This week, the election season shifted into full gear with the Super Tuesday slate of primaries. But as the ballot options become more cemented, it’s not just pollsters and campaign operatives who are preparing for the elections—scientists are too.
The Union of Concerned Scientists has established what it calls an election science task force, looking at everything from ballot design to disinformation to voting security. Dr. Jennifer Jones, program director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, joins Ira to describe the goals of the effort in the weeks and months ahead.
The Genetic Roots Of Antibiotic ResistanceAntibiotic resistance—when pathogens no longer respond to the conventional antibiotic medications—is a serious medical problem. According to the CDC, over 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, causing some 35,000 deaths. It’s in part due to overprescription of antibiotics in medicine, and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. But the problem isn’t entirely of humans’ making. The roots of antibiotic resistance go back millions of years.
A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences collected hundreds of soil and poop samples from around the world, to try to trace back the genetics of how resistance arose in Enterococcus, a genus of bacteria that live in the guts of pretty much every land animal. In the course of their analysis, the researchers identified 18 entirely new species in the genus Enterococcus, with over 1,000 genes that had never been seen before.
Dr. Michael Gilmore, the Chief Scientific Officer at Mass Eye and Ear, joins Ira to talk about the study and what the team hopes to learn about the causes of antibiotic resistance.
Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.
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EV Proposal, Lactose Intolerance. April 14, 2023, Part 1
Artemis II Astronauts, AI Research Pause, Terra Nil Video Game. April 7, 2023, Part 2
Plants Make Sounds, Frog Science, COVID Vaccine Update. April 7, 2023, Part 1
Mapping An Insect Brain, Climate Education, Audubon Name, Wastewater Methane. March 31, 2023, Part 2
Early Spring, Mumps On The Rise, Gulf Of Maine, Supermassive Black Hole. March 31, 2023, Part 1
New NASA Science Head, Climate and Fungus, Whiskey Fungus, Animal Testing Alternatives. March 24, 2023, Part 2
March Mammal Madness, Underwater Volcano, Listening to Space. March 24th, 2023, Part 1
Smart Toilet, Soft Robotics, Naked Mole Rats. March 17, 2023, Part 2
Drugs Designed By AI, The Phosphorus Paradox, Regulating PFAS Chemicals. March 17, 2023, Part 1
Tips And Tricks To Grow Your Garden In A Changing Climate. March 10, 2023, Part 2
A New Controversial Black Hole Theory, Saving The Great Salt Lake. March 10, 2023, Part 1
Science At The Oscars, Finding Shackleton’s “Endurance” Ship. March 3, 2023, Part 1
Social Media’s ‘Chaos Machine,’ Whale Vocal Fry, Distant Galaxies. March 3, 2023, Part 2
AI And Hip Hop, Self-Planting Seeds, Abortion Pill Facing Restrictions. Feb 24, 2023, Part 1
“All That Breathes’ Film, Repatriating Native American Remains, Benjamin Banneker. Feb 24, 2023, Part 2
Spy Balloons, Cost of Cancer Care, Seaweed, Chocolate Mouthfeel. Feb 17, 2023, Part 2
Ohio Train Spill, Mushroom And Memory, Water Infrastructure. Feb 17, 2023, Part 1
Rethinking Dementia Care. February 10, 2023, Part 2
ChatGPT And The Future Of AI, Turkey Earthquakes. February 10, 2023, Part 1
Climate Change Music, Industrial Animal Husbandry, Grief Book. Feb 3, 2023, Part 2
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