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The Cause of Depression Is Probably Not What You Think

January 26, 2023

Depression has often been blamed on low levels of serotonin in the brain. That answer is insufficient, but alternatives are coming into view and changing our understanding of the disease.

What Causes Alzheimer’s? Scientists Are Rethinking the Answer.

December 8, 2022

After decades in the shadow of the reigning model for Alzheimer’s disease, alternative explanations are finally getting the attention they deserve.

How Genes Can Leap From Snakes to Frogs in Madagascar

October 27, 2022

The discovery of a hot spot for horizontal gene transfer draws attention to the possible roles of parasites and ecology in such changes.

Biologists Use Genetic Circuits to Program Plant Roots

September 28, 2022

Using inserted genetic circuitry, synthetic biologists controlled the growth of plant roots for the first time.

Why Do We Get Old, and Can Aging Be Reversed?

July 27, 2022

Everybody gets older, but not everyone ages in the same way. In this episode, Steven Strogatz speaks with Judith Campisi and Dena Dubal, two biomedical researchers who study the aging process.

How Could Life Evolve From Cyanide?

June 1, 2022

How did life arise on Earth? Steven Strogatz speaks with the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Jack Szostak and Betül Kaçar, a paleogeneticist and astrobiologist, to explore our best understanding of how we all got here.

Why Is Inflammation a Dangerous Necessity?

April 20, 2022

The immune system protects us from a full spectrum of pathogens, but without balance, it can end up hurting us over time, too. The immunologist Shruti Naik explains how our defenses can turn on us.

In Sexy Worms, Inheritance Beyond Genes Can Help Evolution

April 19, 2022

Traits from RNA molecules passed between multiple generations of worms can work with genetic changes to influence future evolution.

Deep Curiosity Inspires The Joy of Why Podcast

March 17, 2022

The noted mathematician and author Steven Strogatz explains how the conversations with experts in his new Quanta Magazine podcast address his lifelong fascination with timeless mysteries.

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