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Ask Us Anything by Popular Science: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Popular Science
Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Join our editors as they explain it all, with new episodes every other Wednesday. Submit a question for a future episode at https://popsci.com/ask
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 1 weeks ago18 min
How did airplane seats get SO small?
Welcome back to our show! PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert had a little time off, but they return to figure out just how passengers ended up with barely enough room on airplanes for bodies to fit, and what it might mean for passenger safety. Read the Popular Science story that inspired the episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-airline-seats-so-small/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 25, 202616 min
Why are most people right handed?
We're talking hands, and that's no jive, as PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert gesture wildly through a conversation about why roughly 90% of humans have right-hand dominance. Also a special conversation with archaeologist Dr. Anna Goldfield about right and left-handedness in humanity's ancient ancestors. Read the Popular Science story that inspired the episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/why-are-most-people-right-handed/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Jun 10, 202617 min
What makes childhood summers last forever?
It's summer and the days are just packed, as PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert dig deep through their memories to figure out why summers stretched seemingly forever as kids, but go by in a flash as adults. Read the Popular Science story that inspired the episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/why-childhood-summers-felt-longer/ Learn all about cognitive offloading, the good and the bad: https://www.popsci.com/health/how-documenting-everything-changes-your-brain-cognitive-offloading/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- May 28, 202621 min
Is real-life storm chasing like the movies?
You've seen Twister AND Twisters, now let PopSci Editors Sarah Durn and Laura Baisas clue you into what storm chasing is life in the real world, through an eye-opening conversation with meteorologist, storm chaser and author Cyrena Arnold, who's also host of the Storm Front Freaks Podcast. Read the full story that inspired this episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/real-storm-chasers-tornadoes/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- May 13, 202615 min
How do airplane toilets work?
There's more than a little bathroom talk in this episode, as PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and News Editor Laura Baisas laugh and learn all the ins, outs, and ugly secrets of airplane toilets. Read the Popular Science story that inspired the episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/how-do-airplane-toilets-work/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Apr 30, 202615 min
How come some birds talk like people?
So many shouting and singing birds in this episode, as PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert flap their way to an explanation for why birds learn to mimic human speech. Read the Popular Science story that inspired the episode: https://www.popsci.com/environment/why-birds-talk/ Learn more about how parrots use names to talk to each other: https://www.popsci.com/environment/parrots-using-names/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Apr 16, 202618 min
Why can't we remember being babies?
Plumbing the depths of their childhood memories, PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert explain why almost no humans remember infancy or early childhood. Read the Popular Science story that inspired this episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/why-dont-i-remember-being-a-baby-study/ If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
- Mar 31, 202617 min
How come only modern humans need braces?
Chomping right through the history of orthodontics and human bone development, PopSci Editor Sarah Durn and Editor-in-Chief Annie Colbert investigate why human ancestors never needed braces, but so many modern humans do. Read the Popular Science story that inspired this episode: https://www.popsci.com/science/why-need-braces/ And make sure you check out our guests Erin & Erin on their show This Podcast Will Kill You: https://thispodcastwillkillyou.com If you have a question for a future episode, go to https://popsci.com/ask Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
About Ask Us Anything by Popular Science
Popular Science answers your most outlandish, mind-burning questions—from the everyday things you’ve always wondered to the bizarre things you never thought to ask. Join our editors as they explain it all, with new episodes every other Wednesday. Submit a question for a future episode at https://popsci.com/ask
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