Shark Sounds, Molecules on Mars and Continued Federal Cuts

Science Quickly

Scientific American

Science

4.4 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 31 March 2025

⏱️ 8 minutes

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Summary

Long-chain alkanes discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover point to the possibility that there may have been fatty acids on Mars—and that they could have come from past microbial life. Paleontologists have found a huge dinosaur claw that was probably made for foraging, not fighting. Researchers studying ocean life have recorded the sounds of sharks and the tricks of cuttlefish. Plus, cuts to jobs and funding for U.S. federal science and health agencies continued last week. Tens of thousands of federal workers are on the chopping block, as is funding for COVID testing, vaccinations and equity initiatives. Recommended reading: Scientists Record First Known Shark Sounds https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-record-first-known-shark-sounds/ HHS’s Long COVID Office Is Closing. What Will This Mean for Future Research and Treatments? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hhss-long-covid-office-is-closing-what-will-this-mean-for-future-research/ E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com 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

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0:36.4	Happy Monday listeners.
0:38.3	For Scientific American Science quickly, I'm Rachel Feldman.
0:41.6	Let's kick off the week and wrap up the month with a quick roundup of the latest science news.
0:52.5	We're going to eliminate an entire alphabet soup of departments and agencies.
0:58.2	Last Thursday, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced plans to cut 10,000 full-time jobs across the department.
1:05.6	And another 10,000 individuals have already accepted voluntary retirements and buyouts.
1:12.2	The new layoffs will hit the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of
1:17.2	Health, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Twenty-eight great divisions will become
1:22.9	15. The entire federal workforce is downsizing now, so this will be a painful period for HHS as we downsize from
1:31.6	82,000 full-time employees to around 62,000.
1:36.6	HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in a statement that the aim of these cuts is to save
1:41.8	money and boost efficiency.
1:49.1	Meanwhile, last week, the Trump administration also moved to cancel more than $12 billion in federal grant funding to state and local health departments.
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