Putting the breaks on driverless cars, and dolphins that can muffle their ears

Om avsnittet

Whales and dolphins have incredibly sensitive hearing and are known to be harmed by loud underwater noises. David Grimm talks with Sarah Crespi about new research on captive cetaceans suggesting that some species can naturally muffle such sounds—perhaps opening a way to protect these marine mammals in the wild.

Sarah also interviews Staff Writer Jeffrey Mervis about his story on the future of autonomous cars. Will they really reduce traffic and make our lives easier? What does the science say?

Listen to previous podcasts.

[Image: Laura Wolf/Flickr; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Om avsnittet

Fler avsnitt

Studying the changing of AI language inside swarms, how orangutans learn to forage, and an astrophysicist talks about loss

Can ‘assisted migration’ save forests? And the role of philosophy in science

Psychoactive substances helped spur Andean civilization, and breaking barriers to education

Sex-reversing frogs, and Europe’s rising rates of a deadly tick-borne disease

Making drugs in space, the man who fed India, and what narwhals can teach us about changing seas

Why tracing cyclosporiasis is so tough, and a digestible probe for the microbiome

A vest for blocking cosmic rays, and updates on NIH funding

Did meat or fruit give people big brains, and protecting bison diversity using ancient DNA

AI’s influence on society, measuring muscles, and a Crick biography

Death in a gene-editing trial, and insect larvae surviving in deep waters