Are You Listening

For some, science podcasts are time-savers that open their minds to new fields. For others, they're just another fad. What's the future?

Seventy-three-year-old Franklin Leach, professor emeritus of biochemistry and molecular biology at Oklahoma State University, was nearing the last leg of his daily neighborhood walk when he first heard that private medical insurers could discriminate against women with the BRCA1 gene. He was listening to a podcast from the New England Journal of Medicine.