Graycen and Alison talk about two stories involving soil microbes and earthquakes, and one story involving face masks and pollution. After the break they speak to Giancarlo Bruni about his research on bacterial electrophysiology. Listen here or on iTunes!
After an earthquake, soil sometimes gets so saturated with water that it behaves like a liquid, and there’s a reason we don’t build our buildings and roads on liquids. Fortunately, scientists are using bacteria to keep soil solid.
- Article: Maddie Stone, Vice
Whoa, our cup of seismic activity and microbes runneth over! Alison talks about how a tsunami helped move fungi way father inland than they were supposed to be.
- Article: Matt McGrath, The Beeb (I’ve never heard anybody call it “The Beeb” irl, but it’s always a crossword answer for clues like “British news station, familiarly.” You’re welcome for that hot crossword tip!)
In turns out that face masks might not even be that helpful against pollution and might even give people false confidence in their ability to withstand smog.
- Article: Wei Huang & Lidia Morawska, Nature
Buffs Talk Science 