Arctic Permafrost Salinity, On-Body Protein Sensors, and Ancient Death Customs — Science Podcast Summary

Tim Appenzeller explains how salty groundwater buried under Arctic permafrost softens landscapes and reshapes lakes and coasts, a phenomenon mapped by the Thaw Below Zero project in Alaska. A second interview explores the future of continuous, reagentless protein biosensors on the body, with Jane Donnelly describing how measuring proteins could routineize preventative care and optimize transplant immunosuppression. The episode closes with Robert Garland discussing ancient beliefs about death, judgment, and ritual, from Egyptian Book of the Dead to Greek tragedy, and how funerals anchor communities during loss. Together, the segments reveal how climate science, molecular diagnostics, and ancient culture illuminate today’s science landscape.

Arctic Permafrost Salinity and Landscape Change

Science News Editor Tim Appenzeller discusses a surprising Arctic feature: salty, buried layers within permafrost formed when the Arctic coast was briefly submerged during historic interglacials. As climate change raises sea levels and warms the ground, these salt-rich lenses soften surrounding soils, accelerating coastal retreat and modifying lake basins. Fieldwork on Alaska’s coastal plain uses conductivity measurements to locate salty pockets, a method that helps map the extent of these layers and their potential to reshape ecosystems and infrastructure. A striking example is a nearby lake that deepened by about half a meter when thaw at the lake base reached a salty layer, illustrating how small shifts in sub-surface chemistry can yield outsized surface changes. The researchers anticipate a broader international mapping effort to determine the full geographic reach of the phenomenon and to understand its implications for communities built on permafrost.

“It's basically salt on the frozen driveway,” - Tim Appenzeller, Science News Editor