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Welcome to the Scientific American podcast Science Talk, posted on December 11th, 2011. I’m Steve Mirsky. Rumors are flying about the search for the long-sought Higgs boson at Europe’s Large Hadron Collider

The English language is not especially kind to rats. We say we "smell a rat" when something doesn't feel right, refer to stressful competition as the "rat race," and scorn traitors who "rat on" friends

It’s hard to feel a sense of urgency about climate change--it feels so slow. Well, try telling that to the critters dealing with it. Because new data suggest that the climate will change more than 100 times faster than the rate at which species can adapt

Some of the start-ups that made the list are no-brainers. Others might have you scratching your head.

Gossip can act as a useful social shortcut--it lets you know whom to avoid without your having to learn a person’s faults the hard way. And gossip may also influence whether you notice someone in the first place, according to a study published in Science on June 17. To test whether gossip affects visual awareness, psychologist Lisa Feldman Barrett of Northeastern University and her collaborators took advantage of a phenomenon called binocular rivalry.

The March 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake that decimated Japan and its Fukushima nuclear reactors with a monster tsunami altered the seafloor off the country’s eastern coast much more than scientists had thought. Analysis released today in the journal Science indicates the ocean bed moved as much as 50 meters laterally and 16 meters vertically. The magnitude 9.0 quake occurred close to the nearby Japan Trench that runs north to south in the Pacific Ocean (dark blue line on the map below).

Popular Science, 1936. Bull with single horn is modern unicorn

Nearly one metric ton of hardware will land on Mars in about nine months' time, uncurl its limbs, and start rolling around in the name of science. Designing something like Curiosity isn't easy. Around August 6, 2012, a spacecraft will reach Mars' surface after a nine-month journey from Earth

The notoriously reclusive Alan Moore talks with us about Harvey Pekar’s influence, quantum physics, Frank Miller’s rant, why he usually avoids the Internet, and his unprecedented videoconference to raise Kickstarter cash for a Pekar memorial statue. Alan Moore authored what many consider the seminal graphic novel of the 20th century, Watchmen.

On 26th November 2011 at 15:02 , NASA launched its Mars Science Laboratory mission.

For those who can't read what it says on the trophy (i.e. everyone): "Royal College of Science Union, Science Challenge 2011, Imperial College Physics Prize, Kelly Oakes". Basically, I won a thing.

Physicists from the University of Stuttgart show the first experimental proof of a molecule consisting of two identical atoms that exhibits a permanent electric dipole moment.

NIMS and the University of Queensland Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis, the Dalian Polytechnic University, and the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, clarified for the first time the cluster structure which has an extremely large effect on the long-term stability of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) for independent distributed power generation.

Oxygen has been thought to be a benefit to good health ever since Jules Verne envisioned the concept in his 1870 book, Around the Moon, in which the science fiction writer described rooms full of oxygen where those with weakened immune systems could go to be rejuvenated. It took more ...

Naomi Oreskes is a science historian, professor at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author (with Erik Conway) of "Merchants of Doubt," a book that examined how a handful of scientists obscure the facts on a range of issues, including tobacco use and climate change.