Each year, around 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that can cause tremors and affect cognition. Scientists are working to identify some of the earliest signs of the disease, and to figure out how we might test for—and treat—Parkinson’s in the future.

Neurologists Emily Tamadonfar and Michael Okun join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss what we know about why Parkinson’s starts and how it may be associated with genetic mutations, pollution, and other factors.

Guests:
Dr. Emily Tamadonfar is a clinical associate professor of neurology in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Dr. Michael Okun is a professor and executive director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health in Gainesville, Florida.

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As we age, our vision gets blurrier, we form cataracts, and we have a higher risk of glaucoma. But Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years and still maintain healthy, functional eyeballs. So what gives?

Host Ira Flatow talks with molecular biologist Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, who studies the mechanisms of aging, about what we can learn from these fishy eyeballs and how it could help us.

Plus, listener Leon called us with a question: Is it true that the James Webb Space Telescope’s gold-plated mirror is so perfectly flat that if it were the size of the United States, the highest bump would be the size of a baseball? Not quite. Host Flora Lichtman discusses this feat of engineering with JWST project scientist Macarena Garcia Marin.

Guests:

Dr. Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk is a molecular biologist and associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. She studies the mechanisms of aging.
Dr. Macarena Garcia Marin is a project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope and Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The concrete of ancient Rome is famous for its durability. Just look at the Pantheon and those iconic aqueducts that helped transport water throughout the empire—still standing 2,000 years later.

But knowledge about how this concrete was made hasn’t been very solid. Well, scientists have discovered a construction site in Pompeii preserved in the volcanic ash, which might hold clues to how we can improve our concrete today. Concrete researcher Admir Masic joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the findings.

Plus, we’ll look at the infrastructure of the future with engineer Benjamin Lee, who breaks down the recent news of tech companies looking to move their power-hungry data centers to space. They discuss the daunting engineering challenges and possible benefits.

Guests:
Dr. Admir Masic is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Benjamin Lee is a professor in the department of electrical and systems engineering and the department of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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