Scientific American-60 Second Science 科学美国人-60秒科学是科学美国人网站下的一套广播栏目,开办于2006年,内容以科学报道为主,用仅仅一分钟的时间对当今的科学技术新发展作以简明、通俗的介绍,对于科学的发展如何影响人们的生活环境、健康状况及科学技术,提供了大量简明易懂的阐释。以生动、有趣的事例展现了生活中的科学,富于趣味性!
To do a job right, you need the right tools. Even a chimp knows that. According to a study in the American Journal of Primatology, chimps in the Congo use multiple tools to capture army ants. Youve probably seen footage of chimps using sticks to har...
Whistle While You Wing A study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B finds that pigeon wing-flapping produces distinct whistles, which can warn flock-mates, when merely taking off or when actively escaping predators. Karen Hopkin reports When cr...
Making Music for Monkey Minds A study in the journal Biology Letters finds that music based on monkey's own calls has similar effects on them that human music has on us. Cynthia Graber reports Music is known to make us happy, or calm, or sad. But do...
Freeing the Mind to Forget Young brains can forget painful memories, but old ones tend not to. An animal study in the journal Science finds that it may be possible to restore the old brain to its younger, more pliable state. Karen Hopkin reports Som...
The space shuttle Discovery, mission STS-128, is in orbit right now. With some fascinating people on board. Pilot Kevin Ford became interested in flying when he was a kid and read the book Carrying the Fire, by Michael Collins, command module pilot...
[Horse race bugle] Horse racing is a sport thats 200 years old. [Horse race announcer sounds] And a day at the track is much more exciting now than it was back then. [Horse race announcer sounds] Thats because horses are faster than they used to be....
Cat Call Coerces Can Opening Anyone whos ever had a cat knows how demanding they can be. Let me out, let me in, give me food, give me different food. The list goes on. But how do these clever kitties convince us to do their bidding? A study in the J...
Profanity Bleeps Physical Pain Holy @$#%! According to neuroscientists from Britains Keele University, dropping the f-bomb can actually relieve physical pain. In the upcoming August 5th issue of the journal NeuroReport, the researchers say swearing...
The results are in, and, Americans pretty much like science. Eighty-four percent of those polled think that sciences effect on society is mostly positive. Thats the result of two phone surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center and the American As...
Are Parasites to Thank for Sex? A study in the journal The American Naturalist implies that parasites helped drive the development of sex, because the shuffling of genes gives sex-produced progeny an advantage over asexual genetic clones. Cynthia Gr...
Really Mass Media In London last week at the World Conference of Science Journalists, Philip Hilts, the director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at M.I.T., reviewed the worldwide state of Internet and cell phone use, two of the major ways p...
Future of Science Coverage At the World Conference of Science Journalists in London last week, outgoing Scientific American Editor in Chief John Rennie talked to writers about the future of what they do, remarks that also pertain to this podcast. St...
We might think perfect pitch is an innate talent. Well, a study in the American Journal of Human Genetics is providing some evidence for that. Perfect pitch, aka absolute pitch, is the rare ability to name or recreate musical notes like A or middle...
Rain Zone Moving North An article in Nature Geoscience predicts that the rainiest area on Earth, the intertropical convergence zone, is moving steadily north. Christie Nicholson reports [The following is an exact transcript of this podcast.] If youv...
Why Didn't Earth Freeze Completely? Research published in the July 2 issue of Nature reveals one reason our planet didn't succumb to an enveloping ice sheet during glacial ages. Christie Nicholson reports. [The following is an exact transcript of th...