Category: ScienceNews

June 6, 1944 the Allied Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy and took the Nazis by surprise in the largest sea-to-land invasion in history. This would be remembered as D-Day and would ultimately lead to the end of World War II in Europe. However, this planned attack wouldn't have been possible without deep knowledge of ocean tides! We get into the whole story, including why tides sit at the intersection of astronomy and marine ecology — and why understanding tides are key to a greener future.

Want to hear us cover more science history? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may soon have a new treatment option: MDMA, the chemical found in ecstasy. In August, the Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD will be approved for market based on years of research. But serious allegations of research misconduct may derail the approval timeline.

NPR science reporter Will Stone talks to host Emily Kwong about the clinical trials on MDMA-assisted therapy research and a recent report questioning the validity of the results.

Read Will's full story here.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

It’s often said that fine wine gets better with time, and this week’s oenophile listener Jeremy has a cellar full of dust-covered bottles. He is curious whether chemistry can account for the range of flavours that develop as wine matures, but also wonders why some of it tastes like vinegar if you leave it too long? We head off to the Bordeaux region of France, where vines were planted almost 2,000 years ago. Here, winemakers are joining forces with scientists to better understand wine ageing, a process so subtle and intricate that even the scientists refer to it as magic. In the world-famous vineyards of Chateau Margaux, presenter Marnie Chesterton learns that the key ingredient for good grapes is a sandy soil type; and that in this part of France, the warming climate is actually having a positive effect on the vines, which need very little water to thrive. Over in the lab, we meet the chemist mapping the molecules responsible for aromas associated with a well-aged Bordeaux. Featuring: Philippe Bascaules, Chateau Margaux Prof Cornelis van Leeuwen, Bordeaux Sciences Agro Dr Stephanie Marchand-Marion, ISVV Alexandre Pons, ISVV Presented by Marnie Chesterton Producer – Marijke Peters Editor – Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator – Liz Tuohy Studio Manager – Sarah Hockley

(Photo: Aged bottles on wine racks in a cellar. Credit: Morsa Images/Getty Images)

As the Olympic torch makes its way through France, we investigate the fires that continually smoulder and those which are stomped out.

You might expect snow to make a solid fire extinguisher, but in Canada, it is somehow keeping embers alight. These ‘Zombie fires’ keep burning through the winter, releasing huge amounts of carbon into the air and enhancing the tinderbox for summer wildfires.

While wildfires leave trails of destruction, for some plants and animals, they act as a catalyst for life – helping them to spread their seeds or flower. And the extent of these blazes can also be marshalled by nature – with elephants and beavers building natural fire breaks into landscapes to prevent uncontrollable flames.

We hear about when the first fires happened on Earth and how we can study ancient fires which have long since gone out. Plus, we unpick the key to monogamy (in mice), why cicadas love prime numbers as well as your thoughts on snakes...

Presenter: Caroline Steel with Philistiah Mwatee and Chhavi Sachdev Producer: Alex Mansfield with Florian Bohr, Harrison Lewis, Julia Ravey and Noa Dowling Sound engineer: Emily Preston

A silky shark named Genie traveled from the Galapagos Islands out to the open ocean and back – over 17,000 miles – over the course of a year and a half. That's an average of 31 miles per day, making Genie's journey the longest recorded migration for a silky shark.

Marine scientist Pelayo Salinas de León and his team named Genie in honor of the late marine biologist Eugenie Clark – also known as "The Shark Lady." She devoted her life to the study of sharks and to improving their reputation.

Have another story you want us to cover? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

AI is already being used in every branch of science, and will become more and more a feature of future breakthroughs. But with its power to find subtle patterns in massive data sets comes a concern about how we will know when to trust its outcomes, and how to rely on its predictions. Science in Action talks to Alison Noble who just completed a Royal Society report on trust in scientific AI.

With highly pathogenic bird flu infecting around 70 dairy herds across 10 states in the USA, including a herd of alpacas, we get an update from health journalist Helen Branswell of StatNews on the latest science and efforts to get on top of the infection.

Also, from the pioneers of the mRNA vaccines that helped turn around the COVID pandemic, an experimental version that could be rolled out rapidly if the bird flu does cross worryingly into people. University of Pennsylvania’s Scott Hensley described how it works, and how promising it looks.

Science in Action also hears how Europe’s new EarthCARE satellite, equipped to peer deep inside clouds, will tackle one of the biggest unknowns in the science of global warming.

Presenter: Roland Pease Producer: Jonathan Blackwell

Humans rely on our symbiotic relationship with good microbes—in the gut, the skin and ... the vagina. Fatima Aysha Hussain studies what makes a healthy vaginal microbiome. She talks to host Emily Kwong about her long-term transplant study that asks the question: Can one vagina help another through a microbe donation?

Have a human body question? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Each year 84,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with melanoma. About 90% of these skin cancers are linked to the ultraviolet radiation from the sun. Sunscreen does protect the skin, but dermatologists have found six very common mistakes people make when it comes to using it. NPR science correspondent Allison Aubrey talks to host Regina G. Barber about the science behind sunscreen and how to avoid making these mistakes this summer. They also get into which sunscreens may be better than others.

Have other science stories you want us to cover? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The Blue Ridge Parkway is 469 miles of beautiful vistas, a mountainous road that winds from Virginia to North Carolina in the USA. The route is peppered with elevation signs, telling you how many metres above sea level you are. Which has CrowdScience listener Beth wondering: as we are told that sea level is rising, will all the elevation signs need repainting?

It’s a task she’s passed over to the CrowdScience team, who like a difficult challenge. The height of an enormous pile of rock like Ben Nevis, or Mount Everest feels unchangeable. But we measure them relative to the nearest patch of sea, which is where our story becomes complicated. Unlike water in a bath, sea level is not equal around the world. The east coast of America has a different sea level to its west coast. And as host Marnie Chesterton discovers in Finland, in some parts of the world the land is being pushed up, so sea level is actually falling.

In fact, when nothing on earth - not the sea, the shore or the mountains - seems to be stable or constant, the question of what you measure from and to becomes incredibly tricky. But that hasn’t stopped oceanography and geography scientists risking life and fingers to use an ever-evolving array of technologies to find answers. In this show we find out why they care so much, and why we should too.

Featuring: Dr Paul Bell – National Oceanography Centre, Liverpool, UK Dr Severine Fournier – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology Dr Jani Särkkä – Finnish Meteorological Institute Khimlal Gautam – Mountaineer and Chief Survey Officer, Government of Nepal Dr Derek van Westrum – National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA

Presented and produced by Marnie Chesterton Editor – Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator – Liz Tuohy Studio Manager – Steve Greenwood

(Photo: Sea Level Elevation Sign in Death Valley, California. Credit: Mitch Diamond/Getty Images)