Dare to Know

Wishful thinking, or dismissing beliefs that make us uncomfortable, even if they’re true, is a common human weakness. Find out how a new study examined how we tend to avoid thinking about negative consequences and how we can learn to manage this familiar tendency. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Ice cap melting is one of many adverse results of global warming and climate change. Find out how the flow of meltwater from Earth’s poles to its equator is affecting our planet’s rotation rate and how our atomic clocks measure time. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

The Milky Way’s origins have puzzled scientists since we first realized its one of countless galaxies in our universe. Find out how scientists have applied information from the Gaia Space Observatory and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey to uncover two of our galaxy’s earliest star streams. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Memory has puzzled scholars since the dawn of civilization. Find out how new research shows that spacing out study periods, along with varying the context of the item we’re trying to remember, improves our memories. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Bumblebee hives can provide fascinating insights into animal behaviour in groups. Find out how a new study suggests that bees can learn complex, multi-step tasks through social interaction. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Odysseus is the name of the first American spacecraft to land on the moon in 52 years. Find out how its missions succeeded despite enduring and overcoming some demanding challenges and setbacks. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Robots with AI (artificial intelligence) are emerging as developers combine large language models (LLMS) with autonomous devices. Find out why they’re discovering that it takes far more than linguistic skills to replicate basic human abilities. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Migratory species are the subject of a new report presented at the United Nations this week. Find out why populations of migratory animals are declining, and what scientists recommend to conserve and sustain these threatened species and their habitats. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Black holes and galaxies existed together during the first one percent of our universe’s existence. Find out why this upends conventional thinking on how stars, galaxies and black holes formed after the Big Bang. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Brain cells have a remarkable capacity to organize themselves. Find out how a new study explains the strikingly simple networking processes behind these vital connections. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

White rhino extinction has reached the point where there are only two of the animals left on Earth. Find out how a team of veterinarians and conservationists has found a way to rescue this species using in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Artemis II is NASA's planned, crewed mission to return to the moon. Find out why NASA has rescheduled the space flight and the delay’s implications for an eventual crewed lunar landing. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Cultural evolution refers to the way humans create tools and social systems to adapt to and shape their environments. Find out how the tension between our cooperative and competitive natures may be preventing us from solving the ecological crisis humanity faces. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Photosynthesis evolution remains a mystery to biologists. Find out how a new study sheds light on our understanding of this critical organic process by pushing the timeline of its origins back by over a billion years. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

A military space plane called the Boeing X-37B blasted off from the Kennedy Space Center this week. Find out more about its secretive mission, and why it creates unnecessary tension between the United States and China. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Prehistoric herders in the high mountains kept small, diverse animal herds. Find how a new study reveals that their animal husbandry practices were far more sophisticated than previously thought. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

COP 28 was a UN conference on climate change that wrapped up this week. Find out why many observers believe the results don’t go far enough and that the parties’ commitments are too vague to seriously address the climate crisis. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

The heaviest chemical elements in the universe come from neutron stars. Find out how a new study shows that this process creates heavier atoms than anything we experience on Earth. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

Our sense of smell is often overlooked when we consider the tidal wave of artificial intelligence applications. Find out how a new machine-learning model can predict how a new chemical compound will smell without involving humans. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message

COP 28 is the upcoming UN conference on climate change. Find out why the mood leading into this global gathering is a blend of frustration, scepticism and just a faint trace of wary hope. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/david-morton-rintoul/message