Best Sciencemagazine Podcasts (2026)

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Looking for continents on exoplanets, and math is hard for mathematicians, too 43:29

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4d ago43:29

43:29

First up on the podcast, the best images of exoplanets right now are basically bright dots. We can’t see possible continents, potential oceans, or even varying colors. To improve our view, scientists are proposing a faraway fleet of telescopes that would use light bent by the Sun’s gravity to magnify a distant exoplanet. Staff Writer Daniel Clery j…

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This year’s biggest breakthrough and top news stories 33:58

19d ago33:58

33:58

First up on the podcast, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about this year’s best online news stories—top performers and staff picks alike. Together they journey the scientific gamut, from bird feeders’ influence on hummingbird beak evolution to the use of “artificial spacetimes” to guide tiny robots through their envir…

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Hunting asteroids from space, and talking to pollinators with heat 27:59

25d ago27:59

27:59

First up on the podcast, we’ve likely only found about half the so-called city-killer asteroids (objects more than 140 meters in diameter). Freelance science journalist Robin George Andrews joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss the upcoming launch of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Surveyor, an asteroid hunter that will improve our ability to look for large …

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Grappling with declining populations, and the future of quantum mechanics 38:00

1M ago38:00

38:00

First up on the podcast, Science celebrates 100 years of quantum mechanics with a special issue covering the past, present, and future of the field. News Contributing Correspondent Zack Savitsky joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a more philosophical approach to quantum physics and the mysterious measurement problem. Next on the show we have Ann…

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When we’ll hit peak carbon emissions, and macaques that keep the beat 26:21

1M ago26:21

26:21

First up on the podcast, when will the world hit peak carbon emissions? It’s not an easy question to answer because emissions cannot be directly measured in real time. Instead, there are proxies, satellite measures, and many, many calculations. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss how close we are to the top of carbon mountai…

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A headless mystery, and a deep dive on dog research 32:35

2M ago32:35

32:35

First up on the podcast: the mysterious fate of Europe’s Neolithic farmers. They arrived from Anatolia around 5500 B.C.E. and began farming fertile land across Europe. Five hundred years later, their buildings, cemeteries, and pottery stopped showing up in the archaeological record, and mass graves with headless bodies started to appear across the …

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Solving the ‘golfer’s curse’ and using space as a heat sink 28:13

2M ago28:13

28:13

First up on the podcast, Online News Editor David Grimm joins host Sarah Crespi for a rundown of online news stories. They talk about lichen that dine on dino bones, the physics of the lip-out problem in golf, and a brain-computer interface that can decode a tonal language (Chinese) from brain waves. Next on the show, Jeremy Munday, a professor of …

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Understanding early Amazon communities and saving the endangered pocket mouse 35:03

2M ago35:03

35:03

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Sofia Moutinho visited the Xingu Indigenous territory in Brazil to learn about a long-standing collaboration between scientists and the Kuikuro to better understand early Amazon communities. Next on the show, we visit the Pacific pocket mouse recovery program at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance…

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Detecting the acidity of the ocean with sound, the role of lead in human evolution, and how the universe ends 45:27

2M ago45:27

45:27

First up on the podcast, increased carbon dioxide emissions sink more acidity into the ocean, but checking pH all over the world, up and down the water column, is incredibly challenging. Staff Writer Paul Voosen joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a technique that takes advantage of how sound moves through the water to detect ocean acidification. Ne…

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The contagious buzz of bumble bee positivity, and when snow crabs vanish 27:13

3M ago27:13

27:13

First up on the podcast, the Bering Sea’s snow crabs are bouncing back after a 50-billion-crab die-off in 2020, but scientists are racing to predict what’s going to happen to this important fishery. Contributing Correspondent Warren Cornwall joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what’s next for snow crabs. Next on the show, freelance producer Elah Fed…

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Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease 26:38

3M ago26:38

26:38

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Kai Kupferschmidt takes a trip to Svalbard, an Arctic archipelago where ancient RNA viruses may lie buried in the permafrost. He talks with host Sarah Crespi about why we only have 100 years of evolutionary history for viruses such as coronavirus and influenza, and what we can learn by looking dee…

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How birds reacted to a solar eclipse, and keeping wildfire smoke out of wine 37:00

3M ago37:00

37:00

First up on the podcast, producer Kevin McLean talks with Associate Online News Editor Michael Greshko about the impact of wildfires on wine; a couple horse stories, one modern, one ancient; and why educators are racing to archive government materials. Next on the show, research that took advantage of a natural experiment in unnatural lighting. Hos…

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A new generation of radiotherapies for cancer, and why we sigh 34:48

3M ago34:48

34:48

First up on the podcast, Staff Writer Robert F. Service joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about a boom in nuclear medicine, from new and more powerful radioisotopes to improved precision in cancer cell targeting. Next on the show, we talk about why we sigh. Maria Clara Novaes-Silva, a doctoral student at ETH Zürich, discusses how deep breaths cause m…

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Salty permafrost’s role in Arctic melting, the promise of continuous protein monitoring, and death in the ancient world 46:22

3M ago46:22

46:22

First up on the podcast, Science News Editor Tim Appenzeller joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss why a salty layer of permafrost undergirding Arctic ice is turning frozen landscapes into boggy morasses. Next on the show, glucose isn’t the only molecule in the body that can be monitored in real time; proteins can be, too. Freelancer producer Zakiya W…

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Protecting newborns from an invisible killer, the rise of drones for farming, and a Druid mystery 35:00

4M ago35:00

35:00

First up on the podcast, freelance science journalist Leslie Roberts joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the long journey to a vaccine for group B streptococcus, a microbe that sickens 400,000 babies a year and kills at least 91,000. Next on the show, there are about 250,000 agricultural drones employed on farms in China. Countries such as South …

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An aggressive cancer’s loophole, and a massive field of hydrogen beneath the ocean floor 35:14

4M ago35:14

35:14

First up on the podcast, aggressive tumors have a secret cache of DNA that may help them beat current drug treatments. Freelance journalist Elie Dolgin joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about targeting so-called extrachromosomal DNA—little gene-bearing loops of DNA—that help difficult-to-treat cancers break the laws of inheritance. Next on the show, …

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Finding HIV’s last bastion in the body, and playing the violin like a cricket 32:57

4M ago32:57

32:57

First up on the podcast, despite so many advances in treatment, HIV drugs can suppress the virus but can’t cure the infection. Where does suppressed HIV hide within the body? Staff Writer Jon Cohen joins host Sarah Crespi to talk about the Last Gift Study, in which people with HIV donate their bodies for rapid autopsy to help find the last reservoi…

Sciencemagazine Podcasts

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Science Magazine Podcast

Science Magazine

1
Looking for continents on exoplanets, and math is hard for mathematicians, too 43:29

1
This year’s biggest breakthrough and top news stories 33:58

1
Hunting asteroids from space, and talking to pollinators with heat 27:59

1
Grappling with declining populations, and the future of quantum mechanics 38:00

1
When we’ll hit peak carbon emissions, and macaques that keep the beat 26:21

1
A headless mystery, and a deep dive on dog research 32:35

1
Solving the ‘golfer’s curse’ and using space as a heat sink 28:13

1
Understanding early Amazon communities and saving the endangered pocket mouse 35:03

1
Detecting the acidity of the ocean with sound, the role of lead in human evolution, and how the universe ends 45:27

1
The contagious buzz of bumble bee positivity, and when snow crabs vanish 27:13

1
Hunting ancient viruses in the Arctic, and how ants build their nests to fight disease 26:38

1
How birds reacted to a solar eclipse, and keeping wildfire smoke out of wine 37:00

1
A new generation of radiotherapies for cancer, and why we sigh 34:48

1
Salty permafrost’s role in Arctic melting, the promise of continuous protein monitoring, and death in the ancient world 46:22

1
Protecting newborns from an invisible killer, the rise of drones for farming, and a Druid mystery 35:00

1
An aggressive cancer’s loophole, and a massive field of hydrogen beneath the ocean floor 35:14

1
Finding HIV’s last bastion in the body, and playing the violin like a cricket 32:57