23 September, 2015 – Episode 533 – This Week in Science Podcast (TWIS)

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Stressful Science, Urine From A Pig, Personal Microbe Space, Old Climatia News, Giant Killer Lizards, Nurture Effects Nature, Death By Noise, Nanobot Helpers, Rethinking Memory, Polar-saurus, Stingy Rich, Mystery Afoot!!, Humming Giraffes!, Dangerous Spanish Fly, And Much More…

Disclaimer Disclaimer Disclaimer…
As the pope landed on US soil today,
the media excitement
around the visit was pope-able.
What most interested those science minded observers,
was the amount of discourse given to the popes message on global warming…
He even published a paper on the subject,
not in a scientific journal,
but rather an encyclical…
which is a sort of required reading for all bishops within the church entitled
“Our care for our common home”
Which reads very much like a scientific synopsis of the
issues and dangers of global warming.
In the past this pope has even confirmed his belief
in the big bang and the process of evolution.
But what brings a pontiff to pontificate so prolifically on scientific subjects?
long before being called into priesthood…
long before being summoned to step in as standard bearer of the holy see…
The now Pope Francis, then was a student of science and
worked as a food chemist.
And once a scientist… always…
you will understand that science works, and is awesome.
So before we can be too irritated that a man of god is
heard, where thousands of men and women of science were ignored…
Let us appreciate the message getting heard…
the messenger for delivering it…
And the power that an early education in science can have on
the world here on
This Week In Science…
Coming up Next

Stressful Science
Several labs working together have determined that cellular stress was the source of error in last year’s fantastical and retracted STAP cell papers that resulted in the resignation of one researcher and the suicide of fanother. Some cell types glow faintly, so-called autofluorescence, when stressed out.

Urine From A Pig
Japanese researchers have grown working kidneys from human stem cells with a urine excretion system composed of ureters and a bladder, and shown them to work in mice and pigs.

Personal Microbe Space
You are surrounded by a unique microbial cloud. In effect, we are all Pig Pen.

Global Warming is nothing new…
We’ve been seeing the signs for decades.

Giant killer lizards of Australia…
They once roamed the continent, possibly terrorizing the Aboriginal people as they populated the new land.

Nurture effects nature, when it comes to parenting.
Good parents beget good parents, and good dads are likely to be exploited by bad moms.

Noise could KILL YOU
Turn that radio down, and move to the suburbs! Birds exposed to high levels of noise had noticeable shorter telomeres, meaning potentially shorter lives – but why?

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De-carbonating the oceans with nano-bots
Researchers are designing nanobots that could reverse the process of ocean acidification.

Rethinking Memory
Do we really understand how memories are recalled? Recent work using amnestics suggests that the drugs don’t wipe our memories, but rather add themselves to the memory mix. Memories remembered while given an amnestic were more likely to be recalled when on the amnestic again.

Polar-Saurus…
It’s an Arctic dino discovery!

Rich And Stingy
The rich think about sharing finances differently than everyone else.

Mystery Afoot!!
People have a lot of trouble telling their toes apart. Weird stuff! (Now everyone prod each other’s toes)

Humming Giraffes!
Giraffes hum at night.

Dangerous Spanish Fly
Don’t eat beetles on a dare is the moral of the story. Also, Spanish fly is a real thing, and it causes kidney damage.

Do You Hear?
Or see? Musicians hear music when they read it.
 

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I'm the host of this little science show.