Tag Archives: Reviews

Previews: London Review Of Books – March 24, 2022

Preview: Times Literary Supplement – March 18

Science: Scanning Sewage For Covid-19, Pandemic Questions, Future Threats

First up, Contributing Correspondent Gretchen Vogel joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss what scientists have learned from scanning sewage for COVID-19 RNA. And now that so many wastewater monitoring stations are in place—what else can we do with them? 

Next, we have researcher Katia Koelle, an associate professor of biology at Emory University. She wrote a review on the evolving epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2: What have been the most important questions from epidemiologists over the course of the pandemic, and how can they help us navigate future pandemic threats?

Check out the full COVID-19 retrospective issue on lessons learned from the pandemic.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

[Image: Stephan Schmitz/Folio Art; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: partially constructed bridge over water filled with giant SARS-CoV-2 viral particles]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Gretchen Vogel

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adb1867

Cover Preview: Science Magazine – March 11

Preview: New Scientist Magazine – March 12

COVER STORIES

  • FEATURES Martin Rees interview: Elon Musk could spawn the first post-humans
  • FEATURES Creatures living in our cities are evolving in some surprising ways
  • FEATURES Middle-age spread isn’t down to metabolism, but we know how to beat it

Cover Preview: Nature Magazine – March 10

Science: 2021 Top ‘Flash Fiction’ Short Stories

Science: Nuclear War Threat, Climate Change, Coronavirus Origins

As the war in Ukraine intensifies, Vladimir Putin raised Russia’s nuclear readiness level. The team discusses what this means about the likelihood of nuclear war. They also explore the unfolding humanitarian crisis in the country.

The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is out, and it focuses on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. We hear from Swenja Surminski, head of adaptation research at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.

New studies into the start of the coronavirus pandemic are confirming what we’ve long suspected – that the virus originated at the Huanan food market in Wuhan. The team discusses the latest findings.

Moles – the animals that make holes in your lawn – are non-binary. Just one of a number of amazing facts to come out of the new book ‘BITCH: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution & the Female Animal’. Hear from the author Lucy Cooke, who is challenging the sexist basis of much of the thinking about female animals. 

Stonehenge may have been built as a giant calendar. Though the claim itself isn’t new, the team explores a new theory from the archaeologist Tim Darvill which explains how it would’ve worked.