Synopsis
Welcome to Science Sessions, the PNAS podcast program. Listen to brief conversations with cutting-edge researchers, Academy members, and policymakers as they discuss topics relevant to today's scientific community. Learn the behind-the-scenes story of work published in PNAS, plus a broad range of scientific news about discoveries that affect the world around us.
Episodes
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![Genetic shield against neurodegeneration]()
Genetic shield against neurodegeneration
06/11/2023 Duration: 10minEmmanuel Mignot explains how a variant of an immune system gene might protect some people against neurodegenerative disease.
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![Penalties tied to motherhood]()
Penalties tied to motherhood
09/10/2023 Duration: 10minCecilia Machado and Douglas Almond discuss the impact of a first child on the career trajectory of mothers.
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![Motherese in bottlenose dolphins]()
Motherese in bottlenose dolphins
25/09/2023 Duration: 10minLaela Sayigh asks whether dolphins use "motherese" when communicating with their calves.
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![Racial disparities and climate policy]()
Racial disparities and climate policy
11/09/2023 Duration: 10minPascal Polonik and Kate Ricke explain why reducing greenhouse gas emissions does not always improve environmental equity.
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![What illusions tell us about silence]()
What illusions tell us about silence
28/08/2023 Duration: 10minIan Phillips, Rui Zhe Goh, and Chaz Firestone use auditory illusions to explore how people perceive silence.
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![Growth mindset and educational outcomes]()
Growth mindset and educational outcomes
14/08/2023 Duration: 10minCameron Hecht discusses an intervention targeting high school teachers to improve student retention and diversity in STEM fields.
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![How dehorning affects rhino behavior]()
How dehorning affects rhino behavior
31/07/2023 Duration: 10minVanessa Duthé explains how dehorning affects the behavior of black rhinoceroses.
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![Why legalese persists]()
Why legalese persists
17/07/2023 Duration: 08minEric Martínez explains why legal documents are written in hard-to-read language.
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![Gender gap among migrant scientists]()
Gender gap among migrant scientists
03/07/2023 Duration: 07minResearchers explore trends in the gender gap among internationally mobile scholars.
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![Communal nesting in bird-like dinosaur]()
Communal nesting in bird-like dinosaur
19/06/2023 Duration: 09minMattia Tagliavento talks about the evolutionary transition from dinosaurs to birds using isotopes in Troodon eggshells.
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![Racial disparities in air pollution exposure]()
Racial disparities in air pollution exposure
05/06/2023 Duration: 10minPengfei Liu shares findings on racial disparities in exposure to the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide.
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![How vertebrates acquired a gene for vision]()
How vertebrates acquired a gene for vision
22/05/2023 Duration: 10minChinmay Kalluraya and Matthew Daugherty explain how vertebrates acquired a gene critical for vision from bacteria.
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![Genomic insights for sea turtle conservation]()
Genomic insights for sea turtle conservation
24/04/2023 Duration: 09minBlair P. Bentley, Lisa Komoroske, and Camila Mazzoni discuss the role genomic elements play in the evolution of sea turtles.
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![Math learning through videos]()
Math learning through videos
20/03/2023 Duration: 10minStanislas Dehaene and Marie Amalric investigate whether short online videos are sufficient to teach mathematics concepts.
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![Impressionism and air pollution]()
Impressionism and air pollution
06/03/2023 Duration: 09minAnna Lea Albright and Peter Huybers describe how optical effects consistent with air pollution appear in the paintings of Claude Monet and J.M.W. Turner.
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![How lizards adapt to urban living]()
How lizards adapt to urban living
14/02/2023 Duration: 09minKristin Winchell explains the genetic basis of anole adaptation to urban environments.
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![Revisiting the history of animal extinctions]()
Revisiting the history of animal extinctions
30/01/2023 Duration: 07minResearchers document animal extinctions in the Ediacaran Period that may have preceded the earliest known mass extinction.
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![The music of Mesozoic bush crickets]()
The music of Mesozoic bush crickets
16/01/2023 Duration: 10minBo Wang and Chunpeng Xu describe how fossilized katydids provide insight into the role of insect sounds in the Mesozoic.
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![How a neural network taught itself chess]()
How a neural network taught itself chess
03/01/2023 Duration: 07minTom McGrath describes how the neural network AlphaZero taught itself how to play chess without observing a human game.
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![Honeybees: Nature’s puzzle solvers]()
Honeybees: Nature’s puzzle solvers
19/12/2022 Duration: 07minOrit Peleg, Golnar Fard and Francisco López Jiménez explain how honeybees overcome geometric constraints to construct honeycombs.
