The Poetry of Science

This episode explores new research, which has found that toxic chemicals from microplastics can be absorbed through skin. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Plastic: A Personal History’ by Elizabeth Bradfield here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that Africa’s flamingos are threatened by rising lake levels. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Flamingo Watching’ by Kay Ryan here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that four in five bird species cannot tolerate intense human pressures. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘The Birds’ by Linda Pastan here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that common water pollutants cause heart damage in fish. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Water Devil’ by Jamaal May here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that signs of life could be detectable in single ice grains that are emitted from extraterrestrial moons. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Ten Moons’ by Sasha Dugdale here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has used ancient tree rings to reconstruct the climate records of North China. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Trees’ by Mark Haddon here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that fishing for oil and meat drives deepwater shark and ray decline. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Sharks at the New York Aquarium’ by Charles Martin here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that deforestation exacerbates the risk of malaria for the most vulnerable children. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Mosquito Music’ by Philip Gross here --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that cloud clustering causes more extreme rain. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'Clouds' by Caroline Forché here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has looked to neutron stars to reduce nuclear waste. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Near the Desert Test Sites (Palm Desert, California)’ by Sherod Santos here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has detected the faint light of stellar corpses beside predator stars. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Stars’ by Marjorie Pickthall here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that climate change likely triggered pandemics in antiquity. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'Return to Rome' by Stanley Moss here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found confirmation of an ancient lake on Mars. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Here’s Mars’ by William H. Dickey here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that Alpine glaciers will lose at least a third of their volume by 2050. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Exit Glacier’ by Peggy Shumaker here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has discovered an Earth-sized planet in ‘our solar backyard’. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'The Planet' by Josephine Jacobsen here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has revealed the mysterious missing component in the clouds of Venus. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Venus’ By D. Nurkse here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that particulate matter affects both the molecular functions and physical shape of lung cells. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'The Orange Alert' by Douglas Kearney here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has found that vulnerable populations face flood risk in most African countries. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'Drought' by Tsitsi Ella Jaji here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has measured the distance to stars by their music. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read 'Music of the Spheres' by Robert Morgan here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth

This episode explores new research, which has suggested that it’s time to declare a new epoch on the moon, the 'Lunar Anthropocene'. --- Read this episode’s science poem here. Read the scientific study that inspired it here. Read ‘Moon’ by Amy E. Sklansky here. --- Music by Rufus Beckett. --- Follow Sam on social media and send in any questions or comments for the podcast: Email: sam.illingworth@gmail.com X: @samillingworth