CastRoller

Scientific American staffers Mark Fischetti and Robin Lloyd talk with podcast host Steve Mirsky (photo left) about sessions they attended--including those about algae for energy, dissecting the astronomy in art and attitudes about climate change--at the recent meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Plus we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Websites related to this episode include www.aaas.org, www.aven.com

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Deborah Blum talks about her new work, The Poisoner's Handbook, a look at how easy it used to be to kill someone with poison and the researchers who made poisoning much harder to get away with. Plus, we'll test your knowledge about some recent science in the news. Web sites related to this episode include blog.deborahblum.com

Mark Shegelski of the University of Northern British Columbia talks with podcast host Steve Mirsky about the physics of curling, currently taking its turn on the world stage at the Vancouver Olympics. (Shegelski is also the author of the new sci-fi collection "Remembering the Future.") Plus, we test your knowledge of some recent science in the news.

Scientific American magaine editor-in-chief Mariette Dichristina talks with podcast host Steve Mirsky (pictured left) about some of the articles in the February issue, including one on the ecosystems that arise around the carcasses of whales that die and fall to the ocean floor: the warfare between our cells, our allied microbes and disease-causing organisms; and ways to improve the internal combustion engine.

Renowned archaeologist Franck Goddio talks about his efforts to recover artifacts from the ancient cities of Alexandria, Heracleion and Canopus, with special attention to discoveries related to Cleopatra and her reign. The exhibit Cleopatra: The Search for the Last Queen of Egypt opens at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia on June 5th. Websites related to this episode include www.underwaterdiscovery.org

Here are four science stories, but only three are true. See if you know which story is TOTALLY BOGUS.

Science Talk correspondent John Pavlus talks with Jon Amiel, director of the new Darwin biography movie Creation, and with Randal Keynes, Darwin's great-great-grandson and one of the film's scriptwriters. Then we'll hear from a few of the exhibitors who spoke to scientificamerican.com's Larry Greenmeier at the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas

Here are four science stories, but only three are true. See if you know which story is TOTALLY BOGUS.

Scientific American magazine editor-in-chief Mariette Dichristina talks about the January issue, including articles on the chances of conditions conducive to life elsewhere in the multiverse and the growing practice of virtual gold farming, in which legions of online game players in developing countries acquire currency in the game that they sell to other players for real money. Websites related to this episode include www.snipurl.com/nobelfrank; www.redcross.org; www.pih.org

Alan Alda, host of the new PBS science series The Human Spark, talks about his experiences as a fictional physican, a real patient and an amateur scientist. Web sites related to this episode include www.pbs.org/humanspark