In this episode, co-hosts Matt Smith and Brian Cross talk asteroid impacts, mantis shrimp, and the 90s sci-fi classic The Matrix. The element lithium pops up in both Matt’s Chemical Minute and in the guest interview with TU Prof. Dale Teeters, whose research focused on polymers and battery technology.

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa.

Links:

Mantis Shrimp: https://www.science.org/content/article/scienceadviser-shock-absorbing-armor-protects-mantis-shrimp-its-own-bad-vibes

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/mantis-shrimp-punishing-blows-physics

Modeling a Bennu-sized Asteroid Impact:

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adq5399

https://phys.org/news/2025-02-asteroid-impact-simulation-reveals-climate.html

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X10005613

Dale Teeters:

https://www.tualumni.com/s/1174/bp20/interior.aspx?pgid=961&gid=1

Welcome Back! In this second episode of Yackety Science, co-hosts Matt Smith and Brian Cross tackle the Parker Solar Probe, avian flu, contagious urination, and helium. In the first ever installment of Yackety Science Ruins the Movies, Matt attempts to take down the movie Prometheus. And in the guest interview, Dr. Charles Brown talks about the four decades he has spent hanging out among the cliff swallows of Nebraska

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Production help provided by Scott Gregory.

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa.

Links:

Contagious Urination: https://www.science.org/content/article/peeing-contagious-chimpanzees

Parker Solar Probe: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/nasas-parker-solar-probe-makes-history-with-closest-pass-to-sun/

Avian Influenza:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/18/health/kennedy-bird-flu.html

Cliff Swallows:

https://utulsa.edu/news/building-on-his-lifes-work-professor-publishes-latest-cliff-swallow-research/

Welcome, everyone! In this inaugural episode of Yackety Science, co-hosts Matt Smith and Brian Cross tackle quantum computing, Lenacapavir, and nitroplasts in the headlines segment. Also, Matt's Chemical Minute takes on the first element: hydrogen. And in the guest interview, Dr. Tony Clyde discusses his work on nutrient dynamics as well as the health and recent history of Tulsa’s water supply.

Got a question, comment, or correction? Yack right back at us at YacketyScience@gmail.com.

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) by Lobo Loco (Accessed through FreeMusicArchive.org.; CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Links:

Quantum Computing: https://www.science.org/content/article/google-passes-milestone-road-error-free-quantum-computer

Lenacapavir and HIV: https://www.science.org/content/article/breakthrough-2024

Nitroplasts: https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/science.adk1075