News Round Up: Algal Threats, An Asteroid With Life's Building Blocks And Bee Maps

Short Wave

NPR

Science, Life Sciences, News, Nature, Daily News, Astronomy

4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 24 March 2023

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

After reading the science headlines this week, we have A LOT of questions. Why did the Virgin Islands declare a state of emergency over a large blob of floating algae? What can a far-off asteroid tell us about the origins of life? Is the ever-popular bee waggle dance not just for directions to the hive but a map?

Luckily, it's the job of the Short Wave team to decipher the science behind the day's news. This week, co-host Aaron Scott, Scientist in Residence Regina G. Barber and science correspondent Geoff Brumfield are on the case. Buckle up as we journey beyond the headlines and sail out to sea, blast off to space and then find our way home with the help of some dancing bees!

Have suggestions for what we should cover in our next news round up? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:04.6	Hey Shortwaveers Regina Barber here.
0:07.8	With Aaron Scott and Jeff Brumfield.
0:10.5	And today we're back again to talk about some of the big science news from the last couple
0:14.5	weeks.
0:15.5	We scoured the social media academic journals read up on the headlines for the science
0:20.9	nuggets the Qatar eyes.
0:23.6	So today on the show we've got millions of pounds of algae possibly coming to a beach
0:28.0	near you.
0:29.0	Enjoy it to help you guys to understand the origins of life.
0:32.1	And of course, beads, dancing out messages.
0:35.8	You're listening to Shortwave, the Daily Science Podcast from NPR.
0:39.0	Alright Aaron, I'm in charge.
0:50.4	Yes you are Regina Barber.
0:53.6	Yes you are.
0:54.6	And as the person in charge, I'm deciding you're up first.
0:58.5	What's the news you're bringing to us today?
1:00.5	Okay, so I've got a riddle for both of you.
1:04.0	What weighs more than 10 million pounds stretches out more than 5,000 miles long and rhymes
1:11.3	with ectoplasm?
1:14.6	I don't know actually.
1:17.1	It is actually a giant floating mat of grassy brown algae called sargasm.
	...

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