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UnDisciplined: April Science News Roundup

Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al
This month we're talking about the global effort it took to capture the first ever image of a black hole. And, you know, lots of other science news, too.

This week on UnDisciplined, we're talking about black holes, pig brains, and water on the moon as we round up the most intersting, important, and awe-inspiring science stories from the past month with an amateur astronomer, an environmental epigeneticist, and a podcasting paleontologist. 

We're joined this month by Mirella Meyer-Ficca, who studies reporductive biology, toxicology, environmental exposures and epigenetic influence at Utah State University. She last joined us in December to talk about a mouse her team created that can metabolize Niacin like humans do. 

Making her second appearance on the roundup this month is Sheena McFarland, a communications professional and former journalist with a degree in biology teaching and an ardent interest in astronomy. 

And, with us for the first time is Ryan Haupt, a paleontologist and podcaster who hosts "Science... sort of," which you can find wherever you get podcasts. 

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.