Science Diction is a bite-sized podcast about words—and the science stories behind them. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and sign up for our newsletter. Science has given us more than data.

Each episode of Science Diction takes a word or phrase, and with the help of historians, authors, etymologists, and scientists, serves up language with a side of science. It’s been wonderful to have ...

Remember that summer when the internet was one Distracted Boyfriend after another—that flannel-shirted dude rubbernecking at a passing woman, while his girlfriend glares at him? Everyone had their own ...

THE word “meme” wasn’t created to describe things that spread all over the internet. Rather, evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins coined the term when he was hunting for an idea-focused counterpart ...

The Rise Of The Myers-Briggs, Chapter 3: What Is It Good For? August 31, 2021 • When Isabel Briggs Myers imagined that her homegrown personality test would change the world, she couldn't have pictured ...

Cobalt has been hoodwinking people since the day it was pried from the earth. Named after a pesky spirit from German folklore, trickery is embedded in its name. In 1940s Netherlands, cobalt lived up ...