Temperatures are higher than normal for much of the planet this week—and while the heat wave in Europe has had much of the attention, over 100 million Americans in 28 states were under extreme heat advisories this week.
Yasmin Tayag, a freelance science editor and writer based in New York, joins Ira to talk about the global heat wave and other stories from the week in science—including the president’s COVID diagnosis, an uptick in drug-resistant infections, and the question of whether previously uninfected people are “sitting ducks” when it comes to new COVID variants. They’ll also tackle some lighter topics, including new studies of how an elephant’s trunk works, and the genetics of how penguins came to prefer colder climates.
Genetics Suggest Indigenous People Arrived In Americas Earlier Than Some ThoughtFor years, grade school textbooks have told the story of how the Americas were populated by people crossing a land bridge from Asia and migrating in the safe havens between glaciers. In this version of history, its inhabitants arrived 13,000 years ago.
But that story needs an update, thanks to both new archaeological evidence, and the increasingly robust tools of genetic analysis—ancient genomes extracted from millennia-old human remains suggest a much longer history of people in the Americas, perhaps by thousands more years, and aligns with the oral histories of Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples. The genetic evidence also brings up new mysteries, including evidence of some groups of ancient peoples with no direct descendants today.
Producer Christie Taylor talks to University of Kansas anthropological geneticist Jennifer Raff, the author of Origin: A Genetic History of the Americas, about the growing evidence for the need to revise the history of the First Peoples. Plus, why researchers seeking to tell that story need to work directly with contemporary tribes to ensure that exploitative scientific practices of the past are not repeated.
Can Genetic Modification Help Plants Survive Climate Change?Temperatures around the world are reaching all-time highs as major heat waves cause extreme weather and climate events. Earlier this year, temperatures in India and Pakistan soared to 120 degrees Fahrenheit, followed by months of unrelenting, unseasonably hot weather. A brutal heat wave is now moving across Europe, fueling devastating wildfires, and producing Britain’s highest temperature on record. Propelled by climate change, future heat waves promise to increase in frequency and intensity, posing a dangerous threat to human health.
But people aren’t the only ones at risk. Many plants—including essential food crops—struggle to survive as temperatures rise. When conditions heat up, a plant’s immune system can shut down, eliminating its defense mechanism. With key agricultural regions already experiencing record highs, global food supplies face potentially devastating consequences.
Ira talks to Sheng-Yang He about his research published in Nature last month that offers a potential solution—using gene editing to strengthen a plant’s defenses against increased temperatures.
662: Quercetin May Cause Red Wine Headaches | Worsening Wildfires Are Undoing Air Quality Progress
661: Speaking Multiple Languages Changes The Way You Think
660: Social Connections Keep Us Physically and Mentally Healthy As We Age
661: Women Were Also Skilled Hunters In Ancient Times
658: An AI Leader’s Human-Centered Approach To Artificial Intelligence
659: COP28 Host Had Plans to Promote Oil and Gas | Researchers Detected Cicada Emergence With Fiber-Optics
656: Ralph Nader Reflects On His Auto Safety Campaign, 55 Years Later
654: What’s That Smell? An AI Nose Knows
655: Jane Goodall On Life Among Chimpanzees
654: The ‘Wet-Dog Shake’ And Other Physics Mysteries
657: Ig Nobel Prizes | Stop Flushing Your Health Data Down The Toilet
653: The West’s Wild Horses | Artist Explores History Of Humans Genetically Modifying Pigs
650: Moon Rock Research | Science of Unraveling Sweaters
652: 2023’s Best Science Books For Kids
649: How AI Chatbots Can Reinforce Racial Bias In Medicine
651: An Exoplanet Where It Rains Sand
648: Ask A Chef: How Can I Use Science To Make Thanksgiving Tastier?
645: Monumental And Invisible: How Infrastructure Works
647: Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins
644: How A University Is Adjusting One Year After ChatGPT
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Modern West
Voices of Misery Podcast
House of Whimsical Terror
Dairyland Frights
Stuff You Should Know
Timcast IRL