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 Friday892: How Insects Changed The World—And Human Cultures
Did you know that there are ten quintillion—or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000—individual insects on the planet? That means that for each and every one of us…
Science Friday891: The Science Behind Third-Trimester Abortions
Leading up to the November election, Science Friday is covering top science issues on the ballot. For voters, those top issues include abortion.Since the Dobbs…
Science Friday890: How Aging Water Systems Are Pushing Sewage Into U.S. Homes
Walter Byrd remembers the first time sewage came bubbling out of his toilet like it was yesterday.“It was just pumping up through there,” Byrd says. “One of…
Science Friday889: Did Dinosaur Flight Evolve More Than Once? | Biodiversity’s Biggest Event Is Underway
Some paleontologists argue the ancient footprints found in South Korea show flight may have evolved in multiple dinosaur lineages. And, COP16 will tackle…
Science Friday888: How Do Animals Understand Death?
Throughout history, humans have given a lot of thought to death. We’ve grappled with our mortality, created elaborate burial rituals, and contemplated how best…
Science Friday887: MRIs Show How The Brain Changes During Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a hugely transformative experience, both in how it can change someone’s day-to-day life, and how it affects the body. There’s a key part of the…
Science Friday886: How Metaphor Shapes Science | Intertwining The Lives Of Moths And Humans Through Music
Metaphors can help us understand complicated scientific concepts. But they can also have a downside. And, a pair of musicians wrote a concept album inspired by…
Science Friday885: NASA’s Europa Clipper Heads To Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa
On October 14, NASA launched Europa Clipper, its largest planetary mission spacecraft yet. It’s headed to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which could have a giant…
Science Friday884: Pandas Return To Washington, D.C. | A Lesser-Known Grain Called Kernza
Two giant pandas on loan from China have arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo. Also, originally from Central Asia, Kernza doesn’t need to be replanted…
Science Friday883: How Health Misinformation Spreads | A Play About Ben Franklin And His Son
The Basics Of How Health Misinformation SpreadsHealth misinformation can circulate quickly on social media: false claims about vaccines, ads pushing…
Science Friday882: Searching The Universe For Clues To The Ultra-Small
What exactly is … everything? What is space-time?At one extreme, you’ve got the weird rules of quantum physics that deal with subatomic particles. At the other…
Science Friday881: What Makes ‘SuperAgers’ Stay Healthy For So Long?
A common worry among older adults is how their brains and bodies might decline as they age.A small but fortunate group will live past their 95th birthdays…
Science Friday880: Asheville Was Never A ‘Climate Haven.’ Nowhere Is.
For years, Asheville, North Carolina, has been billed as a “climate haven,” a place safe from the touch of climate change-exacerbated disasters. But last…
Science Friday879: The Science Behind Hurricane Milton | ‘Unsettling’ Warm Water In Lake Michigan
Hurricane Milton caused a major storm surge, but also a reverse one. And, Lake Michigan's surface temperature has been above average nearly every day this year…
Science Friday878: How Campaigns Use Psychology To Get Out The Vote
We’re one month away from the presidential election. The campaigns are in high gear, trying to get their messages out, and hoping that those messages will be…
Science Friday877: How Gut Microbes Are Linked To Stress Resilience
The phrase “go with your gut” is often used to say one should follow their intuition in the face of a big decision. Recent research in the journal Nature…
Science Friday876: How Magnetic Brain Stimulation Helps Relieve Depression
As the surgeon general has stated, we are in a mental health crisis. Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. And a major challenge is that…
Science Friday875: How The Origin Of Life On Earth Can Help Find Life In Space
The origin of life on Earth has been mulled over by scientists for centuries. We now know that life’s building blocks are RNA, amino acids, and cells. But if…
Science Friday874: Hurricane Helene's Effect On The Global Tech Industry | A Stretchy Band-Aid For The Heart
The storm flooded mines in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, which supply the tech industry with some of the purest quartz in the world. Also, researchers developed…
Science Friday873: Herbicides Approved For Public Land | Hidden Physics In Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’
This summer, the Bureau of Land Management approved seven herbicides to fight invasive plants in the West. Also, when scientists analyzed the swirls in the…
Science Friday872: Improving Hospitals’ Support For Teens In Mental Health Crises
This conversation discusses suicide and suicidal ideation in young people. Please take care while listening. If you or a loved one is thinking about suicide or…
Science Friday871: Greenhouse Gases From Anesthesia | Fighting Militarization In The Mariana Islands
Emissions from anesthesia are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases from hospitals. This anesthesiologist wants to change that. And, a cultural…
Science Friday870: Empowering Older Adults To Step Up For The Climate
If you’re a baby boomer, you may remember the first Earth Day, the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war protests, and the first Pride parade. The list goes on…
Science Friday869: Microsoft Makes Deal To Restart Three Mile Island | Fish That Use Their Legs To Taste
The company is betting big on nuclear energy to meet increasing power needs of data centers and new technologies like AI. Also, new research into a strange…
Science Friday868: Former NIH Director Reflects On Public Mistrust In Science
In 2021, Dr. Francis Collins stepped down after a dozen years leading the National Institutes of Health. He had just overseen the government’s response to the…
Science Friday867: How Are AI Chatbots Changing Scientific Publishing?
Since ChatGPT was released to the public almost three years ago, generative AI chatbots have had many impacts on our society: They played a large role in the…
Science Friday866: These Artists Serve Up Environmental Crises Through Food
Would you be interested in a cookie infused with smog from your favorite city? Maybe a loaf of sourdough made from wheat tainted by wildfires?Those are just a…
Science Friday865: Surgeon General Takes On Parental Stress And Mental Health
Parenting is a tough job. Some days are absolutely overwhelming, balancing a job, a home, and a child’s needs. One thing goes wrong and it’s like a house of…
Science Friday864: Earth May Once Have Had A Ring Like Saturn | An AI For Sand
The ring would have gradually fallen to Earth as meteorites, correlating to a spike of impacts seen in the geological record. Also, a new AI tool can judge…
Science Friday863: Physicists Create Heaviest Antimatter Nucleus | Bird Species May Team Up For Migration
The heaviest antimatter nucleus to date was spotted in a particle accelerator. It could provide new insights into the nature of matter. And, research indicates…
Science Friday862: Your Questions About The Updated COVID Vaccines, Answered
SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard’s T.H. Chan…
Science Friday861: To Confront Climate Change, Imagine Getting It Right
Part of the reason it’s difficult to talk about climate change is that it can be hard to see a long-term positive outcome for people and the planet. But Dr…
Science Friday860: What Research Shows About Smartphone Bans In Schools
Kids and teens are back in school, and the battle over the smartphones in their pockets is becoming more prominent. For years, teachers and parents have…
Science Friday859: First Citizen Spacewalk | First Successful Whole-Eye Transplant, Over A Year Later
SpaceX Crew Completes First Citizen SpacewalkBig news in the world of commercial space flight: On Thursday morning, Jared Iasaacman and Sarah Gillis, members…
Science Friday858: ‘Time Capsule’ Rocks And Earth’s Mantle | Genetically Engineering Stronger Wood
Samples of 2.5 billion-year-old mantle rocks found at spreading ocean ridges could put bounds on models of how the planet formed. And, researchers decreased…
Science Friday857: To This Neuroscientist, Cows Are Like Puppies
If you’ve ever seen a cute cow video on social media, you might notice they seem to have a lot in common with dogs. They can wag their tails, they love to…
Science Friday856: Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks | Scientists Identify ‘ManhattAnt’ Spreading Across NYC
Shark fishing is alive and well, but the fishermen who do it are increasingly prioritizing conservation. And, an unknown ant was spotted in Manhattan in 2011…
Science Friday855: Using DNA To Boost Digital Data Storage And Processing
You might be familiar with a gigabyte, one of the most popular units of measure for computer storage. A two-hour movie is 3 gigabytes on average, while your…
Science Friday854: An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance | Extreme Heat Is Making Learning More Difficult
ESA officials said it was only the ninth time an asteroid was spotted before reaching Earth’s atmosphere. And, as the climate changes and summer temperatures…
Science Friday853: Dino-Killing Asteroid Was Rich In Carbon | The Dogs Sniffing Out Spotted Lanternflies
A new study suggests that the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs may have originated from the outer parts of the solar system. And, invasive spotted…
Science Friday852: Why Eels Are So Mysterious—And In Demand
Eels have fascinated humans for thousands of years, even captivating big thinkers like Aristotle and Freud. Despite having been around for some 200 million…
Science Friday851: Webb Telescope Data Point To Six ‘Rogue Worlds’
Did you know that almost every star you see in the night sky has at least one planet orbiting it?Here’s something even wilder: There are some celestial bodies…
Science Friday850: Could ‘Season Creep’ Affect Human Behavior?
You might have noticed that the seasons don’t quite behave like they used to. In some places, fall and spring seem to fly by, while winter and summer are much…
Science Friday849: Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading | ‘Slingshot’ And A Space Mission Gone Wrong
Several states have reported cases of the rare but serious mosquito-borne illness eastern equine encephalitis. And, the new sci-fi movie "Slingshot," about an…
Science Friday848: The History Of Teeth, From Ancient Fish To Humans
Your teeth don’t just chew your food—they connect you to the deepest of deep history on Earth. Teeth have existed, in some form, for half a billion years…
Science Friday847: Errors On Death Certificates May Be Skewing Mortality Data
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the maternal mortality rate in the United States is very high compared to other wealthy…
Science Friday846: Astronaut Cady Coleman On ‘Sharing Space’
There’s a phenomenon known as the “overview effect,” a changed perspective some people experience after seeing the Earth from space. Retired astronaut Dr. Cady…
Science Friday845: Protecting Sequoias From Wildfire Gets Tricky | Ancient Cave Art And Human Creativity
Sequoia National Park is largely designated as wilderness. That complicates efforts to protect its iconic trees from worsening wildfires. Also, archaeologists…
Science Friday844: Plastic In Human Brains | Local Anesthetics Recommended For IUD Insertion
A new study measuring microplastics in organs of the recently deceased found that about two dozen brain samples were 0.5% plastic by weight. Also, having an…
Science Friday843: Don’t Just Walk In The Woods—Touch, Smell, and Taste Them, Too
It’s been a hot and rainy summer in many parts of the US, and it’s been hard to spend as much time in nature as many of us would like. Heat waves and…
Science Friday842: Are Space Elevators Really A Possibility?
The space elevator has been a staple of science fiction for decades, from The Fountains of Paradise by Arthur C. Clarke to the Apple TV show “Foundation.” But…
Science Friday841: Could Light And Sound Therapy Treat Alzheimer’s?
A new potential Alzheimer’s therapy uses 40-hertz frequencies of light and sound to stimulate the brain. Research applying this treatment to mice showed a…
Science Friday840: Dr. Fauci On A Life Of Medical Research And Public Service
Dr. Anthony Fauci has a long history with Science Friday. Ira first met him in the early 1980s while covering the HIV/AIDS epidemic. He has been a frequent…
Science Friday839: Evidence For Liquid Water On Mars | Making Campsite Booking Fairer
Data from the Mars InSight lander points to the presence of liquid water underneath its crust. Also, some national and state parks are changing the way they…
Science Friday838: Dinosaurs’ Secrets Might Be In Their Fossilized Poop
To gaze upon a full T. rex skeleton is to be transported back in time. Dinosaur fossils are key to understanding what these prehistoric creatures looked like…
Science Friday837: The Promise Of Perovskite Solar Panels
Solar holds great promise as a clean energy solution, as the sun is an incredibly abundant resource, and panels can be placed unobtrusively on roofs and in…
Science Friday836: An Expert Vegetable Breeder On Innovating Crops For The Future
It’s become clear to farmers and home gardeners alike that climate change is affecting the gardening landscape, literally. The climate is warming, pests are…
Science Friday835: What The Private Sale Of Fossils Means For Paleontology
On July 17, Apex the stegosaurus was sold at Sothebys in New York City for a record $44.6 million. The buyer was billionaire Ken Griffin, CEO of the hedge fund…
Science Friday834: Starliner Leaves Astronauts Stuck | Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years In Advance?
The Boeing capsule is having issues with its thrusters and cannot bring astronauts back to Earth. Also, move over, Farmer’s Almanac. A more accurate long-term…
Science Friday833: Why Does COVID-19 Spike In Summer?
It may seem like everyone is either getting COVID-19 this summer, or knows someone who has. That’s because for the fourth year in a row, COVID cases are…