Play the "Helpful Bee Stings | Prehistoric Primates" audio
October 2009
Although bee stings can be painful and possibly harmful, discover how the toxin may also be able to help kill cancer cells. Then, find out if ancient primates Ida and Afradapis are our cousins or our ancestors.
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Play the "The Secret Life of Robotic Bees" audio
August 2009
Spying, exploring, pollinating. These are just some of the many uses for robotic bees. Hear how a wide range of scientists and engineers at Harvard University are designing a mechanical form of this social insect.
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Play the "Bomb Detecting Nanosensors | Listeria Outbreak" audio
November 2011
Dr. Daniel Heller from MIT describes how he uses nanosensors and bee venom to detect explosives. PhD candidate Kyle Perry from Harvard gives the facts about the recent Listeria outbreak connected to cantaloupes.
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Play the "Top 10 Science Stories of 2011" audio
December 2011
From cutting edge technologies to natural disasters, the Current Science and Technology team has been keeping up with innovative research and the latest in breaking scientific news all year. We chose the 10 most interesting and important of those stories to present to you in this podcast.
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Play the "Shape Shifting Proteins | New Bio-Bandage" audio
February 2012
Dr. Jeremy England from MIT talks about his work understanding how proteins change their shape. Then Dr. Paula Hammond from MIT describes her lab's bio-bandage, a quick and effective way to stop bleeding on a battlefield.
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Play the "Early Bow And Arrow Use | Making A Better Grid Battery" audio
January 2012
Archaeologist Justin Pargeter describes current evidence for the first bows and arrows believed to have been used in South Africa over 60,000 years ago. Also, find out how we can improve our electrical power grid with storage batteries made with new nanomaterial technology.
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Play the "How To Read Minds and Filter Water" audio
October 2010
What am I thinking right now? Find out how scientists are trying to read the minds of paralyzed patients. Also, learn about new filters to purify drinking water.
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Play the "Making Stuff!" audio
December 2010
Material scientists Dr. Amy Moll and Dr. Ainissa Ramirez join us for Nova's Making Stuff Day. They talk about their own research on how to make electronics stronger, smaller and greener.
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Play the "Diamonds and Light" audio
January 2012
Dr. Marko Loncar and two of his graduate students talk about using diamonds to create optics based computers that are smaller, faster, and 'cooler' than our current computational machines.
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Play the "Breathalyzer for Disease" audio
June 2012
Researchers are developing ways to detect diseases using a breathalyzer. Many disorders- diabetes, cancer, kidney failure- cause the release of certain chemicals into the blood stream. These molecules eventually make their way into our exhaled breath, where very sensitive, specially designed nanotechnologies can detect them for disease diagnosis.
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