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Science is useful, but its usefulness isn't always obvious. In this podcast we dive deep into scientific research to figure out how the science was done, what was discovered, and how you can use it to improve your life.
A gift pen gets a field experiment; your hunches may need to show their work.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A grounded conversation about climate anxiety, extreme weather, and the future of Olympic winter games.
Climate change comes through as both a mental-health issue and a practical challenge for winter sports. Debra DeGioia-Brunat begins with climate anxiety, looking at how extreme weather can leave people with more worry and a sharper sense of risk.
A measured sleep-science discussion that connects infection risk, alcohol studies, work hours, and the uneasy routines around rest.
Useful Science frames sleep as both a basic bodily need and something modern life keeps complicating, linking it to viral infection, sleep deprivation, climate change, and fixed work hours. The re-release gives the episode a little extra hindsight, as Jamie K.
A small, accessible look at how dogs, gifts, and closeness shape everyday connection.
Useful Science looks at two ordinary kinds of connection: the happiness people associate with dogs, and what a practical gift can say socially.
A grounded look at why healthcare fatigue needs safeguards beyond hour limits alone.
Fatigue in healthcare is framed as a workplace risk issue, with the conversation focused on how tired workers function during shifts and what systems can do about it.
Physics, skepticism, and science culture in argument.
Practitioners on the craft of getting research heard.
Debra cites a 339-person survey and says only 13 of 21 winter-host cities remain viable in the 2050s under low emissions.
Sleeping less than six hours a night made volunteers 4.5 times more likely to catch a cold after rhinovirus 39 exposure.
A University of Toronto meta-analysis of 10 studies found dog owners had 24% lower all-cause mortality and 31% lower cardiovascular death.
"There was a seminal moment": Libby Zion's March 1, 1984 case led to 80-hour limits.
Useful Science hosts Ian Mahar, Debra Adidoja, and Cameron Spencer examine racial disparities in medicine through esophageal cancer surgery and concussion education among NCAA athletes.
This episode examines recent studies on the health effects of red meat consumption, explaining the science behind the research and its practical implications.
The hosts discuss a viral claim about women needing more sleep than men, tracing it back to original research and critiquing media reporting.
An interview with Harmony Institute members about their work translating academic research into products and communications for social impact.
The hosts discuss three scientific studies: the benefits of visiting art museums, napping, and differences between male and female brains.