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UnDisciplined: Science News Roundup - November 2019

Stony Brook University
A new study suggests that when captive bats form social bonds, those bonds persist even after the bats are released into the wild.

This week on UnDisciplined, we're talking about the discovery of an essential element for life on a meteorite, using A.I. for archaeology, and vampire bat buddies. It's time for the monthly science news roundup. 

We're joined this month by Mirella Meyer-Ficca of Utah State University, who first joined us last year to talk about her team's work to genetically engineer a mouse that is dependent on niacin in the same way as humans.

We're also joined by Shannon Tushingham, a professor of archaeology at Washington State University who previously joined the program to talk about her research using chemical analysis to determine the age and contents of Native American tobacco pipes.

Finally, making her UnDisciplined debut this month is Neda Latfizadeh, who studies physics and astronomy at the University of Utah.

Matthew LaPlante has reported on ritual infanticide in Northern Africa, insurgent warfare in the Middle East, the legacy of genocide in Southeast Asia, and gang violence in Central America. But a few years back, something donned on him: Maybe the news doesn't have to be brutally depressing all the time. Today, he balances his continuing work on more heartbreaking subjects by writing books about the intersection of science, human health and society, including the New York Times best-selling Lifespan with geneticist David Sinclair and the Nautilus Award-winning Longevity Plan with cardiologist John Day. His first solo book, Superlative, looks at what scientists are learning by studying organisms that have evolved in record-setting ways, and his is currently at work on another book about embracing the inevitability of human-caused climate change with an optimistic outlook on the future.