Marsquakes, Vaccine Politics and Mammoth Microbiomes

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.3 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 8 September 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week’s roundup dives into Mars’s lumpy mantle, a nasal spray that may help prevent COVID and the growing confusion around vaccine access in the U.S. Plus, researchers link phone use while on the toilet to hemorrhoid risk, uncover ancient mammoth microbiomes and explain why squirrels’ thumbnails matter more than you think. Recommended Reading Can You Get a COVID Vaccine This Year? Here’s What We Know Experts Warn of Growing Threats amid CDC Resignations New Nasal Vaccines Offer Better Protection from COVID and Flu—No Needle Needed 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 and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura. Shayna Posses and Aaron Shattuck fact-check the show. 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	Here's the truth about AI.
0:02.0	AI is only as powerful as the platform it's built into.
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0:09.0	removing friction and frustration for your employees,
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0:21.9	use right now. That's why the world works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com
0:27.8	slash UK slash AI for people. Happy Monday, listeners.
0:40.3	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feltman.
0:43.9	Let's kick off the week with a quick roundup of some of the latest news.
0:53.2	First, let's talk about Mars and its surprisingly lumpy interior.
0:58.6	Late last month, NASA shared what its now defunct Insightlander found out about the
1:03.1	Red Planet's insights.
1:04.9	In a study published in science, researchers reported on data from the seismometer that
1:09.3	insight placed on Mars's surface in 2018.
1:12.6	By 2022, when the mission ended, the seismometer had recorded more than 1,300 Mars quakes.
1:19.6	Because of quake, seismic waves behaved differently based on what kinds of material they're passing through,
1:24.6	the shakeups allowed scientists to study the planet's core,
1:28.2	mantle, and crust. According to the new study, the Martian mantle is full of large lumps,
1:34.0	some as big as 2.5 miles across. The researchers think they're seeing the rocky remains of
1:39.9	ancient collisions between Mars and errant space objects. They say some of those impacts generated
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