SSS 2009-10-22

Did you know birds sing in dialect? They do. The song of a great tit from the countryside is a far cry from that of his city cousin. And some song dialects can change nearly as fast as human slangthe Indigo Bunting changes tune from year to year. To

SSS 2009-10-23

Some people eat to avoid being bored. Others to avoid doing something theyd rather not, like preparing a podcast. Now a report says we might eat to avoid fungi. Because warm-bloodedness, a condition that requires a lot of calories, may have evolved t

SSS 2009-10-26

How many times has your mother told you to turn off the lights when you leave a room, or to close the fridge door while you decide what to eat. Well, climatologists are on her side. Because according to a study in the Proceedings of the National Acad

SSS 2009-10-27

If you want to lose weightreally lose it and keep it offlook around your house. How many TV sets are there? And is there an exercise bike or any other similar equipment? The answers could predict the success of your weight loss quest, according to a

SSS 2009-10-28

When youre done listening to this podcast, grab whatever product you use to clean. Maybe its something that smells really citrusy. Do a bit of cleaning. Then take a few deep breaths. Believe it or not the odds are now higher that youll make decisions

SSS 2009-10-29

From Chernobyl to La Oroya, Peru, the world is littered with toxic wastelands, the residue of human industry. For the past two years, the Blacksmith Institute, an environmental health organization based in New York City, has been cataloguing the worl

SSS 2009-11-27

It really is rocket scienceresearchers are using huge x-ray scanners from NASA to understand how sonar might be affecting the hearing of large ocean mammals. These scanners are usually used to inspect the space shuttles solid fuel rockets. Navy sonar

SSS 2009-04-21

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. It sounds too good to be truehelp kids feel good about themselves, and theyll l do better in school. But it apparently worked for African-American middle

SSS 2009-05-27

This is Scientific American 60-Second Science. I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. The fridge is one of your home's biggest energy hogs. Better insulation can make refrigerators much more efficient. And a panel encasing a vacuum is one

SSS 2009-05-26

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science. Im Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. As we recover from the holiday weekend, there is some intoxicating news on curbing the effects of alcohol. In the May 29th issue of Cell, scientists report

SSS 2009-05-22

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. If you ever got picked on in the schoolyard, you might have wished for some sort of superpower, like unbeatable speed or maybe just the ability to completely disappear. Now scientists

SSS 2009-05-21

This is Scientific American's 60-second Science. I'm Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Can you name those notes? Probably not. Perhaps one in ten thousand speakers of European languages has perfect pitch - the ability to recognize a note without having hea

SSS 2009-05-20

This is Scientific Americans 60-second Science. I'm Adam Hinterthuer. Got a minute? The Komodo dragon is the largest living lizard and a fearsome predator. It has long been thought that some of its hunting prowess was due to a mouth teeming with bact

SSS 2009-05-19

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science, Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Senior citizens don't believe the hype, because a new study finds that older folks who accept that seniors' memories get worse do worse on memory tests.

SSS 2009-05-18

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I am Steve Mirsky, got a minute? With swine flu, the big infectious disease story, you don't hear much about bird flu these days. And you may not have to look past your own nose for the reason because

SSS 2009-06-30

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Christie Nicholson. Got a minute? Oh! Shoot. We might think that women are not as adept as men at wielding heavy tools, like say, hammers, according to popular stereotypes. But it turns out women m

SSS 2009-06-29

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I'm Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Numerous studies have shown that lack of sleep hurtsit can lead to weight gain, diseases, and of course weakened cognitive functioning. But a bad night

SSS 2009-06-26

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science, Im Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute. Last month, President Obama pledged nearly half a billion dollars toward the development of solar and geothermal energies, but what about wind? A team of s

SSS 2009-07-23

This is Scientific Ameicans 60-Second Science. Im Steve Mirsky. Got a minute? Would you mind telling me what this is all about, Mister? No problem, Captain. A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology shows that artificial gravity should prevent a b

SSS 2009-07-24

This is Scientific Ameican's 60-Second Science. I'm Karen Hopkin. This will just take a minute? Forget the meek. If the Earth keeps getting warmer, a recent study shows that its the small that are gonna come out on topat least in the worlds oceans. W