Hantavirus at sea, microplastics, and the Alaska tsunami mystery

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2026

⏱️ 13 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In this science news roundup, we start with a deadly hantavirus outbreak linked to a cruise ship. The outbreak is raising concerns about rare human‑to‑human transmission while experts say the risk of a wider pandemic remains low. We also look at new research showing that airborne microplastics and nanoplastics may be contributing to global warming—an unexpected climate effect of plastic pollution. And in Alaska, a massive retreating-glacier‑driven landslide that triggered a dramatic tsunami offers new clues that could help improve early-warning systems in the future. Recommended Reading: What you need to know about hantavirus, the infection at the center of a deadly cruise ship outbreak A dangerous experiment is playing out on a cruise ship with hantavirus There is no vaccine for deadly hantavirus, but this scientist is working on one Trump administration cut funding to study hantavirus, the virus behind the deadly cruise ship outbreak Airborne microplastics could be making climate change worse A 1,500-foot tsunami took scientists by surprise. Now we know why it happened E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover! Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter. Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by Expedia and Visit Scotland.
0:04.6	Start your story in Scotland.
0:06.9	Experience the pool of wide, untamed landscapes and fresh cuisine that feels rooted in place.
0:13.6	Discover castles steeped in legend.
0:16.6	And feel the genuine warmth from locals you meet in a place that will stay with you long after you leave.
0:23.2	Start planning your own Scottish holiday.
0:25.7	Today at expeedia.com.ukukes slash visit Scotland.
0:30.2	Hey Science Quickly fans, Rachel here.
0:32.7	If you love our show, I want to tell you about another podcast you should definitely be listening to, Science Friday.
0:39.8	Science Friday and Science Quickly definitely share a lot of podcast DNA, mostly because
0:45.3	Science Friday was the first science show I ever listened to. And I love it so much that I've actually
0:50.9	appeared as a guest host on the show. But even if you're a long-time fan like me,
0:55.0	you might not realize that Science Friday isn't just for Fridays anymore. Every day,
1:00.3	the SciFri team puts the latest science news under the microscope, from the origin of the
1:05.0	universe to AI news you can actually use to the science of heavy metal screams.
1:15.7	Just like Science Quickly, Science Friday stokes your curiosity and pulls back the curtain on some of the most interesting science happening today.
1:19.2	So give Science Friday a listen wherever you get your podcasts.
1:31.7	Happy Monday, listeners.
1:35.5	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
1:40.2	Let's kick off the week with a quick roundup of some science news you may have missed.
1:48.3	First, you may have seen some headlines last week about an outbreak of Hanta virus on a cruise ship.
1:50.4	Here to tell us more about what happened is Tanya Lewis, Siam's senior desk editor for
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 1 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scientific American, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scientific American and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.