American Scientist Podcast cover art

American Scientist Podcast

American Scientist Podcast

Written by: American Scientist Magazine
Listen for free

Periodic audiocasts from American Scientist, a publication of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Honor Society.American Scientist Magazine
Episodes
  • Balls in the Air

    Balls in the Air
    Jun 11 2026

    The FIFA World Cup kicks off today in North America, as qualifying teams compete for the sport's most coveted prize: The World Cup trophy.

    Not to be over looked, the commemorative ball is more than eye-catching visual design. Their surfaces can comprise different numbers of panels, new textural elements, and seams that vary in depth, width, and length.

    In this extended interview of cover story "⁠Balls in the Air⁠," associate editor, Nicholas Gerbis converses with physicist John Eric Goff about how such surface factors affect drag—and how that football-slowing force can suddenly change at certain speeds.


    Recorded on April 30, 2026.


    This episode is produced and edited by Nwabata Nnani and hosted by Nicholas Gerbis.

    American Scientist has been in publication since 1913 and is published by the nonprofit Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. The magazine focuses on producing narrative-driven features by scientists about their own peer-reviewed work. The publication also produces shorter-form staff-written news articles, as well as blogs, multimedia, and social media. See more at⁠⁠ www.americanscientist.org⁠
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • Balls in the Air with John Eric Goff (Video Interview)

    Balls in the Air with John Eric Goff (Video Interview)
    Jun 11 2026

    The FIFA World Cup kicks off today in North America, as qualifying teams compete for the sport's most coveted prize: The World Cup trophy.

    Not to be overlooked, the commemorative ball is more than eye-catching visual design. Its surfaces can comprise different numbers of panels, new textural elements, and seams that vary in depth, width, and length.

    In this extended interview of cover story "Balls in the Air," associate editor Nicholas Gerbis converses with physicist John Eric Goff about how such surface factors affect drag—and how that football-slowing force can suddenly change at certain speeds.


    Recorded on April 30, 2026.


    This episode is produced and edited by Nwabata Nnani and hosted by Nicholas Gerbis.

    American Scientist has been in publication since 1913 and is published by the nonprofit Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. The magazine focuses on producing narrative-driven features by scientists about their own peer-reviewed work. The publication also produces shorter-form staff-written news articles, as well as blogs, multimedia, and social media. See more at⁠ www.americanscientist.org
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • Certain and Wrong: Why False Facts Feel True | Wired For This

    Certain and Wrong: Why False Facts Feel True | Wired For This
    Nov 19 2025
    Today, we’re joined by Dr. Cecilie S. Traberg.The transcript for this episode will be available the day following the original airdate.Links/Sources mentioned:Dr. Traberg’s website: https://www.cecilietraberg.com/ Solomon’s Secret, a digital murder mystery game designed to explore the psychology of misinformation and social influence Dr. Traberg’s research:Traberg, C. S., Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2022). Psychological Inoculation against Misinformation: Current Evidence and Future Directions. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 700(1), 136–151. Traberg, C. S., & van der Linden, S. (2022). Birds of a feather are persuaded together: Perceived source credibility mediates the effect of political bias on misinformation susceptibility. Personality and Individual Differences, 185, 111269.Traberg, C. S., Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2024). Gamified inoculation reduces susceptibility to misinformation from political ingroups. Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review.Traberg, C. S., Harjani, T., Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2024). The persuasive effects of social cues and source effects on misinformation susceptibility. Scientific Reports, 14(1). Cecilie Traberg, Morten, T., & van. (2024). Counteracting socially endorsed misinformation through an emotion-fallacy inoculation. Advances In/Psychology, 2. Other relevant studies: Marks, J., Copland, E., Loh, E., Sunstein, C. R., & Tali Sharot. (2018). Epistemic spillovers: Learning others’ political views reduces the ability to assess and use their expertise in nonpolitical domains. Cognition, 188, 74–84. Hassoun, A., Beacock, I., Consolvo, S., Goldberg, B., Kelley, P. G., & Russell, D. M. (2023). Practicing information sensibility: How Gen Z engages with online information. In Proceedings of the 2023 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-17).‌Vidgen, B., Taylor, H., Pantazi, M., Anastasiou, Z., Inkster, B., & Margetts, H. (2021). Understanding vulnerability to online misinformation. Gawronski, B., Ng, N. L., & Luke, D. M. (2023). Truth sensitivity and partisan bias in responses to misinformation. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. Garrett, R. K., & Bond, R. M. (2021). Conservatives’ susceptibility to political misperceptions. Science Advances, 7(23). One example of unintentionally spread misinformation: How a simple math error sparked a panic about black plastic kitchen utensils Some examples of (earned) distrust of institutions: 5 times the US government revealed secrets it tried to keep hiddenWhy we know so little about women’s health NAACP Criminal Justice Fact Sheet Wired For This is produced and edited by Nwabata Nnani and hosted by Celia Ford. American Scientist has been in publication since 1913 and is published by the nonprofit Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society. The magazine focuses on producing narrative-driven features by scientists about their own peer-reviewed work. The publication also produces shorter-form staff-written news articles, as well as blogs, multimedia, and social media. See more at www.americanscientist.orgSubscribe to American Scientist: https://subscribe.americanscientist.org/AMS/?f=paid Music by Nat KeefeFollow us on social media: ⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠
    Show More Show Less
    31 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet