Science, Spoken

You can go ahead and assume President Trump’s proposed federal budget will never be the actual federal budget. Members of Congress from every political persuasion will find a lot to hate about it, and they’re the ones who have to approve it—assuming they can sort out the arcane, procrustean rules for getting any budget passed in Washington. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

You’ve heard the hype: The quantum computer revolution is coming. Physicists say these devices will be fast enough to break every encryption method banks use today. Their artificial intelligence will be so advanced that you could load in the periodic table and the laws of quantum mechanics, and they could design the most efficient solar cell to date. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

On a plate, a single banana seems whimsical—yellow and sweet, contained in its own easy-to-open peel. It is a charming breakfast luxury as silly as it is delicious and ever-present. Yet when you eat a banana the flavor on your tongue has complex roots, equal parts sweetness and tragedy. In 1950, most bananas were exported from Central America. Guatemala in particular was a key piece of a vast empire of banana plantations run by the American-owned United Fruit Company. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Last week, as tens of thousands of US and South Korean soldiers gathered at a base in Iwakuni, Japan for an annual joint military exercise, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles from Pyongyang into the sea off Japan’s northwest coast. In a world where the US is headed by a Twigger-happy political neophyte and the risk of a Cold War reboot looms larger with each Wikileaks disclosure, this demonstration wasn’t just an empty display of dictatorial propaganda. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Namrata Udeshi knows how to globally analyze the proteomics of human cells. You’d be forgiven for having no idea what that means or why it matters—it’s a complicated technique that you’d need years of post-graduate training to master. But for now, just know it’s important for disease research. Udeshi is a group leader in a proteomics lab at MIT’s Broad Institute, working long days to understand the intricacies of cellular life. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

These days, more people are working from home, shopping from home, and yes, even seeing the doctor from home. Last year more than a million people traded the waiting room for the comfort of their own couch—which sure beats thumbing through a sad collection of creased magazines. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Today, in his first speech to his staff at the Department of Housing and Urban Development, newly minted Secretary Ben Carson delivered an extemporaneous disquisition on the unparalleled marvel that is the human brain and memory. “There is nothing in this universe that even begins to compare with the human brain and what it is capable of,” he began. “Billions and billions of neurons, hundreds of billions of interconnections. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

A few years back, a prospective doctoral student sought out Sylvia Serfaty with some existential questions about the apparent uselessness of pure math. Serfaty, then newly decorated with the prestigious Henri Poincaré Prize, won him over simply by being honest and nice. “She was very warm and understanding and human,” said Thomas Leblé, now an instructor at the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at New York University. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

I don't know how to start this analysis without a spoiler. I can try settingit up with ageneric physics question, but if you are behind on the excellent SyFy program The Expanse, you may want to walk away and do something else, like read about why flying at light speed is pretty much impossible unless you're Han Solo. Still with me? OK. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

This storyoriginally appeared on Gristand is part of theClimate Deskcollaboration. For two decades, Florence Williams could sit on her porch at night and watch the alpenglow on the Rocky Mountains. Then she moved from remote Colorado to Washington, DC, and started noticing the changes. “I felt disoriented, overwhelmed, depressed,” she writes in her recent book, The Nature Fix. “My mind had trouble focusing. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices