PRX - Pieces for Topic: Science

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The Haunting Tale of Why Clara Barton's Memorial Was 60 Years In The Making
From: Rebecca Sheir
Caption: Did Clara Barton's ghost commune with the living?, Credit: National Park Service/Clara Barton NHS
A so-called spiritual medium, Clara Barton’s so-called spirit, and the man whose dedication swayed him to fall for an elaborate swindle.

  • Added: Dec 07, 2015
  • Length: 07:20
The Evolution of Writing
From: Ben Orlando
Series: History Repeating Itself
Piece image
Learning to read and write rewired our brains in fascinating ways. But where and when did writing and language originate?

  • Added: Dec 02, 2015
  • Length: 18:38
Life of the Law #71: Space Law 2.0
From: Life of the Law
Series: Life of the Law
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When you look up at the sky the last thing you probably think about is the law. But space is exactly where the next frontier of law is being played...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, KALW, and New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Nov 24, 2015
  • Length: 14:42
  • Purchases: 3
Science and the Supernatural in the 17th Century
From: Distillations
Series: Distillations
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Once upon a time science and the supernatural were not so far apart.

  • Added: Nov 18, 2015
  • Length: 01:42:26
Life's Greatest Secret
From: Guy Rathbun
Series: IdeaSphere: A Platform for Today's Voices
Caption: Professor Matthew Cobb
Everyone has heard of the story of DNA as the story of Watson and Crick and Rosalind Franklin, but knowing the structure of DNA was only a part of ...

Bought by KVSC and KCBX


  • Added: Nov 05, 2015
  • Length: 29:00
  • Purchases: 2
The Royal Observatory, Greenwich and the Quest for Longitude
From: Mat Kaplan
Series: Planetary Radio
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Come with us on a visit to the home of the prime meridian for a conversation with the curator of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich about the race to...

Bought by WQCS, KMUD, WXAV 88.3FM Chicago, KFCF FM, KSVR Studios: Skagit Valley Radio and more


  • Added: Jul 28, 2015
  • Length: 28:50
  • Purchases: 6
Hampton Sides, author of "In the Kingdom of Ice"
From: Boise State Public Radio
Series: Reader's Corner with Bob Kustra
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Sides tells the the thrilling and harrowing story of an early attempt to be the first to reach the North Pole in his book, "In the Kingdom of Ice: ...

  • Added: Jul 24, 2015
  • Length: 30:31
Fugitive Red Feature
From: With Good Reason
Series: news features
Piece image
Today, we buy paint in little tubes from the arts and craft aisle, but in times past, getting the right color pigments was a difficult and complex ...

Bought by KENW and WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Jul 17, 2015
  • Length: 03:41
  • Purchases: 2
Historical Speech Acoustics
From: Susanne Bard
Caption: Pericles' Funeral Oration., Credit: Philipp von Foltz/1852
How did historical leaders once address crowds of thousands, unaided by modern amplification

Bought by KENW and WLPR


  • Added: Jun 05, 2015
  • Length: 01:00
  • Purchases: 2
Almost History
From: Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
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Rufus Porter was a nineteenth-century American artist, journalist, and brilliant inventor, who almost made it into the history books, but not quite.

Bought by Radio Newark, New Hampshire Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: May 27, 2015
  • Length: 08:00
  • Purchases: 3
Silicon Valley's Prehistoric Past
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Construction site at the Calaveras Dam in the East Bay hills.
When work began to rebuild the Calaveras Dam, Paleontologist Jim Walker was called to the scene to hunt for fossils. He expected to find a few, but...

Bought by KUOW


  • Added: Jan 12, 2015
  • Length: 05:50
  • Purchases: 1
"Project: Ice" director Bill Kleinert stops by The Roadhouse
From: WTIP
Series: The Roadhouse
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"Project: Ice" views the Great Lakes through the prism of ice, at the crossroads of history, science and climate change. The film's director and ex...

  • Added: Nov 25, 2014
  • Length: 19:50
NanoArchaeology
From: Susanne Bard
Caption: A 17 cm carved stone figurine shown inside the SEM chamber ready for non-destructive imaging and analysis, Credit: (Timothy Rose/Smithsonian)
Modern technology reveals ancient techniques used in the production of purloined antiquities.

Bought by KMXT


  • Added: Nov 23, 2014
  • Length: 01:00
  • Purchases: 1
The Imitation Game -- Groks Science Show 2014-11-19
From: Charles Lee
Series: Groks Science Radio Show
Caption: Groks Science Radio Show
Dr. Barry Cooper discusses the life and work of Alan Turing.

Bought by KKWE Niijii Radio, WRNC-LP, and KPVL


  • Added: Nov 20, 2014
  • Length: 32:48
  • Purchases: 3
Lactose Intolerance Genetics
From: Susanne Bard
Caption: The practice of cheesemaking goes back many centuries in various cultures around the world. (A page from the 14th century Medieval handbook Taccuino Sanitatis from the Biblioteca Casanatense in Rome, Italy)
Central Europeans developed a dairying culture at least 4,000 years before they evolved the ability to digest milk.

Bought by KMXT


  • Added: Nov 01, 2014
  • Length: 01:00
  • Purchases: 1
Superspreaders
From: Susanne Bard
Caption: Mary Mallon, aka "Typhoid Mary, Credit: From the The New York American newspaper, dated June 20, 1909.
Learning about the immune system from people who catch germs but don’t get sick.

Bought by KMXT


  • Added: Oct 22, 2014
  • Length: 01:00
  • Purchases: 1
NASA Shuttle landing (condensed) w/music
From: Paul Messing
Series: Paul Messing's Audio Producer's Grab Bag
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A telescoped version of NASA audio as it tells the public specifics about the shuttle as it glides in for a landing.

Bought by KPIK-LP and KMUZ


  • Added: Oct 14, 2014
  • Length: 01:34
  • Purchases: 2
No Inoculation Without Representation!
From: Luke Quinton
Caption: Freedom Trail tour guide, Matt Wilding, in costume as Ebenezer Mackintosh, giving a tour of Boston's historic North End neighborhood, Credit: Christina Gustafson
How long would you guess vaccination has been around? 50? 100 years? In fact, it's an idea that's older than this country. In 1776 America's at war...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, PRX Remix, and Troy Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 15, 2014
  • Length: 09:04
  • Purchases: 3
700 Fathoms under the Sea
From: David Schulman
Caption: Scientists discovered the "sound channel" in 1944. Whales use it to communicate across oceans — and during the Cold War the Navy secretly used it to track nuclear subs. This 1948 graphic shows sound traveling on an axis 700 fathoms down in the Atlantic., Credit: Maurice Ewing and J. Lamar Worzel
Something unusual happens about a half mile under the sea. Ocean physics create a special zone where sound travels for hundreds, even thousands of ...

Bought by KUFM - Montana Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio, American Voices, Hark!, KFAI Minneapolis and more


  • Added: Aug 26, 2014
  • Length: 11:11
  • Purchases: 11
Transgenerational Obesity
From: Susanne Bard
Piece image
Did now-banned pesticides contribute to the obesity epidemic?

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio, WLPR , KMXT, and WXDU


  • Added: Jul 26, 2014
  • Length: 01:05
  • Purchases: 4
Ancient Cancer
From: Susanne Bard
Caption: Lesions indicating cancer in the skeleton’s bone., Credit: (© Trustees of the British Museum
Scientists uncover a case of human cancer as old as the Pharaohs.

  • Added: Mar 24, 2014
  • Length: 01:00
Two Guys on Your Head: Amos Tversky and Daneil Kahneman
From: KUT
Series: Two Guys On Your Head
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As human beings, we are, in fact, creatures. Like any other living organism, energy conservation is of highest priority to our vibrant being, whet...

  • Added: Jan 16, 2014
  • Length: 07:20
DJ Carl Sagan and His Golden Records
From: Andrew Bales
Series: Into It
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Before the launch of the Voyager probes, Carl Sagan was given the daunting task of assembling a guide to all things human. Something that would fit...

  • Added: Sep 10, 2013
  • Length: 01:44
Marlene Zuk on "Paleofantasy," her new book about what evolution really tells us
From: WTIP
Series: The Roadhouse
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WTIP's Dick Swanson talked recently with Dr. Marlene Zuk, professor of ecology, evolution & behavior at the U of Minn., about her recent book, "Pal...

Bought by KSRQ


  • Added: Sep 10, 2013
  • Length: 23:07
  • Purchases: 1
Did a WWII nuclear experiment make the U of C radioactive?
From: WBEZ
Series: Curious City
Piece image
Um, No. But did the Manhattan Project’s Enrico Fermi consider the risk to Chicago?

Bought by XRAY.fm, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Aug 19, 2013
  • Length: 10:03
  • Purchases: 3