539 episodes

Science Talk is a podcast of longer-form audio experiments from Scientific American--from immersive sonic journeys into nature to deep dives into research with leading experts.

Science Talk Scientific American

    • Science
    • 4.2 • 579 Ratings

Science Talk is a podcast of longer-form audio experiments from Scientific American--from immersive sonic journeys into nature to deep dives into research with leading experts.

    Coming Soon: 'Uncertain' - A New Short Series on the Thrill of Not Knowing

    Coming Soon: 'Uncertain' - A New Short Series on the Thrill of Not Knowing

    Does the word "uncertainty" make you nervous? Does it rule your life? Would you say it kinda describes the state of the world these days? 
    Enter Uncertain, a new limited podcast series from Scientific American.
    In this series, host Christie Aschwanden will help to demystify uncertainty. She's going to take away its scariness–or, rather, a cast of scientific dreamers that she talked to, will. 
    As you’ll see, uncertainty drives scientific discovery. Throughout scientific history, uncertainty has spurred our collective imagination and our need to know the things we don’t. 
    To be clear, uncertainty makes science very difficult. So in this mini-series we’ll both learn how scientists push through those difficulties; and how they also avoid the bias, logical fallacies, and blindspots that can lurk behind uncertainty.
    She'll get them to share their own habits of mind and techniques for facing, and embracing, the unknown. 
    And even if you’re not a scientist, UNCERTAIN provides a practical way to think through what we don’t know in our lives—to face that uncertainty, and, hopefully, live better, more informed lives because of it.

    • 4 min
    Racism in Health: The Roots of the U.S. Black Maternal Mortality Crisis

    Racism in Health: The Roots of the U.S. Black Maternal Mortality Crisis

    What is behind the Black maternal mortality crisis, and what needs to change? In this podcast from Nature and Scientific American, leading academics unpack the racism at the heart of the system.

    • 46 min
    Love Computers? Love History? Listen to This Podcast

    Love Computers? Love History? Listen to This Podcast

    In the newest season of Lost Women of Science, we enter a world of secrecy, computers and nuclear weapons—and see how Klára Dán von Neumann was a part of all of it.

    • 5 min
    Top 10 Emerging Tech of 2021

    Top 10 Emerging Tech of 2021

    The World Economic Forum and Scientific American team up to highlight technological advances that could change the world—including self-fertilizing crops, on-demand drug manufacturing, breath-sensing diagnostics and 3-D-printed houses.

    • 41 min
    Listen to This New Podcast: The Lost Women of Science

    Listen to This New Podcast: The Lost Women of Science

    A new podcast is on a mission to retrieve unsung female scientists from oblivion.

    • 6 min
    An Unblinking History of the Conservation Movement

    An Unblinking History of the Conservation Movement

    In her new book Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction, science journalist Michelle Nijhuis looks into the past of the wildlife conservation field, warts and all, to try to chart its future.

    • 21 min

Customer Reviews

4.2 out of 5
579 Ratings

579 Ratings

GouRouxCuber ,

Pretty decent!

I love science, so I wanted to listen to science podcasts. So far this podcast has been great! I have read other reviews and heard that the host sometimes gets political, but sometimes you can’t avoid that.

BrianC38 ,

Not worth listening to anymore

I’m a fairly recent subscriber; started listening in 2016 and looked forward to each week’s release. But since Steve Mirsky’s departure, it’s not worth the effort. Several weeks of nature sounds? Really? And now book musings?

I’ll continue to subscribe just in case they manage to turn things around but for now I’ll continue to mark as played to clear the queue.

etherdog ,

Enrich Fermi

Steve, I cannot imagine why you did not contrast Dan Schwartz‘s book with the Pope of physics book which came out here earlier.
In the book review episodes, I like the musical beats to emphasize the major points before the discussion.

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