Meet your new favorite organ, the thymus. Scientists have since discovered a whole world within this little wad of tissue in your chest – a complex system that trains and equips some of your body's most important fighters against disease.

Jarrod Dudakov, professor of immunology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, explains how the thymus can help us understand why our bodies get worse at fighting disease as we age. 

More resources:
Jarrod Dudakov at the Fred Hutchinson Canter Research Center
The landmark 1961 research article in The Lancet, “The Immunological Function of the Thymus”

Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer, edited by Jim Gates and produced by Anna Boiko-Weyrauch. 

We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.Tap here to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

Meet your new favorite organ, the thymus. Scientists have since discovered a whole world within this little wad of tissue in your chest &ndash; a complex system that trains and equips some of your body's most important fighters against disease.
Jarrod Dudakov, professor of immunology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, explains how the thymus can help us understand why our bodies get worse at fighting disease as we age.&nbsp;
More resources:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.fredhutch.org/en/people/d/jarrod-dudakov.html">Jarrod Dudakov at the Fred Hutchinson Canter Research Center</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0140673661906936">The landmark 1961 research article in The Lancet, &ldquo;The Immunological Function of the Thymus&rdquo;</a></li>
</ul>
Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/gabriel-spitzer">Gabriel Spitzer</a>, edited by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/authors/jim-gates">Jim Gates</a> and produced by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/anna-boiko-weyrauch">Anna Boiko-Weyrauch</a>.&nbsp;
We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.<a href="https://donate.kuow.org/donate/pocket-science-show-notes"> Tap here</a> to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

Discovery is happening all around Seattle… if you know where to look. On Pocket Science, we dig into the fascinating, weird, and groundbreaking research happening right here in our backyard—and meet the scientists in the thick of it.

From lab benches to tidal mudflats, it all starts with one simple question: what are you working on? The answers might surprise you. Take your curiosity with you on Pocket Science.

Pocket Science launches July 6 with new episodes available every other Monday.

Discovery is happening all around Seattle&hellip; if you know where to look. On Pocket Science, we dig into the fascinating, weird, and groundbreaking research happening right here in our backyard&mdash;and meet the scientists in the thick of it. From lab benches to tidal mudflats, it all starts with one simple question: what are you working on? The answers might surprise you. Take your curiosity with you on Pocket Science.
Pocket Science launches July 6 with new episodes available every other Monday.

Pocket Science

Scientists have since discovered a whole world within the thymus, a little wad of tissue in your chest. The organ hosts a complex system that trains and equips some of your body's most important fighters against disease.

Inside your chest, a bootcamp is pumping out trained killers (and it’s called the thymus)

A full wiring diagram of the brain could show how its different parts work together, and it could potentially reveal new insights into diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Gabe visits the electron microscopy connectomics project at Seattle’s Allen Institute, and learns how they are using AI to parse over 100 million high resolution pictures of a slice of mouse brain the size of a poppyseed.

More resources:
The Connectomics team at the Allen Institute's brain science accelerator 
Forrest Collman
Andrew Hickl

Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer, edited by Jim Gates and produced by Shane Mehling and Anna Boiko-Weyrauch. 

We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.Tap here to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

A full wiring diagram of the brain could show how its different parts work together, and it could potentially reveal new insights into diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Gabe visits the electron microscopy connectomics project at Seattle&rsquo;s Allen Institute, and learns how they are using AI to parse over 100 million high resolution pictures of a slice of mouse brain the size of a poppyseed.
More resources:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://alleninstitute.org/brain-science/connectomics">The Connectomics team at the Allen Institute's brain science accelerator</a>&nbsp;</li>
<li><a href="https://alleninstitute.org/person/forrest-collman">Forrest Collman</a></li>
<li><a href="https://alleninstitute.org/person/andrew-hickl">Andrew Hickl</a></li>
</ul>
Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/gabriel-spitzer">Gabriel Spitzer</a>, edited by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/authors/jim-gates">Jim Gates</a> and produced by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/shane-mehling">Shane Mehling</a> and <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/anna-boiko-weyrauch">Anna Boiko-Weyrauch</a>.&nbsp;
We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.<a href="https://donate.kuow.org/donate/pocket-science-show-notes"> Tap here</a> to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

A full wiring diagram of the brain could show how its different parts work together, and it could potentially reveal new insights into diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. Gabe visits the electron microscopy connectomics project at Seattle’s Allen Institute, and learns how they are using AI to parse over 100 million high resolution pictures of a slice of mouse brain the size of a poppyseed.

One speck of brain, half a billion connections: Creating the world's most detailed brain map

Mud is everywhere…under our shoes, our buildings, our crops. How it behaves affects where we can build, what we can grow and the shape of the land itself. But on a microscopic level we barely understand why it does what it does. Gabriel heads out with mud expert Kendall Valentine who gets ankle-deep in the stuff in order to unlock its mysteries.

Listen to Pocket Science on the KUOW app or wherever you get podcasts.

More resources:
Kendall Valentine
Coastal Ecogeomorphology Lab
UW Sediment Dynamics Lab

Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer, edited and produced by Jim Gates. 

We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us. Tap here to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

Mud is everywhere&hellip;under our shoes, our buildings, our crops. How it behaves affects where we can build, what we can grow and the shape of the land itself. But on a microscopic level we barely understand why it does what it does. Gabriel heads out with mud expert Kendall Valentine who gets ankle-deep in the stuff in order to unlock its mysteries. Listen to Pocket Science on the KUOW app or wherever you get podcasts.
More resources:
<ul>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.ocean.washington.edu/home/Kendall_Valentine">Kendall Valentine</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://valentinelab336.wixsite.com/valentine-lab">Coastal Ecogeomorphology Lab</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://sites.uw.edu/sediment/">UW Sediment Dynamics Lab</a></li>
</ul>
Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/people/gabriel-spitzer">Gabriel Spitzer</a>, edited and produced by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.kuow.org/authors/jim-gates">Jim Gates</a>.&nbsp;
We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us. <a href="https://donate.kuow.org/donate/pocket-science-show-notes">Tap here</a> to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

Gabriel heads out with mud expert Kendall Valentine who gets ankle-deep in the stuff in order to unlock its mysteries.

The dark matter of dirt: Why the physics of mud are so mysterious

When you look up at the night sky, it’s easy to think of it as static and permanent, like the stars are painted on up there and never change. But if you look really carefully, sometimes you can catch something dramatic unfolding. Andy Tzanidakis is a PhD candidate in astronomy at the University of Washington. His job is to look through massive amounts of data produced from telescope sky surveys to search out anomalies in space. One time, when he was going through the data he discovered something amazing. It was a rare catastrophic event…two planets colliding. 

Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer, edited by Jim Gates and produced by Shane Mehling. 

We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.Tap here to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

When you look up at the night sky, it&rsquo;s easy to think of it as static and permanent, like the stars are painted on up there and never change. But if you look really carefully, sometimes you can catch something dramatic unfolding. <a href="https://andytza.github.io/">Andy Tzanidakis</a> is a PhD candidate in astronomy at the University of Washington. His job is to look through massive amounts of data produced from telescope sky surveys to search out anomalies in space. One time, when he was going through the data he discovered something amazing. It was a rare catastrophic event&hellip;two planets colliding.&nbsp;
Pocket Science is a production of KUOW in Seattle, a proud member of the NPR Network. It is hosted by Gabriel Spitzer, edited by <a href="https://www.kuow.org/authors/jim-gates">Jim Gates</a> and produced by Shane Mehling.&nbsp;
We can only make Pocket Science because listeners support us.<a href="https://donate.kuow.org/donate/pocket-science-show-notes"> Tap here</a> to make a gift and keep Pocket Science in your feed.

When you look up at the night sky, it’s easy to think of it as static and permanent, like the stars are painted on up there and never change. But if you look really carefully, sometimes you can catch something dramatic unfolding.

Inside your chest, a bootcamp is pumping out trained killers (and it’s called the thymus)

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