Childhood Illnesses Surge, Magnetic Poles Wandered, and a Colossal Squid Is Found

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.2 • 639 Ratings

🗓️ 21 April 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Measles cases are going up—and a federal scientist has warned that case counts have probably been underreported. Another vaccine-preventable illness, whooping cough, sees a troubling increase in cases. Ancient humans found sun-protection solutions when Earth’s magnetic poles wandered. A colossal squid has been captured on video in its natural habitat for the first time. Plus, we discuss evidence that Mars once had a carbon cycle and a planet that is orbiting a pair of brown dwarfs. Recommended reading: This Is the First Colossal Squid Filmed in the Deep Sea—And It’s a Baby! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f8leNRUXdo&t=1s RFK, Jr., Is Wrong about Cause of Rising Autism Rates, Scientists Say https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-real-reason-autism-rates-are-rising/ How to Talk about Vaccines in an Era of Scientific Mistrust https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/why-does-vaccine-hesitancy-occur-and-how-can-people-combat-it/ 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, Kelso Harper, Naeem Amarsy and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was hosted by Rachel Feltman. Our show is edited by Alex Sugiura with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. The theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Understanding the human body is a team effort. That's where the Yachtel group comes in.
0:05.8	Researchers at Yachtolt have been delving into the secrets of probiotics for 90 years.
0:11.0	Yachtold also partners with nature portfolio to advance gut microbiome science through the global grants for gut health, an investigator-led research program.
0:20.1	To learn more about Yachtolt, visit yawcult.co.
0:22.7	.jp. That's Y-A-K-U-L-T.C-O.J-P. When it comes to a guide for your gut, count on Yacult. Happy Monday listeners.
0:40.3	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:44.3	Let's kick off the week with a quick roundup of the latest science news.
0:52.3	First, some public health updates.
0:57.0	Measles is continuing to spread in the U.S., with 712 cases confirmed so far in 2025 as of April 11th, according to the CDC.
1:06.0	For reference, there were just 285 confirmed cases in all of 2024.
1:12.2	The CDC has confirmed two deaths from measles this year and is investigating a third.
1:17.2	Last week, the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices met after its planned meeting
1:22.0	in February was postponed.
1:24.3	During the meeting last Tuesday, a scientist leading the CDC's measles report said the number of measles cases is likely underreported.
1:31.3	But measles isn't the only illness that's increasingly putting kids at risk.
1:35.3	Cases of whooping cough or pertussis are up by more than 1,500 percent nationwide compared with 2021, according to recent reporting by ProPublica.
1:45.4	Deaths from whooping cough are also on the rise.
1:48.6	Caused by the bacterium bordetella pertussis,
1:51.4	whooping cough spreads easily between humans.
1:54.1	Even people with mild symptoms can pass the microbelong,
1:57.0	and the resulting illness can be much worse in vulnerable individuals like babies.
2:01.6	While some infants will just have cold symptoms, others can develop pneumonia and difficulty breathing.
	...

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