The Argument for De-Extinction: Explained
Dire wolves are back—sort of. Colossal Biosciences claims to have resurrected this extinct predator, but what did they really do? Joe talks with the scientists behind the headlines to explore the truth, tech, and ethics of “de-extinction.”
Episodes
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The Argument for De-Extinction: Explained
S13 E5 - 26m 19s
Dire wolves are back—sort of. Colossal Biosciences claims to have resurrected this extinct predator, but what did they really do? Joe talks with the scientists behind the headlines to explore the truth, tech, and ethics of “de-extinction.”
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Will Earth Run Out of Oxygen
S13 E4 - 16m 53s
Plants eat sunlight and air to make life. But the key enzyme behind it all, called RuBisCO, isn’t actually all that great at its job. Let’s talk about how photosynthesis really works, why oxygen isn’t coming from where you think, and whether we can fix the biggest flaw in one of Earth’s most essential processes.
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What’s Inside the Oldest Rocks in the World?
S13 E3 - 16m 40s
The oldest rocks on Earth are more than just ancient—they’re time machines, holding clues to Earth’s missing history and revealing what happened in the unknown times after the Big Bang. We’ll work with our Adam and Joss from Howtown to learn more and visit our friends at The Smithsonian to examine some of these beyond-ancient rocks ourselves.
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Why Your Grandma Is an Evolutionary Mystery
S13 E2 - 17m 11s
This is one of the weirdest mysteries of human evolution: Why do we have grandmas? From menopause to our slow maturation and super-long lifespans, humans are quite unique in the animal kingdom. Could grandma be an evolutionary secret weapon? Or is she just a quirky side effect of living long lives?
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The Weird Science That Lets Insects Fly in the RainThe Weird Science That Lets Insects Fly in the Rain
S13 E1 - 11m 6s
Imagine the scale of raindrops if you were the size of a small bird. Or mosquito. Flying through a drizzle should be deadly! Like flying through falling cars and boulders. And yet it’s not, because nature has given them a superpower—superhydrophobic surfaces that repel water and keep them airborne. How do these microscopic structures work? And how has modern engineering been inspired by them?
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