Undark: Truth, Beauty, Science

This month: Tailoring medicine to each individual patient could make health care more affordable and effective. But that reality won’t come to fruition unless researchers, industry, the government, and the public reach a consensus on issues like patient privacy, data bias, and sharing of medical records.

This month: The impulse to “fix” intersex infants with invasive surgeries is facing increased and, some would argue, long overdue scrutiny. As doctors, parents, and intersex people face decisions that may affect their long-term health, researchers grapple with defining and measuring outcomes.

This month: A new farming method has been touted as better for the earth and for struggling farmers. Some are putting these claims to the test.

This month: Harm reduction organizations take a controversial step in checking illicit drugs for fentanyl.

This month: The story of a devastating wildfire in India reveals how a complex tangle of law, policy, and science are hindering the country's efforts to contain and prevent forest fires.

This month: The history of a destigmatizing message about HIV transmission and how it finally made it to the public.

This month: A penetrating look at the trials of patients with kidney failure, and the doctors working to make more lifesaving transplants possible.

This month: the quest for a universal flu shot, the trend of low-carbon burials, and understanding medical consent laws for minors.

This month: using social media in search and rescue, developing a more accurate way to track citations, and tackling sexual harassment in science.

This month: testing the effect of Skrillex on mosquitos, addressing poaching in Uganda, and public response to the first image of a black hole.

This month: using audio data to track sea ice loss, the efficacy of medication-assisted treatment, and fighting for a national underwater monument.  

Ep. 32: Decentralized Internet, a Trip into Space, and a Roiling Debate Among Science Writers by

This month: building a heat map with the help of citizen scientists, monitoring an Estonian forest, and the heartbreaking cost of fragmented care.

This month: the toll of human-caused wildfires, rescuing snakes to prevent human-animal conflict, and capturing the impacts of an ambient killer. Transcript and individual segments available at https://undark.org/article/podcast-30-wildfires-snakes-air-pollution Update: An earlier version of this podcast and transcript provided an incorrect description of PM2.5, a scientific and regulatory term referring to fine particulate matter that is 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter. Although particulate pollution larger than 2.5 micrometers is generally considered less hazardous, it is still a public health concern. There is also no meaningful lower threshold for particulate pollution below 2.5 micrometers that can be considered safe.

Join former NYT Science Times editor David Corcoran for a discussion with popular science writer and prolific book author Carl Zimmer about the history of heredity, and why you can’t boil down something as complex as intelligence to a couple of genes. Also, podcast host Kasha Patel talks with Undark’s Matters of Fact and Tracker columnist Michael Schulson about the safety of CBD, or cannabidiol, for dogs; and science journalist Anja Krieger takes listeners to the small German town of Schleswig, where a major leak has sparked a big debate.

David Corcoran talks with former EPA administrator Gina McCarthy about bridging the gap between science and the public. Also: an airplane ride-along with a group of tornado chasers from the NOAA, a closer look a carbon dioxide study with big implications, and game of Two Truths and Lie.

Our latest podcast looks at the resilience of bees; a study in memory transfer; and an attack on science.