Science Vs

Fitness buffs online can’t stop raving about creatine. They say it is THE supplement to get you shredded in no time — and that it can even boost your brain and memory too. Are they right? We dive into the science of creatine and talk to anatomy Professor Darryn Willoughby, physicist Dr. Ali Gordji-Nejad, and psychology researcher Julia Fabienne Sandkühler.



Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsCreatine



In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) The hype around creatine

(02:40) How creatine builds muscle

(08:41) Are the gains all muscle? 

(17:23) Does creatine help with sleep deprivation? 

(22:10) Does creatine boost cognition?

(27:05) Is creatine safe?



This episode was produced by Michelle Dang, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact checking by Marlowe Starling. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, So Wylie, Peter Leonard, Bumi Hidaka and Bobby Lord. A special thanks to the researchers we reached out to, including Dr. Imtiaz Desai and Prof. Phil Chilibeck. Thanks to Larry Lee and Lee Physical Therapy & Wellness.



Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications. 
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This year there was huge news when scientists at the company called Collosal brought back the dire wolf! Some say these cute, white pups are not really dire wolves, but that didn't stop a huge media buzz. One of the wolves even made the cover of TIME Magazine … with the line "He's a dire wolf. The first to exist in 10,000 years. Endangered species could be changed forever." 

So, what exactly is going on here? Who is this company? And, is this a good idea or could it have dire consequences??  

This story comes to us from our friends at Vox's Today, Explained.

Transcript: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsTodayExplainedDireWolves 

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Meet the pups

(02:06) Did we really bring back the dire wolf?

(14:34) Should we be doing this? 

This episode was produced by Devan Schwartz, edited by Jolie Myers, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Andrea Kristinsdottir and Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Sean Rameswaram.

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Strange things have been happening to science in the US. An executive order is freezing research, a website with once scientific information now looks kinda like it's advertising a reality show … even milkshakes have been caught in the fray. Milkshakes! On top of this, research projects studying everything from vaccine hesitancy to Covid-19 to climate change have been cut. The Trump administration says that a big reason for the cuts is to stop government waste and boost the economy. Today on the show: What is going on with science in the US right now, and will these cuts ultimately help the economy? To find out, we talk to Nature reporter Max Kozlov, virologist Dr. Seema Lakdawala and economist Professor Andrew Fieldhouse. 

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsWarKeepsRaging

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) A Science Milkshake Up

(08:04) Research on the Chopping Block

(12:15) How the NIH Justifies Cuts

(15:11) 25 million lives on the line

(16:48) When Nerds Fight Back

(24:46) ‘Dangerous’ Gain-of-Function Research Frozen

(27:27 ) Does Science Boost the Economy?

(36:05) Losing a Science Superpower?

This episode was produced by Wendy Zukerman, with help from Meryl Horn, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Fact Checking by Sam Lemonick. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Emma Munger, Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, So Wiley and Bobby Lord. Thanks to Maya Golden-Krasner, Deputy Director at the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity – who you heard at the beginning of the show, saying this is just a daily stream of nightmare news, and also thank you Dr Shaye Wolf. Special thanks to Lindsey Cherner and Whitney Potter.
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Bird flu has been in the headlines for ages, with scientists warning that we could be headed for a pandemic. But we’ve been hearing about this H5N1 virus for so long that it’s kind of starting to feel like the boy who cried wolf. So — what’s really going on with H5N1 bird flu? How scary is it, and how likely is it that we’re going to end up in a bird flu pandemic? We talk to virologists Dr. Seema Lakdawala and Dr. Richard Webby. 

Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/ScienceVsBirdFlu 

(00:00) Tons of people are freaked out about H5N1 bird flu

(03:38) Why H5N1 bird flu is scary

(05:01) Birds are falling out of the sky dead

(07:32) Things get weird when bird flu gets into mammals

(18:34) What happens when humans start getting this bird flu

(23:26) Is bird flu mutating?

(29:11) Should I worry about bird flu?

(30:50) Do we have anything to fight bird flu?

(32:14) We have had some silent cases of bird flu already

This episode was produced by Blythe Terrell, with help from Wendy Zukerman, Michelle Dang, Rose Rimler, Meryl Horn and Ekedi Fausther-Keeys. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell with help from Wendy Zukerman. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord and Sam Bair. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Music written by Bumi Hidaka, Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, So Wylie, and Bobby Lord. Thanks so much to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode, including Dr. Louise Moncla, Dr. Ted Elsasser, Dr. John Korslund, Victoria Rosado and Lindsey Adams. Thanks to Jeff DelViscio.

Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications.
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Headlines are screaming that we have tons of microplastics in our brains — the equivalent of an entire plastic spoon. OK, that sounds terrifying, but is it true? We talk to chemist Prof. Oliver Jones. 



Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/PlasticSpoonBrain 



In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) A plastic spoon’s worth of microplastics?!

(05:21) Something dodgy here?

(17:39) So how much plastic is in our bodies, really?



This episode was produced by Rose Rimler, with help from Wendy Zukerman, along with Ekedi Fausther-Keeys, Meryl Horn, and Michelle Dang. We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Fact checking by San Lemonick. Music written by Peter Leonard, Emma Munger, So Wylie, Bumi Hidaka, and Bobby Lord. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to for this episode, including Dr. Roger Kuhlman, Prof. Martin Wagner, Dr. Elke Fischer, Dr. Marie-France Dignac, and Rachel Kozloski. 

Science Vs is a Spotify Studios Original. Listen for free on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. Follow us and tap the bell for episode notifications.


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