Science Friday
Episodes
MRIs Show How The Brain Changes During Pregnancy
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 p...
How Metaphor Shapes Science | Intertwining The Lives Of Moths And Humans Through Music
22 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Metaphors can help us understand complicated scientific concepts. But they can also have a downside. And, a pair of musicians wrote a concept album in...
NASA’s Europa Clipper Heads To Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa
21 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On October 14, NASA launched Europa Clipper, its largest planetary mission spacecraft yet. It’s headed to Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, which could h...
Pandas Return To Washington, D.C. | A Lesser-Known Grain Called Kernza
18 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
How Health Misinformation Spreads | A Play About Ben Franklin And His Son
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Basics Of How Health Misinformation SpreadsHealth misinformation can circulate quickly on social media: false claims about vaccines, ads pushing s...
Searching The Universe For Clues To The Ultra-Small
16 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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....
What Makes ‘SuperAgers’ Stay Healthy For So Long?
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 birth...
Asheville Was Never A ‘Climate Haven.’ Nowhere Is.
14 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For years, Asheville, North Carolina, has been billed as a “climate haven,” a place safe from the touch of climate change-exacerbated disasters. B...
The Science Behind Hurricane Milton | ‘Unsettling’ Warm Water In Lake Michigan
11 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
How Campaigns Use Psychology To Get Out The Vote
10 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 messa...
How Gut Microbes Are Linked To Stress Resilience
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
How Magnetic Brain Stimulation Helps Relieve Depression
08 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
How The Origin Of Life On Earth Can Help Find Life In Space
07 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 cell...
Hurricane Helene's Effect On The Global Tech Industry | A Stretchy Band-Aid For The Heart
04 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Herbicides Approved For Public Land | Hidden Physics In Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’
03 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This summer, the Bureau of Land Management approved seven herbicides to fight invasive plants in the West. Also, when scientists analyzed the swirls i...
Improving Hospitals’ Support For Teens In Mental Health Crises
02 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This conversation discusses suicide and suicidal ideation in young people. Please take care while listening. If you or a loved one is thinking about s...
Greenhouse Gases From Anesthesia | Fighting Militarization In The Mariana Islands
01 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Emissions from anesthesia are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases from hospitals. This anesthesiologist wants to change that. And, a cultur...
Empowering Older Adults To Step Up For The Climate
30 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 go...
Microsoft Makes Deal To Restart Three Mile Island | Fish That Use Their Legs To Taste
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 st...
Former NIH Director Reflects On Public Mistrust In Science
26 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2021, Dr. Francis Collins stepped down after a dozen years leading the National Institutes of Health. He had just overseen the government’s respo...
How Are AI Chatbots Changing Scientific Publishing?
25 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
These Artists Serve Up Environmental Crises Through Food
24 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ar...
Surgeon General Takes On Parental Stress And Mental Health
23 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Earth May Once Have Had A Ring Like Saturn | An AI For Sand
20 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Physicists Create Heaviest Antimatter Nucleus | Bird Species May Team Up For Migration
19 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The heaviest antimatter nucleus to date was spotted in a particle accelerator. It could provide new insights into the nature of matter. And, research ...
Your Questions About The Updated COVID Vaccines, Answered
18 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard’s T.H....
To Confront Climate Change, Imagine Getting It Right
17 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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....
What Research Shows About Smartphone Bans In Schools
16 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ha...
First Citizen Spacewalk | First Successful Whole-Eye Transplant, Over A Year Later
13 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
SpaceX Crew Completes First Citizen SpacewalkBig news in the world of commercial space flight: On Thursday morning, Jared Iasaacman and Sarah Gillis, ...
‘Time Capsule’ Rocks And Earth’s Mantle | Genetically Engineering Stronger Wood
12 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 dec...
To This Neuroscientist, Cows Are Like Puppies
11 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 l...
Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks | Scientists Identify ‘ManhattAnt’ Spreading Across NYC
10 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Shark fishing is alive and well, but the fishermen who do it are increasingly prioritizing conservation. And, an unknown ant was spotted in Manhattan ...
Using DNA To Boost Digital Data Storage And Processing
09 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, whil...
An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance | Extreme Heat Is Making Learning More Difficult
06 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 tem...
Dino-Killing Asteroid Was Rich In Carbon | The Dogs Sniffing Out Spotted Lanternflies
05 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 l...
Why Eels Are So Mysterious—And In Demand
04 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Eels have fascinated humans for thousands of years, even captivating big thinkers like Aristotle and Freud. Despite having been around for some 200 mi...
Webb Telescope Data Point To Six ‘Rogue Worlds’
03 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 celest...
Could ‘Season Creep’ Affect Human Behavior?
02 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 summe...
Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading | ‘Slingshot’ And A Space Mission Gone Wrong
30 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Several states have reported cases of the rare but serious mosquito-borne illness eastern equine encephalitis. And, the new sci-fi movie "Slingshot," ...
The History Of Teeth, From Ancient Fish To Humans
29 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 billio...
Errors On Death Certificates May Be Skewing Mortality Data
28 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the maternal mortality rate in the United States is very high compared to other wea...
Astronaut Cady Coleman On ‘Sharing Space’
27 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a phenomenon known as the “overview effect,” a changed perspective some people experience after seeing the Earth from space. Retired ast...
Protecting Sequoias From Wildfire Gets Tricky | Ancient Cave Art And Human Creativity
26 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sequoia National Park is largely designated as wilderness. That complicates efforts to protect its iconic trees from worsening wildfires. Also, archae...
Plastic In Human Brains | Local Anesthetics Recommended For IUD Insertion
23 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, hav...
Don’t Just Walk In The Woods—Touch, Smell, and Taste Them, Too
22 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Are Space Elevators Really A Possibility?
21 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 “Founda...
Could Light And Sound Therapy Treat Alzheimer’s?
20 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new potential Alzheimer’s therapy uses 40-hertz frequencies of light and sound to stimulate the brain. Research applying this treatment to mice sh...
Dr. Fauci On A Life Of Medical Research And Public Service
19 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 fre...
Evidence For Liquid Water On Mars | Making Campsite Booking Fairer
16 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 wa...
Dinosaurs’ Secrets Might Be In Their Fossilized Poop
15 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 look...
The Promise Of Perovskite Solar Panels
14 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 a...
An Expert Vegetable Breeder On Innovating Crops For The Future
13 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s become clear to farmers and home gardeners alike that climate change is affecting the gardening landscape, literally. The climate is warming, p...
What The Private Sale Of Fossils Means For Paleontology
12 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
Starliner Leaves Astronauts Stuck | Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years In Advance?
09 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Why Does COVID-19 Spike In Summer?
08 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Deep-Sea ‘Nodules’ May Produce Oxygen | A Bird’s Physics Trick For High-Altitude Flying
07 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
New research suggests that polymetallic nodules found 13,000 feet deep produce “dark oxygen” by electrolyzing water. Also, at higher altitudes, th...
PLATO’s Mission To Discover Exoplanets Like Earth
06 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Why Cancer Death Rates Have Decreased Over The Last 30 Years
05 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
“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 co...
Hawaiʻi Wildfire Survivors Join Health Study | Wind Turbine Blade Sinks Off Massachusetts Coast
02 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
The Science And History Of Refrigeration
01 Aug 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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, dri...
Sodium Replaces Lithium In A New Type Of Battery
31 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Inside The Race To Save Honeybees From Parasitic Mites
30 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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’...
What A Rodent Brain Shows Us About Love | If Colorado Was Flattened, How Big Would It Be?
29 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Curiosity Rover Discovers Pure Sulfur On Mars | A Science Hero, Lost and Found
26 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Andre...
What Are The Risks Of Drinking Raw Milk?
25 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
A Space Suit To Turn Pee Into Water | A Bitcoin Mine Causing A Health Crisis In Texas
24 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Researchers developed a prototype of a space suit that could replace the high-absorbency diapers that astronauts wear on space walks. And, a bitcoin m...
How A Shark Scientist Forged Her Own Path
23 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 com...
FDA Panel Rejects MDMA Therapy For PTSD
22 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Last month, the first psychedelic therapy treatment came before the Food and Drug Administration for a vote. It entailed using MDMA, also known as ecs...
A Small Meteor Blazes Over New York City | Tornado Science From ‘Twisters’
19 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
Why Are There So Many Drug Shortages In The U.S.?
18 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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.”...
What The Small Intestine Can Tell Us About Gut Health
17 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Helping Queen Conchs Mate In The Florida Keys
16 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 sur...
How Congestion Pricing Can Impact Human Health
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Galaxies ‘Dance’ In Stunning New JWST Image | Why Some Cats Scratch Furniture
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ca...
Your Pain Tolerance May Have Been Passed Down From Neanderthals
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
How Can Iowa’s Agriculture Adapt To Climate Threats?
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Climate change is having a profound effect on agriculture. Farmers over the past decade have faced intensifying drought and heat stress on crops, lead...
How Do They Actually Store The Declaration Of Independence?
09 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
These days, the 4th of July is known for its fireworks and cookouts. But the holiday commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence,...
How Politics And Diplomacy Shape Panda Conservation
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Earlier this year, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington announced that pandas would be returning to the capitol. This news was met with great fa...
The Best Science Books For Summer 2024
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It’s officially summertime, and a new season of reading is here! Two science writers and voracious readers have compiled their summer reading recomm...
Avoiding Grilling and Barbecue Pitfalls
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In a conversation from 2014, Ira talks marinade myths, charcoal chemistry, and the elusive “smoke ring”—the science behind barbecue and grilling...
From Microbes To Mammoths: How Life Transformed The Planet
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 cr...
Study Shows Which Kids Are Getting Periods Younger Than Others
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
What To Do When Your Hypothesis Is Wrong? Publish!
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most scientific studies that get published have “positive results,” meaning that the study proved its hypothesis. Say you hypothesize that a honey...
The Sample From The Far Side Of The Moon | Will The Seine Be Clean Enough For The Olympics?
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 Octopus Overlooked By Science | Squid With ‘Giant’ Eggs Could Be New Species
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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-...
House Stalls On Bill To Compensate Victims Of Nuclear Testing
26 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 grou...
Crowdsourced Data Identifies 126 ‘Lost’ Bird Species
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 sta...
20 Years Later, How Are City Climate Plans Actually Going?
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In 2005, countries around the world ratified the Kyoto Protocol. It was the first big, legally-binding international climate policy, but there was a b...
It’s Hot. But How Hot? | Canine Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising Results
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Mannequins Help Teach People How To Spot Ticks | Protecting A Flickering Symbol Of Summer Nights
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 citize...
‘The Singularity Is Nearer,’ Says Futurist Ray Kurzweil
19 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Why Do Cephalopods Make Ink?
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The most wonderful time of the year has arrived: Cephalopod Week, Science Friday’s annual tradition of spotlighting all things octopus, squid, and c...
Meet The Emotions Behind Teenage Angst In ‘Inside Out 2’
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Elephants Seem To Use Names For Each Other | Kids Discover Rare T. Rex Fossil
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A new study used machine learning to analyze elephant vocalizations and identified “contact rumbles” that appear to function as names. Also, on a ...
How Sound Rules Life Underwater
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 noi...
Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener | A Tiny Fern's Gigantic Genome
12 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Plants called “hyperaccumulators” have evolved to absorb high levels of metals. Scientists want to harness them for greener metal mining. And, a l...
How Psychological Warfare Moved From Battlefields To Politics
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you think about connections between science and war, the obvious links are in technology—advanced radar, spy satellites, more powerful explosiv...
Step Aside, DNA. It’s RNA’s Time To Shine.
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
DNA has long been studied and understood as the genetic blueprint for life on Earth. And related scientific endeavors, like the Human Genome Project, ...
A Week Of Milestones For Spaceflight | Mexico Has Elected A Scientist President
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A Week Of Milestones For SpaceflightThis has been a week of milestones for human spaceflight. After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule, car...
The Organ That Gives Birds Their Voices | Common Loons Are Pop Music Icons
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Scientists are studying birds’ unique vocal organ, the syrinx, to better understand its evolutionary history. Also, the eerie calls of the common lo...