Best Math Contest Podcasts (2025)

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A Startling Plan To Save Spotted Owls—From Barred Owls 16:10

Play Pause

7m ago16:10

16:10

The spotted owl has been a conservation flashpoint for more than 30 years. While habitat loss has been their historic foe, their most recent threat comes from within the owl family tree: the barred owl. Barred owls have expanded into the Pacific Northwest and are now outcompeting spotted owls for food and habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service…

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Can A Microbe Conservation Movement Take Off? 12:34

1d ago12:34

12:34

A team of scientists is trying to jumpstart a global conservation movement, on par with efforts to save the rainforests or protect the oceans. But it might be even more ambitious because the target of their quest is invisible, everywhere, and mostly something we try to hand-sanitize away: microbes. So how do you conserve something that is everywher…

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How To Tap Into The Hidden Histories Of Rocks 19:12

2d ago19:12

19:12

When we try to commune with nature, many of us turn toward the living: a walk in the woods among swaying trees, chirping birds, blooming flowers. But earth scientist Anjana Khatwa says not to overlook the inanimate—don’t sleep on rocks. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her love for rocks beyond the scientific and her new book, The Whispe…

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The evolution of sperm and the enduring mystery of the scrotum; How our brain rewires itself 4 times in life; The (real) disaster scenarios of imminent climate breakdown 39:11

5d ago39:11

39:11

Episode 334 Which sperm is the oldest sperm - the ancestor sperm that came before all others? Well, you might think it links back to an ancient animal that came before us, but the oldest sperm may actually predate animals altogether. We explore this plus the enduring mystery of the scrotum - and why a male’s most important body part is so delicate …

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Fingernails And Indigestion At The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes 47:56

5d ago47:56

47:56

Each year, the Ig Nobel Prizes recognize scientific research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think. For instance, researchers who investigated the pizza preferences of lizards on the island of Togo. Or a man who kept track of his fingernail growth for 35 years. As is Thanksgiving tradition, we’re sharing highlights from this year’s Ig No…

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Why Is Working Out Good For Your Mental Health? 17:27

6d ago17:27

17:27

A good workout can make you feel triumphant. And even if that isn’t your relationship with exercise, you’ve probably heard that working out can lift your mood, fight depression, and make you more resilient when life knocks back. But why exactly does exercise improve mental health? Is it all about those endorphins? Does the type or duration of a wor…

1
Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins 12:11

7d ago12:11

12:11

It’s a wonderful time of the year: squash, pumpkin, and gourd season. But how do those giant, award-winning pumpkins grow so big? And what’s the difference between a gourd and a squash? In a conversation from 2023, Ira talks with Dr. Chris Hernandez, director of the University of New Hampshire’s squash, pumpkin, and melon breeding program to explor…

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Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away? 18:29

8d ago18:29

18:29

Have you ever gotten to the end of, say, a jar of peanut butter and wondered if it should go in trash or recycling? If it’s worth rinsing out? And where will it actually end up? Journalist Alexander Clapp had those same questions, and went to great lengths to answer them—visiting five continents to chronicle how our trash travels. Along the way, he…

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‘A Many-Headed Beast’: Telling The Story Of Cancer 18:43

9d ago18:43

18:43

Twenty years ago, a young oncologist started journaling to process his experience treating cancer patients. That cathartic act became the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. Fifteen years after the book was published, how has our understanding of preventing and treating cancer changed? Host Flora Lichtman…

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The origin and evolution of music: Steve Pretty plays the conch 30:43

12d ago30:43

30:43

Episode 333 It’s not often you get to see or hear someone playing music on a conch shell. So prepare yourself for a musical treat with musician and podcaster Steve Pretty, who brings into the studio a trumpet and a collection of his favourite conches, rigged up to some modern electronics. Steve is best known as the bandleader of the Hackney Collier…

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African Grey Parrots Are Popular—And It’s Fueling Illegal Trade 13:45

12d ago13:45

13:45

African grey parrots are internet stars. It’s easy to see why—the charismatic birds sing, tell jokes, and sling profanities. But how do the endangered birds get from African forests to your feed? Wildlife crime reporter Rene Ebersole joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe her investigation into the global parrot trade, and the black market for wild …

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Attention, Trivia Nerds! It’s A Food Science Fact Feast 12:01

13d ago12:01

12:01

After years of getting your emails and phone calls, we know that SciFri listeners are in the 99th percentile when it comes to nerdy knowledge. We’re putting your fact retention skills to the test with the first ever Super Food Science Excellence Trivia Blowout (SFSETBO). Host Flora Lichtman teams up with trivia kingpin Mangesh Hattikudur, co-host o…

1
Can Animal Super-Agers Teach Us Their Secrets? 18:40

14d ago18:40

18:40

Some animals have a very different relationship to aging than we do: They don’t get cancer, they never go through menopause, and they live absurdly long lives. For instance, one bat species can live for more than 40 years, which may not sound like very long but that’s about nine times longer than expected based on its size. For comparison, if we ag…

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How Alphafold Has Changed Biology Research, 5 Years On 18:08

15d ago18:08

18:08

Proteins are crucial for life. They're made of amino acids that “fold” into millions of different shapes. And depending on their structure, they do radically different things in our cells. For a long time, predicting those shapes for research was considered a grand biological challenge. But in 2020, Google’s AI lab DeepMind released Alphafold, a to…

1
How A Woodpecker Pecks Wood, And How Ants Crown A Queen 18:32

16d ago18:32

18:32

If you’ve heard the hammering of a woodpecker in the woods, you might have wondered how the birds can be so forceful. What does it take to whack your head against a tree repeatedly, hard enough to drill a hole? A team of researchers wondered that too and set out to investigate, by putting tiny muscle monitors on eight downy woodpeckers and recordin…

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New genome of ancient human; 95% of us have a dormant virus that causes disease; Formula E cars faster than F1; Bill Bryson joins the pod! 45:02

19d ago45:02

45:02

Episode 332 For only the second time, the genome of an ancient Denisovan has been sequenced - thanks to the discovery of a 200,000-year-old tooth found in a Siberian cave. This ancient member of the human family has long been a mystery, so this genome is being described as a bombshell moment, revealing an early stage of Denisovan history. We explor…

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Memories Change. But Can We Change Them On Purpose? 18:39

19d ago18:39

18:39

Our memories make us who we are—just ask Barbra Streisand. But despite the lyrics in many popular songs, memories aren’t frozen in time. When we call them up, the details shift and change. And neuroscience research shows that we might be able to take that a step further—to manipulate our memories and even implant false ones. Neuroscientist Steve Ra…

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Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading 29:00

20d ago29:00

29:00

Episode 331 This week sees the broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK of a documentary called Hitler’s DNA: Blueprint of a dictator. Geneticists have managed to find a DNA sample from Adolf Hitler and have sequenced it and verified it, and now we have his genome. The big question is what does this really tell us – what can we tell from someone’s genome? …

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Bearded Vulture Nests Hold Trove Of Centuries-Old Artifacts 12:41

20d ago12:41

12:41

Bearded vultures build giant, elaborate nests that are passed down from generation to generation. And according to a new study, some of these scavengers have collected bits and bobs of human history over the course of centuries. Scientists picked apart 12 vulture nests preserved in Spain and discovered a museum collection’s worth of objects, includ…

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Why The Bassist From Phish Is Funding Research Into ‘Flow State’ 18:16

21d ago18:16

18:16

The band Phish has toured for over 40 years. One of the draws of their legendary live shows—which can go on for 8 hours—is finding moments of “flow,” when the band members lock into an improvised jam, finding new musical ideas in real time. Phish fans live for these transcendent moments, but so do the musicians—to the point that Mike Gordon, the ba…

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Even Nobel Prize Winners Deal With Imposter Syndrome 35:47

22d ago35:47

35:47

Around 25 years ago, Ardem Patapoutian set out to investigate the fundamental biology behind our sense of touch. Through a long process of gene elimination, he identified a class of sensors in the cell membrane that turn physical pressure into an electrical signal. He changed the game in the field of sensation and perception, and in 2021 shared the…

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Study Finds COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Treatment 13:07

23d ago13:07

13:07

Over the last five years, billions of people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. New research has found an unanticipated result of these vaccines: Cancer treatments are more effective for some vaccinated patients, and many live longer than their unvaccinated counterparts. This news comes at a time where the federal governmen…

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COP30: The world's climate future hinges on this meeting 31:30

26d ago31:30

31:30

Episode 330 COP30 is nearly upon us - and this climate conference may be the most crucial so far. In a year where we’ve seen the first major global tipping point reached, destructive wildfires raging in Los Angeles and much more, joint action has never been more urgent. But as hope starts to wane and climate goals continue to be missed, many are qu…

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Were Dinos On Their Way Out Before The Asteroid Hit? Maybe Not 18:49

26d ago18:49

18:49

One of the biggest debates in the dinosaur world is what was happening right before they went extinct. Were they already declining, or would they have thrived if not for the asteroid? Two recent studies shed some light on this question: one that analyzes a trove of fossils from New Mexico and suggests there was more diversity in the Americas than p…

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Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Resolution On A TV? 18:26

27d ago18:26

18:26

As Black Friday approaches, you’re probably being inundated with ads for bigger, better televisions. But just how good is good enough? Are there limits to what our eyes can even make out? Visual perception researcher Maliha Ashraf joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe her new study on display resolution—including a display calculator she and her co…

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Can A Billion-Dollar Barricade Keep Carp Out Of The Great Lakes? 19:00

28d ago19:00

19:00

Decades ago, non-native carp were brought onto fish farms on the Mississippi River to control algae and parasites. They escaped, thrived, and eventually flooded the Illinois River, outcompeting native species and wreaking havoc. If the carp find their way into the Great Lakes, they could do major damage to those vital ecosystems. There’s a proposed…

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Inside The Race To Save Wild Axolotls 12:50

29d ago12:50

12:50

Axolotls are one of the most charismatic and beloved amphibians out there. But did you know that there’s only one place in the whole world where you can find them in the wild? It’s Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City. There, scientists are scrambling to save them from extinction by creating refuges, using environmental DNA to track them down, and tag-te…

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Endometriosis Is Common. Why Is Getting Diagnosed So Hard? 18:25

1M ago18:25

18:25

Endometriosis is a painful disease that occurs when endometrium-like tissue grows outside of the uterus. It’s extremely common—if you have a uterus, you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting it. Yet, it takes seven years on average to receive a formal diagnosis. What does the latest science tell us about the biology of the condition and how to treat it?…

Math Contest Podcasts

1
Wes Carroll's Puzzler

Wes Carroll

1
The world, the universe and us

New Scientist

1
Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
A Startling Plan To Save Spotted Owls—From Barred Owls 16:10

1
Can A Microbe Conservation Movement Take Off? 12:34

1
How To Tap Into The Hidden Histories Of Rocks 19:12

1
The evolution of sperm and the enduring mystery of the scrotum; How our brain rewires itself 4 times in life; The (real) disaster scenarios of imminent climate breakdown 39:11

1
Fingernails And Indigestion At The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes 47:56

1
Why Is Working Out Good For Your Mental Health? 17:27

1
Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins 12:11

1
Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away? 18:29

1
‘A Many-Headed Beast’: Telling The Story Of Cancer 18:43

1
The origin and evolution of music: Steve Pretty plays the conch 30:43

1
African Grey Parrots Are Popular—And It’s Fueling Illegal Trade 13:45

1
Attention, Trivia Nerds! It’s A Food Science Fact Feast 12:01

1
Can Animal Super-Agers Teach Us Their Secrets? 18:40

1
How Alphafold Has Changed Biology Research, 5 Years On 18:08

1
How A Woodpecker Pecks Wood, And How Ants Crown A Queen 18:32

1
New genome of ancient human; 95% of us have a dormant virus that causes disease; Formula E cars faster than F1; Bill Bryson joins the pod! 45:02

1
Memories Change. But Can We Change Them On Purpose? 18:39

1
Why the claims about Hitler’s genome are misleading 29:00

1
Bearded Vulture Nests Hold Trove Of Centuries-Old Artifacts 12:41

1
Why The Bassist From Phish Is Funding Research Into ‘Flow State’ 18:16

1
Even Nobel Prize Winners Deal With Imposter Syndrome 35:47

1
Study Finds COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Treatment 13:07

1
COP30: The world's climate future hinges on this meeting 31:30

1
Were Dinos On Their Way Out Before The Asteroid Hit? Maybe Not 18:49

1
Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Resolution On A TV? 18:26

1
Can A Billion-Dollar Barricade Keep Carp Out Of The Great Lakes? 19:00

1
Inside The Race To Save Wild Axolotls 12:50

1
Endometriosis Is Common. Why Is Getting Diagnosed So Hard? 18:25