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 Friday832: Deep-Sea ‘Nodules’ May Produce Oxygen | A Bird’s Physics Trick For High-Altitude Flying
New research suggests that polymetallic nodules found 13,000 feet deep produce “dark oxygen” by electrolyzing water. Also, at higher altitudes, the air is less…
Science Friday831: PLATO’s Mission To Discover Exoplanets Like Earth
One of the hottest fields in astronomy right now is the search for exoplanets. NASA’s Exoplanet Archive currently lists over 5,700 confirmed planets orbiting…
Science Friday830: Why Cancer Death Rates Have Decreased Over The Last 30 Years
“Cancer” is a dreaded word in the doctor’s office. But about 40% of us will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during our lives, the most common being…
Science Friday829: Hawaiʻi Wildfire Survivors Join Health Study | Wind Turbine Blade Sinks Off Massachusetts Coast
The University of Hawaiʻi study will be the largest of its kind to investigate the health and social impacts of the Maui wildfires. Also, fiberglass is washing…
Science Friday828: The Science And History Of Refrigeration
You know that disappointing feeling when you’re ready to make a delicious meal, but you crack open the refrigerator only to find mushy tomatoes, dried-out…
Science Friday827: Sodium Replaces Lithium In A New Type Of Battery
If nations are to meet their sustainable energy goals, experts argue that batteries will be a crucial part of the equation. Not only are batteries key for many…
Science Friday826: Inside The Race To Save Honeybees From Parasitic Mites
Last year, almost half of the honeybee colonies in the U.S. died, making it the second deadliest year for honeybees on record. The main culprit wasn’t climate…
Science Friday825: What A Rodent Brain Shows Us About Love | If Colorado Was Flattened, How Big Would It Be?
What A Rodent Brain Shows Us About Love–And LossLove has the reputation of being a fairly unique human emotion. If we’re lucky, we can experience lots of love…
Science Friday824: Curiosity Rover Discovers Pure Sulfur On Mars | A Science Hero, Lost and Found
In a first, NASA's Curiosity rover has discovered pure sulfur on Mars. And, we revisit a conversation from 2015 about Alexander von Humboldt and Andrea Wulf's…
Science Friday823: What Are The Risks Of Drinking Raw Milk?
According to a 2022 study, just over 4% of Americans said they had consumed raw milk in the past year. That might not sound like a lot, but it adds up to…
Science Friday822: A Space Suit To Turn Pee Into Water | A Bitcoin Mine Causing A Health Crisis In Texas
Researchers developed a prototype of a space suit that could replace the high-absorbency diapers that astronauts wear on space walks. And, a bitcoin mine's…
Science Friday821: How A Shark Scientist Forged Her Own Path
Many kids dream of becoming marine biologists. But even folks who commit fully to studying life in the sea face a lot of barriers to entry in this competitive…
Science Friday820: FDA Panel Rejects MDMA Therapy For PTSD
Last month, the first psychedelic therapy treatment came before the Food and Drug Administration for a vote. It entailed using MDMA, also known as ecstasy or…
Science Friday819: A Small Meteor Blazes Over New York City | Tornado Science From ‘Twisters’
The foot-long meteor passed through the Earth’s atmosphere near the Statue of Liberty. Don’t worry, it was fine. Also, the follow-up to the 1996 movie…
Science Friday818: Why Are There So Many Drug Shortages In The U.S.?
If you’ve tried to get prescriptions filled in the last year or so, a pharmacist may have told you, “Sorry, we don’t have that drug right now.” That’s because…
Science Friday817: What The Small Intestine Can Tell Us About Gut Health
The gut microbiome is an important ecosystem of microbes that lives in each one of us, and its strength affects our overall health.However, the small intestine…
Science Friday816: Helping Queen Conchs Mate In The Florida Keys
In shallow water not far from the Florida Keys’ famed Seven Mile Bridge, a herd of the state’s flamboyantly pink queen conchs is struggling to survive.Warming…
Science Friday815: How Congestion Pricing Can Impact Human Health
In early June, New York Governor Kathy Hochul blocked a congestion pricing plan from going into effect in New York City. This plan would have charged a fee for…
Science Friday814: Galaxies ‘Dance’ In Stunning New JWST Image | Why Some Cats Scratch Furniture
As the James Webb Space Telescope marks two years of operations, NASA unveils a new image of two galaxies interacting. And, new research shows that cats’…
Science Friday813: Your Pain Tolerance May Have Been Passed Down From Neanderthals
There’s a little bit of Neanderthal in most of us. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a long history of intermingling, before the former went extinct about…
Science Friday812: How Can Iowa’s Agriculture Adapt To Climate Threats?
Climate change is having a profound effect on agriculture. Farmers over the past decade have faced intensifying drought and heat stress on crops, leading many…
Science Friday811: How Do They Actually Store The Declaration Of Independence?
These days, the 4th of July is known for its fireworks and cookouts. But the holiday commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, one of…
Science Friday810: How Politics And Diplomacy Shape Panda Conservation
Earlier this year, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington announced that pandas would be returning to the capitol. This news was met with great fanfare…
- Science Friday
809: The Best Science Books For Summer 2024
It’s officially summertime, and a new season of reading is here! Two science writers and voracious readers have compiled their summer reading recommendations…
Science Friday808: Avoiding Grilling and Barbecue Pitfalls
In a conversation from 2014, Ira talks marinade myths, charcoal chemistry, and the elusive “smoke ring”—the science behind barbecue and grilling. Are marinades…
Science Friday807: From Microbes To Mammoths: How Life Transformed The Planet
When you think about Earth, you might think of a giant rock, floating around in space, making laps around the sun. A rock that just happens to have critters…
Science Friday806: Study Shows Which Kids Are Getting Periods Younger Than Others
If you have teenagers in your life, you may have noticed that kids these days seem to be getting their periods earlier than previous generations did. It’s not…
Science Friday805: What To Do When Your Hypothesis Is Wrong? Publish!
Most scientific studies that get published have “positive results,” meaning that the study proved its hypothesis. Say you hypothesize that a honeybee will…
Science Friday804: The Sample From The Far Side Of The Moon | Will The Seine Be Clean Enough For The Olympics?
China’s Chang’e 6 return capsule landed in Mongolia, carrying samples from the far side of the moon. Also, Paris has invested $1.5B in cleaning up the Seine…
Science Friday803: The Octopus Overlooked By Science | Squid With ‘Giant’ Eggs Could Be New Species
The larger Pacific striped octopus is unusually social. But it wasn’t recognized by scientists until 2015, despite one man’s efforts. And, a deep-sea squid in…
Science Friday802: House Stalls On Bill To Compensate Victims Of Nuclear Testing
In July 1945, the US deployed the world’s first nuclear weapon during the Trinity Test. Since then, the US has tested more than 200 nukes above ground in…
Science Friday801: Crowdsourced Data Identifies 126 ‘Lost’ Bird Species
Some birds are famous for being extinct, like the Dodo and the passenger pigeon.But how do we prevent species from reaching that point? One of the starting…
Science Friday800: 20 Years Later, How Are City Climate Plans Actually Going?
In 2005, countries around the world ratified the Kyoto Protocol. It was the first big, legally-binding international climate policy, but there was a big…
Science Friday799: It’s Hot. But How Hot? | Canine Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising Results
Researchers say the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature is a better indicator of heat stress. Also, cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. A new vaccine has…
Science Friday798: Mannequins Help Teach People How To Spot Ticks | Protecting A Flickering Symbol Of Summer Nights
Two mannequins walk into a science lab, and one’s got a big tick problem. She can teach humans how to check for ticks. Also, researchers used citizen science…
Science Friday797: ‘The Singularity Is Nearer,’ Says Futurist Ray Kurzweil
In 2005, futurist and inventor Ray Kurzweil popularized the term “the singularity” to capture the idea that man and machine will merge as the next stage of…
Science Friday796: Why Do Cephalopods Make Ink?
The most wonderful time of the year has arrived: Cephalopod Week, Science Friday’s annual tradition of spotlighting all things octopus, squid, and…
Science Friday795: Meet The Emotions Behind Teenage Angst In ‘Inside Out 2’
In the 2015 film “Inside Out,” audiences met 11-year-old Riley and her team of emotions: Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, and Anger, each represented by a…
Science Friday794: Elephants Seem To Use Names For Each Other | Kids Discover Rare T. Rex Fossil
A new study used machine learning to analyze elephant vocalizations and identified “contact rumbles” that appear to function as names. Also, on a hike in the…
Science Friday793: How Sound Rules Life Underwater
Many people think of the ocean as a quiet and serene place: Take a dip underwater and the cacophony of the world melts away.But the ocean is quite noisy, full…
Science Friday792: Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener | A Tiny Fern's Gigantic Genome
Plants called “hyperaccumulators” have evolved to absorb high levels of metals. Scientists want to harness them for greener metal mining. And, a little fern…
Science Friday791: How Psychological Warfare Moved From Battlefields To Politics
When you think about connections between science and war, the obvious links are in technology—advanced radar, spy satellites, more powerful explosives—and in…
Science Friday790: Step Aside, DNA. It’s RNA’s Time To Shine.
DNA has long been studied and understood as the genetic blueprint for life on Earth. And related scientific endeavors, like the Human Genome Project, have…
Science Friday789: A Week Of Milestones For Spaceflight | Mexico Has Elected A Scientist President
A Week Of Milestones For SpaceflightThis has been a week of milestones for human spaceflight. After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule, carrying…
Science Friday785: The Organ That Gives Birds Their Voices | Common Loons Are Pop Music Icons
Scientists are studying birds’ unique vocal organ, the syrinx, to better understand its evolutionary history. Also, the eerie calls of the common loon have…
Science Friday784: Indigenous Nations Are Fighting To Take Back Their Data
You might’ve heard this phrase before: data equals power. Because when you have data, you can decide how they’re used and who gets to use them.The history of…
Science Friday788: The Unseen World Of Plant Intelligence
Are plants intelligent? Until recently, botanists were hesitant to ask that question, at least publicly. But that’s changing. In recent years researchers have…
Science Friday787: Right-To-Repair Laws Gain Steam In State Legislatures
If you have a problem with your phone, like a bad battery or a cracked screen, you might decide to just buy a new one. That’s partly because we don’t have a…
Science Friday786: Starliner Crewed Test Flight Rescheduled | Slugs And Snails Like Cities
The much-delayed crewed test flight is back on the calendar, despite a helium leak. Also, researchers used data from the crowd-sourcing nature observation app…
Science Friday783: Your ‘Biological Age’ Could Be Different Than How Old You Are
Aging often looks very different on different people. There are some 70-year-olds that exercise regularly, have no trouble going for a walk around the block…
Science Friday782: High-Speed Rail Gets A Boost In The U.S.
While the US was known for its railroads in the 1800s, we’ve fallen behind places like Japan, China, and Europe, which have invested in trains that go upwards…
Science Friday781: Using A Lab On Wheels To Study Weed From Dispensaries
Cannabis is legal in some form or another in over half of US states. But federally, it’s illegal and has no accepted medical use. However, the Biden…
Science Friday780: Jelly Creatures That Swim In Corkscrews | Keeping Wind Turbines Safe For Birds
For the first time, scientists have recorded how salps form chains and swim in corkscrews to reach the ocean’s surface each night. Also, a wind utility company…