Shows / Science Friday
Science Friday
Science Friday, as heard on PRI, is a weekly discussion of the latest news in science, technology, health, and the environment hosted by Ira Flatow. Ira interviews scientists, authors, and policymakers, and listeners can call in and ask questions as well.
Episodes
Science Friday1371: Creating 'world models' for robots + An AI math shakeup
When you ask an LLM like ChatGPT or Claude a question, the model goes through its massive amount of training data and guesses the answer by mathematically…
Science Friday1370: What can moments of lucidity teach us about Alzheimer’s?
Watching a loved one with Alzheimer's or dementia slowly lose their cognitive abilities can be heartbreaking. While the person you once knew seems to be…
Science Friday1369: Colorado’s snow drought deals a major blow to recreation
Winter in Colorado looked very different this year. Many parts of the state experienced record-high temperatures and record-low snowpack, which had downstream…
Science Friday1368: How do you find a ‘lost’ species?
The earth is facing a biodiversity crisis, and there’s a lot of attention on species that are threatened, or at risk of dying out completely. But, there’s…
Science Friday1367: What we get wrong about vaccine hesitancy
Over 2,400 people have contracted measles in the United States so far this year, topping the total number of cases for 2025 in just seven months. At the same…
Science Friday1366: Why this lab studies the speed of bug pee and other curiosities
In a lab in the Rocky Mountains, a group of scientists is hard at work trying to find answers across biology, physics, and engineering: They’re looking into…
Science Friday1365: Some primates undergo even more extreme childbirth than humans
Human childbirth is often difficult and incredibly painful—just ask anyone who’s been through it. And for a long time, childbirth seemed to be uniquely…
Science FridayDeb Haaland is a politician, and proud of it
Former Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo tribe, was the first Native person to hold a cabinet position. Now she’s running to be…
Science Friday1363: Sitting all day is terrible for us. Moving a little can help
Keeping your butt in a seat for hours a day increases the risk of heart attacks, diabetes, psychiatric conditions, and more. But in our tech-filled world, many…
Science Friday1362: A Nagasaki survivor and physician recounts his life's work
Dr. Masao Tomonaga was only 2 years old when the United States bombed his home city of Nagasaki. He survived, and grew up to become a physician for other…
Science Friday1361: What do people eat? Plant and animal DNA in sewage provide clues
Imagine you wanted to get a general idea of what people are eating in a given community. You could look at grocery store sales, or do surveys, but neither can…
Science Friday1360: 3D images of galaxies will rock you (ft. Queen)
"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see."There’s something…
Science Friday1359: The evolution of an enzyme engineer who changed chemistry
In nature, enzymes are the catalysts that make much of biology work. They jumpstart chemical reactions that either wouldn’t happen, or would happen super…
Science Friday1358: Why is brain cancer so hard to treat?
Brain cancers are rare, but devastating. Patients face short life expectancies after diagnosis. Brain tumors are often impossible to remove completely. And…
Science Friday1357: How can astronaut food be better?
Astronaut food is not known as a frontier of culinary imagination, unless you count rehydrated shrimp cocktail. As NASA prepares for longer trips to the moon…
Science Friday1356: The reality of living with extreme heat in India
At one point this year, the 50 hottest cities on the planet were all in one country: India. The average peak temperature in those cities was 112 F. India is…
Science Friday1355: Tracking shark populations, one shark at a time
About 130 days a year, a research vessel leaves Miami and sets out to catch, measure, sample, tag, and release sharks in Florida’s coastal waters. Over the…
Science Friday1354: The Black women codebreakers of the Cold War
During the early Cold War era, the United States Army and later the NSA began recruiting and training codebreakers and intelligence officers to decipher…
Science Friday1353: Asha de Vos’ journey from deck hand to marine science leader
The tropical waters of Sri Lanka, an island off the coast of India, are home to a population of blue whales unlike any other. These whales stay put, while…
Science Friday1352: Why worry about my data If I have nothing to hide?
In the last couple months, Vermont, Alabama, and Oklahoma have passed data privacy laws. Massachusetts is negotiating its own version. Meanwhile, congressional…
Science Friday1351: Peering through dust clouds to the center of the galaxy
In 2020, Andrea Ghez shared the Nobel Prize for her observations of a supermassive compact object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy—an object that has all…
Science Friday1350: Why a paper about relocating coastal communities hit a nerve
Back in May, a paper published in Nature Sustainability reignited a decades-old debate about coastal Louisiana: Should people leave? Climate researchers wrote…
Science Friday1349: How do you piece together what life was like in Pompeii?
Pompeii is known for its disastrous end with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but for archeologists, what came before is just as interesting. Researchers are…
Science Friday1348: Hold the lettuce: Updates on the 'explosive' cyclospora outbreak
An outbreak of the foodborne illness cyclosporiasis has sent thousands of people running to the bathroom this summer. Health officials have linked the outbreak…
Science Friday1347: A space telescope launch + Alvin submersible check-up
The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled for an early launch at the end of August. It will rest about a million miles from Earth at Lagrange point 2…
Science Friday1346: How does a tick bite cause a red meat allergy?
For two decades, a perplexing illness has been spreading: After a lone-star tick bite, people find themselves with a severe allergic reaction to red meat. The…
Science Friday1345: What will our reaction be when we discover aliens?
One of the most irresistible questions in sci-fi stories about aliens is what our reaction will be when we learn of their existence. Horror? Bewilderment?…
Science Friday1344: Beautiful botflies, luscious leeches, and the wonder of parasites
Dino Martins has plucked maggots out of a dead elephant, pulled botflies out of camel snot, and willingly let a horsefly feast on him. Why? Because he’s…
Science Friday1343: China's booming biotech, from a brain implant to drug discovery
In March, China became the first country to approve an invasive brain-computer interface beyond clinical trials. The implant, called NEO, is now available to…
Science Friday1342: Reconnecting with the night sky and reining in light pollution
What happens when the skies are no longer dark at night? Writer Craig Childs biked from the brightest night sky, to the darkest, to find out what we lose when…
Science Friday1341: Amid shifting politics, can we build stable global health systems?
The ongoing Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda has become the third-largest on record. And while the regional response is more…
Science Friday1340: How does the gut-brain connection work?
Gut feelings, trusting your gut, butterflies: We have lots of expressions about how our brains and our bowels are intertwined. But how well do we understand…
Science Friday1339: Investigating ‘flow state’ with the bassist from Phish
The band Phish has toured for over 40 years. One of the draws of their legendary live shows—which can go on for 8 hours—is finding moments of “flow,” when the…
Science Friday1338: How the US patent system keeps drug prices high
Americans pay roughly three times as much for prescription meds as people in other wealthy nations. But why?Tahir Amin argues it’s largely to do with how our…
Science Friday1337: What was science like in America 250 years ago?
If you hear “colonial America” and “science,” one name probably comes to mind: Benjamin Franklin. But he wasn’t the only one thinking big thoughts and asking…
Science Friday1336: An artificial cell eats, grows, and reproduces. Is it alive?
Researchers have engineered an artificial cell out of chemicals and biomolecules that, at a basic level, can eat, grow, duplicate its own genetic code, and…
Science Friday1335: Growing lunar potatoes + Dealing with razor-sharp moon dust
Imagine this: You’re an astronaut, you’ve landed on the moon, and as you’re taking one small step for mankind, you kick up a bunch of lunar dirt. Now, tiny…
Science Friday1334: Even Nobel Prize winners deal with imposter syndrome
Around 25 years ago, Ardem Patapoutian set out to investigate the fundamental biology behind our sense of touch. Through a long process of gene elimination, he…
Science Friday1333: Squirrel poop drops Ice Age clues + The neuroscience of laughter
Hundreds of thousands of years ago, deep in the mountains of the Yukon, a ground squirrel pooped. That scat stayed frozen for millenia—until very recently…
Science Friday1332: Promising new treatments for pancreatic cancer and ALS
Pancreatic cancer is among the most deadly forms of cancer, and it can be difficult to catch early. But there’s some good news: Clinical trials of a new drug…
Science Friday1331: That chlorine smell at the pool? It’s pee
On a hot summer day, there’s nothing better than a dip in a cold pool. But you know who can ruin that for you? A scientist who studies pool chemistry. What…
Science Friday1330: Under proposed rule, science funding must pass political review
The federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has proposed rule changes that would bring a major shift in how scientific grants are awarded by U.S…
Science Friday1329: Can you learn to love the scorpion?
If you have arachnophobia, consider this your opportunity to try exposure therapy: A new study suggests that 415 million years ago, in modern-day England and…
Science Friday1328: FDA approves a well-known sunscreen ingredient—finally
The FDA recently approved a sunscreen ingredient called bemotrizinol, or BEMT, that’s been used in Europe and Asia for years. This is the first new sunscreen…
Science Friday1327: Why do sports announcers talk like that?
If you watch sports, whether the recent NBA finals or the ongoing World Cup matches, you may have noticed that the athletes aren’t the only ones putting on a…
Science Friday1326: Swords, cannibalism, poison: inside the world of killer microbes
There is a murderous crime spree happening right under—and perhaps inside—our noses. Killer microbes armed with weapons are eviscerating, assassinating, and…
Science Friday1325: When music transports you to a different place
Do you ever hear a song that transports you to a specific place and time? This auditory wormhole has a name: musical daydreams. Music cognition expert…
Science Friday1324: A vast whale graveyard + Zombie sea cucumbers
Researchers just published details of a massive undersea graveyard of whales deep in the Indian Ocean. Spanning about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles), it contains…
Science Friday1323: Should we bring mountain lions back to the Northeast?
Big cats used to roam the entire United States. You might know them as mountain lions, pumas, cougars, or catamounts. Though they go by many names, they're…
Science Friday1322: Blue Origin explosion hits NASA timeline + Artemis III crew
When Blue Origin’s New Glenn spacecraft exploded in an enormous fireball during a ground test a couple weeks ago, it sent shockwaves not only through the air…
Science Friday1321: Why can I handle tequila but not rum?
‘Tis the season for porch beers and happy hours, and we’re taking on listener questions about how alcohol affects us. Like, is a glass of wine at dinner really…
Science Friday1320: AI + turfgrass science in the most high-tech World Cup yet
The 2026 World Cup will be the largest one yet, and FIFA is trying to make it the most high-tech, too. The federation has partnered with tech giant Lenovo to…
Science Friday1319: How extreme athletes like Alex Honnold keep their cool
Elite athletes spend a lot of time training their bodies for strength, endurance, coordination, and precision. But what about their brains? Can psychology help…
Science Friday1318: Parenting tips from the animal kingdom
If you’ve ever been a child, had a child, or seen a child face down in a supermarket aisle screaming, you know that parenting can be tough. But humans aren’t…
Science Friday1317: Wait, is my washing machine playing Schubert?
A few weeks ago, we talked to two sonic branding experts who compose music for household appliances. And we played for them a song “sung” by a washing machine…
Science Friday316: A virus hunter in Nigeria has thoughts on the Ebola outbreak
The current Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring Uganda is caused by the Bundibugyo virus. There’s no specific treatment or…
Science FridayHow did Neanderthals deal with illness and injuries?
If you look up where medicine originated, or the earliest medical interventions, you’ll probably find yourself reading about ancient Greece or Egypt or…
Science Friday314: Looking for life in the clouds of Venus
A group of researchers and private investors are planning a series of privately funded missions to Venus, hoping to find signs of life. That may seem like a…
Science Friday1313: Meet the drug developer taking on wildlife diseases
Many of the forces driving species to extinction—habitat destruction, pollution, climate change—also fuel the spread of disease. Plants and animals around the…
Science Friday1312: Can the shingles vaccine stave off dementia?
The benefits of getting a shingles vaccine seem relatively straightforward: It will prevent you from getting shingles, a painful rash caused by the same virus…