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This is a science podcast for February 26, 2026.

I'm Sarah Crespi.

First up, producer Megan Cantwell talks to contributing correspondent Warren Cornwall

about his visit to Brazil, where he observed firsthand what it takes to understand

why bird populations in the Amazon and beyond are shrinking.

Next on the show, researcher Raouf Belkir discusses his science advances paper on a newly refined

way to map awake patients' brains during neurosurgery.

Tropical forests are places teeming with life and sound. But if you know what to listen for,

there have been some worrying changes to this sonic landscape. I'm Megan Cantwell here with contributing correspondent Warren Cornwall, who explored what's driving this mysterious bird decline

in what seemed like otherwise pristine tropical forests. Thank you so much for joining me, Warren.

Thanks. Good to be here. So I wanted to start with just talking about your trip to Brazil for this story. Beforehand going in, you sort of knew, obviously, that you weren't going to hear as many bird songs. Do you think you would have noticed if you kind of didn't know going in? No. And in the place where I was, it's not like the forest have gone silent, right?

Like there's still a tremendous amount of noise. People have probably either read or heard of Silent Spring, Rachel Carson's famous book. She was talking about pesticides and the effects

that they were having on ecosystems. But she told the story through the idea that

noisy life was going away.

And while perhaps not as dramatic as pesticide-induced loss, I think scientists in these

areas are concerned that they are seeing sort of a replay of that.

...