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 Friday1115: How Shoddy Science Is Driving A Supplement Boom
Dietary supplements are big business, with one recent estimate showing the industry is worth almost $64 billion in the United States alone. Take a casual…
Science Friday1117: Octopuses Use Suckers To ‘Taste’ Harmful Microbes
Put on your party hat and wet suit because it is Cephalopod Week, Science Friday’s annual celebration of all things, octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. To kick…
Science Friday1116: After CDC Director Is Ousted, More Senior Officials Resign
On August 27, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the White House fired CDC director Susan Monarez after only a month on the job. Right after she was…
Science Friday1114: Meet 3I/Atlas, An Object From Another Solar System
Earlier this summer, astronomers discovered something strange whizzing past Jupiter: an interstellar object. Scientists named it 3I/ATLAS. It’s only the third…
Science Friday1113: How Common Household Products Pollute Our Indoor Air
You have probably given some thought to outdoor air pollution, whether it’s wildfire smoke or smog from traffic. You may even check AQI measurements on your…
Science Friday1112: The Shape-Shifting Science Of Sand Dunes
In some places, sand dunes protect shorelines from the onslaught of ocean waves. In other places, the dunes themselves are on the move, and threaten human…
Science Friday1111: Food Science Experts On Perfecting At-Home Ice Cream
Summer may be winding down, but we’re not quite ready to let go of beach days, backyard cookouts, or ice cream cones. We love ice cream here at SciFri, so…
Science Friday1110: An ER Doctor Reflects On Hurricane Katrina, 20 Years Later
Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, and the levees designed to protect New Orleans failed. Huge swaths of the city flooded, and…
Science Friday1109: An Archaeologist And A Tattoo Artist Decipher Ancient Ink
Researchers recently used near-infrared photography to get a detailed look at ancient artwork showing scenes of wild animals tangled in a fight. But these…
Science Friday1108: What Lies Beneath The Outer Layers Of A Star?
You might think of a star as a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace where hydrogen is turned into helium at a temperature of millions of…
Science Friday1107: How Have Gray Wolves Fared 30 Years After Reintroduction?
Gray wolves are native to the Rocky Mountains, but decades of hunting nearly eradicated them from the western United States by the 1940s. In 1995, wolves were…
Science Friday1106: Are Food Dyes Really Bad For You?
What do Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, lime Jell-O, and Kraft Creamy French Salad dressing have in common? They've all gotten a glow-up from artificial food dyes…
Science Friday1105: mRNA Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise
This month, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated almost $500 million in mRNA vaccine development grants and contracts. While HHS has said…
Science Friday1104: Can The Rise In Solar Power Balance Out Clean Energy Cuts?
Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has been aggressive in rolling back clean energy initiatives. But that isn’t the whole story…
Science Friday1103: Decoding Fireflies’ Smelly Signals And Blinking Butts
Fireflies’ magical blinking lights are tiny beacons in the warm dark night. Who can resist catching one? Not scientists.Because their light comes from bodily…
Science Friday1102: The Uncertain Science Behind What We Understand As ‘Truth’
Throughout history, humans have been on a search for truth. From the ancient Greeks and their belief in a universal truth, to our Founding Fathers writing, “We…
Science Friday1096: How Agatha Christie Used Chemistry To Kill (In Books)
Did you know that murder mystery writer Agatha Christie had a background in chemistry? In about half of her stories, the murder is committed using…
Science Friday1101: What Do mRNA Funding Cuts Mean For Future US Research?
On August 5, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Department of Health and Human Services would terminate almost $500 million in mRNA…
Science Friday1098: Breast Milk Is Understudied. What Are Scientists Learning Now?
If you’ve found yourself scrolling through the breastfeeding world online, you know that people have a lot of strong opinions about breast milk. But what…
Science Friday1097: When Headaches Are Ruining Your Life, Where Can You Turn?
Science journalist Tom Zeller Jr. has suffered from debilitating cluster headaches for three decades. Like other cluster headache sufferers, his episodes would…
Science Friday1099: Remembering Apollo 13 Astronaut James Lovell
Last week, astronaut James Lovell died at the age of 97. In April of 1970, he was the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which launched with three astronauts…
Science Friday1095: ‘Underground Atlas’ Shows How Vulnerable Fungal Networks Are
Fungal networks in the soil are arguably the basis of much of life on Earth, but they’re understudied and underappreciated in the conservation world…
Science Friday1094: Lithium May Have A Role In Causing—And Treating—Alzheimer’s
The mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s disease have eluded scientists for decades. But a new breakthrough points to lithium as a possible explanation—not only does…
Science Friday1092: Are Cold Plunges Actually Good For You?
If social media and certain influential podcast hosts are to be believed, cold plunges can do everything from boosting your immune system to reducing…
Science Friday1093: 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 Friday1091: 65 Genomes Expand Our Picture Of Human Genetics
The first complete draft of the human genome was published back in 2003. Since then, researchers have worked both to improve the accuracy of human genetic…
Science Friday1090: How The Moon Transformed Life On Earth
For almost their entire 4.5 billion-year existence, Earth and its moon have been galactic neighbors. And the moon isn’t just Earth’s tiny sidekick—their…
Science Friday1089: EPA Seeks To Revoke Scientific Basis For Greenhouse Gas Rules
This week the Trump administration indicated that it would seek to roll back a key EPA finding that allows the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from…
Science Friday1079: You Can Whistle While You Work—But How Does A Whistle Work?
Whistling is a skill used to communicate over distances—a whistle can mean anything from “you’re cute” to “time to come home for dinner.” There’s a complex…
Science Friday1087: A Reptile’s Baffling Backfin And The Math Of Dashing Dinos
Paleontologists have identified an ancient reptile with a towering crest made not of skin, or scales, or feathers, or antler—but something else entirely. It’s…
Science Friday1088: NASA Employees Protest Cuts In Formal Dissent Letter
The Trump administration has proposed cutting NASA’s budget by almost 25% and shutting down 19 currently operating science missions. On July 21, several…
Science Friday1086: Where Are We On The Science Of Menopause?
Menopause is having a moment. Celebrities like Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, and Michelle Obama have recently shared their personal menopause experiences…
Science Friday1085: EPA To Shut Down Scientific Research Arm
The EPA recently announced that it’s going to shut down its scientific research arm, called the Office of Research and Development. Since the agency was…
Science Friday1084: Parker Solar Probe Captures Closest-Ever Images Of The Sun
In December, the Parker Solar Probe made history when it made the closest-ever approach to the sun by a spacecraft. As it whizzed by, a camera recorded…
Science Friday1083: Climate Change Is Upending The Home Insurance Market
You can’t get a mortgage without home insurance. But in some parts of the country, it’s becoming harder and harder to find a plan, as insurance companies drop…
Science Friday1082: What The Sigma Is Algospeak?
Gen Alpha slang can seem unintelligible to adults, but linguist and TikToker Adam Aleksic argues language development in the internet age is worth legitimate…
Science Friday1081: How Millions Of Flies Can Help Stop The New World Screwworm
The New World screwworm has cattle ranchers, entomologists, and the federal government on edge. The pest was successfully eradicated from the US decades ago…
Science Friday1077: Why Is The Scopes Trial Still Relevant 100 Years Later?
In July 1925, the Scopes “Monkey” Trial captivated the nation. On its face, the case was relatively straightforward: A Tennessee biology teacher named John…
Science Friday1076: Why Don’t We Have A Vaccine For Lyme Disease?
It’s shaping up to be one of the worst tick years yet, and concerns about Lyme disease—which is transmitted through the bites of some species—are high. Aside…
Science Friday1080: Is This PTSD Treatment Too Good To Be True?
About 7% of veterans experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that number can be closer to 30% for those who have served in a war zone. But PTSD…
Science Friday1078: Is It Time For A New Model Of The Universe?
For decades, astronomers have been trying to nail down the value of the Hubble constant—a measure of how fast the universe is expanding. But some cosmologists…
Science Friday1073: How PFAS From A Military Base Has Sickened Nearby Residents
For decades, residents of the small city of Newburgh, New York, were unknowingly drinking water contaminated with toxic PFAS—also known as forever chemicals…
Science Friday1047: The Leap: And Then The Sub Went Silent
Oceanographer Victoria Orphan’s dream was coming true. She was sitting in the Alvin submersible, on one of its deepest science dives ever. But the trip was…
Science Friday1072: How These Spiders At The Bottom Of The Sea Eat Methane
Researchers found a new sea spider with a giant nose, leg cannons, and—most remarkably—a novel way of surviving in the lightless, freezing environment miles…
Science Friday1071: As Disasters Escalate, What’s The Future Of FEMA?
President Trump has said that he wants to phase out FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and move responsibility for dealing with major disasters to…
Science Friday1070: Spaghetti Science And Mouth Taping Myths
Most pasta is made from just two ingredients—flour and water. For decades this humble food has prompted physicists around the world to try to understand its…
Science Friday1069: The Goo In Your Home Could Help Science Address Climate Change
We live in a world filled with microbes—they’re inside our bodies, in soil, in deep sea hydrothermal vents, and in your window AC unit. Some microbiologists…
Science Friday1068: How Do GLP-1 Drugs Override Our Biology?
GLP-1 medications like Ozempic have dominated headlines over the past couple of years. When writing his new book, Diet, Drugs and Dopamine: The New Science of…
Science Friday1046: The Leap: Everything Else Is Boring
In both her life and her work, researcher Karmella Haynes has never followed the pack. Karmella explains why she created her own area of research at the…
Science Friday1067: The Seafaring Life Of ‘Modern-Day Captain Nemo,’ Robert Ballard
In excerpts of two conversations from the Science Friday archives (originally recorded in 2000 and 2009), oceanographer Robert Ballard joins Host Ira Flatow to…
Science Friday1066: Understanding Sunscreen Ingredients And Which Ones You Need
Summer is here, which means it’s the season for soaking up the sun. But it’s important to do so responsibly, considering the strong link between sun exposure…
Science Friday1065: In ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ Paleontology Is Still The Star
The latest Jurassic World movie, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” is out today. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson (“The Avengers”) and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”)…
Science Friday1064: What Does It Mean To Have A Chatbot Companion?
AI is not just for automating tasks or coming up with new recipe ideas. Increasingly, people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship. Roughly half a…
Science Friday1045: The Leap: Mars? It Was A Miracle We Got To Florida
Geologist Steve Squyres risked his career and millions of dollars to get two rovers roaming on Mars. But the mission almost didn’t make it to the launch pad…
Science Friday1063: After Her Grants Got Cut, This Researcher Is Suing The NIH
Since January, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made sweeping cuts to science. It's hard to keep track of how many research grants were canceled…
Science Friday1062: New Telescope Captures The Cosmos In Groundbreaking Detail
The first images from the brand new Vera C. Rubin Observatory have finally been unveiled, and they show us the cosmos like never before. The camera captures so…
Science Friday1061: How Scientists Made The First Gene-Editing Treatment For A Baby
Last month, scientists reported a historic first: they gave the first personalized gene-editing treatment to a baby who was born with a rare life-threatening…
Science Friday1060: Ancient Bone Proteins May Offer Insight On Megafauna Extinction
Australia is known for its unusual animal life, from koalas to kangaroos. But once upon a time, the Australian landscape had even weirder fauna, like…
Science Friday1044: The Leap: You Do Realize… That’s Impossible
As a grad student, Suchitra Sebastian wasn’t sure she wanted to be a physicist. But when one of her experiments gave an unexpected result, she was hooked…
Science Friday1059: What We’re Learning From The James Webb Space Telescope
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started collecting data nearly three years ago, and it has already transformed our understanding of the universe. It has…