On this week’s show: Science’s Breakthrough of the Year and runners-up, plus the top books in 2022
You might not be surprised by this year’s breakthrough, but hopefully you won’t guess all our runners-up. Producer Meagan Cantwell is joined by Greg Miller, who edited the section this year. The two discuss the big winner and more.
In our second segment, host Sarah Crespi is joined by Science Books Editor Valerie Thompson to chat about the best books in science from this year, and one movie.
Books mentioned in this segment:
Otherlands Review | Buy
How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures Review | Buy
An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us Buy
A House Between Earth and the Moon Review | Buy
Is Science Enough? Forty Critical Questions About Climate Justice Review | Buy
What Climate Justice Means and Why We Should Care Review | Buy
Stolen Science: Thirteen Untold Stories of Scientists and Inventors Almost Written out of History Review | Buy
The Science Spell Book: Magical Experiments for Kids Review | Buy
Fire of Love (Film) Trailer
The Exceptions: Nancy Hopkins, MIT, and the Fight for Women in Science (2023) Buy
Don’t miss this year’s podcast series on books in food, science, and agriculture, hosted by Angela Saini.
Take our audience survey at: https://www.science.org/podcasts
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
[Image: NASA; ESA; CSA; STScI; Joseph DePasquale, Alyssa Pagan,
and Anton M. Koekemoer/STScI Music: Jeffrey Cook]
[alt: the birth of a star with podcast symbol overlay]
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Meagan Cantwell; Greg Miller; Valerie Thompson
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg2633
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast
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Restoring sight to blind kids, making babies without a womb, and challenging the benefits of clinical trials
Stepping on snakes for science, and crows that count out loud
How the immune system can cause psychosis, and tool use in otters
A very volcanic moon, and better protections for human study subjects
Improving earthquake risk maps, and the world’s oldest ice
The science of loneliness, making one of organic chemistry’s oldest reactions safer, and a new book series
Ritual murders in the neolithic, why 2023 was so hot, and virus and bacteria battle in the gut
Trialing treatments for Long Covid, and a new organelle appears on the scene
When did rats come to the Americas, and was Lucy really our direct ancestor?
Teaching robots to smile, and the effects of a rare mandolin on a scientist’s career
Hope in the fight against deadly prion diseases, and side effects of organic agriculture
Why babies forget, and how fear lingers in the brain
A dive into the genetic history of India, and the role of vitamin A in skin repair
The sci-fi future of medical robots is here, and dehydrating the stratosphere to stave off climate change
What makes snakes so special, and how space science can serve all
What makes blueberries blue, and myth buster Adam Savage on science communication
A new kind of magnetism, and how smelly pollution harms pollinators
A new way for the heart and brain to ‘talk’ to each other, and Earth’s future weather written in ancient coral reefs
A hangover-fighting enzyme, the failure of a promising snakebite treatment, and how ants change lion behavior
Paper mills bribe editors to pass peer review, and detecting tumors with a blood draw
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