Science Friday
Episodes
Tick Repellents, Robot Relationships. Aug. 7, 2018, Part 1
07 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you were given a robot and asked to break it, would you do it? The amount of Furby destruction videos on Youtube suggest it wouldn’t be that hard...
Eric Kandel and the Disordered Mind, Death. Aug 31, 2018, Part 2
31 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The human brain contains an estimated 100 billion neurons. When those cells malfunction, the disrupted process can lead to schizophrenia, PTSD, and ot...
Outdoor Influencers, Northwest Passage, Undersea Volcanoes. Aug 31, 2018, Part 1
31 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
NASA is exploring a deep-sea volcano off the coast of Hawaii as a test run for human and robotic missions to Mars and beyond. The mission, dubbed SUBS...
SciFri Special Edition: A Time Traveler Cocktail Party. Aug 28, 2018.
28 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 2009, Stephen Hawking decided to throw a party for time travelers, famously sending the invitations after the date of the party. For the 30th anniv...
Yellow Fever and Ebola, Trans-boundary Aquifers, Probiotics. Aug 24, 2018, Part 2
24 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
From 1976 to 2017, the Democratic Republic of the Congo experienced eight outbreaks of the deadly Ebola virus. Then, for 10 weeks earlier this year, t...
Hurricane Lane, Disposable Contacts, Brief History of Time. Aug 24, 2018, Part 1
24 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This year was both the 30th anniversary of Stephen Hawking’s science blockbuster A Brief History of Time, but also the year the famed physicist him...
Ant Traffic Flow, Natural Reactors, David Quammen. August 17, 2018, Part 2
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Worker ants keep the nest alive. They look for food, take care of the eggs, and dig all the tunnels. Fire ant colonies, for example, have hundreds of ...
Coastal Flooding, Elephants and Cancer, Yosemite Bears. August 17, 2018, Part 1
17 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
More than five years after the devastating 14-foot high waters of Superstorm Sandy flooded New York and New Jersey, the Army Corps of Engineers is stu...
Parch Marks, Wildfires, The Beatles. August 10, 2018, Part 1
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Mendocino Complex fire in northern California has spread to more than 300,000 acres—a swath of land bigger than New York City. The blaze is the ...
The Story Of Sand, Science And Dance. August 10, 2018, Part 2.
10 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When you think of sand, thoughts of the ocean and sand castles probably come to mind. But sand can be found in much more than beachfronts. Sand is a k...
Bacteria Extinction, Facial Recognition, Solar Probe. August 3, 2018, Part 2
03 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Long before we walked the Earth, bacteria took it over. They’re in every ecosystem on the Earth, and researchers have hopes to someday find them on ...
"Lost in Math," Alan Alda, A Radical Brain Surgery, New Jersey Floods. August 3, 2018. Part 1
03 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, physicists trying to uncover the large and small structures of the universe have been coming up empty—no evidence of supersymmetry at t...
PFAS, Urban Evolution, Science Diction. July 27, 2018, Part 1
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you thought city life was stressful, imagine being a wild animal trying to outlive speeding cars, toxic chemicals and heavy metals, or even the unn...
Ant Socialization, Smoky Skies, Dust Storm, Mars Lake. July 27, 2018, Part 2
27 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Many ant species have a queen, the member of the colony that lays eggs. The rest of the ants are divided into different roles that support the queen a...
Heredity, Oldest Bread, Jupiter's Moons. July 20, 2018, Part 2
20 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Have you ever taken a peek at your family tree? If you trace back along those branches, you might discover some long ago celebrities, kings, and philo...
Yeast Superbug, Dino Dinner, Toxic Algae. July 20, 2018, Part 1
20 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you hear the word “superbug,” you’re likely to think about drug-resistant bacteria or even viruses. But in a case that’s been unfolding sin...
Nerve Agents, Straws, Soccer Flops, Happiness. July 13, 2018, Part 2
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Four months ago, an ex-Russian spy and his daughter were hospitalized in the U.K. They came into contact with a substance known as Novichok—a nerve ...
Neutrinos, Book Club, Air Conditioning. July 13, 2018, Part 1
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1988, physicist Stephen Hawking’s wildly popular A Brief History of Time introduced general audiences around the world to scientists’ questio...
19th-Century Surveyor, News Roundup, Eagles' Nests. July 6, 2018, Part 1
06 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the 19th century, the American West was an arid climate yet to be fully explored. But surveyors like geologist John Wesley Powell, the second direc...
Jurassic World, Rhino Comeback, Uranus Collision. July 6, 2018, Part 2
06 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It’s the 25th anniversary of the debut of Jurassic Park. And with Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom currently at the top of the summer movie food chain...
Bee News, Summer Science Reading. June 29, 2018, Part 2
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Bumblebees and honeybees are two species of bees that form colonies. The colonies of bumblebees are smaller compared to their honeybee cousins, who’...
Beef Genetic Testing, Chasing Whales, Radiolab Gonads. June 29, 2018, Part 1
29 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whales are majestic, awe-inspiring animals. Some species can reach up to 150 tons and take in a living room-sized volume of water in one gulp. They ca...
Math And Social Justice, Chicago Coyotes, Meteorites. June 22, 2018, Part 2
22 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Math isn’t often thought of as a tool for social justice. But mathematical thinking can help us understand what’s going on in society too, says ma...
Alcohol Study, Cephalopod Week, Coral Oasis. June 22 2018, Part 1
22 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, the National Institutes of Health cancelled a $100 million study of alcohol and health after an internal investigation found “early and...
CRISPR, Colors, Narwhals. June 15, 2018, Part 2
15 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Over less than a decade, the gene-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9 has taken the biology world by storm. But two new studies indicate that the...
Dinosaurs, Celebrating Cephalopods. June 15, 2018, Part 1
15 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Like a kraken rising from the depths (or a cuttlefish emerging from the sand), Cephalopod Week is back! Every year, Science Friday spends a week honor...
Mars Organics, Museum Collections, Kelp Farming. June 8, 2018, Part 2
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In 1832, less than a year into the first voyage of the Beagle, Charles Darwin found a beetle in Argentina. Turns out, discovering new species in the ...
Ocean Conservation, Dark Matter Hunt. June 8, 2018, Part 1
08 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Planets, stars, and physical “stuff” make up a tiny fraction of the universe. Most of the universe's mass is instead invisible dark matter, which ...
Sea Floor Mapping, Hurricane Season Forecast. June 1, 2018, Part 2
01 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The deep sea is the largest habitat on Earth, but it’s also one of the least understood. As mining companies eye the mineral resources of the deep ...
Scientist Politicians, Microbiome, Wildlife Car Accidents. June 1, 2018, Part 1
01 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This year’s midterm elections have seen an upswing in the number of scientists running for office. There are approximately 60 candidates with STEM b...
AI Conversation, Robot Trust, AI Music. May 18, 2018, Part 2
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Should autonomy be the holy grail of artificial intelligence? Computer scientist Justine Cassell has been working for decades on interdependence inste...
Sleep Questions, Portable Museums, Digital Health Records. May 25, 2018, Part 1
25 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the difference between being fatigued and sleepy? Do melatonin and other sleeping aids work? And what can you do if you just can’t sleep?Ne...
Psychedelics With Michael Pollan And Intel Student Science Fair. May 18, 2018, Part 2
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In his latest book, How to Change Your Mind, Michael Pollan writes of his own consciousness-expanding experiments with psychedelic drugs like LSD and...
Consciousness In 'Westworld,' Heart Cells On Graphene, Bike Safety App. May 18, 2018, Part 1
18 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In HBO’s series Westworld, human-like robots populate a theme park where human guests can have violent, gory adventures in the Wild West without th...
Does Time Exist, Elephant Seismology, Produce Safety. May 11, 2018, Part 2
11 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How do you think about time? Most people experience it as Newton described it—as something that passes independent of other events, that’s the sam...
Hawaii Eruption, Antibiotic Resistance, Florida Sea Rise. May 11, 2018, Part 1
11 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano—located on the Big Island—has been continuously erupting for the past 30 years. But on May 3, magma began spewing throu...
DNA Privacy, Dog Cognition. May 4, 2018, Part 2
04 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Genetic testing sites are nothing new. They’ve grown enough in popularity over the past decade that the idea of spitting into a tube and sending it ...
Chasing Pluto, Space Warps. May 4, 2018, Part 1
04 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In July of 2015, the world was stunned to learn that Pluto, a tiny, distant dot that some didn’t even consider a planet, was a dynamic, complex, and...
Frozen Frogs, Yeast, Paleobotany. April 27, 2018, Part 2
27 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When winter comes, animals have several options for survival. They can leave their habitats entirely for warmer environments, search for a cozy cave, ...
Historical Climate Change, Weighing Galaxies, Great Lakes Water Rights. April 27, 2018, Part 1
27 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It’s not uncommon these days to hear scientists and journalists say that our planet is experiencing record-setting temperatures due to climate chang...
Ocean Migrations, Deep Divers, Summer Skies. April 20, 2018, Part 2
20 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Every night, the largest migration on Earth happens underwater, as jellies, crustaceans and fish swim up hundreds of meters towards the surface to fee...
Drone Radar, Fracking Seismology, Massive Earthquakes. April 20, 2018, Part 1
20 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The 1783 eruption of Laki in Iceland lasted eight months, blanketing parts of the island in lava flows 50 feet deep, and spewing noxious gases that de...
Immunotherapy, The Evolution Of Eyebrows, Unconventional Bird Calls. April 13, 2018, Part 2
13 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Tumors are masters of disguise. The field of immunotherapy—teaching our immune system to recognize cancer—is burgeoning with solutions to this p...
Beach Health, Extraterrestrial Communication, Maggots. April 13, 2018, Part 1
13 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Some private citizens, scientists, and entrepreneurs are sending some focused messages through the cosmos, which could theoretically be intercepted b...
Levee Wars, New Neurons, Animal Farts. April 6, 2018, Part 2
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The mighty Mississippi is shackled and constrained by a series of channels, locks, and levees. The height of those levee walls is regulated by the Arm...
Celebrating '2001: A Space Odyssey' And Whales. April 6, 2018, Part 1
06 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
On April 3, 1968, hundreds of audience members walked out of the theatrical premier of a strange, long, dialogue-sparse science fiction film. Now rega...
Predicting Gun Deaths, Bat Flight, New Organ. March 30, 2018, Part 2
30 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
According to CDC data, more than 13,000 people die from gun homicides every year—and most of them are people of color who live in urban areas. Many ...
13,000-Year-Old Footprints, Climate Court, Native Bees, Cell Phones And Cancer. March 30, 2018, Part 1
30 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Planting tomatoes in the garden this year? Better hope you have bumblebees too, because tomato flowers need a good shaking to get the pollen out. “...
Climate Risks, Power Grid Security, Necrobiome. March 23, 2018, Part 1
23 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A report issued last week by the Department of Homeland Security said that throughout 2016 and 2017, Russian hackers had worked to gain access to cont...
Dung Microbes, Gun Research, Airplane Germs, Kepler Mission. March 23, 2018, Part 2
23 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Guns kill more people in the United States than alcohol—from homicides and suicides, to mass shootings like the one that left dead 17 high school st...
Ancient Tools, Life On Mars, An Aurora Named Steve. March 16, 2018, Part 2.
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists have been trying for a long time to piece together a question: When did traits of modern humans—like complex thinking and behaviors—fir...
Stephen Hawking, Women In Blockchain, Dinosaurs. March 16, 2018, Part 1
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking died this week at the age of 76. Hawking challenged and inspired a generation of physicists, and...
‘Broad Band’ Computing History, Science Talent Search. March 9, 2018, Part 2
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In the history of male-dominated computer science, there are a few women who have gotten attention and credit for their contributions. Famously, Ada L...
BRCA Gene Test, Bacteriophages, Synesthesia. March 9, 2018, Part 1
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Overuse of antibiotics has lead to bacteria becoming resistant to the drugs. In the United States, at least two million people become infected with an...
Chip Fraud, Space Station Future, Neutron Star. Mar 2, 2018, Part 1
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Currently, the International Space Station is the only destination for astronauts traveling into lower-earth orbit. It’s also the only way for scien...
P-Hacking, Quackery, Growing Greater Grains. Mar 2, 2018, Part 2
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you like to read about the psychology around food and eating, you’ve probably come across stories based on research from Cornell’s Food and Bra...
Wild Horses, Hidden Structures Behind Structures, Florida Flamingos. Feb 23, 2018, Part 1
23 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The gentle curve of a beam. The particular shape of a clay brick. The sharp angles of a series of trusses. You might view these elements of buildings,...
Biohybrid Robots, Neanderthal Art. Feb 23, 2018, Part 2
23 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A group of engineers are building softer, squishier robots—ones you might knowingly invite into your home to hang out. Instead of sporting bodies o...
The Physics Of Figure Skating, Aerosols, Volatile Organic Compounds. Feb 16, 2018, Part 2
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
While oohing and ahhing at the powerful leaps and nimble spins on the ice at the Olympics, you may not realize you’re watching physics in action. Ea...
Distorting Reality With AI, Cryptocurrency Mining, Science Standards In Idaho Schools. Feb 16, 2018, Part 1
16 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
One woman’s dubious dance with a cow parasite left her rubbing her eyes—and medical experts scratching their heads. The Idaho legislature is deba...
Venomous Or Poisonous, Crayfish Clones, Immune System Cancer Injection. Feb 9, 2018, Part 2
09 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do you know the difference between a poisonous creature and a venomous one? One distinction is that poisons are often ingested or absorbed by the skin...
Frankenstein Goodbye, Chocolate And Bugs, Ozone Problems. Feb 9, 2018, Part 1
09 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The Science Friday Book Club nerds out about ‘Frankenstein’ one last time. A menagerie of insects thrive among cacao trees—and that biodiversit...
Egyptian Dinosaurs, Leaking Data, Huntington’s Research, Mole Rats. Feb 2, 2018, Part 2
02 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Dinosaurs existed all over the world—fossils have been found on every continent. Africa is no exception, but far fewer fossils have been found there...
Agricultural Bees, China’s Energy Future, Frankenstein In Class. Feb 2, 2018, Part 1
02 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
China's thirst for energy is rising. But to save its cities from suffocating pollution, leaders are looking to carbon-free energy sources and electric...