Transistor

Series produced by PRX

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A science series from PRX.

Transistor is a transformative STEM podcast from PRX. Three scientist hosts — a biologist, an astrophysicist, and a neuroscientist — report on conundrums, curiosities, and current events in and beyond their fields. Sprinkled among their episodes are the winners of the STEM Story Project, a competition we held for unique science radio.

Much as the transistor radio was a new technical leap, this Transistor features new women voices and sounds from new science producers.

PRX presents Transistor, applying our storytelling and podcast experience to science. The Sloan Foundation powers Transistor with funding and support.


Transistor is supported by the Alfred P. Sloan foundation, enhancing public understanding of science, technology, and economic performance. Learn more at sloan.org.


45 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: The host for this episode of Transistor, Michelle Thaller
We're closer than ever before to discovering if we're not alone in the universe. The host for this episode of Transistor, astrophysicist Michelle T...

Bought by WTJU, KPIP-LP, KREV-LP, KVSC, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass. and more


  • Added: Feb 10, 2015
  • Length: 16:20
  • Purchases: 6
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In her episodes of Transistor, biologist Christina Agapakis is exploring the microbiome: the trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live in...

Bought by WTJU, KPIP-LP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2015
  • Length: 17:53
  • Purchases: 3
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In her episodes of Transistor, neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki introduces us to scientists who have uncovered some of the deepest secrets about how our...

Bought by KUER, KPIP-LP, KREV-LP, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2015
  • Length: 30:30
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Henry Moliason (Patient HM) in the lab, Credit: photo copyright Suzanne Corkin (not for station use!)
Imagine remembering your childhood, your parents, the history you learned in school, but never being able to form a new long term memory after the ...

Bought by KPIP-LP, WCAI / WNAN Cape & Islands, Mass., and PRX Remix


  • Added: Feb 10, 2015
  • Length: 37:47
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Venus, Credit: NASA
Space scientists are acutely aware of what can happen when climates change in other parts of our solar system. Take Venus, where it rains sulfuric ...

Bought by KZMU Moab Community Radio, RadioFreePalmer, WRST-FM Oshkosh, KZMU Moab Community Radio, WTJU and more


  • Added: Feb 24, 2015
  • Length: 17:32
  • Purchases: 9
Caption: Sign on the door at OpenBiome
It still seems hard to believe, but for one disease, poop -- yes, human poop -- is nothing short a miracle cure. Microbiologist Christina Agapakis ...

Bought by WGBH Radio Boston, HowSound, KWMR, KPIP-LP, and WYAP


  • Added: Mar 05, 2015
  • Length: 19:22
  • Purchases: 5
Caption: Play with this rainbow of noise at <a href="http://noise.marniechesterton.com/">this site</a>!
Everybody knows about white noise — that sound that comes out of your TV when it’s not working quite right. But there are many other colors of nois...

Bought by Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, KWMR, KUOW, KVSC, and KPIP-LP


  • Added: Mar 13, 2015
  • Length: 10:36
  • Purchases: 5
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Many depictions of amnesia in TV, movies, and cartoons are just plain wrong -- some laughably so. Host Dr. Wendy Suzuki talks with Prof. Neal Cohen...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Mar 19, 2015
  • Length: 36:43
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Harvey Washington Wiley in his lab, Credit: FDA
In the fall of 1902, twelve young men in suits regularly gathered for dinners in the basement of a government building in Washington, D.C. The men ...

Bought by KWMR, KUOW, XRAY.fm, and KPIP-LP


  • Added: Mar 26, 2015
  • Length: 09:59
  • Purchases: 4
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Looking through a telescope is like being inside a time machine -- you are seeing light from the past. And some space telescopes allow astronomers ...

Bought by Marfa Public Radio, KRZA, KWMR, XRAY.fm, KPIK-LP and more


  • Added: Apr 02, 2015
  • Length: 20:31
  • Purchases: 8
Caption: Art by <a href="http://www.noapkaplan.com/atopic">Noa Kaplan</a>, Credit: Jed Kim
Your skin is your largest organ and is also is a thriving ecosystem, covered in bacteria. While many of us consider regular showers key to keeping ...

Bought by KPIP-LP, KWMR, XRAY.fm, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 09, 2015
  • Length: 17:29
  • Purchases: 4
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Scents and tastes are powerfully evocative -- one whiff of perfume or cooking aromas can transport you back to a particular moment, a particular pl...

Bought by KWMR, KPIP-LP, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Apr 16, 2015
  • Length: 32:25
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Maricruz Jaramillo (standing) and Samoa Asigau wait for their ride back to the Charles Darwin Research Station after an early morning of catching birds., Credit: Veronique LaCapra
What motivates young people to become scientists? Meet Maricruz Jaramillo and Samoa Asigau, two young women scientists from opposite sides of the P...

Bought by KPIP-LP and KWMR


  • Added: Apr 23, 2015
  • Length: 08:15
  • Purchases: 2
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When University of Washington researcher David Rhoades discovered that plants could communicate with each other, he was laughed out of science. But...

Bought by KUOW, KPIP-LP, KWMR, and WTJU


  • Added: May 07, 2015
  • Length: 09:21
  • Purchases: 4
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One of the things we assign to science is that there are true, absolute facts. But scientists are human and, it turns out, as prone to blind spots ...

Bought by KSFR, KPIP-LP, WTJU, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 14, 2015
  • Length: 16:02
  • Purchases: 4
Caption: Dr. Marian Diamond and Wendy Suzuki on Wendy's undergrad graduation day
A story of movement, memory, and mentors. Dr. Wendy Suzuki introduces us to Dr. Marian Diamond, whose lively classes ushered Wendy into a career in...

Bought by WTJU, KALW, KPIP-LP, KWMR, KMUD and more


  • Added: May 22, 2015
  • Length: 17:57
  • Purchases: 6
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In music, everything seems to have another digital life. Pianists can play with different voicings on an electric keyboard. Guitarists can filter t...

Bought by KZMU Moab Community Radio, KPIP-LP, and WTJU


  • Added: May 30, 2015
  • Length: 09:09
  • Purchases: 3
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Told by the couple who lived it, this is a story of how Crohn's disease can change lives when you least expect it. And it's a story of how science ...

Bought by KWMR


  • Added: Jun 11, 2015
  • Length: 20:15
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Tim and Tanya Chartier present a classic mime stance
Some things can be better left unsaid. Who would have thought that math could be one of them?

Bought by WOUB, WTJU, and KPIP-LP


  • Added: Jun 29, 2015
  • Length: 12:28
  • Purchases: 3
Caption: Martha Lillard, Credit: Julia Scott
As storms raged through Oklahoma in 2013, Martha Lillard waited them out from inside her iron lung. She is one of just dozens of polio survivors wh...

Bought by KPIP-LP


  • Added: Jul 06, 2015
  • Length: 08:31
  • Purchases: 1