Science Quickly

Kick off Scientific American’s first-ever Summer Reading Challenge with book recommendations from our editors, including mind-bending fiction, ecohorror and fascinating nonfiction. Host Rachel Feltman and editor Bri Kane share some of the titles on their summer reading lists and offer tips for tackling our science-themed book bingo challenge.

Recommended Reading:

The alien stories Scientific American editors keep coming back to

10 best dinosaur books, according to a paleontologist

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
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In this episode of Science Quickly, host Rachel Feltman talks with author Rowan Jacobsen about new research on sun exposure and health. While too much sun increases skin cancer risk, moderate sunlight may offer surprising benefits—raising questions about whether avoiding the sun entirely is the right approach.

Recommended Reading:

In Defense of Sunlight. Rowan Jacobsen. Scribner, 2026

Can sunlight cure disease?

Join our Summer Reading Challenge

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode of Science Quickly, we start with a quick update on the Ebola outbreak surging in parts of Africa. Host Rachel Feltman is then joined by Scientific American’s senior desk editor for life science Andrea Thompson to discuss what rising temperatures mean for the FIFA World Cup currently underway in North America. And finally, in honor of Father’s Day, SciAm’s senior desk editor for health and medicine Tanya Lewis gives us a glimpse into the often overlooked science of how fatherhood changes the brain.

Recommended Reading:

Just how big is the new Ebola outbreak?

The World Cup is battling extreme heat. Which cooling methods really work?

The Science of the 2026 World Cup

How becoming a dad changes men’s brains

Join our Summer Reading Challenge 

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.
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In this episode of Science Quickly, one of SciAm’s Young American Scientists, biologist Jaye Gardiner, explores how common viral infections may raise cancer risk—not just through genetic mutations but by reshaping the body’s “extracellular matrix” of molecules that support cells and tissues. She explains how viruses can alter the extracellular matrix, potentially creating conditions that allow tumors to grow, and why this emerging view could change how we think about everything from colds to long COVID.

Recommended Reading:

Jaye Gardiner’s Young American Scientists profile

Join our Summer Reading Challenge 

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Marielle Issa and Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron. 
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In this episode, host Rachel Feltman interviews neuroscientist Kauê M. Costa, who is among Scientific American’s inaugural cohort of Young American Scientists honorees. Costa shares how being surprised by experiments has led him to new ways of thinking about learning in the brain. He explains how dopamine does more than signal reward, how there are two big frameworks of how the brain learns and how his findings could help us better understand—and treat—mental illness.

Recommended Reading:

The Young American Scientists

Kauê M. Costa’s Young American Scientists profile

Join our Summer Reading Challenge 

E-mail us at sciencequickly@sciam.com if you have any questions, comments or ideas for stories we should cover!

Discover something new everyday: subscribe to Scientific American and sign up for Today in Science, our daily newsletter.

Science Quickly is produced by Rachel Feltman, Fonda Mwangi, Sushmita Pathak and Jeff DelViscio. This episode was edited by Alex Sugiura, with fact-checking by Aaron Shattuck. Our theme music was composed by Dominic Smith.

This episode is part of “The Young American Scientists,” an editorially independent project that was produced with financial support from Regeneron.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices