Seeking the Majorana fermion particle, and a look at El Salvador’s adoption of cryptocurrency
First up on the show this week, freelance science journalist Zack Savitsky and host Sarah Crespi discuss the hunt for the elusive Majorana fermion particle, and why so many think it might be the best bet for a functional quantum computer. We also hear the mysterious tale of the disappearance of the particle’s namesake, Italian physicist Ettore Majorana.
Next in the episode, what happens when you make a cryptocurrency legal tender? Diana Van Patten, professor of economics in the Yale University School of Management, discusses the results of El Salvador’s adoption of bitcoin in 2021.
This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.
About the Science Podcast
Authors: Sarah Crespi; Zack Savitsky
Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.zjvhsy8
About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Fish farming’s future, and how microbes compete for space on our face
How the human body handles extreme heat, and improvements in cooling clothes
What we can learn from a mass of black hole mergers, and ecological insights from 30 years of Arctic animal movements
Taking the politicians out of tough policy decisions; the late, great works of Charles Turner; and the science of cooking
Early approval of a COVID-19 vaccine could cause ethical problems for other vax candidates, and ‘upcycling’ plastic bags
Making sure American Indian COVID-19 cases are counted, and feeding a hungry heart
Visiting a once-watery asteroid, and how buzzing the tongue can treat tinnitus
FDA clinical trial protection failures, and an AI that can beat curling’s top players
How Neanderthals got human Y chromosomes, and the earliest human footprints in Arabia
Performing magic for animals, and why the pandemic is pushing people out of prisons
Alien hunters get a funding boost, and checking on the link between chromosome ‘caps’ and aging
Fighting Europe’s second wave of COVID-19, and making democracy work for poor people
Arctic sea ice under attack, and ancient records that can predict the future effects of climate change
Wildlife behavior during a global lockdown, and electric mud microbes
A call for quick coronavirus testing, and building bonds with sports
Why COVID-19 poses a special risk during pregnancy, and how hair can split steel
Fighting COVID-19 vaccine fears, tracking the pandemic’s origin, and a new technique for peering under paint
How Hiroshima survivors helped form radiation safety rules, and a path to stop plastic pollution
Reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking the heat out of crude oil separation
A fast moving megatrial for coronavirus treatments, and transferring the benefits of exercise by transferring blood
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
DNA Today: A Genetics Podcast
Museum of the Missing
Strange by Nature Podcast
Sasquatch Chronicles
Hidden Brain