Will your family turn you into a chatbot after you die? Plus, synthetic squid skin, and the sway of matriarchs in ancient Anatolia

Science Magazine Podcast

Science Podcast

News Commentary, News, Science

4.2 • 791 Ratings

🗓️ 26 June 2025

⏱️ 43 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

First up on the podcast, Contributing Correspondent Andrew Curry joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss a pair of Science papers on kinship and culture in Neolithic Anatolia. The researchers used ancient DNA and isotopes from 8000 to 9000 years ago to show how maternal lines were important in Çatalhöyük culture. ● E. Yüncü et al., Female lineages and changing kinship patterns in Neolithic Çatalhöyük, 2025 ● D. Koptekin et al., Out-of-Anatolia: Cultural and genetic interactions during the Neolithic expansion in the Aegean, 2025 Next on the show, researchers were able to make a synthetic material that changes color in the same way squids do. Georgii Bogdanov, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, talks about how his lab was able to discover the subcellular arrangement of proteins in the squid cells and mimic this structure synthetically using titanium dioxide deposition. Finally, the latest book in our series on science and death. Books host Angela Saini talks with Tamara Kneese about her book Death Glitch: How Techno-Solutionism Fails Us in This Life and Beyond and whether our families can turn us into chatbots after we die. This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy. About the Science Podcast Authors: Sarah Crespi; Andrew Curry; Angela Saini Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This podcast is supported by the Icon School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the academic arm of the Mount Sinai Health System in New York City, and one of America's leading research medical schools.
0:11.1	What are researchers on heart health working on to transform patient care and prolong lives?
0:16.6	Find out in a special supplement to Science magazine prepared by the Icon School of Medicine
0:21.4	at Mount Sinai in partnership with science. Visit our website at www.combe.combe.com
0:26.4	to science.org and search for Frontiers of Medical Research, dash heart. The icon school
0:32.7	of medicine in Mount Sinai, We find a way.
0:43.5	This is a science podcast for June 26, 2025. I'm Sarah Crespi. First up this week,
0:48.5	contributing correspondent Andrew Curry's here, and we talk about how researchers used ancient DNA to show the importance of maternal family ties in Chattel Huah. That's Neolithic Turkey 9,000 years ago.
0:57.2	Next on the show, researchers were able to make a synthetic material that changes color the same
1:02.6	way that squids do. Researcher Georgie Bagdanoff joins me to talk about how his lab was able to
1:08.8	discover the subcellular arrangement of proteins
1:11.8	in squid cells and then mimic that pattern synthetically.
1:16.3	Finally, we hear about the latest book in our series on science and death.
1:20.4	Books host Angela Saney talks with Tamara Nice about her book, Death Glitch,
1:25.1	how techno-solutionism fails Us in This Life and Beyond.
1:31.8	Chattelhoek is a Neolithic settlement in Turkey, dating back 9,000 years. This ancient place was
1:38.9	occupied for about 2,000 years and has been well studied by archaeologists. This week,
1:43.8	contributing correspondent
1:44.8	Andrew Curry wrote about what ancient DNA from this place brings to the picture. Hi, Andrew.
1:50.2	Welcome back to the science podcast. Hi, thanks. Yeah. So have you been to this place before?
1:55.7	Yeah, I was there in 2017. It's pretty incredible. I think since I was there, they've built a big new museum and
2:03.0	visitor center. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. But the excavation itself is massive.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

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