Return to the audio archives for other publications.
Publication: Scientific American
ALCOHOL IN AMERICAN HISTORY
National binges have alternated with enforced absiences for 200 years, but there may be hope for moderation.
- Topic
- History and Biography
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- David F. Musto
- Publication
- 2002 Scientific American
- Read by
- Deborah Pohrt
- Length
- 23 minutes
AUSTRALIA'S POLAR DINOSAURS
Their excellent night vision and apparent warm blood raise a question...
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas Hewitt Rich
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 21 minutes
CAN THE GROWING HUMAN POPULATION FEED ITSELF?
As human numbers surge toward 10 billion, some experts are alarmed, others optimistic. Who is right?
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- John Bongaarts
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Scott Schuer
- Length
- 25 minutes
CEREBROSPINAL MENINGITIS EPIDEMICS
A debilitating and often deadly disease meningitis remains common in many developing countries. New insights may soon enable us to predict and control outbreaks.
- Topic
- Health and Medicine
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Patrick S. Moore and Claire V. Broome
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 33 minutes
CORAL BLEACHING
Environmental stresses can cause irreparable harm to coral reefs. Unusually high seawater temperatures may be a principal culprit.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Barbara E. Brown and John C. Ogden
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 25 minutes
CREATING FALSE MEMORIES
Researchers are showing how suggestion and imagination can create "memories" of events that did not actually occur.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Elizabeth F. Loftus
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 21 minutes
DIET AND PRIMATE EVOLUTION
Many characteristics of modern primates, including our own species, derive from an early ancestor's practice of taking most of its food from the tropical canopy.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Katharine Milton
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 37 minutes
DYSLEXIA
A new model of this reading disorder emphasizes defects in the language-processing rather than the visual system. It explains why some very smart people have trouble learning to read.
- Topic
- Health and Medicine
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- E. Shaywitz
- Publication
- 1996 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 31 minutes
EARLY ANDEAN CITIES
Some 3,800 years ago Pampa de las Llamas-Moxeke and Taukachi-Konkan were carefully laid-out urban centers that housed many hundreds of people.
- Topic
- History and Biography
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Shelia Pozorski and Thomas Pozorski
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 28 minutes
EGIL'S BONES
An Icelandic saga tells of a Viking who had unusual, menacing features, including a skull that could resist blows from an ax. He probably suffered from an ailment called Paget's disease.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Jesse L. Byock
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- David Zinn
- Length
- 25 minutes
ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE AND VIOLENT CONFLICT
Growing scarcities of renewable resources can contribute to social instability and civil strife.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- H. Boutwell and George W. Rathjens
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 32 minutes
FASTER EVALUATION OF VITAL DRUGS
Traditional clinical trials may delay the availability of lifesaving therapies. Regulators now attempt to balance speed against the risk of errors.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- David A. Kessler and Karyn L. Feiden
- Publication
- 1995 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 31 minutes
ICE AGE LAMPS
The invention of fat-burning lamps toward the end of the Ice Age helped to transform European culture. It coincided with several other major technological advances.
- Topic
- History and Biography
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Sophie A. de Beaune and Randall White
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 23 minutes
KIN RECOGNITION
Many organisms, from sea squirts to primates, can identify their relatives. Understanding how and why they do so has prompted new thinking about the evolution of social behavior.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- David W. Pfennig and Paul W. Sherman
- Publication
- 1995 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 28 minutes
LISE MEITNER AND THE DISCOVERY OF NUCLEAR FISSION
One of the discoverers of fission in 1938, Meitner was at the time overlooked by the Nobel judges. Racial persecution, fear and opportunism combined to obscure her contributions.
- Topic
- History and Biography
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Ruth Lewin Sime
- Publication
- 1998 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 22 minutes
MAKING RICE DISEASE-RESISTANT
For the first time, scientists have used genetic engineering to protect this essential crop from disease.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Pamela C. Ronald
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 20 minutes
MANIC-DEPRESSIVE ILLNESS AND CREATIVITY
Does some fine madness plague great artists? Several studies now show that creativity and mood disorders are linked.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Redfield Jamison
- Publication
- 1995 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 21 minutes
MONOGAMY AND THE PRAIRIE VOLE
Studies of the prairie vole--a secretive, mouselike animal--have revealed hormones that may be responsible for monogamous behavior.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- C. Sue Carter and Lowell L. Getz
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 28 minutes
OUT OF AFRICA AGAIN...AND AGAIN
Africa is the birthplace of humanity. But how many human species evolved there? And when did they emigrate?
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Ian Tattersall
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Steve Easter
- Length
- 28 minutes
P.A.M. DIRAC AND THE BEAUTY OF PHYSICS
He preferred the beautiful theory to the fact-buttressed ugly one because, as he noted, facts change. He proved his point by predicting the existence of antimatter.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Hovis and Helge Kragh
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 29 minutes
SINGLE MOTHERS AND WELFARE
For the first time since the Great Depression, large numbers of families are homeless. Recent welfare revisions will put even more women and children on the streets.
- Topic
- Politics and Public Issues
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Ellen L. Bassuk, Angela Browne and John C. Buckner
- Publication
- 1996 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 26 minutes
THE AGING OF THE HUMAN SPECIES
Our species has modified the evolutionary forces that have always limited life expectancy. Policymakers must consequently prepare to meet the needs of a population that will soon be much older.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Olshansky, Bruce A. Carnes and Christine K. Cassel
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 34 minutes
THE ALUMINIUM BEVERAGE CAN
Produced by the hundreds of millions every day, the modern can--robust enough to support the weight of an average adult--is a tribute to precision design and engineering.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- William F. Hosford and John L. Duncan
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 22 minutes
THE DEATH CULTS OF PREHISTORIC MALTA
New archaeological excavations reveal that as the ancient island societies suffered from environmental decline, they developed an extreme religious preoccupation with life and death.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Bonanno, Tancred Gouder, Simon Stoddart and David Trump
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 29 minutes
THE EVOLUTION OF THE UNIVERSE
Some 15 billion years ago the universe emerged from a hot, dense sea of matter and energy. As the cosmos expanded and cooled, it spawned galaxies, stars, planets and life.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- P. James E. Peebles, David N. Schramm, Edwin L. Turner and Richard G. Kron
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Andy Kader
- Length
- 27 minutes
THE FERTILITY DECLINE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Family size is decreasing in many Third World countries. The reasons provide the key to slowing population growth.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Bryant Robey, Shea O. Rutstein and Leo Morris
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 32 minutes
THE GREAT RADIUM SCANDAL
William J. A. Bailey grew rich from his radium-laced patent medicine until it killed a leading socialite. The scandal helped to usher in modern standards of radioisotope regulation.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Roger M. Macklis
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Mary Roth
- Length
- 31 minutes
THE NEUROBIOLOGY OF DEPRESSION
The search for biological underpinnings of depression is intensifying. Emerging findings promise to yield better therapies for a disorder that too often proves fatal.
- Topic
- Health and Medicine
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Charles B. Nemeroff
- Publication
- 1998 Scientific American
- Read by
- Steve Easter
- Length
- 38 minutes
THE PHILADELPHIA YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC OF 1793
One of the first major epidemics of the disease in the U. S., it devastated America's early capital. It also had lasting repercussions for the city and country.
- Topic
- History and Biography
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- F. Jenkins and Anna Coxe Toogood.
- Publication
- 1998 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 26 minutes
THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
New research uncovers some anti-intuitive insights into how many people are happy--and why.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- David G. Myers and Ed Diener
- Publication
- 1996 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 11 minutes
THE SCIENCE OF MURPHY'S LAW
Life's little annoyances are not as random as they see
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Robert A. J. Matthews
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Richard Wilson
- Length
- 14 minutes
WILLIAMS SYNDROME AND THE BRAIN
To gain fresh insights into how the brain is organized investigators are turning to a little known disorder.
- Topic
- Health and Medicine
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Howard M. Lenoff Paul P. Wang Frank Greenberg and Ursula Bellugi
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 30 minutes
ZINC FINGERS
They play a key part in regulating the activity of genes in many species, from yeast to humans. Fewer than 10 years ago no one knew they existed.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Daniela Rhodes and Aaron Klug
- Publication
- 1993 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 33 minutes
THE TAPESTRY OF POWER IN A MESOPOTAMIAN CITY
Mashkan-shapir was for a brief time one of the most important cities in the civilized world. Its remains challenge traditional notions of power distribution in early urban society.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Publication
- 1995 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 23 minutes
ASBESTOS REVISITED
Once considered safe enough to use in toothpaste, the unique substance has intrigued people for more than 2,000 years.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- James E. Allman and Brooke T. Mossman
- Publication
- 1997 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 24 minutes
DAILY LIFE IN ANCIENT EGYPT
Workmen and their families lived some 3,000 years ago in the village now known as Deir el-Medina. Written records from the unusually well educated community offer fascinating descriptions of everyday activities.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Andrea G. McDowell
- Publication
- 1996 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 16 minutes
STRING THEORISTS FIND A ROSETTA STONE
"To get out of a bad situation, you must pass through the depths of an abyss."
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Gary Taubes
- Publication
- 2000 Scientific American
- Read by
- John Caraher
- Length
- 26 minutes
THE ELOQUENT BONES OF ABU HUREYRA
The daily grind in an early Near Eastern agricultural community left revealing marks on the skeletons of the inhabitants.
- Topic
- Science and Technology
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Theya Molleson
- Publication
- 1994 Scientific American
- Read by
- Melissa Stewart
- Length
- 21 minutes
THE ADDICTED BRAIN
Drug abuse produces long-term changes in the reward ciruitry of the brain.
- Topic
- Health and Medicine
- Play
- in
MP3
- Author
- Eric J. Nestler and Robert C. Malenka
- Publication
- 2004 Scientific American
- Read by
- Steve Easter
- Length
- 25 minutes