a droplet falling into a body of water Credit: Flaviu Cernea / 500pxvia Getty Images)
Sparked by a silent album released by 1,000 musicians in protest of the UK government’s planned changes to copyright law, Unexpected Elements hits the pause button... Is there any science to silence?
Fear not, this week’s show is packed full of chatter! You might think there’s only one type of silence, but supposedly exists in political science too. In fact, there are seven distinct types.
If you're a techy you probably have a pair of noise cancelling headphones. But have you ever wondered how they work? We’ll take them apart to figure out how they work. Plus, dive into the fascinating world of gene silencing, definitely one of the coolest areas of genetics. Learn how this cutting-edge technology could help protect our crops from pests in the future.
Later, Caroline is joined by her two wonderful panellists to contemplate and reflect on silence, when might it be harmful? And does true silence even exist?
All that and many more Unexpected Elements.
Presenters: Caroline Steel, Candice Bailey and Kai Kupferschmidt
Producers: Harrison Lewis, with William Hornbrook, Debbie Kilbride and Noa Dowling
Archeologists know early humans used stone to make tools long before the time of Homo sapiens. But a new discovery out this week in Naturesuggests early humans in eastern Africa were also using animal bones – one million years earlier than researchers previously thought. The finding suggests that these early humans were intentionally shaping animal materials – like elephant and hippopotamus bones – to make tools and that it could indicate advancements in early human cognition.
Want more on early human history? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.
The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles is featuring two exhibitions that explore the relationship between movies and technology as part of PST ART: Art & Science Collide. PBS Student Reporting Labs Ebonie Shelley has the story for our arts and culture series, CANVAS. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
As the new administration in the US continues to make cuts to government agencies and scientific funding, NOAA – the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has been particularly trimmed. This week the professional organisation for weather forecasters – the American Meteorological Society has published a statement pleading for clemency, arguing that the whole US Weather Enterprise is at risk. It’s current president elect, veteran weather broadcaster Alan Sealls describes how it’s not just US weather forecasts that appear bleak.
As the journal Science Advances publishes a special edition highlighting areas of women’s health research, we speak with two researchers who may have found a link between menopause – or perhaps hormonal changes – and the age it occurs, with Altzeimer’s Disease. Madeline Wood or the University of Toronto and Kaitlin Casaletto of UCSF describe how synaptic health – the fitness of the brain - at death seems even to be less attenuated in women who used hormonal therapy during their menopause. It is not however, yet suggested they are causally connected.
But we do connect research vessel Polarstern to have an update from Autun Purser and Nottingham University’s molecular biologist Liz Chakrabarti on their nearly completed voyage to the Weddel Sea, in the challengingly chilly Antarctic. They are gathering data and surveying the fauna on the sea floor below what is mostly covered in 3-4 meters of ice. The Icefish they see there are some of the only vertebrates not to have haemoglobin – nor even red blood cells – in their blood. So how, we wonder, do they actually move oxygen around their bodies? Maybe when the team publish their findings – which they are racing to do - we’ll find out.
Presenter: Roland Pease
Producer: Alex Mansfield
Production Coordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
(Image: National Hurricane Center Monitors Hurricane Beryl's Activity In The Caribbean. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
On their second job ever, Collette Yee and her partner were assigned a difficult job: locate transient whale poop in the ocean before it sinks. Luckily, Collette was partnered with Jack, a blue heeler mix trained to sniff out cryptic odors from things that conservation biologists have trouble collecting on their own. Producer Berly McCoy reports on Jack and the growing field of dog detection conservation that helps science by sniffing out everything from invasive crabs to diseased plants to endangered species.
Interested in more biotech stories? Let us know by dropping a line to shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
You've heard of the woolly mammoth. But have you heard of woolly mice? These critters were genetically modified by the Dallas-based biotech company Colossal Biosciences to have the same "woolly" and fat appearance as the ancient mammoths. The mice are a key step in the longer journey to de-extinct the woolly mammoth. NPR's Rob Stein takes us to the lab where it all happened.
Interested in more biotech stories? Let us know by dropping a line to shortwave@npr.org.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
NASA’s partnership with the private sector took a key step forward with a successful moon landing. The Blue Ghost lunar lander, built by the company, Firefly Aerospace, stuck the landing safely early Sunday, making it the first commercial spacecraft to do so. It's carrying a number of experiments for NASA as part of a larger effort to have private companies make deliveries. Miles O'Brien reports. PBS News is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
