How do we know what's normal in a person? In the early 1950s, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) set out to do something unprecedented. It wanted to start studying normal humans on a grand scale. It had pretty much everything in place: It had the building, it had recruited all of these amazing researchers—it was the healthy human bodies NIH didn't have. ... Show More
Oct 15
Cheese history, redating the Inca empire, and the source of the breath’s rhythm
First up on the podcast, producer Meagan Cantwell and Newsletter Editor Christie Wilcox discuss a few stories from ScienceAdviser, including why Nazi Germany was unlikely to ever make an atomic bomb, a gene that might prevent gray hairs, and 140 years of cheese history from a Swi ... Show More
56m 44s
Oct 8
A moon heist, lava fountains, and predicting doomsday
First up on the podcast, freelance science journalist Robin George Andrews describes Japan’s upcoming Martian Moons eXploration mission that will nab a sample from the surface of Mars’s moon Phobos. The material, due back to Earth in 2031, could reveal the origins of this mysteri ... Show More
48m 40s
Dec 2024
Migration, Migration, Migration
It’s the last weekend edition of Newscast of the year, and the government have decided to do their media round on migration.Laura’s been speaking to the Yvette Cooper, and her Conservative counterpart Chris Philp to find out how the main parties want to tackle the issue.Paddy, an ... Show More
31m 38s
Jan 2025
The rising threat of bird flu
More species infected than ever, an uptick in human cases, and some concerning biological modifications. How close are we to a bird flu pandemic? We digest the last year of bird flu changes with virologist Tom Peacock and public health journalist Melody Schreiber. Also this week, ... Show More
28m 8s