Biology

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11 minutes

How Is an Ear Like a Fingerprint?

We ask Lauren Etter from Boston University about how efforts to build trust and ensure equitable access to healthcare led to the development of an artificial intelligence system that uses images of ears to identify patients in remote communities.
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11 minutes

A Shark the Size of a School Bus... What Did It Eat?

We ask shark researcher Dr. Catalina Pimiento all of the best questions we've ever received about megalodon, a prehistoric fifty-foot-long shark with teeth the size of a human hand.
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10 minutes

What Do a Honeybee and a Chicken Have in Common?

Graduate student Katie Burns tells us about her adventures in field research and the importance of pollinators in our environment.
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16 minutes

Top Ten Science Stories of 2020: Part Three

We're back with more of our annual countdown of the ten most exciting, important, and fun stories from the world of science in 2020.
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15 minutes

Top Ten Science Stories of 2020: Part Two

We continue our annual countdown of the ten most exciting, important, and fun stories from the world of science in 2020 with #8, #7, and #6.
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15 minutes

Top Ten Science Stories of 2020: Part One

We kick off our annual countdown of the ten most exciting, important, and awesome stories from the world of science in 2020.
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10 minutes

Where Did Eyes Come From?

How do we know how sight first evolved if eyes don't fossilize? For some ancient organisms, they do! Dr. Brigitte Schoenemann shares her research on trilobite fossils from nearly half a billion years ago that tell us about the origins of vision.
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12 minutes

Can We Restore Mobility to Spinal Injury Patients?

Biomedical Engineer Dr. Parag Gad tells us about a noninvasive technique that can help paralyzed patients regain the use of their extremities as well as other systems of the body.
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11 minutes

Do Spiders Have Personalities?

Bats! Owls! Creepy-crawlies! For Halloween, we asked Liz from our Live Animal Care Center some of the best questions we've heard at the museum about spooky species.
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13 minutes

Had a Bad Day? Check Your Teeth

Social and psychiatric epidemiologist Dr. Erin Dunn explains how stressful events leave a permanent record on our teeth and how we can potentially use our molars and canines to predict future mental health.
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11 minutes

How Can We Protect the Endangered Birds of Hawaii?

Biologist Hanna Mounce describes her team's efforts to conserve the native forest ecosystems of Hawai'i.
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12 minutes

Meet a Polio Pioneer

Listen in on a conversation with Heather and her mother Kathy, who was just 8 years old during the polio epidemic in the 1950s. Kathy became part of the ground-breaking study to find a polio vaccine, a first step in leading to the near-eradication in the...
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12 minutes

What Is Synthetic Biology?

Dr. Natalie Kuldell, director of BioBuilder and affiliate of MIT's Department of Biological Engineering, answers questions about biological engineering and its applications. Learn about manipulating DNA to produce new drugs, inserting genes into bacteria...
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7 minutes

Using Biotechnology to Track COVID-19

May is Biotechnology Month! Hear from Diveena Becker, a biologist/geneticist at Ginkgo Bioworks. She is working to use the full genetic code of a patient's SARS-CoV-2 virus to look for changes over time and help track its spread.