Why the fight against malaria has stalled in southern Africa, and how to look for signs of life on Mars

<p>On this week’s show: After years of steep declines, researchers are investigating why malaria deaths have plateaued, and testing the stability of biosignatures in space</p> <p>First up on the podcast this week, freelance science journalist Leslie Roberts joins host Sarah Crespi to discuss <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade7838">why malaria deaths have plateaued in southern Africa</a>, despite years of declines in deaths and billions of dollars spent. Leslie visited Mozambique on a <a href="https://pulitzercenter.org/grants-fellowships/opportunities-journalists/global-reporting-grants?gclid=Cj0KCQjw39uYBhCLARIsAD_SzMQucVxoLbepp2fh94UVqttG9YSHPkDo9HfUe3T10nY70yHHLWGfObEaAnifEALw_wcB">global reporting grant from the Pulitzer Center</a> where researchers are investigating the cause of the pause.</p> <p>Also this week, producer Kevin McLean talks with astrobiologists <a href="https://www.dlr.de/pf/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-156/220_read-31595/sortby-lastname/">Mickael Baqué</a> and <a href="https://loop.frontiersin.org/people/169106/bio">Jean-Pierre de Vera</a> of the German Aerospace Center. They discuss their <em>Science Advances</em> paper about an experiment on the International Space Station <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn7412">looking at the stability of biosignatures in space</a> and what that means for our search for life on Mars.</p> <p>This week’s episode was produced with help from <a href="https://podigy.co/">Podigy</a>.</p> <p>[Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS; Music: Jeffrey Cook]</p> <p>[alt: enhanced-color image of Mars’ Jezero crater was taken by NASA’s Perseverance with podcast overlay symbol]</p> <p>Authors: Sarah Crespi; Leslie Roberts; Kevin McLean</p> <p>Episode page: <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade7839">https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.ade7839</a></p> <p>About the Science Podcast: <a href="https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-podcast">https://www.science.org/content/page/about-science-pod