During long, cold winters in medieval Europe, church organs grew gray, sickly-looking circles that spread over their pipes. People back then believed that this was the work of the devil, but as it turns out, it’s just some pretty simple...

Forget your Hans Grubers, Lord Voldemorts, and Hannibal Lecters. It’s time to meet some real supervillains. They’re called retroviruses, and they actually change their host cell’s DNA.

Earthworms may be good for your garden, but they also have the potential to disrupt forest ecosystems across much of North America.

You may have heard about the Six Degrees of Separation phenomenon, but it isn't just a fun celebrity game, it helps scientists understand the spread of epidemics, the structure of the internet, and even the neural networks in your brain!

Climate change is causing wildfire season to get worse every year. And our models of wildfires can't keep up with the things fires can do... like spawn devastating fire tornadoes.

How does heat affect airplanes? Turns out heat, speed and density connect to create dangerous situations.

Ever wondered what makes those balls of white foam you sometimes find clinging to plants? Spittlebugs create these bubbly cocoons after feeding on a plant’s fluids; but unfortunately, their eating habits help transmit a deadly bacteria...

Public bathrooms are teeming with microbes! You know to wash your hands, but when choosing between a hand dryer or a paper towel to dry them off— what’s your cleanest bet? Hosted by: Hank Green

While it’s probably most famous for its role in gene editing, CRISPR does more than just that: its ability to precisely cut and alter DNA could lead to new antibiotics, faster diagnosis tools, and more.

New variants of SARS-CoV-2 have emerged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, with the latest one being Omicron. We’re still trying to learn about its effects and what it means for the overall course of the pandemic, but here’s what we know...

Scientists are closely watching SARS-CoV-2 to track mutations and see if it's developed into different strains. So, has it?

Different fuels create different types of fires, and each one needs to be extinguished using a specific strategy. Do you know which class of extinguisher is needed for different fires? Hosted by: Michael Aranda

While you might hear the name John Snow and think of dragons and unfruitful endings. There was a real life physician whose efforts saved lives and built the foundation for modern epidemiology.

The paleo diet is becoming more popular, but research suggests its claims aren’t all that scientific. Hosted by: Michael Aranda

Cancer is a terrible disease that often ends up the subject of a lot of speculation. In this episode, we'll be debunking these 6 common myths about cancer. All of this stuff seems plausible, but these misconceptions just don't hold up....

Linode offers simple, affordable, and accessible Linux cloud solutions and services. The Neglected Tropical Diseases are a group of conditions that affect the poorest one fourth of the world's population. Most of them have easy cures,...

In 2013, an Ebola outbreak began in Guinea. The country had no formal response system and the outbreak became the largest Ebola epidemic in recorded history. Guinea then completely overhauled their response system, and were able to...

Living in space is pretty different from living on Earth, and not just because people can float around! Today, Jessi and Sam the Bat learn about the weird ways things like fire and water behave when they are in space.

At the end of the Civil War, though slavery was technically illegal in all states, it still persisted in the last bastions of the Confederacy. This was the case when Union General Gordon Granger marched his troops into Galveston, Texas...

People have been captivated by horses for a long time. They appear more than any other animal in cave paintings dating back 30,000 years. But how did horses make the journey from wild animals to ones humans could hitch themselves to and...

Mosquitoes are responsible for more human deaths every year than any other animal, but very few of the 3,500 mosquito species actually transmit deadly diseases to humans. Scientists have been conducting experiments using engineered...

Black holes are the result of absolute gravitational collapse of a massive body: a point of hypothetical infinite density surrounded by an event horizon. At that horizon time is frozen and the fabric of space itself cascades inwards at...

A throbbing, pounding headache. Bright zigzagging lines across your field of vision. Sensitivity to light, lingering fatigue, disrupted sleep. While an incapacitating headache is one of the most common symptoms, a migraine can include...

From outbreaks of measles in the United States and cholera in Haiti to patterns of lead poisoning near gold mines in Nigeria, medical geographers play an important role in tracking disease in the landscape. Today, we're going to look at...