60-Second Science

It’s been five years since COVID was declared a global pandemic. Local, national and global public health agencies mobilized to contain the spread of COVID, but experts worry that backlash against...

With measles cases on the rise, experts are pushing back against misleading claims about vitamin A as a substitute for vaccination. A Supreme Court ruling has reshaped the Environmental Protection...

John Green is an author, advocate and one half of the Vlogbrothers. His latest book, Everything Is Tuberculosis, comes out on March 18. Green joins host Rachel Feltman to share how tuberculosis...

Not much passes into our brain from the rest of our body, to the chagrin of drug makers everywhere. So it should be cause for concern when a study found that microplastics were somehow ending up in...

Officials have confirmed the first measles death in an outbreak in West Texas. A meeting to discuss which strains to focus on for next year’s flu vaccines was canceled by the Food and Drug...

Have you ever had a song continue to loop in your brain no matter how hard you tried to shake it? These “earworms” are more than just an annoyance—they’re a phenomenon scientists have studied for...

The Gaia spacecraft stopped collecting data this January after about 11 years and more than three trillion observations. Senior space and physics editor Lee Billings joins host Rachel Feltman to...

The black hole at the center of our galaxy is emitting near-constant, random light. The European Space Agency has approved astronaut candidate John McFall, making McFall the first physically...

It’s fairly strange that humans, unlike many other mammals, don’t have hair all over. Our lack of body hair and wide geographic distribution led to the variation of sun-protective melanin in our...

Scientists now agree that COVID spreads via airborne transmission. But during the early days of the disease, public health officials suggested that it mainly did so via close contact. The...

Love isn’t just about romance. This Valentine’s Day, we’re exploring the power of deep nonromantic bonds. Host Rachel Feltman sits down with Rhaina Cohen, a producer and editor for NPR’s podcast...

The European Space Agency recently announced that the near-Earth asteroid 2024 YR4 has a 2 percent chance of hitting our planet in 2032. The probability of impact is difficult to predict exactly...

A subtype of H5N1 bird flu that has been found in cattle for the first time suggests that the virus jumped from birds to the animals twice. A headline-making study estimates that we have a spoon’s...

The first few weeks of the Trump administration have been marked by chaos and confusion for the nation’s health and science agencies. A funding freeze broadly targeting language around diversity,...

It’s almost impossible not to feel outraged these days. But overexposure to information that makes us angry can wear us down. Senior health and medicine editor Tanya Lewis joins host Rachel Feltman...

This week we’re recapping Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings. Highly pathogenic H5N9, a strain of bird flu, was found in U.S. poultry. A tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is making...

It’s easy to be cynical about the state of the world—even when you’re a researcher who studies empathy and kindness. Stanford University psychologist Jamil Zaki turned his own negativity into his...

The sun is in the middle of its solar maximum, the part of its 11-year solar cycle that was responsible for the stunning auroras seen across the globe last year. This year is looking equally...

Executive orders that impact science and health in the U.S. came quickly after the inauguration of President Donald Trump. Tanya Lewis, senior editor of health and medicine, explains how grievances...

It’s easy to feel overwhelmed with the news these days and to fear for the future. What if you could interrupt doomscrolling and contribute to conservation at the same time? That’s the idea behind...