Science Friday Folgen

A mysterious disease called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has been appearing in emergency rooms for about a decade. The disease has caused otherwise healthy children to lose the ability to move their arms and legs, and some become completely paralyzed. AFM is caused by a virus that's a cousin of the polio virus, earning it the nickname "the new polio.” Journalist and physician Eli Cahan joins Host Flora Lichtman to explain what doctors have been observing, the research efforts toward developing a vaccine, and what this emerging disease reveals about our readiness for future outbreaks and pandemics.Read Cahan’s article about what fighting this “new polio” might look like as our healthcare infrastructure gets dismantled.And, learning more about some non-cancerous cells may help researchers better understand how cancer progresses. When you think about how cancer spreads in the body, you’re probably thinking about cancer cells—they divide uncontrollably, form into tumors, and hide from the immune system. So, it makes sense that studying the behavior of these cells is critical to our understanding of cancer. But now, researchers are looking more closely at the non-cancerous cells that co-exist within tumors and the surrounding tissues. They make up what’s called the “colocateome.” Taking this more holistic approach to cancer research may help explain why some treatments don't work for all patients, and eventually may lead to more effective therapies. To better understand this expanding field, Host Ira Flatow talks with Sylvia Plevritis, a Stanford University cancer researcher. Correction: In the second story of this episode, with Dr. Sylvia Plevritis, we misspoke and said, “Some of the hardest to treat tumors are actually non-cancer cells.” This was in reference to tumors that are mostly non-cancer cells, not entirely non-cancer cells.Guests:Dr. Eli Cahan is a journalist and physician based in Boston, Massachusetts.Dr. Sylvia Plevritis is a professor of biomedical data science and radiology at Stanford University.Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

It’s a precarious time for science in the United States. Federal funding is being slashed, career scientists are being laid off, and researchers are considering leaving to work abroad. On top of that, public trust in science and experts has declined. Besides acknowledging the federal attacks on science, a lot of scientists are also asking themselves: What are we doing wrong? How do we engage the public? And what could we do better?Joining Host Flora Lichtman to dig through these questions is Felice Frankel, a science photographer and chemical engineer at MIT. She’s also the author of the upcoming book Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us, out this fall.Guest: Felice Frankel is a science photographer and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the department of chemical engineering.Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

South American cane toads were brought to Australia in 1935 to help eradicate native beetles that were destroying sugar cane crops. The toads didn’t care much for the beetles, but they did spread across the coast of Queensland and beyond, with no natural predators to stop them. Their own deadly toxin devastated local reptiles along the way, and they now number over 200 million.Invasive biologists have long tried to curb Australia’s cane toad population. The newest approach uses CRISPR gene-editing technology to create cannibalistic “Peter Pan” cane toad tadpoles: tadpoles that don’t fully mature and instead feast on the tens of thousands of eggs that the toads produce.How was this approach developed, and how do these researchers think about making a potentially massive change to the ecosystem? Biologist Rick Shine, who has led the effort, joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss it. Later, science journalist Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her experience reporting on similar monumental efforts to control nature—and what they say about us.Guests: Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future (Crown, 2021). She’s based in Williamstown, Massachusetts.Dr. Rick Shine is a professor of biology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.