Science Vs

The eccentric platypus has always turned heads, and now it’s got something else up its sleeve. We talked with mammalogist Dr. Paula Anich to get the scoop. Here’s a link to our transcript: https://bi...

The idea of paying Black Americans reparations for slavery has been around for a long time, but it’s starting to get more support than ever. So we ask: If the country does agree to pay up, how do you ...

We keep hearing that a Yellowstone supervolcano could blow at any moment — and possibly wipe us all out. So is Yellowstone overdue for the BIG ONE, and if it happens, how bad could it be? To find out,...

We’re sharing another great Gimlet show, How to Save a Planet. On this episode: It started with students walking out of school to demand more action on climate change, built into an international move...

Silicon Valley seems to be constantly pumping out "solutions" to fix our broken food system. The latest and greatest: cell-cultured meat — meat that's grown in vats, without needing to kill animals. C...

An adventuring Swedish doctor takes on a decades-long medical mystery: What exactly was the 1918 flu? We talk to Dr. Johan Hultin, Eileen Hultin, Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger, Ann Reid, Rita Olanna and An...

There’s this idea that the female orgasm is a complicated riddle, but for a man with a penis, getting off is easy peasy. Is there really an orgasm gap? And if so — can science explain it? To learn mor...

NOTE: This episode first published 6/13/19. Are sharks the super-predators we think they are? Or have we been baited with great white lies? To find out, we interviewed shark researchers Dr. Taylor Cha...

For centuries, people have been looking to the stars to tell us all kinds of things — what our future holds, who we should date. So what does the science say about astrology? It turns out, there’s som...

MASKS. Since the early days of the pandemic, it’s been tough to nail down how much they can really do to slow down the spread of the virus. We speak to industrial hygienist Dr. Rachael Jones and share...