Science, Spoken

Before he rocketed off to spend a year in space, one of Scott Kelly’s final acts on Earth was peeing on the back tire of a van. Not because you can’t pee in space (you can—it just requires some suction). It’s tradition: Yuri Gagarin, who made it to space first, did the same thing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

It's the beginning of a new semester for introductory physics students. I have a new message that might not be very popular: Read the textbook. And I don't just mean, like, here and there. Read the whole thing as as soon as possible. I know many students have different ideas about the role of the textbook in college courses, so let me go over some of the reasons that students should start reading right away. Textbooks Aren't So Bad Yes, textbooks aren't perfect. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Addicks and Barker Reservoirs are swaths of placid Texas prairie, wetland, and forest straddling I-10 where it hits Highway 6, about 20 miles west of downtown Houston. But that’s not how nature sees them. To nature, those two open spaces are the top of a hydrological basin that drains through the city and into the Houston Ship Channel. Most of the time the reservoirs don’t reserve any water. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In 1954, Italian inventor Carlo Vanoni swelled with patriotic pride when he learned that his fellow countrymen had summited K2, the second-tallest mountain in the world. He was so proud, in fact, that he started naming all his formulas after it: K2a, K2b, K2c, and on down the alphabet. K2r turned out to be his biggest hit—it became K2r Spotlifter, a household cleaner that erases greasy stains from car seat upholstery and delicate silk shirts alike. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

In Gerald Grant’s line of work, there isn’t such a thing as an “average” patient. As a chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Stanford University Medical Center, the children that come into his operating room are unique, each requiring a complex surgical procedure tailored to the architecture of a young brain. But that doesn’t mean he can’t learn from what other people have done. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Hurricanes are ranked according to their wind speed. But a truer measure of their destructive potential would also include their moisture level. Just before making landfall on Friday night, Hurricane Harvey jumped up to become a category 4 hurricane, with sustained winds of 130 miles per hour. But more dangerously, it’s also packing enough moisture to drop 20 inches or more of rain across Texas’ gulf coast. Texas has been bracing itself. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Too often, letters, words, and sentences get the credit for conveying information. But the human brain also makes meaning out of pitch. Like how upspeak turns any sentence into a question? Or how emphasizing the beginning of a sentence (Tom and Leila bought a boat) helps clarify that it was in fact Tom and Leila who bought the boat, not some other couple. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

CrisprCon is not a place where spandexed, beglittered, refrigerator drawer fans come together for an all-you-can-eat celebration of unwilted produce. No. Crispr-Cas9 (no E), if you haven’t been paying attention, is a precise gene editing tool that’s taken the world by storm, promising everything from healthier, hangover-free wine to cures for genetic diseases. Like, all of them. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

I haven't seen The Defenders yet, but it's high on my list of things to watch. I am super excited about it, and why not? It brings Luke Cage, Iron Fist, Daredevil, and Jessica Jones together to save ... oh, never mind. No spoilers! That said, I consider trailers fair game, and this one from Netflix features an amazing scene in which the four Defenders fight a horde of bad guys in a hallway. Of these four superheroes, all but Daredevil can throw a superhuman punch. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Each year, the world throws 8 billion metric tons of plastic into the ocean, about a dump truck every minute. Some washes up on beaches, some sinks, and the rest floats to the surface, where currents sweep it into giant rafts of garbage. Over time, chopping waves and beating sunlight break those plastics down into microscopic particles—which conservation groups worry pose a real threat to marine life and the people who eat it. But there are ways to pull those plastics out of the sea. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices