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 Friday1058: How ‘Super Agers’ Stay Sharp And Active Longer Than Their Peers
Ever noticed how some people get to their 80s and 90s and continue to be healthy and active? They spend their days playing mahjong, driving to lunch, learning…
Science Friday1057: A Dino’s Last Dinner And Eavesdropping Birds
While there are a lot of dinosaur fossils, and a lot of plant fossils, the precise connection between the two has been something of a mystery. Now, researchers…
Science Friday1056: What Are The Best Practices For Prostate Cancer Screening?
Last month, former President Joe Biden announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The news sparked a larger conversation…
Science Friday1043: The Leap: Garbage In, Garbage Out
Biochemist Virginia Man-Yee Lee has spent a lifetime in the lab, figuring out what happens in the brains of people with neurodegenerative diseases. She’s made…
Science Friday1055: RFK Jr. Reshuffles CDC Vaccine Panel With Vaccine Skeptics
On Monday, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the panel that advises the CDC on who should get certain vaccines and when. Then…
Science Friday1054: What’s Next For China’s Space Program?
This week, China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft sent back its first image from space. It’s headed to a rendezvous with the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa, one of Earth’s…
Science Friday1053: The Ruin And Redemption Of The American Prairie
The prairie might just be the most underappreciated landscape in the United States. Beginning in the early 1800s, the majority of these grasslands were…
Science Friday1052: Bedbugs Have Been Bugging Us Since Before Beds
Bedbug infestations are not just a modern problem—these pests have been with early human ancestors for 245,000 years, causing problems long before the…
Science Friday1042: The Leap: A Scientist’s Quest To See Every Organism On Earth
Manu Prakash is many things—biologist, engineer, inventor, philosopher—but what he isn’t is conventional. Following his instincts has led Manu to his most…
Science Friday1051: Are We Prepared To Fight ‘The New Polio’?
A mysterious disease called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has been appearing in emergency rooms for about a decade. The disease has caused otherwise healthy…
Science Friday1050: How Science Communication Can Step Up Amid Federal Cuts
It’s a precarious time for science in the United States. Federal funding is being slashed, career scientists are being laid off, and researchers are…
Science Friday1049: How Cannibalistic Tadpoles Could Curb Invasive Cane Toads
South American cane toads were brought to Australia in 1935 to help eradicate native beetles that were destroying sugar cane crops. The toads didn’t care much…
Science Friday1048: Turning The Binoculars On Birders
Birding is a hobby that attracts a very particular group of people: the kind who get up at sunrise, go into the woods, and wait for hours for a little tiny…
Science Friday1041: The Leap: Be Bold Or Just Don't Do It
As a young plant scientist, Joanne Chory shook up the research establishment with her unconventional approach to figuring out how plants work. Her methods and…
Science Friday1040: What Huge Cuts To NSF Funding Mean For Science
Grant funding by the National Science Foundation has been cut by more than half this year, bringing the foundation’s science funding to its lowest level in…
Science Friday1039: What Happens When Air Traffic Control Systems Go Dark?
At the end of April, air traffic control radar surveillance and radio communication systems at Newark airport went dark for over a minute. A week and half…
Science Friday1038: Could The NIH Plan For A ‘Universal Vaccine’ Really Work?
At the beginning of May, the National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a plan to develop a universal…
Science Friday1037: The Leap: This Is Going To Kill Your Career
Betül Kaçar started her scientific career as a biochemist, working on an enzyme found in zebrafish. But then she found her calling: investigating some of the…
Science Friday1036: The Science Of That Big Stunt From The New ‘Mission: Impossible’
The “Mission: Impossible” franchise is known for its big stunts, and the newest film is no exception. Producer Kathleen Davis talks to the film’s stunt…
Science Friday1035: Meet A Pioneer Of Modern Weather Prediction
Climate scientist Jagadish Shukla grew up in a small village in rural India, where people starved if the monsoon season didn’t bring rain. To help his village…
Science Friday1034: Are Physical Buttons And Knobs Making A Comeback?
In recent years, digital touchscreens have replaced many of the buttons and knobs that control various functions in cars. But when Host Ira Flatow went…
Science Friday1033: Scientists Identify Genes For Tomato And Eggplant Size
Tomatoes come in all kinds of colors, sizes, and flavors. But what’s going on at the genetic level? What makes a tomato red or yellow? Tiny or…
Science Friday1032: The Leap: The Volcano Whisperer
As a teenager living in St. Vincent, Richie Robertson saw first-hand what a volcanic eruption did to life on the island. Forty years later, he was the…
Science Friday1031: Lesser Prairie Chicken May Lose Endangered Species Status
The lesser prairie chicken was granted endangered species status in 2023. Now the Department of the Interior is moving to revoke those protections. What can…
Science Friday1030: Tracking The Hidden Dangers Of Fighting Fires
Firefighting is a career with an inherent cancer risk, but a full understanding of what those risks are has been elusive. An important registry designed to…
Science Friday1029: Identifying New Plants, And The Scientific Secrets Of Superfoods
What does it take to create and maintain one of the largest repositories of botanical information in the world? For starters, it can mean helicopter-ing into…
Science Friday1028: Designing Hyperrealistic Body Parts, From Eyeballs To Placentas
Medical sculptor Damon Coyle walks around with a Mary Poppins bag of body parts. Fake ones, that is. At the University of Missouri, his lab creates…
Science Friday1026: The Leap: I Was Considered A Nobody
Biochemist Kati Karikó spent decades experimenting with mRNA, convinced that she could solve the problems that had kept it from being used as a therapeutic…
Science Friday1027: Cuts To NASA And A Fast-Track For Deep Sea Mining
Proposed budget cuts for NASA would jeopardize space research. And an executive order could change the political tides for deep sea mining.On May 2, the Trump…
Science Friday1025: How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other?
Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have their own…
Science Friday1024: Functional Fashion From An Artist And A Caterpillar
A passion for fashion among the “bone collector caterpillar,” who wears a coat of body parts, and an artist who makes fabrics that remember.We inch into the…
Science Friday1023: Ancient Iguanas Floated 5,000 Miles Across The Pacific | A Pregnant Icthyosaur Fossil
Millions of years ago, iguanas somehow got from North America to Fiji. Scientists think they made the trip on a raft of fallen vegetation. Also, the marine…
Science Friday1022: Are There Things That We Know We Can’t Know?
In “Into the Unknown,” an astronomer explores the mysteries of the cosmos and the limits of what science can test.What is time? If the universe is expanding…
Science Friday1021: Two Steps Forward For Meat Alternatives
Scientists bring us a lab-grown chicken nugget and texturally accurate, plant-based calamari. We’ll bite. There’s a movement in the world of science to find…
Science Friday1020: How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations | Regional Allergies
Being able to belt out a tune like Adele or Pavarotti is not just about raw talent. The best singers in the world have to work on their technique—like how to…
Science Friday1019: A New Book On The Horrifying, Creative World Of Insect Zombies
It’s zombie season! At least if you’re watching the new season of the fungal thriller “The Last of Us,” airing right now on Max, which chronicles what happens…
Science Friday1018: Untangling The Mind-Body Connection In Chronic Pain
Research suggests that better understanding the psychological and neurological components of chronic pain may lead to better treatments.Chronic pain is…
Science Friday1017: A Precisely Pointed Laser Allows People To See New Color ‘Olo’
Researchers isolated one kind of cone in the eye and aimed lasers at it to allow subjects to see a super vibrant teal shade they call “olo.”Think about the…
- Science Friday
1016: $8 Billion Of Climate Tech Projects Were Canceled In 3 Months | A Chance To Study A Successful, Growing Wetland
How will market uncertainty and a lack of federal support for climate efforts affect the future of clean energy in the United States? Plus, many wetlands are…
Science Friday1015: Investigating Cat Behavior Through Genetics
With the help of cat owners, a new project investigates cats’ biology and aims to link some of their behaviors to their genes.Calling all cat people: This…
Science Friday1014: Advances In Brain-Computer Interfaces For People With Paralysis
An evolving technology is changing the lives of people with paralysis: brain-computer interfaces (BCI). These are devices that are implanted in the brain and…
Science Friday1013: A Blind Inventor’s Life Of Advocacy And Innovation
In Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, inventor Josh Miele recounts his life story and path to becoming an accessibility designer.When inventor and scientist Josh…
Science Friday1012: The Lack Of Science In Road Design Is Deadly
Are traffic engineering decisions based on evidence-based research? Not as much as you might think.If you’ve seen a car crash on the side of the road, you…
Science Friday1011: Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe | A Colossal Squid Video
The Webb Space Telescope picked up traces of dimethyl sulfide on planet K2-18b. On Earth, the molecule comes from microbes and phytoplankton. Also, researchers…
Science Friday1010: How ‘Science Interpreters’ Make Hidden Science Visible
Imagine you’re diving into a cell. You’re paddling around in the cytoplasm, you’re climbing up a mitochondria. If you’re having a hard time picturing this…
Science Friday1009: The Navajo Researcher Reviving A Desert Peach | A New Dino With Blade-Like Horns
Bringing back Southwest peach orchards won’t be easy, but researchers are on the lookout for remaining trees—and they need help. And, the newly discovered…
Science Friday1008: How Interjections Regulate Conversation | Saccharin For Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
We are rounding up your questions about roads. What confounds you about traffic, or how interstates are laid out? Are there certain road design elements that…
Science Friday1007: Trump’s Nominee For NASA Administrator Meets Congress
On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation heard testimony from Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA. During…
Science Friday1006: How Real Doctors Brought ‘The Pitt’ To Life
We go inside the scientifically accurate ER world created for the TV show with one of its medical consultants.What is it actually like to work in an emergency…
Science Friday1005: What Will Replace The International Space Station?
NASA is planning to decommission the International Space Station by the end of 2030. The ISS, which began operations in 2000, is reaching the end of its…
Science Friday1004: What Artificial General Intelligence Could Mean For Our Future
What happens when AI moves beyond convincing chatbots and custom image generators to something that matches—or outperforms—humans? Each week, tech companies…
Science Friday1003: Climate Change Has Made Allergy Season Worse. How Do We Cope?
In many parts of the United States, spring has sprung. There’s nothing quite like those first few beautiful days of spring. They’re delightful—until the…
Science Friday1002: Microdosing Peanut Butter Could Alleviate Some Peanut Allergies
Over the past two decades, rates of peanut allergies in children have more than tripled. A variety of theories has been proposed to explain this, from a rise…
Science Friday1001: The Department Of Health And Human Services Cuts 10,000 Jobs
The cuts hit multiple agencies, affecting work on HIV, gun violence prevention, vaccines, minority health research, and more. On April 1, thousands of federal…
Science Friday1000: Forecasting Cuts Spark Worries About Hurricane Season | Soothing Babies With Music
Emergency response experts say that funding and staff cuts at the National Weather Service could mean less reliable weather forecast. And, babies like music…
Science Friday999: Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below
In January, an iceberg the size of Chicago splintered off from the Antarctic Peninsula and drifted away in the Bellingshausen Sea.As luck would have it, a team…
Science Friday998: TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD
Mental health information on social media can be both revelatory and misleading. How do clinicians and their patients make sense of it? TikTok and other social…
Science Friday997: Engineering Lessons One Year After The Baltimore Bridge Collapse
Engineers take an in-depth look at why the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed and how to prevent future tragedies.In the early morning of March…
Science Friday996: 23andMe Bankruptcy | A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll
The company has genetic data of 15 million people, which could be shared with a future buyer. Here’s how to delete it. Plus, an experimental coating could make…
Science Friday995: AI Word Choice | When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd
Certain words are overrepresented in text written by AI language models. A study investigates why such patterns develop. Also, the ends of chromosomes, called…