On this week’s show: Protecting a body of water by giving it a legal identity, intentional destruction of methane by the oil and gas industry is less efficient than predicted, and the latest book in our series on science and food

First up on the podcast this week, Staff Writer Erik Stokstad talks with host Sarah Crespi about why Spain has given personhood status to a polluted lagoon.

Also on the show this week is Genevieve Plant, an assistant research scientist at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in the Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering. Genny and Sarah talk about methane flaring—a practice common in the oil and gas industry—where manufactures burn off excess methane instead of releasing it directly into the atmosphere. Research flights over several key regions in the United States revealed these flares are leaky, releasing five times more methane than predicted.

In this month’s installment of books on the science of food and agriculture, host Angela Saini talks with culinary historian and author Jessica B. Harris about her book High on the Hog: A Culinary Journey from Africa to America.

This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.

[Image: Jeff Peischl/CIRES/NOAA; Music: Jeffrey Cook]

[alt: methane flares with podcast overlay symbol]

Authors: Sarah Crespi; Angela Saini, Erik Stokstad

Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adf0584

About the Science Podcast: https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast