Science, Spoken
WIRED
Get in-depth coverage of current and future trends in technology, and how they are shaping business, entertainment, communications, science, politics, and society.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 1, 2021 • 9min
Researchers Are Studying These Worm Blobs to Build Robots
These crawlers form clumps to protect the collective. Understanding their movement gives engineers a model for shape-shifting robot swarms.
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Feb 26, 2021 • 7min
Don’t Tell Einstein, but Black Holes Might Have ‘Hair’
The general theory of relativity states that black holes have only three observable properties; additional ones, or “hair,” do not exist. Or do they?
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Feb 25, 2021 • 8min
What Happens When You Swap a Human Gene With a Neanderthal’s?
Now that we’ve gotten a look at the genomes of archaic humans, researchers are trying to determine whether our differences are due to genetics.Â
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Feb 24, 2021 • 11min
NASA Wants to Set a New Radiation Limit for Astronauts
As the agency considers sending people to the moon and Mars, it’s taking a fresh look at the research on cancer risk and recalculating acceptable thresholds.
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Feb 23, 2021 • 10min
How Steel Might Finally Kick Its Coal Habit
In order to curb the industry's prolific carbon emissions, the sector will have to transform how the material is traditionally made.
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Feb 22, 2021 • 12min
How to Make a Fitbit for an Elephant
The accelerometers give scientists information about whether animals are swimming, walking, running, or even sprinting up a hill.
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Feb 19, 2021 • 10min
How This Teeny-Tiny Sea Critter Punches Like Mike Tyson
Using a camera shooting 300,000 frames per second, researchers catch the amphipod snapping its extraordinarily powerful claw.
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Feb 18, 2021 • 9min
How Did They Find the Secret Space Lab in Captain Marvel?
They talk about something called state vectors. What the heck are those, and would it really work?
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Feb 17, 2021 • 12min
More Covid Vaccine Choices Mean New Equity Challenges
Johnson and Johnson’s vaccine can be delivered in a single dose, but it’s also slightly less effective. Who should get it?
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Feb 16, 2021 • 11min
American Cities Are Way Underreporting Their Carbon Footprints
A modeling system called Vulcan shows that on average, cities across the country pollute 18.3 percent more than they’ve estimated.Â
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