Science Quickly

As colon cancer rates rise in younger adults, more and more people are paying attention to their poop and talking about it on social media, where such “poop maxxing” has become a hashtag. But what’s considered normal, and how can we measure our number twos? Board-certified gastroenterologist Wendi LeBrett joins Rachel Feltman to talk about what’s going on with the poop maxxing trend on social media, what a healthy stool should look and feel like, what common misconceptions around gut health people have, when to see a doctor, and more.  Recommended Reading: Colon cancer is killing more young people in the U.S. than any other cancer Scientists gave the same sample to seven at-home microbiome tests. The results were dramatically different A pair of gut bacteria may cause constipation E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck fact-check our show. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Science Quickly, we discuss newly revealed U.S. space weapons, growing artificial intelligence safety concerns and the Environmental Protection Agency’s rollback of power plant emissions limits before we end with a look at the tiny sand hoppers reshaping California’s beaches. Recommended Reading: It’s official: The U.S. has weapons in space Trump repeals emissions regulations of fossil-fuel power plants The real danger in OpenAI’s Hugging Face hack E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Science Quickly, filmmaker and journalist Leah Varjacques takes us to a Bornean rainforest area, where centuries-old patterns of human and wildlife behavior are being disrupted by the construction of a new capital city. In the midst of all this change, Varjacques documents the work of Wendy Erb, a primatologist and bioacoustic scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Erb’s team, working with members of the local Balik population, placed audio recorders around the forest to capture the sounds of this diverse ecosystem before it changes forever. Recommended Reading: Can you hear a forest disappearing? Scientists are trying to find out E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. This episode was reported and narrated by Leah Varjacques, with additional voiceover work by Rizky Rahad. This story was made possible by a grant from the Pulitzer Center and published in partnership with Project Multatuli. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this special crossover episode, Science Quickly shares an appearance by host Rachel Feltman on Vox’s Unexplainable. Together with host Noam Hassenfeld, she explores Scientific American’s special issue on impossible questions, diving into some of science’s biggest mysteries, from how common medications can work without scientists fully understanding them to whether there’s a limit to what humans can ever know. The conversation also ventures to the edge of cosmology, examining competing theories about what may have come before the big bang and why some questions might remain forever unanswered. Recommended Reading: Finding meaning in the impossible The questions science may never answer Listen to Unexplainable Unexplainable on Spotify E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new every day: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Science Quickly, we explore newly released 9/11 records and their revelations about the attacks’ lasting health impacts, unpack a controversial artificial intelligence breakthrough that solved one of mathematics’ biggest problems and examine the growing backlash to a massive AI data center as communities grapple with the costs of powering the AI boom. Recommended Reading: 25 years after 9/11, survivors are still getting sick—here are the numbers AI may have just solved a million-dollar math problem. The field will never be the same The data center backlash comes for SpaceXAI’s Colossus E-mail us at [email protected] if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Allison Rodgers and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices