Measles, Poetry Month, Lemur Hibernation. April 26, 2019, Part 2
Back in 1963, before the development of the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine, there were 4 million cases of measles every year. It took nearly four decades, but by 2000, enough people had become vaccinated that the measles virus was eliminated in the U.S. But since then, the ranks of unvaccinated people have grown, and the measles virus has been reintroduced into the U.S. This week, Ce...
46m Apr 26, 2019
46m
Degrees of Change: Sponge Cities and Pocket Prairies. April 26, 2019, Part 1
Climate change is happening—now we need to deal with it. Degrees of Change (https://www.sciencefriday.com/articles/degrees-of-change/) , a new series of hour-long radio specials from Science Friday, explores the problem of climate change and how we as a planet are adapting to it. In this first chapter, SciFri looks at how climate change affects water systems. This year, there were record downpo...
46m Apr 26, 2019
46m
New Human Species, Census, Plankton, Brain Etchings. April 19, 2019, Part 2
Last week, researchers announced they’d found the remains of a new species of ancient human on the island of Luzon in the Philippines. It was just a few teeth and bones from toes and hands, but they appeared to have a strange mix of ancient and modern human traits scientists had never seen before. Enter: Homo luzonesis. However, Homo luzonesis’ entry on the hominid family tree is still fuzzy an...
47m Apr 19, 2019
47m
5G, Pig Brains, Privacy For Nature. April 19, 2019, Part 1
Last week, President Trump announced a new initiative (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-future-of-5g/) to push forward the implementation of 5G, the next generation of wireless connectivity for smartphones and other devices. How is this faster speed possible, and how quickly will it become accessible to consumers? Washington Post technology reporter Brian Fung explains the innovations...
47m Apr 19, 2019
47m
Year In Space Results, Citizen Science Day, Cherry Blossoms. April 12, 2019, Part 2
To find out what was happening to astronauts over longer periods of space flight, NASA put together a 10-team study of twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. Scott spent a year on International Space Station, while his brother Mark lived a relatively normal life on Earth—though both regularly sent the researchers samples of their blood, urine, cognitive test results, and other data to assess the...
47m Apr 12, 2019
47m
Event Horizon Telescope, Biosphere 2. April 12, 2019, Part 1
“As I like to say, it’s never a good idea to bet against Einstein,” astrophysicist Shep Doeleman told Science Friday back in 2016, when the Event Horizon Telescope project was just getting underway. At an illuminating press conference on Wednesday, April 10th, scientists shared the image for the first time (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/plunging-into-the-physics-of-the-black-hole-image...
47m Apr 12, 2019
47m
SciFri Extra: Picturing A Black Hole
The Event Horizon Telescope is tackling one of the largest cosmological challenges ever undertaken: Take an image of the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, using a telescope the size of the Earth. Now, the Event Horizon team has announced they have big news to share about those efforts. On Wednesday April 10th, it’s anticipated they will show a photo of the event horizon. Befo...
18m Apr 06, 2019
18m
Right-To-Repair, Exercise Recovery, Gov. Inslee. April 5, 2019, Part 2
Whenever your smartphone or video game console breaks down, you usually have to go back to the manufacture or a technician affiliated with the company to have your device fixed. Oftentimes, companies don’t release parts or guides to their devices, making it difficult to repair them own your own. 20 different states have introduced right-to-repair legislation (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segme...
48m Apr 05, 2019
48m
Coal Ash, Soil Loss, Sap, Bristlecone Pines. April 5, 2019, Part 1
Maple tapping season is underway in the sugar maple stands of the United States. Warm days and below-freezing nights kick off a cycle of sap flow crucial for maple syrup production. But why is the flow of sap so temperature dependent in sugar maples? (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/how-the-sap-runs/) University of Vermont maple researcher Abby van den Berg explains how ice crystals in t...
48m Apr 05, 2019
48m
Poetry of Science, The Power of Calculus. March 29, 2019, Part 2
April is National Poetry Month (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/metaphors-medicine-and-the-poetry-of-science/) , a time of readings, outreach programs, and enthusiastic celebration of the craft. And for a special Science Friday celebration, we’ll be looking at where science and poetry meet. Tracy K. Smith, the current U.S. poet laureate, wrote the 2011 book Life On Mars, which touches on...
50m Mar 29, 2019
50m
Growing Glaciers, Expanding Universe, Flu Near You. March 29, 2019, Part 1
Once upon a time, everything in the universe was crammed into a very small space. Then came the Big Bang, and the universe has been expanding ever since. But just how fast is it expanding? Calculating that number is a challenge that dates back almost a hundred years, when Edwin Hubble used data from Harvard astronomer Henrietta Swan Leavitt to try to answer that question. His value came to be c...
50m Mar 29, 2019
50m
A.I. And Doctors, Alzheimer’s. March 22, 2019, Part 2
When you go to the doctor’s office, it can sometimes seem like wait times are getting longer while face time with your doctor is getting shorter. In his book, Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again, cardiologist Eric Topol argues that artificial intelligence can make medicine more personal and empathetic. He says that algorithms can free up doctors to focus m...
48m Mar 22, 2019
48m
House Science Committee, Superbloom, Snowpack. March 22, 2019, Part 1
There’s been a changing of the guard in the U.S. House of Representatives. In January, Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/meet-the-member-of-congress-renewing-science-on-capitol-hill/) , a democrat from Texas, took over as chair of the House Committee for Science, Space, and Technology from her predecessor Lamar Smith. Smith was in charge of the House S...
48m Mar 22, 2019
48m
Frans de Waal, Inactive Ingredients, Street View, and Gentrification. March 15, 2019, Part 2
Primatologist Frans de Waal has spent his lifetime studying the lives of animals, especially our closest cousins, the chimpanzees. de Waal has observed their shifting alliances and the structure of their political ranks. He has seen bitter conflicts break out, only to be mended by peaceful, respected mediators. And he has witnessed chimpanzees grieve for, and attempt to comfort, their dead and ...
48m Mar 15, 2019
48m
Youth Climate Protest, Science Talent Search Winners, Snowflake Changes. March 15, 2019, Part 1
It all started with 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg. Last August, Thunberg started skipping school on Fridays to protest outside Sweden’s parliament, insisting her country get behind the Paris Climate Agreement. Her protests have inspired thousands of young people around the world to join the #FridaysForFuture movement, skipping school to demand that their governments take act...
48m Mar 15, 2019
48m
SciFri Extra: Celebrating The Elements
Do you have a favorite chemical element? Neurologist Oliver Sacks did—he was partial to dense, high melting-point metals, especially those metals between hafnium and platinum on the periodic table. This month marks the 150th anniversary of chemist Dmitri Mendeleev’s design for the periodic table—and we didn’t want to miss out on the party. In this special podcast, we revisit Sacks’ fascination ...
28m Mar 12, 2019
28m
HIV Remission, Bones, Jumping Spiders. March 8, 2019, Part 2
Nearly twelve years ago, a cancer patient infected with HIV received two bone marrow transplants to wipe out his leukemia. Now, researchers in the United Kingdom reported in Nature earlier this week that their patient, a man known only as “the London patient,” had been in remission and off anti-retroviral therapy for 18 months after undergoing a similar bone marrow transplant, with the same gen...
48m Mar 08, 2019
48m
NASA Administrator, California Wildfires, Lichens. March 8, 2019, Part 1
On December 14, 1972, as Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan prepared to board the lunar module, he gave one last dispatch from the lunar surface. And yet, 47 years later, humankind has not set another foot on the lunar surface. But now, NASA’s ready to return, with the Moon to Mars program. NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine joins Ira in this segment to talk about the agency's ambitions beyond E...
48m Mar 08, 2019
48m
Icefish, Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster, Wireless Baby Monitoring. March 1, 2019, Part 2
During an electrical system test early in in the morning of April 26, 1986, Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant exploded. The disaster at the plant was not caused solely by the test, however—a perfect storm of engineering and design missteps, operational errors, and cultural problems all aligned to bring about the catastrophe. In his new book, Midnight In Chernobyl: The Untold Story ...
47m Mar 01, 2019
47m
Synthetic Genomes, Climate Panel, Local Recycling. March 1, 2019, Part 1
DNA is the universal programming language for life, and the specific code to that program are the combination of the base pairs adenine, guanine, cytosine and thymine. But are those the only base pairs that could be used to create DNA? Scientists looking into this question were able to create 4 different base pairs that don’t exist in nature. Chemist Floyd Romesberg, biologist Jef Boeke, and bi...
47m Mar 01, 2019
47m
SciFri Extra: A Night Of Volcanoes And Earthquakes With N.K. Jemisin
(https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/read-the-fifth-season-with-the-scifri-book-club/) The Science Friday Book Club discussion of N.K. Jemisin’s The Fifth Season may have stopped erupting for the season, but we have one more piece of volcanic goodness for you. SciFri producer and chief bookworm Christie Taylor got the chance to speak with Jemisin at our book club meet-up, “Voyage To The Volc...
29m Feb 27, 2019
29m
Black Holes, California Megaflood. Feb 22, 2019, Part 2
When it floods in California, the culprit is usually what’s known as an atmospheric river—a narrow ribbon of ultra-moist air moving in from over the Pacific Ocean. Atmospheric rivers are also essential sources of moisture for western reservoirs and mountain snowpack, but in 1861, a series of particularly intense and prolonged ones led to the worst disaster in state history: a flood that swamped...
47m Feb 22, 2019
47m
Telescope Decisions, Grape Plasma, Israeli Moon Lander. Feb 22, 2019, Part 1
The American Astronomical Society meeting is the largest annual gathering of astronomers and astrophysicists. It’s not known for drama. But this year, the buzz in the room wasn’t too different from the nervous energy during an awards night. That’s because there is a competition underway for what will be NASA’s next big space telescope—the next Hubble or James Webb. There are four nominees, and ...
46m Feb 22, 2019
46m
Declining Insects, Sunny Day Flooding, Liquid Rules. Feb 15, 2019, Part 2
 That once vibrant forest has gotten quieter and emptier, as many of the insects— and the animals that depend on them—have disappeared. In a worldwide report card on the state of insects in the journal Biological Conservation, the conclusion is dire: “This review highlights the dreadful state of insect biodiversity in the world, as almost half of the species are rapidly declining and a third ar...
47m Feb 15, 2019
47m
SciFri Book Club: ‘The Fifth Season.’ Feb 15, 2019, Part 1
In this final installment of the winter Book Club, we wrap up a winter of exploring The Stillness, learning how volcanologists research lava flows and crater tremors, and even diving into the center of the earth. Ira joins Science Friday SciArts producer Christie Taylor, Caltech seismologist Lucy Jones, and University of Colorado disaster sociologist Lori Peek to talk about the power of earthqu...
47m Feb 15, 2019
47m
Buttons, Grand Canyon Maps, Mosquitoes. Feb 8, 2019, Part 2
The button is everywhere. It allows us to interact with our computers and technology, alerts us when someone is at the front door, and with a tap, can have dinner delivered to your home. But buttons also are often associated with feelings of control, panic, and fear. Rachel Plotnick, author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing, discusses the development of ...
47m Feb 08, 2019
47m
Earth’s Core, Govt Data In The Cloud, Book Club. Feb 8, 2019, Part 1
At the very center of the Earth is a solid lump of iron and nickel that might be as hot as the surface of the Sun. This solid core is thought to be why our magnetic field is as strong as it is. As the core grows, energy is transferred to the outer core to power the “geodynamo,” the magnetic field that protects our atmosphere and deflects most solar wind. But geophysicists think that the core wa...
47m Feb 08, 2019
47m
Sleep and the Immune System, Measuring Carbon, Specimens of Hair. Feb 1, 2019, Part 2
Some citizen scientists collect minerals or plants. But 19th-century lawyer Peter A. Browne collected hair—lots and lots of hair. His collection started innocently enough. Browne decided to make a scientific study of wool with the hope of jumpstarting American agriculture, but his collector’s impulse took over. By the time of his death, Browne’s hair collection had grown to include elephant chi...
47m Feb 01, 2019
47m
Digital Art, Lava Lab, Desalination. Feb 1, 2019, Part 1
A series of lines on a wall, drawn by museum staff, from instructions written by an artist. A textile print made from scanning the screen of an Apple IIe computer, printing onto heat transfer material, and ironing the result onto fabric. A Java program that displays its source code—plus the roving attention of the programmer writing that code, and the even speedier attention of the computer as ...
47m Feb 01, 2019
47m
Medical Conflict Of Interest, Saturn’s Rings, Bear Brook Podcast. Jan 25, 2019, Part 2
Most scientific journals go by the honor system when it comes to conflicts of interest: They ask, and the researchers tell. But that system might be due for an overhaul. A recent ProPublica and New York Times investigation found that a top cancer researcher at Sloan Kettering had received millions of dollars in payments from health and drug companies, but failed to disclose his industry ties in...
47m Jan 25, 2019
47m
Weather Advances, Listening to Volcanoes, Phragmites. Jan 25, 2019, Part 1
Your smartphone gives you up-to-the-minute weather forecast updates at the tap of a button. Every newscast has a weather segment. And outlets like the Weather Channel talk weather all day, every day. But how much has the process of predicting the weather changed (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/100-years-of-your-daily-weather-forecast/) over the past 100 years? Though many of the basic p...
45m Jan 25, 2019
45m
SciFri Extra: ‘Behind The Sheet’ Of Gynecology’s Darker History
The 19th-century physician J. Marion Sims may have gone down in history as the “father of modern gynecology,” but Sims’ fistula cure was the result of experimental surgeries, pre-Emancipation, on at least 11 enslaved black women. Only three of whose names have been remembered— Anarcha, Betsey, and Lucy. A new play, Behind The Sheet, imagines their life—not just the pain, but the friendships the...
30m Jan 22, 2019
30m
Gynecology’s Dark History, Antarctic Ice, Moon Craters. Jan 18, 2019, Part 2
Nineteenth-century physician J. Marion Sims has gone down in history as the “father of modern gynecology.” He invented the speculum, devised body positions to make gynecological exams easier, and discovered a method for closing vaginal fistulas, a painful, embarrassing and often isolating complication that can result from childbirth. But Sims’ fistula cure was the result of experimental surgeri...
47m Jan 18, 2019
47m
Book Club, Green New Deal, Louisiana Shrimpers. Jan 18, 2019, Part 1
In a world roiled continuously by earthquakes, volcanoes, and other tectonic disasters large and small, a cataclysmic earthquake is about to change the course of human history… again. On the same day, a woman comes home to find her son dead, killed by his father for being an “orogene,” one of the few people in the world with strange powers to manipulate geophysics to start—and stop—these disast...
47m Jan 18, 2019
47m
Heart and Exercise, Consumer Electronics Show, Black Holes. Jan 11, 2019, Part 2
You’ve heard the news that smoking is bad for your health. But it turns out not exercising could be even worse for your chances of survival, according to a recent study in the journal JAMA Network Open. But is it possible to overdo it? While you’re trying to boost your overall health, could you instead be doing damage to your heart? In this segment, Wael Jaber of the Cleveland Clinic and Maia P...
48m Jan 11, 2019
48m
Shutdown and Science, Smartphone and Overdoses. Jan 11, 2019, Part 1
The partial shutdown of the U.S. government is approaching its third week, and it has caused a backlog for scientists employed or funded by the government. Scientists have had to leaving data collection and experiments in limbo. The Food and Drug Administration has had to suspend domestic food inspections of vegetables, seafood, and other foods that are at high risk for contamination. Journalis...
46m Jan 11, 2019
46m
Diets, Crowd Physics, Snowflake Citizen Science. January 4, 2019, Part 1
Earlier this week, hundreds of thousands of revelers huddled together under the pouring rain in Times Square for an annual tradition: to watch the New Year’s ball drop. But once the clock struck midnight, the song was sung, and the loved ones were kissed, all anyone wanted to do was get out of there. The problem? How does a mass of 100,000 people move out of a few square blocks in midtown Manha...
47m Jan 04, 2019
47m
Winter Birding. January 4, 2019, Part 2
Every year in the dead of winter, bird lovers flock in large numbers to count as many birds as they possibly can on a single day. This is the Audubon Society’s annual Christmas Bird Count (https://www.audubon.org/conservation/science/christmas-bird-count) , a citizen science effort to track the trends of bird numbers over time. As the 2018 count comes to a close, Ira checks in with birders Jaso...
46m Jan 04, 2019
46m
2018 Scifri Year In Review. Dec 28, 2018, Part 1
In 2018, natural disasters around the world bore the unmistakable fingerprints of human-caused climate change. The federal government’s 1,600-page National Climate Assessment predicted even more extreme events—floods that destroy infrastructure, warming that spreads disease, and deadly record high temperatures. But global carbon emissions set a new record this year, and experts say that humanit...
47m Dec 28, 2018
47m
American Eden, New Horizons To Ultima Thule. Dec 28, 2018, Part 2
Every holiday season, tourists throng Rockefeller Center to see the famous tree, soaring above the paved plazas and fountains. But more than 200 years ago, they would have found avocado and fig trees there, along with kumquats, cotton, and wheat—all specimens belonging to the Elgin Botanic Garden, founded by physician and botanist David Hosack. Hosack grew up in the shadow of the American Revol...
47m Dec 28, 2018
47m
Fetal Cell Research, Schadenfreude, Deer Disease. Dec 21, 2018, Part 2
The Trump administration is cracking down on federal scientists seeking fetal tissue for their work (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/trump-administration-cracks-down-on-fetal-cell-research/) , while it conducts a “comprehensive review” of research involving fetal cells. One HIV research program that uses fetal tissue to create humanized mice has already been halted by the order. The Depa...
47m Dec 21, 2018
47m
Food Myths, Kids Flu Shot, Europe Plastics Ban. Dec 21, 2018, Part 1
You’ve probably heard of the five second rule, when you drop a cookie on the floor and take a bite anyway because it’s only been a few seconds. What about when you’re at a party and you see someone double dip a chip in the salsa? How much bacteria does the double dip and the five-second rule spread around? Biologists Paul Dawson and Brian Sheldon investigate these questions their new book (http...
48m Dec 21, 2018
48m
Future Telescopes, Caterpillars. Dec 14, 2018, Part 2
28 years ago, astronauts on the space shuttle Discovery gently raised the Hubble Space Telescope, or HST, up from the shuttle bay, and released it into space. Geologist and astronaut Kathryn Sullivan commemorated the moment with a short speech, as she floated in the shuttle. It would be a few years (and a repair job) before the truly historic nature of the telescope was revealed, showing us new...
49m Dec 14, 2018
49m
Cancer Immunotherapy, Raccoons, Frog Calls. Dec 14, 2018, Part 1
For years, cancer treatment has largely involved one of three options—surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy. In recent years, however, a new treatment option, immunotherapy, has entered the playing field. It has become the first-line preferred treatment for certain cancers. Immunotherapy is a class of treatments that use some aspect of the body’s own immune response to help battle cancer cells. T...
49m Dec 14, 2018
49m
Microbes and Art, Science Books 2018. Dec 7, 2018, Part 2
Here at Science Friday, our jobs involve reading a lot of science books every year. We have piles and piles of them at the office. Hundreds of titles about biology and art and technology and space, and sometimes even sci-fi. Now, the time has come for our annual roundup of the books we couldn’t forget (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/the-best-science-books-of-2018/) . We have plenty of p...
48m Dec 07, 2018
48m
Hemp and CBD, Phytosaurs, Mosquito Control. Dec 7, 2018, Part 1
Good news could be coming soon for anyone interested in hemp, the THC-free, no-high strain of cannabis whose use ranges from fibers to food to pharmaceuticals. If the 2018 Farm Bill passes Congress in its current form, growing hemp would be legal and products derived from hemp would be removed from their current legal gray area (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/so-you-want-to-grow-hemp/) ...
49m Dec 07, 2018
49m
Gene-Editing Humans, Asymmetry, Ancient Whale Ancestor. Nov 30, 2018, Part 2
The first CRISPR-edited babies are (probably) here. The news raises social, ethical, and regulatory questions—for both scientists and society. Then, why are human bodies asymmetrical? A single protein could help explain why. And finally, ever wondered how whales got their mouth bristles? It's possible that they went through a phase where they sucked up their food like vacuums before they evol...
49m Nov 30, 2018
49m
Climate Report, Wind Energy, SciFri Educator Collaborative. Nov 30, 2018, Part 1
This Monday, Mars fans rejoiced as NASA’s lander Mars InSight successfully parachuted safely onto the large, flat plain of Elysium Planitia. In the days that followed, the lander successfully has deployed its solar panels and begun to unstow its robotic arm. Learn more about the landing, plus the latest science news. Then, wind energy development is spreading around the nation. But as develope...
49m Nov 30, 2018
49m
2018 Ig Nobel Prizes. Nov 23, 2018, Part 1
When you go to the zoo, maybe you imitate the chimps, copying their faces, their gestures, or their walk. But it turns out the chimps imitate you just about as often—and as well, according to scientists. Other researchers have found that a trained nose can detect the odor of a single fly floating in a glass of wine. And that sometimes, a trip to the amusement park may be an effective treatment ...
48m Nov 23, 2018
48m
Caves And Climate, Environmental Archeology, Scanning The Past. Nov 23, 2018, Part 2
When you think of an archaeologist, you might imagine a scientist in the field wielding shovels and pickaxes, screening through dirt to uncover artifacts and structures buried deep in the ground. But what about those areas that you can’t reach or even see? That’s when you call archaeologist Lori Collins from the University of South Florida. Collins uses LIDAR—a detection system that uses lasers...
50m Nov 23, 2018
50m