Noncancerous tumors of the ******—also known as fibroids—are extremely common in women. One risk factor, according to the scientific literature, is “black race.” But such simplistic categories may actually obscure the real drivers of the disparities in…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: How dental plaque reveals the history of dairy farming, and how our neighbors view food waste
This week we have two interviews from the annual meeting of AAAS in Washington D.C.: one on the history of food and one about our own perceptions of food and food waste.
First up, host Sarah Crespi talks with Christina Warinner from the Max Planck In…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: A new species of ancient human and real-time evolutionary changes in flowering plants
The ancient humans also known as the “hobbit” people (Homo floresiensis) might have company in their small stature with the discovery of another species of hominin in the Philippines. Host Sarah Crespi talks to Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade ab…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: A radioactive waste standoff and science’s debt to the slave trade
A single factory in Malaysia supplies about 10% of the world’s rare earth oxides, used in everything from cellphones to lasers to missiles. Controversy over the final resting place for the slightly radioactive byproducts has pushed the plant to the bri…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Mysterious racehorse injuries, and reforming the U.S. bail system
Southern California’s famous Santa Anita racetrack is struggling to explain a series of recent horse injuries and deaths. Host Meagan Cantwell is joined by freelance journalist Christa Lesté-Lasserre to discuss what might be causing these injuries and …
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Vacuuming potato-size nodules of valuable metals in the deep sea, and an expedition to an asteroid 290 million kilometers away
Pirate’s gold may not be that far off, as there are valuable metals embedded in potato-size nodules thousands of meters down in the depths of the ocean. Host Meagan Cantwell talks with Staff Writer Paul Voosen about the first deep-sea test of a bus-s…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Mysterious fast radio bursts and long-lasting effects of childhood cancer treatments
Host Sarah Crespi talks with Staff Writer Daniel Clery about the many, many theories surrounding fast radio bursts—extremely fast, intense radio signals from outside the galaxy—and a new telescope coming online that may help sort them out.
Also th…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Clues that the medieval plague swept into sub-Saharan Africa and evidence humans hunted and butchered giant ground sloths 12,000 years ago
New archaeological evidence suggests the same black plague that decimated Europe also took its toll on sub-Saharan Africa. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Contributing Correspondent Lizzie Wade about diverse medieval sub-Saharan cities that shrank or even…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Measuring earthquake damage with cellphone sensors and determining the height of the ancient Tibetan Plateau
In the wake of a devastating earthquake, assessing the extent of damage to infrastructure is time consuming—now, a cheap sensor system based on the accelerometers in cellphones could expedite this process. Host Sarah Crespi talks with Contributing Co…
Article Correctness Is Author's Responsibility: Spotting slavery from space, and using iPads for communication disorders
In our first segment from the annual meeting of AAAS (Science’s publisher) in Washington, D.C., host Sarah Crespi talks with Cathy Binger of University of New Mexico in Albuquerque about her session on the role of modern technology, such as iPads and…