Paper Boys

Join us this new year as we discuss the best science of 2019 that we never got to present on Paper Boys!

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(WARNING: Do not listen with young children!!) For Christmas Eve, the Paper Boys tackle the everlasting mythos of Santa Claus. Why do parents encourage kids to believe? What reactions do kids have wh…

Jupiter’s moon Europa garners a lot of attention for its potential to house life, particularly thanks to what are predicted to be vast oceans beneath the planet’s icy crust. From past observations ma…

Saturn’s tiny moon Enceladus is of great interest to scientists for its unique features and potential for life. Despite its far distance from the sun, a vast ocean exists under its surface, and geyse…

Food has a big impact on the world. What we eat can drastically affect our health. It can also have major consequences for the environment. But is there any link between the health and environmental …

With winter setting in, it’s easy to wonder why we humans can’t simply hibernate. How is it that animals like bears can simply bypass eating and drinking for such a long time? Join us this week as Ch…

Certain languages have reputations for speaking faster. But, over the same amount of time do these languages actually convey more information than other slower languages? Would a slower, more complex…

With their habitats heavily dependent on sea ice, Emperor penguins are extremely impacted by climate change in Antarctica. The 2015 Paris Climate agreement sought the commitment of nations to keep th…

Cell phones, tablets, home assistants, and even cars are leveraging voice control technology to add convenience to our lives. But are our voice controlled devices at risk for being hacked...by lasers…

In a new paper in Nature, Google recently claimed that they achieved "quantum supremacy," or using a quantum computer to achieve a task that a classical computer could not. However, not everyone agre…

Touch screens are ubiquitous in technology today. We’ve grown very accustomed to using our fingers to tap and swipe our way through most tasks. But what if we could do more…like caress, or even tickl…

Endurance athletes are used to pushing themselves; most people would give up if they attempted similar feats. Does this constant push towards finishing difficult physical goals carry a mental burden …

The 2019 Nobel Prize for Physics was awarded to three researchers whose work significantly advanced our understanding of the universe. Two of the researchers worked together to identify the first exo…

Astronomers have noticed a strange clustering of objects orbiting our solar system very far from the sun. Their grouping suggests that there might be a planet (dubbed “Planet 9”) responsible for this…

The material Vantablack made headlines a few years ago as being the “blackest black” color ever known. People were shocked by how this color would transform shapes, and the material even sparked deep…

Health studies continuously debate the pros and cons of different diets, particularly vegetarian diets vs. carnivorous diets. Will one type of diet lower your risk for certain disease? Could the same…

Talk of intermittent fasting has grown in the news. Some feel intermittent fasting is a new dieting fad, others claim that it’s an amazing technique to improve health and lose weight. But what does t…

Our planet is bombarded with tons of extraterrestrial dust every year. While much of the dust comes from asteroids, some of these particles may have come from supernovas - ancient stars that exploded…

Tracking the productivity and impact of research has always been problematic. Especially in the highly competitive environment of today where hiring and promotions can be tied to a single performance…

For the average person, the words used to describe whiskey can seem strange, if not completely arbitrary. Dignified vs. subtle, austere vs. rich, mouth-coatingly winey...the entire process of tasting…