Science unscripted

It's one of the most frequently asked questions on the internet: "Is my boyfriend/girlfriend/partner cheating on me?" Now, a new study out of Germany suggests part of the answer may lie in the pitch of that person's voice — with some unexpected results when it comes to women.

What's it like being stuck inside your home from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.? Well, just ask one of the hosts of this show. Also, amongst the world's best-vaccinated countries, why are Chile and Uruguay seeing their coronavirus infections spike massively upwards?

1 in 1,000 — those are the absurdly low odds you'll contract the coronavirus outside as opposed to inside. So with social distancing in place, does it make sense to require facemasks when people are outdoors? Or could such rules actually do more harm than good?

What is going wrong in the minds of conspiracy theorists when they end up jumping to false conclusions? Also, why are people talking about a helicopter on Mars? And finally, when music makes us feel good, why does it do that?

Whenever we're confronted with new information (see: the internet), we tend to use cognitive shortcuts to try and make sense of it all. But as we reconfigure that information to fit our understanding of reality (or choose to dismiss it entirely), we can arrive at totally false conclusions.

Yes, there really is. Perched inside a crater on Mars, a boxy little drone-copter is set to become the first aircraft to ever fly on another planet. But how'd it get there? Who's controlling it? What are the odds it'll crash (or get blown away)? And if we've already got rovers, who needs drones?

We all know that feeling when the right song hits at the right moment and it's just ... really, really good. No other form of art can quite match the feeling of music-induced pleasure. And brain scientists are getting closer to understanding what it's all about by delving deep into our reward system. But why is music so rewarding?

When we look back on this pandemic, 'Corona Easter, part 2' may very well mark the low point in people's moods (at least here in Germany). But all signs indicate that better days really are are just around the corner. See you next week!

Initial data (that has yet to be peer reviewed) suggests the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine may work even better for young teens than it does for adults — due to an even stronger antibody reaction. The announcement came a day after Germany halted the use of AstraZeneca for anyone under 60.

Can vaccines stop the mutations? According to a large-scale study out of Israel, it appears the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine can — for now. Also, an unexpected link between the flu vaccine and lower coronavirus numbers, and an expert's advice (together with new survey results) for burnt out parents.