1032: The Leap: The Volcano Whisperer
When St. Vincent’s La Soufrière volcano threatened to erupt, geologist Richie Robertson was the scientist the islanders trusted.
29m May 19, 2025
29m
1031: Lesser Prairie Chicken May Lose Endangered Species Status
The Department of the Interior seeks to remove the lesser prairie chicken’s endangered species designation. What would that mean?
19m May 16, 2025
19m
1030: Tracking The Hidden Dangers Of Fighting Fires
How well do we understand the long-term health risks to firefighters? Plus, researchers across the country are breeding pest-resistant trees.
19m May 15, 2025
19m
1029: Identifying New Plants, And The Scientific Secrets Of Superfoods
Scientists at the Missouri Botanical Garden are preserving diverse plant species. And, how micronutrients could help address world hunger.
31m May 14, 2025
31m
1028: Designing Hyperrealistic Body Parts, From Eyeballs To Placentas
On-screen and in hospitals, fake body parts are getting more and more realistic. That helps medical students practice for real procedures.
18m May 13, 2025
18m
1026: The Leap: I Was Considered A Nobody
Katalin Karikó was ignored, demoted, and dismissed for decades. Then she won a Nobel Prize.
27m May 12, 2025
27m
1027: 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 Administration proposed a 24% budget cut (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/nasa-cuts-deep-sea-mining/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri) for NASA. It would slash funding for science while setting billions asid...
25m May 09, 2025
25m
1025: How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other?
Bacteria are not as simple as their reputation suggests. Understanding how they communicate may lead to better disease treatments for us humans.
24m May 08, 2025
24m
1024: 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 world of extreme outerwear with the newly-discovered “bone collector caterpillar,” which wears a coat of many co…llected body parts. Why, Hanipillar Lecter? Entomologist Dan Rubinoff, who along with his team found the species on a mountai...
19m May 07, 2025
19m
1023: 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 reptile’s fossilized fetus is cluing paleontologists into the lives of ancient sea creatures. Ancient Iguanas Floated 5,000 Miles Across The Pacific (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/iguanas-cross-the-pacific-to-fiji/?utm_source=wnyc&...
19m May 06, 2025
19m
1022: 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, what is it expanding into? What happened just before the Big Bang? Some of the most head-scratching ideas in physics strain the limits of what science can test. In her book Into the Unknown: The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the ...
19m May 05, 2025
19m
1021: 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 alternatives to meat and dairy products that don’t involve killing animals. Two avenues for this are by using animal cells in a lab, or going plant-based. Two breakthroughs in this field of food science were published in journals recently:...
17m May 02, 2025
17m
1020: How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations | Regional Allergies
Vocal researchers are learning how death metal singers safely produce extreme vocal distortions, in hopes of improving vocal health care.
23m May 01, 2025
23m
1019: A New Book On The Horrifying, Creative World Of Insect Zombies
“Rise of the Zombie Bugs” explores how parasites create real-life zombies in the insect and invertebrate world.
19m Apr 30, 2025
19m
1018: 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 remarkably common: Roughly 20% of adults (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/chronic-pain-mental-health/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri) in the US live with it. And people with chronic pain are more likely to have d...
19m Apr 29, 2025
19m
1017: 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 colors of the world around you—the blue of a cloudless sky, the green of a new leaf, the blazing red of a tulip’s petals. We see these colors because of the way our eyes work. But what if we could change how our eyes respond to light, and ...
19m Apr 28, 2025
19m
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 disappearing, but Louisiana’s “accidental” Wax Lake Delta is growing—and informing coastal restoration techniques. $8 Billion Of Climate Tech Projects Were Canceled In 3 Months (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/climate-technology-pr...
21m Apr 25, 2025
21m
1015: 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 one’s for you. Despite humans’ long history of welcoming felines into their homes and delis, research on cats lags far behind research on dogs. Now, scientists behind the project Darwin’s Ark (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/dna-sequ...
19m Apr 24, 2025
19m
1014: Advances In Brain-Computer Interfaces For People With Paralysis
With brain-implanted devices, people with paralysis have been able to command computers to “move” virtual objects and speak for them.
19m Apr 23, 2025
19m
1013: 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.
19m Apr 22, 2025
19m
1012: 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 might look at it and think that the person at fault is the driver. But how much blame should be shared by the people who designed those roads in the first place? Well, some traffic engineers are calling for the field to accept more blame f...
19m Apr 21, 2025
19m
1011: 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 captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid swimming in its natural habitat—almost 2,000 feet deep. Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/life-on-exoplanet/?utm_source=...
25m Apr 18, 2025
25m
1010: How ‘Science Interpreters’ Make Hidden Science Visible
A cell animator and a museum designer tell us how they translate scientific findings into visual experiences.
20m Apr 17, 2025
20m
1009: 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 Lokiceratops is challenging paleontologists’ understanding of how horned dinosaurs evolved and existed together.
32m Apr 16, 2025
32m
1008: How Interjections Regulate Conversation | Saccharin For Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria
Utterances like “um,” “wow” and “mm-hmm” aren’t just fillers—they keep conversations flowing. Also, new research suggests the artificial sweetener saccharin could kill antibiotic resistant bacteria.
19m Apr 15, 2025
19m
1007: Trump’s Nominee For NASA Administrator Meets Congress
Nominee Jared Isaacman prioritized a Mars mission in his confirmation hearings, raising questions about the fate of the Artemis lunar program.
16m Apr 14, 2025
16m
1006: 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 room? To deal with overcrowded waiting rooms, a shortage of hospital beds, and a constant flow of life-and-death health conditions—while trying to maintain your sanity at the same time? That’s the focus of “The Pitt,” (https://www.scie...
21m Apr 11, 2025
21m
1005: What Will Replace The International Space Station?
The ISS is set to be decommissioned in 2030. Several companies are competing for NASA contracts to build commercial space stations.
18m Apr 10, 2025
18m
1004: 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 trumpet yet another advance in artificial intelligence, from better chat services to image and video generators that spend less time in the uncanny valley. But the holy grail for AI companies is known as AGI, or artificial general intellig...
30m Apr 09, 2025
30m
1003: Climate Change Has Made Allergy Season Worse. How Do We Cope?
It’s not just in your stuffy head. Seasonal allergies are getting worse as pollen season gets longer and more intense.
17m Apr 08, 2025
17m
1002: Microdosing Peanut Butter Could Alleviate Some Peanut Allergies
Food allergies are on the rise. For kids with less severe peanut allergies, one potential treatment could be found in the grocery aisle.
18m Apr 07, 2025
18m
1001: 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 health workers woke up to find that they had been laid off (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/hhs-job-cuts-april-1/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri) . Scientists and civil servants at the Food and Drug Adminis...
12m Apr 04, 2025
12m
1000: 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, but they generally have preferences. A music therapist reveals the best kinds of music to soothe a baby. Forecasting Cuts Leave Some Worried For Hurricane Season Many in Georgia are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Hele...
18m Apr 03, 2025
18m
999: Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below
When the Chicago-size iceberg drifted away, scientists seized the opportunity to study the life and geologic formations hidden below.
18m Apr 02, 2025
18m
998: 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 media sites are full of mental health content—often short, grabby, first-person videos detailing symptoms for conditions like ADHD and autism. But what does this mean for teens and young adults who spend hours a day scrolling? A new st...
18m Apr 01, 2025
18m
997: 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 26, 2024, the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Within 30 seconds, the bridge collapsed into the river below. Six construction workers lost their lives. On the one-year anniversary of the accident, we ...
19m Mar 31, 2025
19m
996: 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 golf balls roll more reliably on greens with different conditions. After 23andMe Bankruptcy, Customers Urged To Delete Their Data If you’re one of roughly 15 million people who used 23andMe to unlock information from their DNA, consume...
25m Mar 28, 2025
25m
995: 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 telomeres, typically shorten as an organism ages. But when some fat-tail dwarf lemurs hibernate, they lengthen. ‘Delving’ Into The ‘Realm’ Of AI Word Choice Several years ago, some eagle-eyed readers of scientific papers noticed an unus...
25m Mar 27, 2025
25m
994: Developing Faster, Simpler Tools To Treat Tuberculosis
TB kills more than a million people each year. Dr. Mireille Kamariza has spent her career developing better detection and treatment tools. As the United States retreats from global health leadership—withdrawing from the World Health Organization, dismantling USAID—public health experts warn that there will be implications for the spread of certain diseases around the globe. One such disease is...
19m Mar 26, 2025
19m
993: Author John Green On The Many Ways Tuberculosis Shaped Human Life
In a new book, author John Green traces how the disease has impacted culture, geography, and even fashion over the centuries. Tuberculosis (TB) has had an incredibly large impact on human history. One staggering statistic? It’s been estimated that by the start of the 1800s, the disease had killed one in seven people who had ever lived. Because of this, tuberculosis affected human culture, geog...
19m Mar 25, 2025
19m
992: DESI Data Strengthens Evidence Of Change In Dark Energy
Researchers built the largest 3D map of our universe yet. What they found supports the idea that dark energy could have evolved over time. One of the mysteries of the universe is why it expands at the rate that it does. Back in 1998, two teams of researchers observed that not only was the universe expanding, but that the rate of expansion was increasing (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/...
19m Mar 24, 2025
19m
991: NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS | Bottle "Pop" Physics
After nine months aboard the International Space Station, astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams have finally landed back on Earth. Also, a German physicist and homebrewer discovered brief, intense physical reactions that happen when you uncork a bubbly swing-top bottle. NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS After 286 days aboard the International Space Station—27...
19m Mar 21, 2025
19m
990: The Evolving Science Of How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adults | Butterfly Memories
The framework of Adverse Childhood Experiences started with an unexpected finding over 30 years ago. How is our approach changing? Plus, butterfly memories from our listeners.
19m Mar 20, 2025
19m
989: How NIH Cuts Could Affect U.S. Biomedical Research
Former NIH director Dr. Harold Varmus speaks out about what recent budget cuts and policy changes could mean for science. One of the areas targeted by President Trump’s administration for cuts has been the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Cost-cutting actions have included the layoffs of some 1,200 NIH employees, the termination of research grants (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/ni...
19m Mar 19, 2025
19m
988: Fungi Create Complex Supply Chains | A Rookie Robot Umpire Takes The Field
Fungal networks in the ground ferry crucial nutrients to plants. But how do brainless organisms form complex supply chain networks? Also, in this year’s baseball spring training, the new Automated Ball-Strike System is helping settle challenges to home plate pitch calls. Scientists Observe Fungi Creating Complex Supply Chains (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/fungi-creating-complex-suppl...
19m Mar 18, 2025
19m
987: 10% Of NOAA Staff Laid Off | Frozen Funds Leave Farmers In Limbo
Layoffs at the agency, which releases weather forecasts and monitors extreme weather, could have serious implications. Also, funds for climate and sustainability-focused farming projects have been indefinitely frozen, even though the USDA has already signed contracts. 10% Of NOAA Staff Laid Off, With More Cuts Possible The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, better known as NOAA,...
25m Mar 17, 2025
25m
986: Pi, Anyone? A Celebration Of Math And What’s New
Mathematician Dr. Steven Strogatz breaks down the history of the math concept and brings it full circle to recent science.
19m Mar 14, 2025
19m
985: How Plants Powered Prehistoric Giants Millions Of Years Ago
A new book explores how prehistoric plants and dinosaurs co-evolved, and puts the spotlight on often overlooked flora.
19m Mar 13, 2025
19m
984: How Narwhals Use Their Tusks To Hunt And Play | This Week's ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse
An international team of researchers used drones to study narwhals and learn more about their behavior. And, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across most of North and South America in the early morning hours of March 14. New Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And Play We’re taking a polar plunge into the science of sea unicorns (https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/narwhal-tu...
17m Mar 12, 2025
17m
983: Where Have All The Butterflies Gone?
A new study of butterfly populations in the US shows a 22% decline among over 500 species in just 20 years.
18m Mar 11, 2025
18m