Science Quickly

Science Quickly

Host Rachel Feltman, alongside leading science and tech journalists, dives into the rich world of scientific discovery in this bite-size science variety show.

Episodes

Could Peanut Allergies Be Cured?

August 22, 2025 • 20 mins
Peanut allergies have surged dramatically in recent decades, and scientists are still working to understand why. In this episode, journalist Maryn Mckenna, who recently authored an article on the subject, and host Rachel Feltman explore the latest research on causes, treatments and prevention strategies.  Recommended Reading Can Peanut Allergies Be Cured? Join the #SciAmInTheWild photography challenge for a chance to win a one-y...
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Nature’s Sexual Spectrum Breaks the Binary

August 20, 2025 • 15 mins
Biologist Nathan Lents joins Science Quickly to explore the vast sexual diversity found across the animal kingdom. His new book, The Sexual Evolution: How 500 Million Years of Sex, Gender, and Mating Shape Modern Relationships, challenges the binary framework that has long shaped biological research, arguing for a more accurate and inclusive view of sex and gender. From alternative reproductive strategies to overlapping traits, thi...
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Chikungunya Outbreak, Glacial Outbursts and a New Human Ancestor

August 18, 2025 • 10 mins
The chikungunya virus is rapidly spreading in China. Could it make its way to the U.S.? Meanwhile in Alaska a glacial lake outburst flooded the nearby Mendenhall River to record levels. And in Ethiopia fossilized teeth reveal a new species of Australopithecus—one that possibly lived alongside one of our closer cousins in theHomo genus—shedding light on human evolution. Recommended reading: How the New Chikungunya Virus Outbreak...
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Dinner with King Tut Explores the Wild World of Experimental Archaeology

August 15, 2025 • 14 mins
Science writer Sam Kean joins Science Quickly to explore the hands-on world of experimental archaeology—where researchers don’t just study the past; they rebuild it. From launching medieval catapults to performing ancient brain surgery with stone tools, Kean shares his firsthand experiences with re-creating the techniques and technologies of long-lost civilizations. His latest book, Dinner with King Tut, dives deep into these wil...
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Living Longer, Aging Smarter [Sponsored]

August 14, 2025 • 8 mins
Life expectancy has risen dramatically since 1900, reshaping how we understand aging. Scientists now view skin not just as a surface indicator, but as a biological marker of systemic health. In this podcast episode, Scientific American Custom Media explores how longevity science is offering new insights into vitality across the lifespan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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Condoms and Vasectomies Aren’t Enough—Is a Male Birth Control Pill Next?

August 13, 2025 • 9 mins
In this episode, host Rachel Feltman speaks with freelance science journalist Hannah Seo about a promising new development in male contraception: a hormone-free birth control pill that reversibly stops sperm production has just passed its first human safety trial. Seo explains how the drug works, what makes it different from hormone-based methods and where it stands in clinical development.   Recommended reading: First Hormone-F...
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Cosmic Discoveries Soar as Earthly Health Decisions Stir Alarm

August 11, 2025 • 9 mins
Rogue planets drifting through space might be forming their own planetary systems. NASA’s Europa Clipper mission has completed a key radar test ahead of its journey to study Jupiter’s icy moon. Plus, a major shift in U.S. health research funding occurs as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., cancels nearly $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development. E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you h...
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Climate Science Gets a Seat in Congress with Eric Sorensen

August 8, 2025 • 17 mins
Representative Eric Sorensen of Illinois brings his background as a meteorologist to the halls of Congress, advocating for science-based policy amid intensifying climate threats. In this episode, he shares how personal experiences with extreme weather shaped his career and why protecting agencies like the National Weather Service is more urgent than ever. Sorensen also discusses the political challenges of defending climate science...
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Former NASA Leaders Are Sounding the Alarm on Budget Cuts

August 6, 2025 • 16 mins
The White House has proposed sharp cuts to NASA’s science budget, potentially reducing it to historic lows not seen since the early Apollo era. Beyond space exploration, NASA’s work influences daily life—from accurate weather forecasting to essential climate data for agriculture. Concerned by the effects of these cuts, all living former NASA science chiefs have united in warning of dire consequences for U.S. leadership in science. ...
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Russia’s Earthquake, Wonders of Walking and Surprising Plant Genetics

August 4, 2025 • 11 mins
Host Rachel Feltman talks with Andrea Thompson, Scientific American’s senior sustainability editor, to discuss the massive Russian earthquake and the reason it produced such relatively minor tsunami waves. Plus, we discuss the lowdown on the Environmental Protection Agency’s move to repeal of the “endangerment finding,” the advantages of a brisk stroll and an ancient linkup that led to a farmer’s market favorite. Recommended readi...
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Is AI Conscious? Claude 4 Raises the Question

August 1, 2025 • 22 mins
Host Rachel Feltman talks with Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American’s senior tech reporter, about his recent exchange with Claude 4, an artificial intelligence chatbot that seemed to suggest it might be conscious. They unpack what that moment reveals about the state of AI, why it matters and how technology is shifting. Recommended reading: Can a Chatbot be Conscious? Inside Anthropic’s Interpretability Research on Claude 4 ...
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Your Guide to Summer’s Extreme Weather, from Corn Sweat to Flash Floods

July 30, 2025 • 9 mins
The summer of 2025 has been a doozy in the U.S., with extreme weather across the country. Flash flooding caused destruction and death in Texas. Corn sweat made a heat wave in the eastern half of the U.S. worse in the Midwest. Senior editor for sustainability Andrea Thompson takes us through these extreme weather events. Recommended reading: Why Did Waters Rise So Quickly in the Texas Flash Floods? https://www.scientificamerican...
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Summer Meteor Showers, Short Summer Days and Ancient Arthropods

July 28, 2025 • 8 mins
If last Tuesday seemed to fly by, you can blame the rotation of Earth. Try to look up this week to see the Southern Delta Aquariids and the Alpha Capricornids meteor showers. Plus, we discuss FEMA cuts and ancient arthropods. Recommended reading: Texas Failed to Spend Millions in Federal Aid for Flood Protection https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/texas-failed-to-spend-federal-aid-for-flood-disaster-protection/  Leap Se...
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Greenland’s Ice Sheet Is at Risk—And So Are We

July 25, 2025 • 22 mins
Chief multimedia editor Jeffery DelViscio ventured to Greenland for a month to learn from the scientists studying the country’s ice sheet. He speaks with host Rachel Feltman about his time in the field and his takeaways from conversations with climate scientists. This story was supported by a grant from the Pulitzer Center. This story was made possible through the assistance of the U.S. National Science Foundation Office of Polar ...
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What to Read on the Beach This Summer

July 23, 2025 • 10 mins
Scientific American has been reading, reviewing and recommending books for more than 100 years. These days Brianne Kane, our resident reader, is in charge of organizing our book recommendation lists to help science-minded people find the perfect read, including novels. She joins fellow book nerd Rachel Feltman to talk about the nonfiction and fiction books she’s recommending this summer—and gives a preview of our end-of-year lists....
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Time Travel to Tide Pool 101 from Our July 1925 Issue

July 21, 2025 • 8 mins
Time travel to an introduction to tide pools, the start of commercial air travel and an intercontinental aviation museum dispute. Host Rachel Feltman is taking a look at a 1925 issue of Scientific American for this archival episode. If you don’t find the past to be a blast, don’t worry! We’ll be back to our regular schedule of science news, deep dives and editor picks next week. In the meantime, read some recent coverage of marine ...
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Dungeons and Dragons’ Popularity Grows—And Science Follows

July 18, 2025 • 21 mins
Brennan Lee Mulligan is a professional dungeon master, playing Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), a popular tabletop role-playing game, for audiences online and in person. In January his D&D show on Dropout.tv, Dimension 20, played a live game at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The show—and the game—experienced a resurgence during the COVID pandemic. Now researchers are diving into D&D science, showing how the game and the togethe...
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The LIGO Lab Is Pushing the Boundaries of Gravitational-Wave Research

July 16, 2025 • 17 mins
Come with Science Quickly on a field trip to the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Matthew Evans, MIT’s MathWorks professor of physics, to talk about the last 10 years of gravitational-wave research. Gravitational waves were discovered in 2015 by the LIGO team. Since then, innovations from the LIGO Lab have changed our unders...
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This Surgery Can Lead to Weight Loss—But Stigma Is Harder to Shake Off

July 14, 2025 • 15 mins
Each year more than half a million people undergo bariatric surgery, a procedure geared toward weight loss. But research shows that stigma around weight can continue to affect people’s lives even during recovery from the procedure.  Larissa McGarrity is a clinical associate professor at the Spencer Fox Eccles School of Medicine at the University of Utah and lead psychologist at the school’s comprehensive Weight Management Program....
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Why Do We Sing? Musicologists and Neuroscientists Seek an Answer

July 11, 2025 • 24 mins
Last year Science Quickly looked across disciplines to piece apart the science of singing. To understand why humans sing, musicologists collaborated on an international study of folk music. To understand how we sing, neuroscientists differentiated how our brain processes speech and singing. Music enthusiast and associate mind and brain editor Allison Parshall takes us through some hallmark 2024 studies that, taken together, piece t...
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