On Today's Podcast
What Greenland Sharks Are Teaching Us About Aging Eyes
Greenland sharks' eyes never seem to get old. Plus, exactly how flawless is the greatest eye in the sky, the James Webb Space Telescope?
Listen NowJanuary 16, 2026
Some Parkinson’s patients may experience strange symptoms, like smell loss and sleep disorders, decades before diagnosis. Plus, a Pompeii construction site preserved in ash reveals secrets of the famously durable Roman concrete. And, Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years, but their eyes never seem to get old. What can they teach us about aging human eyes?
When Infections ‘Spillover’
Will the next human pandemic start in an animal? Writer David Quammen talks about Ebola, HIV and other diseases that ‘spillover’ from animals to humans.
How One Guy Raised $1.3 Million for a Tesla Museum
The money will be used to turn Nikola Tesla’s final laboratory into a museum.
Learning From the Things That Annoy Us
Why you have to overcome irritation in order to examine it.
Geek My Pumpkin
Maniac Pumpkin Carvers Marc and Chris carve hundreds of pumpkins each fall, which go for a few hundred bucks and rarely end up on stoops. They gave us some tips for how to bring our pumpkins to the next level this Halloween.
The Secret to Making Ultrastrong ‘Gorilla Glass’
Gorilla Glass isn’t unbreakable. But it’s twice as durable as regular glass—at half the thickness.
Feds to Debate Marijuana as Medicine
A federal appeals court is set to hear the scientific case for marijuana’s therapeutic effects.
Tracking the Ozone Hole, as It Waxes and Wanes
The Antarctic ozone hole reaches its largest size by late September—but then it disappears again.
Enter an Optical Illusion
Gravity doesn’t behave as expected in a new art exhibition in New York City.
Fifty Years Ago, a Bright Idea
Inventor Nick Holonyak describes the creation of the visible light-emitting diode, or LED.
2012 Nobel Prizes Recognize Pioneering Science
This year’s Nobel laureates changed our understanding of our bodies and the world around us.
Curiosity Rover Gets the ‘Scoop’ on Mars
Did the rover shed a piece of plastic while collecting its first scoop of Martian soil?
Step Into an Optical Illusion
In Demon Hill, the rules of gravity don’t apply as you expect them to. Down is not down, exactly. The room, created by Los Angeles artist Julian Hoeber and on display at the Harris Lieberman Gallery in New York, is modeled on a stock roadside attraction.
Starfish Blamed For Great Barrier Reef Coral Loss
Crown-of-thorns starfish are partly to blame for the Great Barrier Reef’s alarming loss of coral cover.
What Your Genes Can Tell You About Your Memory
Researchers are studying how gene regulation influences memory.
How Astronomers Measured The Edge Of A Black Hole
The black hole resides at the center of a galaxy located 50 million light-years from Earth.
From Stem Cells to Eggs (and Beyond)
Stem cells can be turned into heart, liver, and brain cells—but what about a whole new organism? A study in Science explains the transformation from stem cell to egg to mouse pup.
Why Online Maps Sometimes Lose Their Way
Mapping streets is easy. The trick is pinning down businesses and giving accurate turn-by-turn directions.
This Beetle Puts the ‘Extreme’ in Extremity
The horn of a Japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) can grow to be two-thirds the length of the rest of its body. And size matters.
Analyzing the Evidence on DNA
“All DNA evidence is not created equal,” says Greg Hampikian, Director of the Idaho Innocence Project. He’ll tell us why DNA ‘evidence’ sometimes leads to the wrong conclusion.