Description:

In this final episode of the season, Dr. Valerie O’Brien joins the Yackers to take on conniving cuckoos, fake blood, and electrolysis in space. (So many bald astronauts!) Matt devotes his Chemical Minute to phosphorus and explains why “phossy jaw” may not be as much fun as it sounds. Finally, the team snorts some spice and stops by Arrakis to explore the confusing biology of hungry, hungry sandworms.

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

Episode Art: Image modified from “Cuculus canorus chick1” byvladlen666 (C0 1.0 Universal).

Theme music: “Funky Machine” (ID874) byLobo 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, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest Host: Valerie O’Brien, Ph.D., is a former Associate Professor and Faculty Department Chair of Life Sciences at TulsaCommunity College. Valerie’s research interests lie in Behavioral Ecology, Entomology and Virology. Her most recentpublication is 'Nonrandom Weather-Related Mortality in a Purple Martin (Progne subis) Roost'.

Links:

Cuckoo Birds:

●Genomic data reveal the complexity of egg mimicry evolution in cuckoos by Michael D. Sorenson and Claire N. Spottiswoode (Science 30 Oct 2025).

Fake Blood:

● First-in-human phase 1 trial of hemoglobin vesicles as artificial red blood cells developed for use as a transfusion alternative by Azuma H et al. Blood Adv. 2022 Nov 8;6(21):5711-5715.

Electrolysis in Space:

●Magnets could improve oxygen production in space: Forces that go unnoticed on Earth could help move bubbles in orbiting spacecraft by Carolyn Wilke, special to C&EN (Chemical andEngineering News, Aug. 20, 2025)

● A magnetic push for electrolysis in space by Vensaus,P. Nat. Chem. 17, 1632–1633 (2025).

In this most Nobel episode of Yackety Science, the Yackers visit Stockholm to explore quantum tunneling, gas storage, and the plight of scurfy mice. Along the way, they are struck by micro-lightning and the sight of a most gruesome in-flight snack. The element silicon makes for a rocky edition of Matt’s Chemical Minute. And Prof. Craig Davis of OSU stops by to talk bobwhite biology, wetland decline, and the futile search for sewage plovers.

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, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest: Dr. Craig Davis

Craig Davis holds the Bollenbach Chair in Wildlife Management at Oklahoma State University. His research focuses on several areas including the response of grassland birds to fire-grazing interactions, assessment and classification of wetlands, wetland bird ecology, aquatic and terrestrial invertebrate ecology, and upland gamebird ecology and management.

Links:

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  The Nobel Prize in Physics 2025 was awarded jointly to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis “for the discovery of macroscopic quantum mechanical tunnelling and energy quantisation in an electric circuit.”

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  The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2025 was awarded jointly to Mary E. Brunkow, Frederick J. Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi "for their discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance."

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  The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2025 was awarded jointly to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi "for the development of metal–organic frameworks."

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  This Chilling Recording Reveals Large Bats Catching, Killing and Eating Birds Midflight by Margherita Bassi - Daily Correspondent (Smithsonian; October 15, 2025)

• Spraying of water microdroplets forms luminescence and causes chemical reactions in surrounding gas by Yifan Meng, Yu Xia, Jinheng Xu, and Richard N. Zare (Science Advances; Vol 11, Issue 11; 14 Mar 2025)

In this episode, comedian Barry Friedman joins the show to talkkinky ant queens, lasagna leakage, and the frustrating complexity of nature. As always, the Yackers boldlyconfront the most difficult questions of our time. Do Martians have tacky taste? Is SIS (sperm inferiority syndrome) runningrampant? Do hornets have a right to squat on your patio? And will Matt ever stop talking about fusion?

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.

Instagram: @yacketyscience

Facebook: Yackety Science

Yackety Science is recorded at the studios of Public Radio Tulsa, Kendall Hall, University of Tulsa, and at the Center for Creativity at Tulsa Community College.

Guest Host: Barry Friedman

Barry is a standup comedian, political columnist, reporter, andhis work has appeared in The New Yorker; Esquire; The Progressive Populist; MediaPost; The Las Vegas Review-Journal; and AAPG Explorer, a magazine for petroleum geologists, which is noteworthy, considering how little Barry know about petroleum geology and how he usually hurts himself filling his car with gas. Barry was also in UHF with“Weird Al" Yankovic, setting a cinematic high water mark for those who have since played (or dream one day of playing) “Crony #2” in a major motion picture. The movie still provides him with $3.76 residual checks every time it plays at a Lithuanian drive-in or when some lost soul downloads it. Barry now lives in Portugal and hates referring to himself in the third person.

Links:

Leopard Print Martians

• Redox-driven mineral and organic associations in Jezero Crater, Mars by Hurowitz et al. Nature 645, 332–340 2025).
• NASA’s Perseverance Rover

Kinky Ant Queens

• One mother for two species via obligate cross-species cloning in ants by Juvé et al. Nature (Sept. 3, 2025).

Hornet Invaders

• Asian hornets have a unique sound – and that could be the key to controlling their spread. (August 11, 2025)

Desktop Fusion

• Electrochemical loading enhances deuterium fusion rates in a metal target by Chen et al. Nature 644, 640–645 (2025)