On Today's Podcast
That chlorine smell at the pool? It’s pee
The chlorine in swimming pools reacts with our urine and sweat, producing volatile chemicals that are potentially harmful to breathe.
Listen NowJune 26, 2026
The chlorine in swimming pools reacts with our urine and sweat, producing volatile chemicals that are potentially harmful to breathe. A new pancreatic cancer drug doubles survival times. Plus, as NASA prepares for long-term moon bases, scientists are working on how to grow food in lunar soil and deal with razor-sharp moon dust. And, how different types of laughter originate in the brain.
Build an Earthquake Machine
In this activity from IRIS, students explore a mechanical model of a fault to learn how energy is stored elastically in rocks and released suddenly as an earthquake.
12:12
Salty Antarctic Aquifers, Penguin Poop, and a 3D-Printed Splint
Salty aquifers deep under Antarctica could be a blueprint for where life might hide out on Mars.
22:58
‘Shrinks’ Tells Of Desperate Early Cures
In his book, psychiatrist Jeffrey Lieberman documents the profession’s early days—a time when malaria was considered an effective cure for mental illness.
11:37
Seismic Risk and Safety in Nepal
How can cities like Kathmandu become more earthquake resistant in the future?
11:58
Getting Charged Up for the Tesla Home Battery
Could Elon Musk’s plan for a home battery fire up an energy revolution?
17:42
The Debate on Gene Editing
How should research progress as human gene editing techniques become cheaper, faster, and more precise?
12:30
The Rise of the Celebrity Scientist
“The New Celebrity Scientists” profiles scientists who’ve cracked the fame code to become cultural icons.
5:00
The Other Side Of Oliver Sacks
We all know Oliver Sacks as a renowned neurologist and a prolific author. But he’s a true Renaissance man, as becomes clear when reading his new memoir, ‘On the Move: A Life.’
Carl Sagan, and the Rise of the ‘Celebrity Scientist’
An excerpt from “The New Celebrity Scientists: Out of the Lab and into the Limelight.”
From Fever Cure to Coma Therapy: Psychiatric Treatments Through Time
An excerpt from “Shrinks: The Untold Story of Psychiatry.”
Pando, One Of Earth’s Largest Living Organisms
These quaking aspens are all clones of one mother stem.
19:22
The Most Unusual Laboratory (Not) on Earth
Floating 200 miles above the Earth, and speeding at nearly five miles per second, the International Space Station may be the most unusual lab available to science.
10:50
Dreaming Up the Future of Interstellar Travel
Could solar sails, antimatter propulsion, and air-breathing rockets take us to Mars and other galaxies in the future?
17:42
YouTuber Wants to Make You ‘Smarter Every Day’
YouTube science star Destin Sandlin uses a high speed camera to unpack the science behind everyday phenomena.
11:49
A Stegosaurus Smackdown, Plus Bumblebee and Mosquito Mysteries
Arielle Duhaime-Ross, a science reporter at The Verge, gives us her take on the week’s news.
9:08
The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage
In Sydney Padua’s graphic novel, two real-life Victorian-era computing pioneers build a steam-powered computer and use it to have adventures.
18:58
A New Era for NASA? Charles Bolden Leads the Way
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden discusses the agency’s priorities, from understanding conditions on Earth to reaching Mars.
5:52
The Pot-Stirrer
Amanda Glaze studies perceptions of evolution as well as its religious and societal influences throughout the Southeastern United States.
Against the Grain: An Alternative View of Alzheimer’s
For decades, Duke neurology professor Allen Roses has doggedly pursued a theory that dysfunctional mitochondria in the brain cause late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, and that beta-amyloid is just part of the disease’s pathology.
Attack of the Luddites!
An excerpt from Sydney Padua’s graphic novel “The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage.”