Science Quickly

They unpack the rollback of the EPA’s endangerment finding and what it could mean for U.S. climate policy. They explain why an East Coast winter felt unusually brutal because of atmospheric swings. They break down a bizarre ski-jumping controversy involving penile fillers and the physics of jump suits.

Matilda Brindle, an evolutionary biologist at Oxford who studies social and sexual behavior, explores why kissing evolved. She explains how kissing appears across primates and may date back 21.5 million years. She discusses kissing’s possible roles in mate assessment, arousal, bonding, disease risk, and even hints that Neandertals likely kissed too.

Kate Yablunovsky, a Russian dialect coach who trains actors in authentic Russian and Russian‑Ukrainian accents. She explains the hardest Russian sounds for English speakers. She describes mouth posture, cultural context and psychology that shape believable speech. She recalls prepping an actor on a tight timeline and teaching a long Russian monologue.

Claire Cameron, Scientific American breaking news chief and science reporter, walks through NASA’s Artemis II delays and recent test problems. She also covers powerful solar flares that disrupted tech and newborns showing an innate sense of rhythm. Short, sharp updates on space setbacks, solar fireworks, and surprising baby research.

Allison Parshall, associate editor for Mind and Brain at Scientific American, explains proposed sweeping revisions to how mental illness is defined. She outlines flaws in long-standing diagnostic categories and discusses moves toward dimensional labels, biomarkers, and more flexible, contextual diagnoses. She also covers tensions between clinical usefulness and biological research.

Robert Bastian, an otolaryngologist who helped define RCPD, explains the baffling condition where people cannot burp. He describes the relevant throat anatomy and how trapped air causes bloating and discomfort. Hear how a targeted Botox injection can temporarily relax the sphincter and let patients relearn burping, often transforming quality of life.

Tanya Lewis, Senior Health and Medicine Desk Editor at Scientific American, explains DeepMind’s AlphaGenome and how it tackles noncoding DNA. She also walks through a harrowing medical case where doctors kept a man alive without lungs. Finally, she discusses a surprising evolutionary story about a rebel lipstick vine.

Katie Hafner, journalist and co-creator of Lost Women of Science, recounts the life of Katharine Burr Blodgett, a pioneering physicist-chemist. She describes months of archival sleuthing and why Blodgett’s molecule-thin coatings led to nonreflective glass. The conversation touches on early nanotechnology, barriers women faced in science, and a surprising archival discovery.

Sofia Quaglia, a freelance science journalist who studies how diet and biology shape human scent. She explores how foods can subtly change breath and sweat. Garlic can make some people smell sexier in surprising studies. Fruits and vegetables often create more pleasant, floral scents. Meat and alcohol sometimes correlate with less attractive body odor.

Lee Billings, science journalist and Senior Desk Editor for Physical Science at Scientific American, explains NASA’s Artemis II lunar flyby and its stakes. He describes what the mission will do in space and biomedical monitoring planned for crewed deep-space travel. The show also covers Revoice, an AI wearable aiming to restore speech after stroke, and the newly dated ancient cave art in Indonesia and its migration clues.