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What is in the This Week in Science Podcast?
This Week: Fusion Magnets, Justin’s Good News, Transplant Sniffer, Shape Shifters, Perseverance Payoff, Duck Talk, COVID Update, Gecko Bot!, Dog Knowledge, Bad Police Behavior, Cellular Mimic, Danger Smellers, Cat Stripes, And Much More…
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Disclaimer, Disclaimer, Disclaimer!!!
You might not think about it often
But space is a big cold place with the occasional nuclear fireball,
And the odd gravity well capable of devouring nuclear fireballs.
It’s an insane place.
And it is where you live.
Which is also insane because for the most part…
Pretty much everywhere that we know of
Is extremely hostile to life.
But you,
lucky, lucky you…
You happen to live in the one place we know of where life can and does actually exist!
And of the life forms on that one place where we know life can even exist
You happen to be the most intelligent species
Now…
what can you do with that?
Quite a lot!
Or very little at all.
It’s mostly up to you.
Which is pretty amazing for a tiny creature living on a wet rock in a universe of incomprehensible size,
where giant gravity wells can eat nuclear fire balls by the billions…
You…
still have a choice.
No matter what forces are swirling around in the cosmic dusts.
No matter what the laws of nature happen to be inside the belly of a black hole.
No matter what matter is ultimately comprised of…
You will always have a choice to determine your own future.
And we are just happy you chose to hang out with us
Here on
This Week in Science
Coming up Next…
Let’s start with some quick science news
Magnet SPARC
MIT researchers along with Commonwealth Fusion Systems successfully ramped their high temperature superconductor electromagnet design to 20 Tesla, demonstrating that it is ready for incorporation into the SPARC tokamak design, which aims to have fusion by 2025. We’re going to need it because…
Fossil fuels need to stay in the ground.
And, climate change is going to cost us a lot more than we’ve thought.
This Just in…
Some GOOD NEWS! Climate edition.
A real life smell-o-scope
But this one sniffs out lung transplant failures!
Shape Shifters
Animals are adapting to warmer temperatures by changing their shapes.
Perserverance pays off
Rock on!
Duck Talk
A duck learned to talk. This is not normal.
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Want a COVID Update?
Pediatric COVID
COVID-19 cases are climbine in children, increasing 10% during the weeks transitioning between August and September to make up 26% of all cases (over 250,000 out of nearly a million in just one week). There were 750,000 pediatric COVId cases in the month of August. The largest jump in child COVID numbers since the start of the pandemic.
Mental Relief
After just one of two vaccine shots, people report improved mental health.
Delta Dominance
More bifurcated spikes and better replication makes for a more successful virus.
Double Good
If you were infected with COVID-19 and then got an mRNA vaccine, you just might be “super-immune”.
Do you have COVID-19 related questions? Let us know!
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It’s time for Blair’s Animal Corner?
You’ve read about gecko feet, but what about their tails?
The tails prevent them from a nasty fall when jumps fall short.
Dogs know when you’ve made a mistake
So don’t feel too bad when you step on their toes, they know you didn’t mean it!
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What science news does Justin have?
Do police act more violent towards children of color?
Yes. Yes, they do.
Mimicking cell behavior
Scientists made an inorganic cell that does all sorts of neat things.
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Let’s finish strong with science from Dr. Kiki!
Danger Smellers
Hummingbirds smell danger.
Cat Stripes
Thank you genes!
This Week in Science Questions!
What do you think about fusion research? It’s been the concept staying ever out of our grasp — just past arms reach. For 70 years we’ve been discussing its potential, yet it has yet to provide usable energy. Do you think it will ever work? Do you think magnetic tokamaks are more promising than laser ignition? Do we need both? We’d love to hear from you about your thoughts on whether fusion will help us combat climate change as we share ours every week on the show…
Do you have questions that you want us to answer? Send us your questions! We will do our best to have answers!
Leave us a message on our Facebook page, OR email Dr. Kiki!
What were we discussing at this time last year? Listen to our episode that was full of science news about stressed out sleepless mice, a general lack of aliens, deaf molerats, and hummingbird torpor. Curious about it all? Listen to the show!
This one from 2011 included science news about hints of dark matter (which we are still looking for), many senses, CRAB bots, and much more. Check it out!
I'm the host of this little science show. 
