Science Friday

How a particle accelerator illuminated 56 human organs

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow, Claire Walsh) — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A new imaging technique using a particle accelerator is giving researchers an unprecedented level of detail of our organs, producing scans 100 billion times brighter than a CT scanner. Those 3D models are now part of a public database called the Human Organ Atlas, available to researchers and the medically curious.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to explain why they needed so much power and what kind of research advances will follow is imaging scientist Claire Walsh, director of the Human Organ Atlas hub.

Check out images from the Human Organ Atlas on our website.

Guest:

Dr. Claire Walsh is an associate professor at the UCL department of mechanical engineering and director of the Human Organ Atlas Hub.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Simone Giertz’s journey from robot comedy to high-end design

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Simone Giertz, Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In the 2010s, inventor Simone Giertz (pronounced “Yetch”) began making videos that straddled the line between practical and absurd. What if you had a robot that could feed you soup? Or a drone that could cut your hair? As time went on, her projects became more polished and more ambitious, like converting a Tesla sedan into a pickup truck.

Today, with almost 3 million subscribers to her YouTube channel, Simone is still designing and building objects that are quirkily useful—a fruit bowl that changes size for instance—but that could also be at home in a high-end design store. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her approach to problems, and the joy of making physical objects in an increasingly online world.

Guest:

Simone Giertz is an engineer, maker, YouTube creator and founder of Yetch Studio.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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When a dolphin whistles, what does it mean?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Laela Sayigh) — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

What are dolphins actually saying with their iconic, high-pitched whistles? Dolphin communication researcher Laela Sayigh is trying to find out. She’s been compiling a database of whistles from a pod of dolphins in Sarasota, Florida, the longest-studied group of cetaceans in the world.

She joins Flora to discuss fundamental questions about dolphin dialects, including how dolphins’ “signature” whistles can change depending on context, and the process of decoding new types of whistles.

Guest:

Dr. Laela Sayigh is a senior research specialist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Inside the lives of astronauts’ families

wnycdigital@gmail.com (rasha aridi, flora lichtman, Tracy Scott) — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

“This was not easy, being 200,000+ miles away from home. Like before you launch, it feels like it's the greatest dream on earth. And when you're out there, you just wanna get back to your families and your friends.” – Artemis II Commander Reid Wiseman

Last week, the crew of Artemis II made it safely home. Throughout the journey, we heard the astronauts talk about moonjoy, awe, wonder, and—without exception—gratitude for their families.

To learn more about what it's like to be part of an astronaut family, Host Flora Lichtman chats with Tracy Scott, whose dad was a commander during the Apollo missions. Now, as a sociologist who studies the Moonshot era, Scott gives us a glimpse into astronaut life and the social context of the Apollo and Artemis missions.

Guest:

Dr. Tracy Scott is a sociologist at Emory University studying the lives and families of Apollo era astronauts. She’s based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Green stuff, brown stuff: Secrets to a great compost pile

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow, Cassandra Marketos) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

If you’re a gardener, thinking about getting your soil in shape probably means thinking about compost. But composting can be a mysterious process. What can go into the pile? How do you balance carbon and nitrogen? And how do you do it in a city?

Compost expert Cassandra Marketos joins Host Ira Flatow to break down the basics of what she calls “purposeful decomposition,” and give practical tips for the backyard composter.

Read an excerpt from Marketos’ new book, “Compost after Reading.”

Guest:

Cassandra Marketos is the author of “Compost After Reading: A Practical Manifesto for Purposeful Decomposition.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why so many studies can’t be replicated

Sat, 11 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

How do we know what we know? That's where science comes in—it gives us a method for testing our ideas and getting trustworthy results. But some researchers have warned that many scientific studies can't be replicated.

To find out how deep the problem goes, the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency funded one of the largest analyses of social science, called the SCORE project. They checked the results of thousands of papers across economics, education, and psychology—and found that only half of them could be replicated.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to discuss the findings are Tim Errington, one of the leads on this project, and economist Abel Brodeur, who recently released the results of a separate replication study that found more encouraging results than SCORE did.

Guest:

Dr. Tim Errington is senior director of research at the Center For Open Science in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Abel Brodeur is a professor of economics at the University of Ottawa and founder of the Institute for Replication.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How a sound designer gave an alien its voice (and 250 words)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Erik Aadahl) — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Movies may be a largely visual medium, but sound plays a huge role in setting tone, creating new worlds, and fleshing out characters. Sound designer Erik Aadahl has brought some of Hollywood’s iconic creatures to life with sound, like the Transformers, 2014’s Godzilla, and Rocky the alien from “Project Hail Mary.” He joins Flora to talk about the science of sound design, and how he uses his background in biology to look for sounds in the animal kingdom.

Guest:

Erik Aadahl is a sound designer and editor at E² in Los Angeles, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can GLP-1 drugs treat addiction?

Thu, 9 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound are prescribed for weight loss, diabetes, and blood-sugar management. But as more people use them, patients are reporting a decrease in cravings for drugs and alcohol. Researchers are now investigating whether GLP-1s might be effective for treating alcohol and drug addiction.

How much do we know? What are the risks? And do these drugs tell us anything new about the biology of addiction?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with neuroscientist Joseph Schacht, who is conducting a clinical trial on GLP-1s and alcohol use; and Sarah Carstens, addictions clinical director of Outpatient Services at Penn Medicine’s Princeton House Behavioral Health.

Guests:

Dr. Joseph Schacht is the co-director of the Division of Addiction Science, Prevention, and Treatment at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine.

Sarah Carstens is the addictions clinical director of Outpatient Services at Penn Medicine’s Princeton House Behavioral Health.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What a sperm whale’s birth tells us about whale culture

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Licthman, Rasha Aridi, Shane Gero) — Wed, 8 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Scientists recently published the first footage of a sperm whale birth, and it was a crowded ordeal. More than 10 other sperm whales were there for the delivery and helped keep the baby whale afloat—and not all of them were related to mom. How much do we actually understand whale culture? And how should we think about altruism in the animal kingdom?

Host Flora Lichtman chats with whale biologist Shane Gero about what it was like to witness this birth and what it tells us about whale culture.

Guest:

Dr. Shane Gero is a whale biologist at Carleton University, founder of The Dominica Sperm Whale Project, and biology lead for Project CETI. He’s based in Ottawa, Canada.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is the US backing out of the electric vehicle market?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kyle Chan, Ira Flatow, Annette Heist) — Tue, 7 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Last year, Chinese carmaker BYD sold millions of electric vehicles, overtaking Tesla to become the world’s biggest seller of EV cars. And BYD cars weren’t just for the Chinese market. They went to Europe, Asia, and Mexico, and may soon be available in Canada. But thanks to tariffs and regulations, BYDs are not available to U.S. buyers.

China policy expert Kyle Chan joins Host Ira Flatow for a look at the growing EV market worldwide, and how the U.S. seems to be putting the brakes on battery-powered cars.

Guest:

Kyle Chan is an expert on Chinese technology and industrial policy.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can algae help pull microplastics out of our water supply?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Susie Dai, Kate Grumke) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Microplastics and nanoplastics have been found just about everywhere: in our soil, our bodies, and our water. Recent research involving bioengineered algae has had success in capturing and removing microplastics from water.

Environmental reporter Kate Grumke joins Producer Kathleen Davis to talk about the latest approaches to addressing microplastics, and researcher Susie Dai discusses her work using algae to pull them out of wastewater.

Guests:

Dr. Susie Dai is a professor of chemical and environmental engineering at the University of Missouri.

Kate Grumke is a senior environmental reporter for St. Louis Public Radio.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Artemis II test flight heads toward the moon

Fri, 3 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday, NASA’s Artemis II mission launched, kicking off on a roughly 10-day trip that will carry four astronauts around the moon and back to Earth. The flight is another test of the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule that are intended to be used for an eventual crewed lunar landing.

Space reporter Brendan Byrne joins Producer Kathleen Davis to share his impressions of the launch and what’s ahead for the Artemis program. Then, moon book author Rebecca Boyle joins the discussion to tackle an important listener question: What if Earth didn’t have a moon?

Guests:

Brendan Byrne is the host of the “Are We There Yet?” podcast, and assistant news director for Central Florida Public Media in Orlando, Florida.

Rebecca Boyle is a science journalist and author of “Our Moon: How Earth's Celestial Companion Transformed The Planet, Guided Evolution, And Made Us Who We Are.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Should Pluto be a planet again?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Alan Stern, Amanda Bosh) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In 2006, a vote by the International Astronomical Union determined that Pluto was no longer a planet. The decision sparked a heated public debate, and many planetary scientists disagreed with kicking Pluto out of the planet club.

Twenty years later, Pluto is back in the news: NASA administrator Jared Isaacman said he wants to make Pluto great again by declaring it… a planet again. And he’s urging President Trump to do so by executive order. Why does this Plutonian debate keep rearing its head? And does the president have the power to do that?

To answer those questions and more, Host Ira Flatow talks with planetary scientists and Pluto champions Amanda Bosh and Alan Stern.

Guests:

Dr. Amanda Bosh is the executive director of the Lowell Observatory in Arizona, where Pluto was first discovered.

Dr. Alan Stern is the vice president at the Southwest Research Institute and principal investigator of the New Horizons mission to Pluto.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How to poop better, according to a gastroenterologist

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman, Trisha Pasricha) — Wed, 1 Apr 2026 10:00:00 +0000

For many of us, what happens in the bathroom stays in the bathroom: According to a recent survey, 1 in 3 Americans are too embarrassed to talk about their poop or gut issues with their doctor. Gastroenterologists like Trisha Pasricha say that’s a problem, and that that stigma is getting in the way of our health and happiness.

She joins Host Flora Lichtman to share some crucial gut knowledge, and talk about her new book, “You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong.”

Read an excerpt from “You’ve Been Pooping All Wrong: How To Make Your Bowel Movements A Joy.”

Guest: Dr. Trisha Pasricha is a physician-scientist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, MA.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Harnessing the superpowers of silk

Tue, 31 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A listener recently called in asking how they might get a pair of functioning web shooters so they could operate as a local Spider-Man. While web shooters (sadly) don’t exist, we can say that the ways real spiders use silk put Peter Parker’s powers to shame. Spiders can use their sticky threads to sail through the air, capture prey larger than them, and even live underwater. And scientists trying to harness those powers.

Host Flora Lichtman chats with spider-silk aficionado Cheryl Hayashi about the wonders of silk, and Fiorenzo Omenetto shares how his engineering lab uses silk in the design of biomedical tools, like vaccines and sensors.

Guests:

Dr. Cheryl Hayashi is the senior vice president and provost of science at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Dr. Fiorenzo Omenetto is a biomedical engineer and director of the Silklab at Tufts University in Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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CERN finds a new particle + News alerts for the cosmos

Mon, 30 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland have announced that they discovered a new subatomic particle. Roughly four times more massive than a standard proton, this short-lived piece of matter called Ξcc⁺(Xi-cc-plus) is like an extra-heavy proton, researchers say. Physicist Hassan Jawahery joins Host Flora Lichtman to unpack how the particle was found, and what its discovery means for theoretical physics.

Then, astronomer Eric Bellm describes a new alert system that could flag potentially significant changes in the southern night sky in real time. On its first night of testing at the Rubin Observatory in Chile, the system fired off 800,000 alerts.

Guests:

Dr. Hassan Jawahery is a distinguished university professor at the University of Maryland and a member of the LHCb consortium.

Dr. Eric Bellm is alert product group lead for the Rubin Observatory and a research associate professor at the University of Washington.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Move over, vibe-coding. Vibe-proving is here for math

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

When ChatGPT first came onto the scene, it wowed users with its writing abilities, but drew laughs for generating images of seven-fingered hands and struggling with basic math, where 2+2 didn’t always equal 4. But more recently, things have changed: Google and OpenAI’s models bagged gold medals at the International Mathematical Olympiad last year, and now some experts say AI could pose an existential threat to the field of mathematics itself.

Mathematicians Emily Riehl and Daniel Litt join Host Flora Lichtman to explore how this technology could change the way math discoveries are made—and what could be lost if things go too far.

Guests:

Dr. Emily Riehl is a professor of mathematics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD.

Dr. Daniel Litt is an associate professor of mathematics at the University of Toronto.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is Punch the monkey really just like us?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Annette Heist, Christine Webb) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

When Punch the monkey was abandoned by his mother, zookeepers gave him a surrogate and unexpected source of comfort: a stuffed animal. Videos of Punch snuggling the stuffie went viral, and, as his stardom rose, millions of us began wondering, “Is Punch OK? Does he have a girlfriend? Is he being bullied by the zoo's other macaques?” Primatologist Christine Webb joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the ways humans relate to our closest relatives, and whether we can—and should—map human feelings onto other primates.

Guest:

Christine Webb is an assistant professor of environmental studies at New York University. She is the author of “The Arrogant Ape: The Myth of Human Exceptionalism and Why It Matters.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Could bird flu still spark a pandemic?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Seema Lakdawala) — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Bird flu has flown off the national news radar, with only scattered, local reports of dead birds in parks and poultry farms. Is it simply no longer a concern, or have cuts to federal science funding disrupted monitoring for this disease? Airborne pathogens expert Seema Lakdawala gives a flyover view on where bird flu stands today, and whether the government’s current monitoring efforts are enough to help prevent another pandemic.

Guest:

Dr. Seema Lakdawala is co-director of the Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens and an associate professor at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The secret powers of flowers

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum, David George Haskell) — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Flowers peeking up through the soil are a welcome sight after a long cold winter—and are one of the first markers of spring. Biologist David George Haskell argues that flowers aren’t just beautiful: They’re also critical to most ecosystems and the diversity of life as we know it. Flowering plants also make up a large part of human diets (rice, maize, and wheat are all flowers). And homing in on orchids, Haskell says, can help us understand the complex relationship between flowers and pollinators.

Guest:

Dr. David George Haskell is a biologist and author of: “How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Apple: trying to think different for 50 years

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, David Pogue) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976, and in the 50 years since, the company has evolved from a handful of Silicon Valley misfits to a global technology and media powerhouse.

Tech journalist David Pogue talks with Ira Flatow about the backstory of the company, and the leadership of the mercurial Steve Jobs. He offers a peek into some lesser known chapters of the company’s history, like the ill-fated Apple Paladin, a prototype Apple-produced fax machine. Pogue chronicles the company’s history in his latest book, “Apple: The First 50 Years.”

Guest:

David Pogue is a tech journalist, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, and author of the book “Apple: The First 50 Years.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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‘Project Hail Mary’ brings a new kind of alien to the big screen

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Andy Weir, Mike Wong) — Fri, 20 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Science fiction nerds, rejoice: the long-awaited adaptation of “Project Hail Mary” is in theaters now. Host Flora Lichtman chats with book author Andy Weir and astrobiologist Mike Wong about the film’s aliens, and how they buck the trend of what extraterrestrials usually look like on screen.

Guest:

Andy Weir is the author of “Project Hail Mary” and “The Martian.”

Dr. Mike Wong is an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at Carnegie Science in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Building a digital ant gallery, from the ground up

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

A project called Antscan has generated high resolution images of thousands of ants, representing over 700 species. To make it happen, researchers brought preserved ants from collections around the world to a particle accelerator in Germany. There, a powerful synchrotron X-ray source combined with a vial-swapping robot allowed the researchers to build a collection of 3D ant images, inside and out. Each voxel (like a 3D pixel) has a resolution of 1.22 micrometers—enough to see the tiny hairs on ant bodies, and distinguish individual muscle fibers.

Antscan researcher Julian Katzke joins us to describe the background of the project, and how the images could be used for science and art.

Check out Antscan images at our website.

Guest:

Dr. Julian Katzke is a postdoc at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History. He worked on the AntScan project while a PhD student at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The heaviness and (not) hope of climate change

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

For decades, renowned environmental writer Elizabeth Kolbert has taken readers to remote corners of the planet to understand how all life is connected—and how our planet is changing. She’s covered everything from the collapse of insect populations to the success of one town’s effort to go carbon neutral.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Kolbert about the undeniable heaviness of our current climate moment, how the splendor of the Great Barrier Reef “tilted” her worldview, and the messy business of trying to solve environmental problems.

In March and April, the Science Friday Book Club is reading Kolbert’s latest book, “Life on a Little-Known Planet.” It’s a collection of essays she’s written over the years. Check out the Book Club to read along.

Guest:

Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of several books, including “Life on a Little-Known Planet: Dispatches from a Changing World.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Could a ‘digital twin’ help you get better health care?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

There’s an idea bubbling up in medicine called the “digital twin.” The concept is to take personal health data like genetics, blood test results, tissue samples, MRI scans, and family history, and create a digital model of a patient that can be used to predict how a treatment might work for them. Think personalized medicine supercharged by AI.

For example, cancer researchers are working on models that would create radiation and chemotherapy treatment plans based on the specifics of a patient’s tumor. But these models aren’t ready for the clinic yet, and with so much patient data involved, privacy concerns abound.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Caroline Chung, a radiation oncologist at the forefront of digital twin research.

Guest:

Dr. Caroline Chung is a radiation oncologist and the co-director of the Institute for Data Science Oncology at UT MD Anderson Cancer Center.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Who uses Farmers’ Almanacs? + Zebra finch home design

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Farmers’ Almanacs have been around for hundreds of years, offering detailed advice about things like the best time to plant certain crops, and when to wean your calves. But do farmers actually use them? Host Flora Lichtman discusses their place in modern life with astronomer and Farmers’ Almanac contributor Dean Regas, and Missouri farmer Liz Graznak.

Plus, zebra finches build their nests with a keen eye for color. But is their style easily swayed by feathered peer pressure? Zebra finch expert Lauren Guillette fills us in.

Guests:

Dean Regas is an astronomer and former Farmers’ Almanac contributor based in Cincinnati.

Liz Graznak is an organic farmer and owner of Happy Hollow Farm based in Columbia, Missouri.

Lauren Guillette is an Associate Professor of Cognitive Ecology at the University of Alberta.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Slow Breaking News: A Giant Tortoise Revival

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In February, conservationists released 158 young tortoises onto Floreana Island in the Galapagos. The Floreana tortoise subspecies had long been thought extinct, but the discovery of close relatives on another island made a captive breeding effort possible.

SciFri turtle correspondent Charles Bergquist talks with conservationist Penny Becker about the science behind the reintroduction, and what it was like to return the species to an island that had not seen them since the 1850s. Plus, the latest on sea turtle nesting season, and an ancient sea turtle stampede.

Guest:
Dr. Penny Becker is CEO of the nonprofit Island Conservation.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Is AI Being Used In The Iran War?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The military use of AI is capturing headlines this month. After a dustup with the Pentagon, the AI company Anthropic is out, and OpenAI is in. Meanwhile, in the US war with Iran, AI is being deployed in ways we’ve never seen.

To make sense of it all, Host Flora Lichtman talks with journalist Karen Hao, who covers AI and is the author of the book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI.

Guest:
Karen Hao is a tech journalist and author of the book Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is There Science Behind The ‘Nervous System Reset’?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On social media, the vagus nerve often gets billed as the gateway to nervous system nirvana: It’s your ticket to better rest, relaxation, and health if you “stimulate” it correctly. Where did this idea come from, and what does the research say?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey, a pioneer of a field called bioelectronic medicine, which uses techniques to stimulate the nervous system with electricity. Back in the 1990s, he was the first to discover that the vagus nerve regulates the immune system and inflammation.

Guest:

Dr. Kevin Tracey is a neurosurgeon, and president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health. He is the author of The Great Nerve.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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AI Music Is On The Charts. Where Does It Go From Here?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt) — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In recent months, AI music has moved from novelty act into the realm of listenable music. For the first time, AI-generated songs from AI-generated artists are on the Billboard top 100 charts, and more musicians are coming out saying they use AI in their songwriting process.

Is this just another tech upgrade to the music-making process or does it signal something bigger in the industry? To investigate, SciFri producer and musician Dee Peterschmidt talks to journalist Kristin Robinson, who covers AI in the music industry, and Laurie Spiegel, an electronic and algorithmic music pioneer.

Guests:
Kristin Robinson is a senior writer for Billboard, based in Los Angeles, CA.
Laurie Spiegel is a composer and programmer based in New York, NY

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Surprising Science Of Why Sneakers Squeak

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Mon, 9 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

March Madness is almost upon us, which means basketball arenas across the country will be filled with the thunderous roar of fans and the surprisingly loud squeaks of basketball shoes. At his first NBA game, physicist Adel Djellouli was surprised by the constant noise from the court and wondered, why do basketball shoes squeak? Turns out, the physics of a squeak involves lightning bolts and earthquakes.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Djellouli about his research and the joy of investigating seemingly simple questions.

Guest: Dr. Adel Djellouli is an experimental physicist at Harvard University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can ‘Suggestion-Box Science’ Make Public Health More Useful?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Sat, 7 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Skepticism around public health policy, experts and institutions has left some researchers asking basic questions about their role and relationship with the public. Can public health be done better?

Epidemiologist Erica Walker has a perspective on just that. She started off studying noise pollution, found her science wasn’t serving people as she hoped, and pivoted her approach in an effort to be more useful. Flora sits down with Walker to hear the story.

Guest: Dr. Erica Walker is an assistant professor of epidemiology and director of the Community Noise Lab at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Fixing Society's Toughest Problems? ‘It’s On You’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 6 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Ever heard an alcohol ad that tells you to “please drink responsibly”? Or a gambling ad that warns, "when the fun stops, stop”? Or been urged to reduce your carbon footprint?

The message is basically the same: These products and activities have risks. But mitigating them, well, that’s on you. How did we get this idea that it's our personal responsibility to make a dent in big problems like climate change—and not the job of the government to impose regulations? That’s the focus of the new book It’s on You.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with behavioral scientist and It’s on You coauthor Nick Chater, about how he and his colleagues played a role in shaping a narrative of individual responsibility, and how to change it.

Guest:
Dr. Nick Chater is a professor of behavioural science at Warwick University and coauthor of It's on You: How Corporations and Behavioral Scientists Have Convinced Us That We’re to Blame for Society's Deepest Problems.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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3D Images Of Galaxies Will Rock You (Ft. Queen)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

"Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality. Open your eyes, look up to the skies and see."

There’s something about space that captures the imagination of scientists and artists alike. Just ask astrophysicist Derek Ward-Thompson and astronomer Brian May (yes, THAT Brian May, guitarist of Queen). In their new book Islands in Infinity: Galaxies 3-D, they turn flat images of the galaxies to three dimensional spacescapes that leap off the page.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Ward-Thompson and May about the enchanting nature of space and the collision of art and astronomy. And yes, they get into the music.

Guests:
Dr. Brian May is an astronomer and the guitarist of Queen.
Dr. Derek Ward-Thompson is an astrophysicist at the University of Lancashire in England.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Slow Release Of Federal Science Funds Holds Up Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 4 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Congress pushed back on the Trump administration’s attempts to slash funding for many science research programs, and restored that money to the budget. But despite the funds existing in the budget, they have not yet been released to some researchers.

Science journalist Alexandra Witze joins Host Ira Flatow to walk through the details of the government funding process, and her recent report in Nature about the funding slowdown.

Guest: Alexandra Witze is a correspondent for the journal Nature. She's based in Boulder, Colorado.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Evolution Of An Enzyme Engineer Who Changed Chemistry

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 3 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

In nature, enzymes are the catalysts that make much of biology work. They jumpstart chemical reactions that either wouldn’t happen, or would happen super slowly. They break down food, build other molecules, extract energy, and more. What if we could harness evolution to engineer designer enzymes that do other specific jobs that benefit us?

Putting that idea into practice changed the game for chemistry, and earned Frances Arnold the Nobel Prize prize in 2018. She called it “directed evolution.” Today, thousands of labs use her methods to coax enzymes into doing things no one ever thought of. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about where she sees this approach going in the future, and the personal evolution that brought her into science.

Guest: Dr. Frances Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Art And Science Of Staving Off Cognitive Decline

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 2 Mar 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The new semi-autobiographical play “The Reservoir” spins a comedic narrative around cognitive reserve, the idea that doing brain-stimulating activities can prevent or delay the onset of dementia symptoms. It’s currently running at the Atlantic Theater Company and co-produced by The Ensemble Studio Theater in New York.*

Host Ira Flatow talks with playwright Jake Brasch about his inspiration for the play and how to mesh science into the theater.

Then, neurologist Marilyn Albert discusses some of the latest science of mental stimulation and dementia. After following a diverse group of older adults for 20 years, her research found that a modest amount of specialized cognitive training reduced dementia risk by 25%. You can try a very similar brain training exercise at home.

*“The Reservoir” received funding from the Sloan Foundation, which also helps support Science Friday.

Guests:
Jake Brasch is a writer, performer, composer, clown, and writer of the new play “The Reservoir.”
Dr. Marilyn Albert is a professor of neurology and director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Into the Woods, From Chestnut Genetics To Tiny Forests

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

American chestnut trees once towered over the landscape, dominating forests in parts of the eastern United States. But in the late 1800s, a fungal blight virtually wiped them out across the country. Chestnut restoration scientist Jared Westbrook tells Host Ira Flatow how new genetic work could speed up efforts to breed fungal resistance into hybrid chestnuts and create a heartier chestnut population.

Then, author Hanna Lewis introduces Ira to the concept of miniforests, self-sustaining native forest ecosystems on a tiny footprint, like an empty lot or a schoolyard. The planting method, developed by botanist Akira Miyawaki, can help “rewild” small parcels of land by jump-starting forest development.

Read our full story, The Miniforest Movement Gains Ground In The U.S.

Guests:
Dr. Jared Westbrook is Director of Science for the American Chestnut Foundation in Asheville, North Carolina.
Hanna Lewis is the author of the book Mini-Forest Revolution: Using the Miyawaki Method to Rapidly Rewild the World. She works for non-profit Renewing the Countryside in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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EPA Rescinds The Legal Basis For Regulating Greenhouse Gases

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On February 12, the Environmental Protection Agency dealt a major blow to the government’s power to fight climate change by rescinding a key piece of research called the endangerment finding. The finding, issued in 2009, basically says: Greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare—and because they’re harmful, they must be regulated. It's the legal basis for the federal government’s regulation of greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. So what does it mean that this finding has been thrown out?

Host Flora Lichtman digs into this question with Andy Miller, an original author on the endangerment finding who spent more than 30 years working for the EPA.

Guest:
Dr. Andy Miller worked on air pollution and climate change at the EPA for more than 30 years. He was an original author on Endangerment Finding.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How One Gene Affects Alzheimer’s Risk

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

An estimated 500,000 people are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in the United States each year, but the causes and mechanisms of the condition remain a neurological mystery. A recent study looked at the role of variants in a gene called APOE in Alzheimer’s, and found that while it’s not a simple determinant of developing the disease, that one gene seems to play a significant role in promoting disease risk. Researchers hope work like this could point to new areas to study and even potential treatments.

Epidemiologist Dylan Williams joins Host Ira Flatow to explain the findings and discuss the challenges in tracing a complex disease to its roots.

Guest: Dr. Dylan Williams is a principal research fellow in molecular and genetic epidemiology at University College London.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Are My THC Gummies Going Away?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Does the availability of “hemp-derived” THC products have you dazed and confused? A legal loophole in the 2018 Farm Bill lets these items be sold over the counter. But state actions, and a federal law that could come in November, aims to snuff these products out.

Host Flora Lichtman talks to cannabis expert Cinnamon Bidwell about the confusing legal landscape, and the real differences between products. Plus, investigative reporter Joe Hong talks to Flora to break down his findings of what’s lurking in NYC’s dirty snowbanks.

Guest:
Dr. Cinnamon Bidwell is a clinical psychologist focused on cannabis at the University of Colorado. She co-directs the CU Change lab.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Aren’t There Biomarkers For Mental Illness?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Despite major advances in our understanding of the biology of mental health disorders, there’s no blood test or brain scan that will confirm if you have depression, anxiety, PTSD, or any other psychiatric illness.

And yet, the American Psychiatric Association recently announced that it will be including biomarkers for mental conditions in the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), which guides diagnosis and treatment of mental illness. So how close are we to pinpointing the biological markers of mental illness, and what does that mean for diagnosis? It’s complicated.

Host Flora Lichtman untangles some of this science with psychiatry researcher John Krystal.

Guest: Dr. John Krystal is a professor of psychiatry, neuroscience, and psychology at the Yale School of Medicine.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Autism Rates Appear To Be Even Across Sexes. Diagnosis Is Not

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Sat, 21 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

There’s a long-held idea that autism is more prevalent in boys than girls—the CDC says it’s three times as common. But a growing body of research suggests the reality is more complicated. In a new study, researchers tracked autism diagnoses in millions of Swedish people born from 1985 to 2022. They found that the prevalence of autism is actually pretty even across the sexes, but people with “female” stamped on their birth certificate are often diagnosed later in life.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with epidemiologist Caroline Fyfe about what this study teaches us about the prevalence of autism. Then, psychology researcher Rachel Moseley, an autistic woman herself, shares how late and missed diagnoses can affect autistic people.

Guests:
Dr. Caroline Fyfe is an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh who studied sex differences in autism diagnoses.
Dr. Rachel Moseley is a researcher in psychology at Bournemouth University in the UK, studying the experiences of autistic adults.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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AMA Joins Effort To Launch Independent Vaccine Review Panel

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The gap between vaccine science and vaccine policy has been widening under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Now, the American Medical Association and the Vaccine Integrity Project, based at the University of Minnesota, have announced that they are partnering to create their own vaccine review process, effectively creating a parallel system to the CDC’s.

Host Ira Flatow talks with Michael Osterholm, executive director of the Vaccine Integrity Project, about the role of this new review panel.

Guest: Dr. Michael Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy and executive director of the Vaccine Integrity Project at the University of Minnesota.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What A Snow Drought In The West Means For The Rest Of 2026

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

While parts of the eastern and southern US have had unusually high snowfall this year, Colorado and Utah are in a snow drought. The abysmal winter sports season is just the tip of the melting iceberg: Snowpack is key to providing water throughout the year for the drought-stricken region. Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about this unusual winter are reporter David Condos and climate scientist Brad Udall.

Guests:
David Condos is the Southern Utah Reporter at KUER based in St. George.
Brad Udall is a senior water and climate research scientist at Colorado State University’s Colorado Water Center.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Jump, Spin, Glide: The Science Of Figure Skating

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

Figure skating is a fan favorite at the Winter Olympics—for every event, the stands are packed to watch competitors glide, jump, and spin. But what does it take to pull off these seemingly effortless moves?

Figure skating researcher Deborah King joins Host Ira Flatow to unfold the science of the sport, from the impressive jumps of US skater Ilia Malinin, to the g-forces endured by the ankles of a speeding skater.

Guest: Dr. Deborah King is a professor of exercise science and athletic training at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Are State-Run Psilocybin Therapy Programs Going?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In Oregon and Colorado, you can book an appointment for psilocybin therapy, where a licensed therapist takes you on a guided trip using the drug that makes “magic” mushrooms hallucinogenic.

Under federal law, psilocybin is illegal. But within the past few years, both states greenlit the drug for supervised medical use, and New Mexico may soon follow. It’s being used to treat certain conditions, including drug-resistant depression and PTSD. With a lot more people taking the drug under state supervision, what are we learning about its safety and efficacy? Who is taking it, and can clinics make money?

Host Flora Lichtman checks in on the state of these programs with Colorado Public Radio journalist Alejandro Galva. Then, she sits down with geriatric and palliative care specialist Stacy Fischer for a research update on the therapeutic use of the drug, and the nation’s largest clinical trial for psilocybin use for advanced cancer patients facing mental health challenges.

Guests:
Alejandro Galva is the afternoon editor at Colorado Public Radio. He’s also the editor of their series “The Trip,” which covers the psychedelic therapy landscape in the state.
Dr. Stacy Fischer is a geriatric and palliative care specialist at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Little Grime Can Boost Kids’ Health. But What Kind?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

You may have heard that a little dirt is good for kids. It helps them build up their immune systems, and sets them on a path to future health. But what kind of filth does the trick?

Producer Kathleen Davis digs into the latest science on the benefits of exposing kids to the outdoors with microbiologist Jack Gilbert and pediatric epidemiologist Amber Fyfe-Johnson.

Guests:
Dr. Jack Gilbert is a microbiologist and professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and in the department of pediatrics in UC San Diego School of Medicine.
Dr. Amber Fyfe-Johnson is an associate professor and pediatric epidemiologist at Institute for Research and Education to Advance Community Health at Washington State University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Mating, Marriage, And Monogamy In The Age Of Apps

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annette Heist, Flora Lichtman) — Sat, 14 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

With so many dating apps—and so many people using them—why are a record number of American adults single? Is marriage as important as it was a generation or two ago? Evolutionary biologist and sex researcher Justin Garcia joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about dating and mating, and what evolutionary biology can tell us about our need to form a “pair bond” … or not.

Read an excerpt from Justin’s new book, The Intimate Animal: The Science of Sex, Fidelity, and Why We Live and Die for Love.

Guest: Dr. Justin Garcia is an evolutionary biologist and executive director of the Kinsey Institute. He is the author of The Intimate Animal.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What A Tea Party With A Bonobo Taught Us About Imagination

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Our ability to imagine is part of what makes us who we are—not just as individuals, but also as humans. It turns out, though, that we may not be the only species capable of playing pretend. In a string of experiments, scientists sat down, set the table, and hosted pretend tea parties with a bonobo named Kanzi to see if he’d play along—and he did.

Producer Kathleen Davis chats with study author Amalia Bastos about Kanzi, what it means to imagine, and how our definition of “humanness” keeps changing.

Guest: Dr. Amalia Bastos is a cognitive scientist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Is Screen Time Affecting My Kid?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Screens are ubiquitous in today’s world, and concerns about how they affect kids are mounting. Last month, Australia banned social media use for kids under 16, with some European countries poised to follow. But what’s the science on how neverending YouTube videos or TikToks affect kids’ brains and bodies?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss are neuroscientist John Foxe and behavioral developmental pediatrician Jenny Radesky.

Guests:
Dr. John Foxe is Director of The Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester in New York.
Dr. Jenny Radesky is a developmental behavioral pediatrician at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. She’s also co-Medical Director of the American Academy of Pediatrics Center of Excellence on Social Media and Youth Mental Health.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Who Wants To Smell An Ancient Embalmed Mummy?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Wandering through a museum, you can get a glimpse of what life in ancient societies looked like. But what did it smell like? And is it even possible to get a whiff of, say, a freshly embalmed mummy, or a 5,000-year-old Saudi Arabian incense burner? That’s exactly what some chemists and olfactory designers are trying to do.

Producer Kathleen Davis talks with archeo-chemist Barbara Huber and perfumer Carole Calvez about how they scientifically recreated the scent of ancient Egyptian mummies and brought that smell to museums on special cards.

Guests:
Dr. Barbara Huber is an archeo-chemist at the University of Tübingen in Germany.
Carole Calvez is a perfumer and olfactory designer and a cofounder of Iris & Morphée in Paris, France.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Stressed About The World? Take A Cue From Cyanobacteria

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Cyanobacteria may be the ultimate lesson in resilience. These 3.5 billion-year-old organisms have lived through hell-on-earth conditions, and found creative ways to persevere. While the state of the world feels out of control, Host Flora Lichtman talks to molecular microbiologist Devaki Bhaya about the planet’s ultimate survivalists.

Guest: Dr. Devaki Bhaya is a molecular microbiologist at Carnegie Science in Stanford, California.

The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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The Largest US Particle Collider Stops Its Collisions

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 9 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the largest particle collider in the United States, collided its last particles in early February. RHIC is a massive accelerator ring and set of instruments based at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was designed to accelerate gold ions to near-light speed before collision. It was the second most powerful accelerator on the planet, second only to CERN’s Large Hadron Collider. Since RHIC began running in 2000, scientists have used it to study the tiniest subatomic particles, which give insight into some of the universe’s biggest questions.

Brookhaven nuclear physicist Gene Van Buren joins Host Flora Lichtman to look back on the history of RHIC, what physicists have learned from the collider, and what lies ahead for particle physics.

Guest: Dr. Gene Van Buren is a nuclear physicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Olympic Ski Mountaineering, And Mountain Goat Climbing Feats

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 6 Feb 2026 13:10:52 +0000

This year’s Winter Olympics feature a new event called “skimo,” or ski mountaineering. The racing event involves periods of skiing uphill using “skins” for traction, sprinting uphill on foot, and a downhill ski slalom to the finish. Mountaineering historian Peter Hansen joins Host Flora Lichtman for an introduction to skimo, and the scientific connections of early modern mountaineers.

Then, wildlife ecologist Kevin White describes the amazing capabilities of the mountain goat, what’s known about the physical features that contribute to their climbing ability, and risks to mountain goat populations.

Guests:

Dr. Peter Hansen is a professor of history at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and author of the book The Summits of Modern Man: Mountaineering after the Enlightenment.
Dr. Kevin White is a wildlife ecologist based at the University of Alaska Southeast.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Worry About My Data If I Have Nothing To Hide?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 5 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

As ICE cracks down in Minneapolis and across the country, reporters and privacy advocates have drawn attention to how the agency is using technology: scanning people’s faces without consent, using private health records to make arrests, tracking people’s location in real time with phone data.

So how does all this work? How does the United States’ data ecosystem make it possible for not just ICE, but any number of government agencies and businesses to buy our private data? And what actually happens after we send that DM or open up Instagram at a protest to post a picture?

To learn more, Host Flora Lichtman sits down with law professor and tech policy expert Laura Moy. She’s testified in Congress about privacy laws and how data brokers profit off of personal data.

Guest: Laura Moy is an associate professor of law at Georgetown Law, based in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Should Ultraprocessed Foods Be Off The Menu?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Annette Heist) — Wed, 4 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The new dietary guidelines from the USDA call for Americans to “eat real food” and consume less “highly processed” food. But how? By some estimates, ultraprocessed foods make up nearly 60% of the average American adult diet, and they’re all over school lunch menus.

Health policy expert Laura Schmidt and nutrition policy researcher Alyssa Moran join Host Flora Lichtman to talk about ultraprocessed foods and our food supply. What might they be doing to our health, and what steps could policymakers take to help Americans eat less of them?

Guests:
Dr. Laura Schmidt is a professor at the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Alyssa Moran is deputy director of the Center for Food and Nutrition Policy at the University of Pennsylvania

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Growing Experiment Of Putting Solar Panels On Farmland

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 3 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

In an effort to make their farms more environmentally and economically sustainable, some farmers are experimenting with agrivoltaics: growing crops underneath solar panels. This dual harvest is working for some, but what will it take for agrivoltaics to work on a larger, more industrial scale?

Joining Host Ira Flatow are journalist Jana Rose Schleis and environmental economics expert Madhu Khanna.

Guests:
Jana Rose Schleis is a news producer at KBIA in Columbia, Missouri. Her podcast series, “The Next Harvest,” is available on podcast platforms.
Dr. Madhu Khanna is a professor of environmental economics and director of the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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We’re All Being Played By Metrics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 2 Feb 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Point systems are everywhere. Ready for movie night? Consult Rotten Tomatoes. Vetting a new pediatrician? See how many stars they have. At work, it can be even more pervasive: There’s KPIs and ROIs because success has to be measurable.

But what happens when we boil something down to one nice number? What do we lose? Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, author of the new book The Score, joins Host Flora Lichtman to explore how metrics can be soul-crushing in work and in life, yet keeping score is freeing in the world of games.

Read an excerpt from The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game.

Guest:
Dr. C. Thi Nguyen is a philosophy professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. He’s the author of The Score: How to Stop Playing Somebody Else's Game.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Middle + SciFri: How Can Trust In Science Be Restored?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Jeremy Hobson, Flora Lichtman) — Sat, 31 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

We’re bringing you a special bonus episode from our friends at the live call-in show “The Middle with Jeremy Hobson.” Jeremy is joined by Science Friday Host Flora Lichtman and theoretical astrophysicist Priya Natarajan to talk about how trust in science can be restored. It took a hit with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Trump Administration has now elevated science skeptics to positions of power and proposed giant cuts in scientific research.

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Untangling The History Of Dog Domestication

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

All the pups we love—from chihuahuas to great danes—are descendants of the mighty gray wolf. But how did we end up with so many breeds? The story that's often told is that dog diversity really took off with the Victorians in the 1800s, but new research is unleashing a different tale. Host Flora Lichtman talks with bioarchaeologist Carly Ameen about the diversification of dogs.

Plus, a long-running experiment to tame silver foxes is cluing us into how domestication happens. Canine researcher Erin Hecht gives us a glimpse into the experiment and what it tells us about domesticated brains.

Guests:
Dr. Carly Ameen is a bioarcheologist and lecturer at the University of Exeter in England.
Dr. Erin Hecht is an evolutionary biologist at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Science Historian Tackles Ghostwriting In Scientific Papers

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

We keep hearing that these are unprecedented times for science: scientific skeptics running federal agencies, growing mistrust of vaccines, and messaging from the highest levels of government that scientists are in the pocket of industry.

To understand how unique this time really is, we’re talking to Naomi Oreskes, a science historian who has spent her career studying skepticism in science. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss our current moment, and how ghostwriting in scientific papers is harming public trust in science.

Guest: Naomi Oreskes is a professor of the history of science at Harvard University, based in Cambridge, MA.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How China Is Driving Down Electricity Costs With Renewables

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Annette Heist) — Wed, 28 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

In a speech last week in a speech at the World Economic Forum, President Trump said China was making a lot of wind turbines, but not using much wind power in their own country. Is that right?

China studies professor Jeremy Wallace joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the renewable energy landscape in China. They’ll dig into how China is flooding the world with affordable solar technology, making it the cheapest form of electricity in history. Plus, what energy tech China is manufacturing, what it's using domestically, and what it's exporting.

Guest: Dr. Jeremy Wallace is the A. Doak Barnett Professor of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Managing The Risks Of Spaceflight, 40 Years After Challenger

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Forty years ago this week, the space shuttle Challenger exploded in flight, 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral. All seven crew members were killed. In the months that followed, the tragedy was traced to a failed O-ring in one of the shuttle’s rocket boosters. Now, with the Artemis II mission preparing for launch to lunar orbit, what have we learned about spaceflight and risk?

Former astronaut Jim Wetherbee joins Host Ira Flatow to remember the Challenger tragedy, and look ahead to the age of private spaceflight and the upcoming Artemis II mission.

Guest: Jim Wetherbee is a former NASA astronaut, the former head of flight crew operations for NASA, and the author of Controlling Risk: Thirty Techniques for Operating Excellence.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How A Mutation Made This Year’s Flu Season So Bad

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A rogue strain of flu, subclade K, has sickened more than 19 million people in the US so far this season. And the flu shot hasn’t offered that much protection. What’s going on with this superflustorm?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman with some answers is Jennifer Duchon, a pediatric infectious disease specialist.

Guest: Dr. Jennifer Duchon is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Tracking The Toxic Fallout Of The LA Fires

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

This time last year, Los Angeles was on fire, and more than 16,000 homes and buildings burned to the ground. Cars, batteries, solar panels, insulation, and cleaning supplies went up in flames, releasing chemicals like lead, benzene, and asbestos into giant smoke plumes that wafted across the city.

A year later, scientists are trying to understand the fallout of this urban wildfire—what chemicals got left behind, how to remediate them, and the threats to our health. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Yifang Zhu and Francois Tissot, who are at the forefront of this research. And for one of them, this work is personal.

Guests:
Dr. François Tissot is a professor of geochemistry at Caltech in Pasadena, California.
Dr. Yifang Zhu is a professor of environmental health sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Deepfakes Are Everywhere. What Can We Do?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Deepfakes have been everywhere lately, from fake AI images of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro following his (real) capture by the United States, to X’s Grok AI generating nonconsensual images of real people in states of undress. And if you missed all that, you've almost certainly had your own deepfake close encounter in your feed: maybe rabbits bouncing on a trampoline or an unlikely animal friendship that seems a little too good to be true.

Deepfakes have moved beyond the realm of novelty, and it’s more difficult than ever to know what is actually real online. So how did we get here and what is there, if anything, to do about it?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman are Hany Farid, who’s studied digital forensics and how we relate to AI for over 25 years, and Sam Cole, a journalist at 404 Media who’s covered deepfakes and their impact since 2017.

Guests:
Dr. Hany Farid is a professor of electrical engineering and computer sciences at University of California, Berkeley.
Sam Cole is a journalist at 404 Media, based in New York, NY

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Looking Beyond Statins For New Ways To Lower Cholesterol

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Annette Heist) — Wed, 21 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

When it comes to “bad” cholesterol, most cardiologists say lower is better. But what’s the best way to get that number down? Can diet and exercise alone do the job?

Cardiologists Kiran Musunuru and Neha Pagidipati join Host Ira Flatow for a look at the latest in cholesterol-lowering treatments, including CRISPR technology that could turn off cholesterol-making genes for life. How does it work, and is it safe?

Guests:
Dr. Kiran Musunuru is the scientific director of the Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Neha Pagidipati is the director of the Cardiometabolic Prevention Clinic at the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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States Expected To See More ‘Anti-Science’ Bills This Year

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

An Associated Press investigation found that more than 420 “anti-science” bills were introduced in statehouses last year, targeting protections around public health issues like vaccines, milk safety, and fluoride. As state legislatures come back into session, what can we expect for 2026? Joining Ira Flatow is Laura Ungar, science and medical reporter for the Associated Press.

Plus, reporter Elise Plunk joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss the complex case of a citizen-led pollution monitoring program in Louisiana that persists despite a law banning the use of its data.

Guests:
Laura Ungar is a science and medical reporter for the Associated Press.
Elise Plunk is an environmental reporter and Report for America corps member at the Louisiana Illuminator.

The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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What’s Happening On The Slippery Surface Of Ice?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

It’s a wintertime question that you may have had as you struggled down a frozen sidewalk, or strapped on some ice skates: Just why is ice slippery, anyway? It turns out the answer is somewhat complicated.

Mechanical engineer Robert Carpick studies tribology, the science of surface interactions, from friction to wear to lubrication. He joins Host Ira Flatow to wrangle some new ideas about the slippery science of ice.

Guest: Dr. Robert Carpick is the John Henry Towne Professor in the department of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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Teasing Apart The Causes And Early Signs Of Parkinson’s

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annette Heist, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Each year, around 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that can cause tremors and affect cognition. Scientists are working to identify some of the earliest signs of the disease, and to figure out how we might test for—and treat—Parkinson’s in the future.

Neurologists Emily Tamadonfar and Michael Okun join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss what we know about why Parkinson’s starts and how it may be associated with genetic mutations, pollution, and other factors.

Guests:
Dr. Emily Tamadonfar is a clinical associate professor of neurology in the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
Dr. Michael Okun is a professor and executive director of the Norman Fixel Institute for Neurological Diseases at University of Florida Health in Gainesville, Florida.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Greenland Sharks Are Teaching Us About Aging Eyes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

As we age, our vision gets blurrier, we form cataracts, and we have a higher risk of glaucoma. But Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years and still maintain healthy, functional eyeballs. So what gives?

Host Ira Flatow talks with molecular biologist Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, who studies the mechanisms of aging, about what we can learn from these fishy eyeballs and how it could help us.

Plus, listener Leon called us with a question: Is it true that the James Webb Space Telescope’s gold-plated mirror is so perfectly flat that if it were the size of the United States, the highest bump would be the size of a baseball? Not quite. Host Flora Lichtman discusses this feat of engineering with JWST project scientist Macarena Garcia Marin.

Guests:

Dr. Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk is a molecular biologist and associate professor at the University of California, Irvine. She studies the mechanisms of aging.
Dr. Macarena Garcia Marin is a project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope at the Space Telescope and Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Secrets Of Ancient Concrete, And... Data Centers In Space?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

The concrete of ancient Rome is famous for its durability. Just look at the Pantheon and those iconic aqueducts that helped transport water throughout the empire—still standing 2,000 years later.

But knowledge about how this concrete was made hasn’t been very solid. Well, scientists have discovered a construction site in Pompeii preserved in the volcanic ash, which might hold clues to how we can improve our concrete today. Concrete researcher Admir Masic joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the findings.

Plus, we’ll look at the infrastructure of the future with engineer Benjamin Lee, who breaks down the recent news of tech companies looking to move their power-hungry data centers to space. They discuss the daunting engineering challenges and possible benefits.

Guests:
Dr. Admir Masic is an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Dr. Benjamin Lee is a professor in the department of electrical and systems engineering and the department of computer and information science at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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One Year Into Trump’s Term, Where Does Science Funding Stand?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 13 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Last February, Sudip Parikh, CEO of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, issued a dire warning about federal cuts to science, saying the country was on its way to losing its status as a global science leader.

Nearly a year later, where does the United States stand with science funding, and what happens next? Sudip Parikh joins Host Flora Lichtman once again to discuss.

Guest: Dr. Sudip Parikh is CEO and Executive Publisher of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, based in Arlington, Virginia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Drilling Into The Details Of Venezuela’s Oil

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

With President Trump’s moves to take control of Venezuela’s oil production—including the seizure of incoming and outgoing oil tankers—there’s been a lot of talk about the country’s deep reserves of crude. But not all oil is the same, and getting the Venezuelan reserves out of the ground might be neither cheap nor simple. So who wants that oil, and what is it good for?

Petroleum engineer Jennifer Miskimins joins Host Ira Flatow to drill into the ABCs of oil production and refining.

Guest: Dr. Jennifer Miskimins is 2026 president of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and head of the petroleum engineering department at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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‘The Kissing Bug’ And The Story Of A Neglected Disease

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 9 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Growing up, Daisy Hernández was told that her aunt had become ill from eating a bad apple. She watched as her aunt became sicker and sicker, and didn’t learn until years later that she was living with Chagas disease. It affects around 8 million people, mostly across the Americas, and yet many of us have never heard of it.

Hernandez’s book, The Kissing Bug, is SciFri’s first book club pick of the year. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Hernández about her book, the story of her aunt who died of Chagas, and how a disease that affects so many people can be so neglected.

Read an excerpt of The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease.

Guest: Daisy Hernández is a journalist and the author of The Kissing Bug. She’s based in Chicago.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Are Raccoons On The Road To Domestication?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 8 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

What does it mean to be a wild animal in a world dominated by humans? A recent study found that city-dwelling raccoons’ snouts are getting shorter—a sign of domestication. Another study on dark-eyed juncos living on a Los Angeles college campus found that their beaks changed shape during the COVID-19 lockdown, when there wasn’t as much food and trash on campus.

Evolutionary biologist Pamela Yeh and animal domestication expert Raffaela Lesch join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss how wildlife is evolving in urban areas, what it means to be domesticated, and when we can expect to have a pet raccoon sleeping at the foot of the bed.

Guests:
Dr. Pamela Yeh is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.
Dr. Raffaela Lesch is an assistant professor of biology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Community Group Rethinking LA's Approach To Wildfires

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 7 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

A year ago this week, the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out in Los Angeles, and ultimately became one of the most destructive urban fire events in recent history. Today we’ll hear about a community brigade that is taking firefighting into its own hands through a technique called “home hardening.”

Journalist Adriana Cargill, host of the new podcast “The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastle Special” from PRX, embedded with this group to understand what the future of firefighting could look like. She and Jack Cohen, a former research scientist with the USDA Forest Service, join Host Flora Lichtman to explain the science behind how people can prevent their own homes from burning.

Guests:
Adriana Cargill is a multimedia journalist and host of the podcast “The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastles Special.” She is based in Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Jack Cohen is a former research physical scientist with the USDA Forest Service, based in Missoula, Montana.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Should Astronauts Do First When They Reach Mars?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Annette Heist) — Tue, 6 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

When humans finally land on Mars, what should they do? A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lays out the science objectives for a crewed Mars mission. Planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who co-chaired the report committee, joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the plans to send people to Mars.

We’ll also get an update on the mission to survey the asteroid Psyche. Elkins-Tanton tells us how she managed the team that made the Psyche mission possible, and what she learned from her mistakes.

Guest: Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist. She’s the head of NASA’s Psyche mission and director of UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can The Rise In Solar Power Balance Out Clean Energy Cuts?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 5 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has been aggressive in rolling back clean energy initiatives. Trump’s “big beautiful bill” ended tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles. And the EPA is moving to cancel $7 billion dollars in federal grants that were intended to help low- and middle-income families install solar on their homes.

But that isn’t the whole story. Texas, California, and other states are bringing so much solar and battery power online that in March, fossil fuels generated less than half the electricity in the US for the first time ever. And internationally, solar has gotten so cheap to build and install that it’s fundamentally transforming many countries’ power grids.

So where exactly does solar adoption stand in the US and across the world right now?

In August, climate activist Bill McKibben joined Host Ira Flatow to talk about the recent wins and future challenges that sun-powered energy faces, which he writes about in his new book Here Comes The Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.

Read an excerpt from Here Comes The Sun.

Guest: Bill McKibben is a climate activist and founder of Third Act. He’s based in Middlebury, Vermont.

Transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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Are Ultramarathoners Just Built Different?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 2 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

‘Tis the season for exercise resolutions. For a select few, an ultramarathon—a race of 50, 100, or even more miles—may be on the table for 2026. But is there a limit to what our bodies can endure? And what makes ultramarathoners capable of these tremendous feats?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman are sports medicine expert Brandee Waite and biological anthropologist Andrew Best.

Guests:
Dr. Brandee Waite is the director of UC Davis Health Sports Medicine in Sacramento, California.
Dr. Andrew Best is an assistant professor of biology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Your Cells Are Always Building A Whole New You

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 1 Jan 2026 11:00:00 +0000

In the last year, you’ve basically replaced your body weight in new cells. So yes, it’s a new year, new you. To ring in 2026, we’re talking about starting anew, and drawing inspiration from tiny worms that embody the ultimate growth mindset—they can regrow a whole body from just a tiny piece of their tail.

In this festive episode, Host Flora Lichtman talks with biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, a pioneer in the field of regeneration, about the science of regeneration and the biology lessons we can carry into the new year.

Guest: Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is a biologist and president and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Look Back At 2025 In Science, From Federal Cuts To Space Junk

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday and WNYC Studios) — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

This has been a busy year in science, from government budget cuts and policy changes affecting research, to the record rise of renewables, to the surge in AI, and everything in between.

Science journalists Sophie Bushwick and Maggie Koerth join Host Ira Flatow to unpack some of the year’s top stories, and some you might have missed.

Guests:
Sophie Bushwick is a freelance science journalist and editor based in New York.
Maggie Koerth is climate and weather editor for CNN, based in Minneapolis.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Being able to belt out a tune like Adele or Pavarotti is not just about raw talent. The best singers in the world have to work on their technique—like how to control their breath and develop the stamina to hit note after note for a two-hour concert. But pop stars and opera singers aren’t the only vocalists who have figured out how to harness their voices for maximum impact.

Death metal vocalists also train their voices to hit that unique guttural register. And those iconic screams are not as easy to master as they might seem.

In a conversation from April, Host Flora Lichtman talks with speech pathologist Amanda Stark, and Mark Garrett, vocal coach and lead singer of the band Kardashev.

Read the whole story at sciencefriday.com.

Guests:
Dr. Amanda Stark is a speech pathologist and vocology researcher at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mark Garett is a vocal coach and the lead singer of Kardashev. He’s based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Transcript available at sciencefriday.com.

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What The Sigma Is Algospeak?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Gen Alpha slang can seem unintelligible to adults, but linguist and TikToker Adam Aleksic argues language development in the internet age is worth legitimate study. In a conversation from July, Adam talks to Host Flora Lichtman about how algorithms and social media are changing the way we speak, and discusses his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Guest: Adam Aleksic is a linguist and content creator posting educational videos as the “Etymology Nerd” to an audience of more than three million. He is the author of Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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Tangling With Entanglement And Other Big Ideas In Physics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 26 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

What have we learned in recent years about black holes? Can entangled quantum particles really communicate faster than light? What’s the story behind Schrödinger’s Cat? And, in this weird liminal space between the holidays, what even IS time, really?

Physicist Sean Carroll and Host Ira Flatow tackled those big questions and more at a recent event at WNYC’s Greene Space in New York City. Carroll’s book The Biggest Ideas in the Universe: Space, Time, and Motion is the SciFri Book Club pick for December.

Guest: Dr. Sean Carroll is the Homewood Professor of Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Of Thriving In Winter—By Embracing It

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Health psychologist Dr. Kari Leibowitz traveled to some of the coldest, darkest places on earth to learn how people there don’t just survive, but thrive in winter. She says that one of the key ingredients is adopting a positive wintertime mindset by focusing on and celebrating the good parts of winter.

In a conversation from January, Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Kari Leibowitz, author of How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days, about saunas, cold plunges, candles, and other small ways to make winter a season to look forward to rather than dread. Plus, she responds to some of our audience’s own tips to make the season enjoyable.

Guest: Dr. Kari Leibowitz is a health psychologist and author of How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days. She’s based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Transcript is available at sciencefriday.com.

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A Neurologist Investigates His Own Musical Hallucinations

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Imagine sitting at home and then all of a sudden you hear a men’s choir belting out “The Star Spangled Banner.” You check your phone, computer, radio. Nothing’s playing. You look outside, no one’s there. That’s what happened to neurologist Bruce Dobkin after he received a cochlear implant. He set out to learn everything he could about the condition, called musical hallucinosis.

In a story from August, Host Ira Flatow talks with Dobkin about his decision to publish his account in a medical journal and why the condition is more common than he realized.

Guest: Dr. Bruce Dobkin is a neurologist at UCLA Health.

Transcript is available at sciencefriday.com.

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‘Prehistoric Planet’ Defrosts Strange Animals Of The Ice Age

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Koalas with the bodies of lions. Elephants the size of your dog. Gigantic, 8-foot-tall sloths. These aren’t creatures found in science fiction: They walked our planet a million years ago, during the Ice Age.

That’s the focus of the third season of the Apple TV series “Prehistoric Planet,” which uses the latest paleontology research and photorealistic CGI to reimagine the lives of ancient creatures. So far, the series has focused on dinosaurs, but now it’s taking that same approach to the huge and strange-looking animals that roamed the tundras and deserts of the Ice Age.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to thaw out the new research featured in the show are two of its scientific consultants, paleontologist Darren Naish and La Brea Tar Pits curator Emily Lindsey.

Guests: Dr. Darren Naish is a paleozoologist and author based in Southampton, U.K.

Dr. Emily Lindsey is a paleoecologist, curator, and excavation site director at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles, California.

Transcript available at sciencefriday.com.

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How Did Vaccine Policies Actually Change In 2025?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, John Dankosky) — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Since 1955, when Congress passed the Polio Vaccination Assistance Act, the federal government has been in the business of expanding access to vaccines. That is, until this year.

2025 has been filled with almost daily news stories about federal agencies, under the direction of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., casting doubts about vaccine safety, including unsubstantiated claims about links to autism. These agencies have also been taking steps that could roll back access to vaccines, including for hepatitis B and COVID-19.

But we’ve found it very hard to sort out what these talking points and recommendations mean in practice. KFF Health News journalists Jackie Fortiér and Arthur Allen join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss, one year in, what this administration’s stance on vaccines has meant practically—for vaccine access, and vaccine uptake.

Guests: Arthur Allen is senior correspondent at KFF Health News and author of Vaccine: The Controversial Story of Medicine's Greatest Lifesaver.

Jackie Fortiér is a Peggy Girshman fellow covering health policy at KFF Health News.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Astronomers Are Excited About Comet 3I/ATLAS’ Close Approach

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

This year, comet 3I/Atlas broke into our solar system, but also the zeitgeist. This dirty snowball is a visitor from another solar system, and it’s only the third interstellar object we’ve ever spotted. And today, it's closer to us than ever before—just 170 million miles away.

Astronomy experts Stefanie Milam and Hakeem Oluseyi join Host Flora Lichtman to dish about 3I/ATLAS and how it captured the spotlight in a way that maybe no other big hunk of rock ever has.

Plus, the sun is setting on the ISS, and the plan is to eventually crash it into the ocean. But wouldn’t it be cooler to send it into deep space instead? A listener pleads his case.

Guests: Dr. Stefanie Milam is an astrochemist at NASA and a project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope. She studies comets and interstellar objects.

Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi is an astrophysicist and CEO of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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‘Fire Amoeba’ Likes It Hot, And A Faraway Lava Planet

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

While on a sampling trip in California’s Lassen Volcanic National Park, researchers stopped to sample a rather boring stream on their hike to Boiling Springs Lake. But when they incubated that water sample back in the lab, they discovered an amoeba that could still move and divide at 145 F, a new record for a eukaryotic cell. Microbiologist Angela Oliverio joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe the “fire amoeba,” Incendiamoeba cascadensis.

Plus, planetary scientist Johanna Teske takes us to exoplanet TOI-561b, a far-off “wet lava ball” which was recently observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Researchers believe that the planet has the strongest evidence yet of an atmosphere on a rocky planet outside our solar system.

Guests:
Dr. Angela Oliverio is an assistant professor in the department of biology at Syracuse University.
Dr. Johanna Teske is a staff scientist at Carnegie Science Earth and Planets Laboratory in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What’s The Reality Behind The Humanoid Robot Hype?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Videos of humanoid robots dancing, doing cartwheels, putting clothes in a washing machine, and serving drinks are all over social media. And tech CEOs are telling us to prepare for the forthcoming humanoid army that’s going to totally change our lives for the better.

But what’s real? Where are we with this technology? Are these humanoids robots ready to take washing the dishes off our plates, or work beside us in warehouses?

Tech journalist James Vincent became an expert on the subject when he toured humanoid robot factories and rubbed shoulders with robots themselves for a feature story he wrote for Harper’s Magazine. He joins Host Flora Lichtman with perspective on the hype.

Guest: James Vincent is a journalist who’s written for The Verge and The Guardian, and author of the book Beyond Measure: The Hidden History of Measurement.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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'Just' A Blue Jay? Don't Overlook These Magnificent Common Birds

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

It’s that time of year: the Christmas Bird Count, when birders go out in flocks to record all the birds they see in a single day. The data collected during this annual tradition gets compiled by the National Audubon Society, and helps scientists understand bird population trends across the Americas.

If you participate in the bird count, chances are you’ll see a lot of the same birds you’d see any other day of the year—think sparrows, blue jays, blackbirds, cardinals. But that doesn’t make them any less special. So this year we’re turning our binoculars on a few (wrongfully) overlooked common birds.

Producer Kathleen Davis talks with two of our favorite birders, author and illustrator Rosemary Mosco, and conservation scientist Corina Newsome, to share some surprising facts about birds that don’t often make it to the top of pecking order.

Guests:
Rosemary Mosco is an author, illustrator, and speaker whose work connects people with the natural world.
Corina Newsome is a birder and conservation scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can We Just Throw Our Plastic Garbage Into A Volcano?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

It’s winter, and the SciFri team is already dreaming of warmer weather. How about a mind vacation to one of the hottest places on earth, an erupting volcano? Tamsin Mather has trekked to volcanoes in Chile, Guatemala, Italy, and beyond to learn their secrets. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to field your burning volcano questions, like what’s the deal with glass shards that look like hairballs?

Guest: Dr. Tamsin Mather is a professor of Earth sciences at the University of Oxford in the UK.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Did Ancient Humans Use The Acoustics Of Spaces Like Caves?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 12 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

The sound of a choir performing in a cathedral is iconic for a reason. It’s this beautiful human experience: being side-by-side with other people, feeling the sound vibrate through you, reverberating around the space.

But how long has that been a part of our culture? And what role did sound play in the lives of people who lived during the Ice Age or the Stone Age? That’s the focus of a growing field of archaeology called archaeoacoustics, where researchers use the scientific tools of today to investigate the role of sound and music in the past.

To learn more, Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Margarita Díaz-Andreu, principal investigator of the Art Soundscapes project, and Rupert Till, head of the department of humanities at the University of Huddersfield in the UK.

Guests: Dr. Margarita Díaz-Andreu is an ICREA professor at the University of Barcelona in Spain and principal investigator of the Art Soundscapes project.
Dr. Rupert Till is a professor of music and head of the department humanities at the University of Huddersfield in the UK.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What The Sounds Of Melting Glaciers Can Tell Us

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

As the planet warms, the world’s glaciers are melting faster than snow can replenish the ice. That has implications for sea level rise, ocean currents, and global weather patterns. But collecting data at the edge of a melting glacier can be risky.

Glaciologist Erin Pettit and her colleagues are listening to the sounds melting glaciers make—from the sizzling of trapped air bubbles bursting, to the deep rumbles of underwater calving of icebergs. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to share some glacial sounds, and describe the multi-stage robot tools she uses to monitor melting ice.

Guest: Dr. Erin Pettit is a professor of geophysics and glaciology at Oregon State University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How A Fringe Idea Led To Lifesaving Cancer Treatments

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

In cancer research, the “seed and soil” hypothesis posits that the tumor is like a seed of misbehaving cells taking root in the body. Whether it grows—and where it grows—depends on the conditions, or soil. Since this hypothesis was proposed more than 100 years ago, most research and treatments have focused on the seed, or tumor.

For nearly 50 years, Rakesh Jain has been studying the soil. But in a seed-focused field, his work was seen as wasteful and radical. Now, that very same research has led to seven FDA-approved treatments for diseases including lung and liver cancer, and earned him a National Medal of Science in 2016. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Jain about how his fringe idea led to lifesaving cancer treatments.

Guest: Dr. Rakesh K. Jain studies the biology of tumors at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital as a professor of radiation oncology.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Is Bubonic Plague Still With Us?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 9 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

For many people, bubonic plague is an illness that seems squarely situated in medieval times. But each year, a handful of human cases pop up in the western United States. Plague can be treated successfully with modern medicine. But why does it still exist, and how should we think about it both locally and globally?

Plague researcher Viveka Vadyvaloo joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk all things spread and containment.

Guest: Dr. Viveka Vadyvaloo is a plague researcher and director of the Allen School for Global Health at Washington State University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Don’t Let Their Name Fool You—Sea Slugs Are Awesome

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Today we’re spotlighting an underappreciated group of marine creatures: sea slugs. Don’t let their humble name fool you. They come in vivid neon colors, with patterns that rival the most beautiful butterflies and feather-like external gills and tentacles.

There are an estimated 10,000 species of sea slugs and they are incredibly diverse. Some are smaller than a quarter. And one species can weigh more than a terrier, up to 30 pounds. Not to mention their contributions to brain research—understanding their neural networks was the basis for a Nobel Prize in 2000.

Marine biologist Patrick Krug joins Host Ira Flatow to dive into the slimy science of sea slugs.

Guest: Dr. Patrick Krug is a sea slug researcher and professor of biological sciences at Cal State LA.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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As Companies Build Data Centers For AI, Communities Push Back

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 5 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

There’s an enormous buildout of data centers underway across the country to fuel the AI boom. Hundreds of billions of dollars have already been spent on data centers, with talk of spending trillions more. And these data centers use a lot of power: According to the Times Picuayune, Meta’s new data center under construction in Louisiana will require nearly three times the power that New Orleans uses in a year. Residents across the country have taken note, and rising utility rates have become an issue in some recent elections.

Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, has been studying the costs and impacts of the data center boom. She joins Host Ira Flatow for an update on the latest.

Guest: Casey Crownhart is a senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, based in New York, NY.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Toast To Bats That Pollinate Agave, And Tracking Monarchs

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 4 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

You might think about bats as flitting around in the dark and hunting insects, but some species feed on fruits or flowers—and play an important role as pollinators. One place that role is crucial is in the relationship between bats and agave plants. Bat conservationist Kristen Lear joins Host Ira Flatow to describe efforts to restore agaves in the Southwest and Mexico, which has consequences for bats, for the ecosystems around the agave, and for your liquor cabinet, since agave is the source of drinks like tequila and mezcal.

Plus, journalist Dan Fagin joins Ira to discuss his recent New York Times article on a new technology that is letting researchers follow individual monarch butterflies over the course of a thousand-mile migration.

Guests:
Dr. Kristen Lear is director of the Agave Restoration Initiative at Bat Conservation International, based in Austin, Texas.
Dan Fagin is a science journalist and the director of the Science, Health & Environmental Reporting Program at New York University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Startling Plan To Save Spotted Owls—From Barred Owls

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 3 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

The spotted owl has been a conservation flashpoint for more than 30 years. While habitat loss has been their historic foe, their most recent threat comes from within the owl family tree: the barred owl. Barred owls have expanded into the Pacific Northwest and are now outcompeting spotted owls for food and habitat. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has put forth a strategy that some experts say is the only way to save the spotted owl, and it could involve killing hundreds of thousands of barred owls.

Ecologist and spotted owl expert Rocky Gutierrez joins Host Flora Lichtman to break down the plan, and explain how we got to this point.

Guest: Dr. R.J. “Rocky” Gutierrez is an owl ecologist and professor emeritus at the University of Minnesota. He’s now based in Humboldt County, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can A Microbe Conservation Movement Take Off?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Licht, Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 2 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

A team of scientists is trying to jumpstart a global conservation movement, on par with efforts to save the rainforests or protect the oceans. But it might be even more ambitious because the target of their quest is invisible, everywhere, and mostly something we try to hand-sanitize away: microbes.

So how do you conserve something that is everywhere and in everything? And why do microbes need protecting to begin with? Host Flora Lichtman digs into it with microbial ecologist Jack Gilbert, who is leading this charge. They chat about the thinking behind microbe conservation plans, and why some scientists are hesitant to jump onboard.

Guest: Dr. Jack Gilbert is a microbial ecologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and co-chair of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Species Survival Commission’s Microbial Conservation Specialist Group.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How To Tap Into The Hidden Histories Of Rocks

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 1 Dec 2025 11:00:00 +0000

When we try to commune with nature, many of us turn toward the living: a walk in the woods among swaying trees, chirping birds, blooming flowers.

But earth scientist Anjana Khatwa says not to overlook the inanimate—don’t sleep on rocks. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her love for rocks beyond the scientific and her new book, The Whispers of Rock.

Read an excerpt from The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives.

Guest: Dr. Anjana Khatwa is a geologist and author of The Whispers of Rock: The Stories That Stone Tells about Our World and Our Lives.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Fingernails And Indigestion At The 2025 Ig Nobel Prizes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Each year, the Ig Nobel Prizes recognize scientific research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think. For instance, researchers who investigated the pizza preferences of lizards on the island of Togo. Or a man who kept track of his fingernail growth for 35 years.

As is Thanksgiving tradition, we’re sharing highlights from this year’s Ig Nobels on Science Friday. Annals of Improbable Research editor Marc Abrahams acts as master of ceremonies for the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prizes, which include 10 awards, several 24-second scientific lectures, and a mini-opera about indigestion.

Guest: Marc Abrahams is the editor and co-founder of Annals of Improbable Research and the founder and master of ceremonies for the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Is Working Out Good For Your Mental Health?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

A good workout can make you feel triumphant. And even if that isn’t your relationship with exercise, you’ve probably heard that working out can lift your mood, fight depression, and make you more resilient when life knocks back. But why exactly does exercise improve mental health? Is it all about those endorphins? Does the type or duration of a workout matter if you’re looking for a mental wellness boost?

To help answer those questions and more, Host Flora Lichtman talks with Eduardo Esteban Bustamante and Jack Raglin, who both study the relationship between physical activity and mental health.

Guests: Dr. Eduardo Esteban Bustamante studies the link between physical activity and mental health in kids as the director of the Healthy Kids Lab at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Dr. Jack Raglin studies exercise and sports science as a professor of kinesiology at Indiana University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

It’s a wonderful time of the year: squash, pumpkin, and gourd season. But how do those giant, award-winning pumpkins grow so big? And what’s the difference between a gourd and a squash?

In a conversation from 2023, Ira talks with Dr. Chris Hernandez, director of the University of New Hampshire’s squash, pumpkin, and melon breeding program to explore all things winter squash and answer listener questions.

Guests: Dr. Chris Hernandez is an assistant professor of Plant Breeding at the University of New Hampshire in Durham, New Hampshire.
Dan Souza is co-Editor of Cook’s Science: How to Unlock Flavor in 50 of our Favorite Ingredients (Cook’s Illustrated, 2016). He’s based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Transcript is available at sciencefriday.com.

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Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Tue, 25 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Have you ever gotten to the end of, say, a jar of peanut butter and wondered if it should go in trash or recycling? If it’s worth rinsing out? And where will it actually end up?

Journalist Alexander Clapp had those same questions, and went to great lengths to answer them—visiting five continents to chronicle how our trash travels. Along the way, he discovered a multibillion-dollar trash trade run by shady waste brokers, and a global industry powered by slimy spoons, crinkled plastic bags, and all the other stuff we throw away. It’s a putrid business that we’re a part of, and many of us know little about.

In a conversation from February, Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Clapp about the garbage business and his new book Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife Of Your Trash.

Guest: Alexander Clapp is a journalist and author of Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife Of Your Trash. He’s based in Athens, Greece.

Transcript is available at sciencefriday.com.

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‘A Many-Headed Beast’: Telling The Story Of Cancer

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, a young oncologist started journaling to process his experience treating cancer patients. That cathartic act became the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.

Fifteen years after the book was published, how has our understanding of preventing and treating cancer changed? Host Flora Lichtman is joined by author Siddhartha Mukherjee to talk about what we now understand about screening, environmental risks, and rising cancer rates in young people.

Read an excerpt of the new chapters added to The Emperor of Maladies on the 15th anniversary of the book’s publication.

This headline has been corrected from "Multi-Headed" to "Many-Headed" to accurately reflect Siddhartha Mukherjee's statement.

Guest: Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer physician and an associate professor of medicine at Columbia University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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African Grey Parrots Are Popular—And It’s Fueling Illegal Trade

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

African grey parrots are internet stars. It’s easy to see why—the charismatic birds sing, tell jokes, and sling profanities. But how do the endangered birds get from African forests to your feed?

Wildlife crime reporter Rene Ebersole joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe her investigation into the global parrot trade, and the black market for wild African greys that is threatening their existence.

Guest: Rene Ebersole is Editor In Chief at Wildlife Investigative Reporters and Editors (WIRE).

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Attention, Trivia Nerds! It’s A Food Science Fact Feast

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

After years of getting your emails and phone calls, we know that SciFri listeners are in the 99th percentile when it comes to nerdy knowledge. We’re putting your fact retention skills to the test with the first ever Super Food Science Excellence Trivia Blowout (SFSETBO).

Host Flora Lichtman teams up with trivia kingpin Mangesh Hattikudur, co-host of the podcast “Part-Time Genius,” to quiz one lucky listener on her food science knowledge.

Guest: Mangesh Hattikudur is the co-host of “Part-Time Genius” and co-founder of Kaleidoscope.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can Animal Super-Agers Teach Us Their Secrets?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Some animals have a very different relationship to aging than we do: They don’t get cancer, they never go through menopause, and they live absurdly long lives.

For instance, one bat species can live for more than 40 years, which may not sound like very long but that’s about nine times longer than expected based on its size. For comparison, if we aged on that scale, we’d live for hundreds of years. These bats aren’t the only animal super-agers—there’s a whole menagerie of them.

So what’s their secret? And can we learn anything from them that might help us live longer, healthier lives? Host Flora Lichtman talks with longevity researchers Vera Gorbunova and Juan Manuel Vazquez about what animals are teaching us.

Guests:
Dr. Vera Gorbunova is a biologist and professor at the University of Rochester, and a co-director of the Rochester Aging Research Center.
Dr. Juan Manuel Vazquez is a biologist and assistant professor at Pennsylvania State University studying the evolution of aging.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Alphafold Has Changed Biology Research, 5 Years On

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Proteins are crucial for life. They're made of amino acids that “fold” into millions of different shapes. And depending on their structure, they do radically different things in our cells. For a long time, predicting those shapes for research was considered a grand biological challenge.

But in 2020, Google’s AI lab DeepMind released Alphafold, a tool that was able to accurately predict many of the structures necessary for understanding biological mechanisms in a matter of minutes. In 2024, the Alphafold team was awarded a Nobel Prize in chemistry for the advance.

Five years later after its release, Host Ira Flatow checks in on the state of that tech and how it’s being used in health research with John Jumper, one of the lead scientists responsible for developing Alphafold.

Guest: John Jumper, scientist at Google Deepmind and co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How A Woodpecker Pecks Wood, And How Ants Crown A Queen

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

If you’ve heard the hammering of a woodpecker in the woods, you might have wondered how the birds can be so forceful. What does it take to whack your head against a tree repeatedly, hard enough to drill a hole? A team of researchers wondered that too and set out to investigate, by putting tiny muscle monitors on eight downy woodpeckers and recording them with high-speed video as they pecked away in the lab.

Integrative organismal biologist Nick Antonson, co-author of a report on the work, joins Host Flora Lichtmen to peck away at the mystery.

Plus, you can take two ant eggs with the exact same genes, and one can grow up to be a queen, the other a worker. Neuroscientist and evolutionary biologist Daniel Kronauer joins Flora to share recent research into how an ant becomes a queen.

Guests: Dr. Nick Antonson is an NSF postdoctoral research fellow in the department of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology at Brown University.
Dr. Daniel Kronauer is the Stanley S. and Sydney R. Shuman Professor in the Laboratory of Social Evolution and Behavior at The Rockefeller University in New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Memories Change. But Can We Change Them On Purpose?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Our memories make us who we are—just ask Barbra Streisand. But despite the lyrics in many popular songs, memories aren’t frozen in time. When we call them up, the details shift and change. And neuroscience research shows that we might be able to take that a step further—to manipulate our memories and even implant false ones.

Neuroscientist Steve Ramirez joins Host Ira Flatow to explain how memory manipulation could revolutionize the way we treat brain disorders. They also discuss Ramirez’s book, How to Change a Memory: One Neuroscientist's Quest to Alter the Past, and how the sudden death of his friend and scientific collaborator made him rethink the role of memory.

Guest: Dr. Steve Ramirez is an associate professor of psychology and brain sciences at Boston University and the author of How to Change a Memory.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Bearded Vulture Nests Hold Trove Of Centuries-Old Artifacts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Bearded vultures build giant, elaborate nests that are passed down from generation to generation. And according to a new study, some of these scavengers have collected bits and bobs of human history over the course of centuries. Scientists picked apart 12 vulture nests preserved in Spain and discovered a museum collection’s worth of objects, including a woven sandal that could be more than 700 years old.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with study author Ana Belen Marín-Arroyo, an archaeologist who studies ancient humans, about how the nests are giving us a glimpse into vulture culture as well as the lives of the people they lived beside.

Guest: Dr. Ana Belen Marín-Arroyo is an archeologist and professor of prehistory at the University of Cantabria in Spain.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why The Bassist From Phish Is Funding Research Into ‘Flow State’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

The band Phish has toured for over 40 years. One of the draws of their legendary live shows—which can go on for 8 hours—is finding moments of “flow,” when the band members lock into an improvised jam, finding new musical ideas in real time.

Phish fans live for these transcendent moments, but so do the musicians—to the point that Mike Gordon, the band’s bass player, is funding scientific research to better understand flow state.

Host Flora Lichtman sits down with Mike and his research collaborator, neuroscientist Greg Appelbaum, to unpack their research so far and how it’s helping to inform other neuroscience.

Guests:
Mike Gordon is bassist and co-founder of the rock band Phish.
Dr. Greg Appelbaum is a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Even Nobel Prize Winners Deal With Imposter Syndrome

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 11 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Around 25 years ago, Ardem Patapoutian set out to investigate the fundamental biology behind our sense of touch. Through a long process of gene elimination, he identified a class of sensors in the cell membrane that turn physical pressure into an electrical signal. He changed the game in the field of sensation and perception, and in 2021 shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work.

He joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about his research, the odd jobs he worked along the way, and how he found a sense of belonging in science.

Guest: Dr. Ardem Patapoutian is a professor and the Presidential Endowed Chair in Neurobiology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Study Finds COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Treatment

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Over the last five years, billions of people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. New research has found an unanticipated result of these vaccines: Cancer treatments are more effective for some vaccinated patients, and many live longer than their unvaccinated counterparts. This news comes at a time where the federal government is slashing funding for mRNA research.

Host Ira Flatow speaks to lead study author Adam Grippin and vaccine expert Eric Topol.

Guests: Dr. Adam Grippin is a radiation oncologist at the MC Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.
Dr. Eric Topol is a cardiologist and genomics professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Were Dinos On Their Way Out Before The Asteroid Hit? Maybe Not

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 7 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest debates in the dinosaur world is what was happening right before they went extinct. Were they already declining, or would they have thrived if not for the asteroid? Two recent studies shed some light on this question: one that analyzes a trove of fossils from New Mexico and suggests there was more diversity in the Americas than previously thought, and another that reanalyzes a long-debated juvenile T. rex fossil and finds it’s likely a separate, smaller species.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by authors on those separate studies, paleontologists Steve Brusatte and Lindsay Zanno.

Guests: Dr. Lindsay Zanno is division head of paleontology at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, NC.
Dr. Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Resolution On A TV?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 6 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

As Black Friday approaches, you’re probably being inundated with ads for bigger, better televisions. But just how good is good enough? Are there limits to what our eyes can even make out?

Visual perception researcher Maliha Ashraf joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe her new study on display resolution—including a display calculator she and her colleagues developed to help you determine the optimal display characteristics for a given room. And retinal neuroscientist Bryan Jones joins the conversation to delve into the workings of human vision.

Guests:
Dr. Maliha Ashraf is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cambridge in the UK.
Dr. Bryan W. Jones is a professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can A Billion-Dollar Barricade Keep Carp Out Of The Great Lakes?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 5 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Decades ago, non-native carp were brought onto fish farms on the Mississippi River to control algae and parasites. They escaped, thrived, and eventually flooded the Illinois River, outcompeting native species and wreaking havoc. If the carp find their way into the Great Lakes, they could do major damage to those vital ecosystems.

There’s a proposed project to stop the fish—but it’s expensive, and not everyone agrees it’s the best solution. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with WBEZ and Grist reporter Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco and carp expert Cory Suski.

Guests: Juanpablo Ramirez-Franco is an environmental reporter at WBEZ and Grist.
Dr. Cory Suski is a professor of aquatic resources at the University of Illinois.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Inside The Race To Save Wild Axolotls

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 4 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Axolotls are one of the most charismatic and beloved amphibians out there. But did you know that there’s only one place in the whole world where you can find them in the wild? It’s Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City.

There, scientists are scrambling to save them from extinction by creating refuges, using environmental DNA to track them down, and tag-teaming with the farmers who work on the lake. Luis Zambrano, one of the world’s leading axolotl experts, and Alejandro Maeda-Obregón, a molecular biologist, talk with Host Flora Lichtman about their work to protect these beloved amphibians.

Guests: 
Dr. Luis Zambrano is a leading expert on axolotls and an ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
Dr. Alejandro Maeda-Obregón is a molecular ecologist at University College London who studies rare and endangered species.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Endometriosis Is Common. Why Is Getting Diagnosed So Hard?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 3 Nov 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Endometriosis is a painful disease that occurs when endometrium-like tissue grows outside of the uterus. It’s extremely common—if you have a uterus, you have a 1 in 10 chance of getting it. Yet, it takes seven years on average to receive a formal diagnosis. What does the latest science tell us about the biology of the condition and how to treat it? And why do so many people have such a difficult time getting diagnosed?

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by endometriosis researcher and patient Linda Griffith to answer those questions and more.

Guest: Dr. Linda Griffith is a biological engineer and Scientific Director of The MIT Center for Gynepathology Research.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Hasn’t Wave Energy Gotten Its Sea Legs Yet?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Sat, 1 Nov 2025 10:00:00 +0000

We've figured out how to harness renewable energy from many natural systems, like solar, wind, and geothermal power. But what about the ocean’s waves? It might seem like converting wave power into electricity on a large scale would’ve been figured out by now, but the tech is actually just getting its sea legs. Why has it been so hard to develop? And just how promising is it?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Jes Burns, who reported on Oregon’s massive wave energy test site; and then she checks in with Deborah Greaves, an offshore renewable energy researcher, for a look at what’s happening in the rest of the world.

Guests:
Jes Burns is a science and environment reporter and host of "All Science. No Fiction." at Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Dr. Deborah Greaves is a professor of ocean engineering at the University of Plymouth in England.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Halloween Monster Mashup, And A Spooky Lakes Tour

Fri, 31 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For Halloween, we bring you an ode to three quintessentially creepy creatures: bats, arachnids, and snakes. First, bat researcher Elena Tena joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe tracking the greater noctule bat in flight and learning that it can feed on migratory birds. Then, arachnologist Paula Cushing describes the camel spider, which is neither a camel nor a spider. And herpetologist Sara Ruane highlights one of her favorite snakes, the tiger keelback, which is both venomous and poisonous.

Plus, what makes a lake spooky? A pond possessed? Flora talks with Geo Rutherford, creator of the Spooky Lake Month series on TikTok and Instagram, to learn about some of the spookiest, most mysterious lakes on the planet.

Guests:

Dr. Elena Tena is the national coordinator for the Spanish Bat Atlas project.
Dr. Paula Cushing is senior curator of invertebrate zoology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Denver, Colorado.
Dr. Sara Ruane is curator of herpetology at the Field Museum in Chicago, Illinois.
Geo Rutherford is the author of Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes That Dot Our Planet and the creator of Spooky Lake content TiKTok and Instagram. You can find her @geodesaurus.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Happens To Your Digital Presence After You Die?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

There’s an established playbook for getting one’s affairs in order before death—create a will, name legal guardians, and so on. But there’s also a newer consideration: what will happen to our digital presences, like social media accounts, files, photos, videos, and more. So how do we manage them, and make sure we’re not turned into AI chatbots without permission? (It does happen.)

Information scientist Jed Brubaker studies digital afterlives, and joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss how we can manage our digital legacies.

Guest: Jed Brubaker is an information scientist and head of the Digital Legacy Clinic at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Morbid Curiosity Is So Common—And So Fun

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

At first blush, the plots of many horror movies don’t seem particularly appealing. Take “The Shining”: A murderous psychopath tries to kill his family in a haunted, secluded hotel. But horror movies have had devoted fans for as long as they’ve been around, and lately, scary movies and television shows like “Sinners” or “The Walking Dead” have made a big splash. Why? What draws us to horror? And why are some people more thrill-seeking or morbidly curious than others?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with two psychologists on opposite poles of horror fandom to flesh out some of the answers: horrorphile and behavioral scientist Coltan Scriver, and psychology professor Ken Carter, who’s horrified by horror.

Guests: Dr. Ken Carter is a psychology professor at Emory University and the author of Buzz!: Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils, and Adrenaline Junkies.
Dr. Coltan Scrivner is a behavioral scientist at Arizona State University and the author of Morbidly Curious: A Scientist Explains Why We Can’t Look Away.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Peanut Allergies In Kids Are Finally On The Decline

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For decades, peanut allergies were on the rise in the US. But a study released on October 20 found that peanut allergies in babies and young children are now decreasing. This drop correlates with a change in guidance from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. In 2017, the agency started recommending exposing children to peanuts “early and often.” Since that recommendation, the prevalence of peanut allergies has dropped significantly.

Sharon Chinthrajah, a physician specializing in allergies and immunology, churns through the findings with Host Flora Lichtman.

Guest: Dr. Sharon Chinthrajah is a physician specializing in allergy and immunology at the Sean N. Parker Center at Stanford University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have their own language? Their own culture? Their own complex societies playing out right under, and in, our noses?

Microbiologist Bonnie Bassler has been studying these questions for more than 30 years. She talks with Host Flora Lichtman about the wild world of bacterial communication, and how understanding microbes could help us understand ourselves.

Guest: Dr. Bonnie Bassler is a microbiologist at Princeton University.

The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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A Lab-Grown Salmon Taste Test And More Foodie Innovations

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 24 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

After years of development, lab-grown fish is taste-test ready for the public. Four restaurants in the US are serving up cultivated salmon made by the company Wildtype. Producer Kathleen Davis gives Host Flora Lichtman a rundown on how Wildtype tastes, initial public perception, and the upstream battle to take cultivated meat mainstream.

Plus, SciFri heads to Burlington, Vermont, where scientists are cooking up the foods of the future—including the building blocks of cell-cultured meat. Flora digs in with foodie researchers Alexis Yamashita and Rachael Floreani about why innovation is critical to a sustainable food future.

Guests: Adam Tortosa is a chef and the owner of Robin in San Francisco, California.
Alexis Yamashita is a community organizer and PhD student in food systems at the University of Vermont.
Dr. Rachael Floreani is a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Vermont.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Did It Feel Like To Be An Early Human?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterscmidt) — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Do science documentaries need a refresh? What if the goal wasn’t just teaching you something, but making you feel something? A new series from the BBC, airing on PBS, called “Human” tries to do just that. It tells the tale of our ancient family tree, embracing the complex and dramatic sides of the story. It asks: Who were the different species of humans that lived on this planet before us? What must it have been like to be in their shoes? And how did we become the only ones left standing?

Ella Al-Shamahi, a paleoanthropologist and host of “Human,” tells SciFri Host Flora Lichtman about her vision for how to tell this story so that today’s humans lean in.

Guest: Ella Al-Shamahi is a paleoanthropologist and the host of “Human” on BBC/PBS.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 study published in PLOS One analyzes the 100 most viewed TikTok videos about ADHD to assess both how accurate they are and how young people respond to them. Researchers found that about half of the videos were inaccurate or missing key context, and that the more TikToks young adults watched, the less critical they were of the content.

For some, watching social videos about mental health conditions led them to better understand themselves and eventually get a proper diagnosis and treatment. For others it made them consider if they have conditions they don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with the lead author of the ADHD TikTok study, Vasileia Karasavva, a PhD Student in clinical psychology at the University of British Columbia; and Dr. Jennifer Katzenstein, director of psychology, neuropsychology, and social work at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Guests: Vasileia Karasavva is a PhD Student in Clinical Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada.
Dr. Jennifer Katzenstein is Director of Psychology, Neuropsychology and Social work and Co-director of the Center for Behavioral Health at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Transcripts for each episode are available at sciencefriday.com.

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Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And Play

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

We’re taking a polar plunge into the science of sea unicorns, also known as narwhals!

Narwhals are mysterious arctic whales with long, twirly tusks protruding from their foreheads, like a creature out of a fairy tale. And it turns out that we don’t know too much about them, partly because they live so far north in the remote Arctic.

An international team of researchers used drones to observe narwhals in the wild and learned new things about their behavior, including how they use their tusks to hunt and play.

Host Flora Lichtman gets on the horn with Dr. Gregory O’Corry-Crowe, research professor and biologist at Florida Atlantic University, who was an author on the new narwhal study, published last month in Frontiers in Marine Science.

Guest: Dr. Greg O’Corry-Crowe is a research professor at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida.

Transcripts for each episode are available at sciencefriday.com.

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Have Astrophysicists Spotted Evidence For ‘Dark Stars’?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Astrophysicists may have spotted evidence for “dark stars,” an unusual type of star that could possibly have existed in the earliest days of the universe, in data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Instead of being powered by nuclear fusion as current stars are, the controversial theory says that these ancient dark stars would have formed by mixing a huge cloud of hydrogen and helium with a type of self-annihilating dark matter. Dark stars would not have been dark—researchers believe that if they existed, they would actually have been bigger and brighter than current stars.

Astrophysicists Katherine Freese, who first proposed the idea of dark stars in 2007, and Cosmin Ilie, who detected the possible signs of the dark stars, join Host Ira Flatow to discuss the theory.

Guests:
Dr. Katherine Freese is a theoretical astrophysicist and a professor of physics at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Cosmin Ilie is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at Colgate University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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AI Was Supposed To Discover New Drugs. Where Are They?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

AI is everywhere these days, and though there’s debate about how useful it is, one area where experts think it could be game-changing is scientific research. It promised to be particularly useful for speeding up drug discovery, an expensive and time-consuming process that can take decades. But so far, it hasn’t panned out.

The few AI-designed drugs that have made it to clinical trials haven’t been approved, venture capital investment in these efforts has cratered in the last few years, and many startups have shut their doors. So why has it been so hard to make AI-designed drugs? What are the fundamental issues, and what does the future of this research look like?

Joining Host Ira Flatow with some answers is Peter Coveney, who studies how chemistry discoveries can be sped up with algorithms and computers.

Guest: Dr. Peter Coveney is a professor and director of the Centre for Computational Science at University College London.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Math Helps Us Map The World

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s easy to take maps for granted. After all, most of us have a pretty good map in our pockets at all times, ready to show us how to get anywhere on the globe. But to make a map useful, you have to decide what to keep in and what to leave out—and, most importantly, which mathematical equations to use. Beyond navigating from point A to point B, math and maps come together for a wide variety of things, like working out the most efficient route to deliver packages, calculating the depth of the ocean floor, and more.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Paulina Rowińska, mathematician and author of Mapmatics: A Mathematician's Guide to Navigating the World, to go on a journey through the math at the heart of all kinds of maps.

Guest: Dr. Paulina Rowińska is a mathematician, writer, science journalist and author of Mapmatics: A Mathematician's Guide to Navigating the World.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Of Replacing Body Parts, From Hair To Hearts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 15 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It seems like every week, there’s a new headline about some kind of sci-fi-esque organ transplant. Think eyeballs, 3D-printed kidneys, pig hearts.

In her new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, science writer Mary Roach chronicles the effort to fabricate human body parts—and where that effort sometimes breaks down. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Roach about everything from hair transplants to 3D-printed hearts, and why our anatomy is so hard to replicate in the first place.

Guest: Mary Roach is a science writer and the author of Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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It’s Not Just You—Bad Food Habits Are Hard To Shake

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Remember “The Biggest Loser”—the show where people tried to lose as much weight as quickly as possible for a big cash prize? The premise of the show was that weight loss was about willpower: With enough discipline, anyone can have the body they want.

The show’s approach was problematic, but how does its attitude toward weight loss match our current understanding of health and metabolism? The authors of the book Food Intelligence, nutrition scientist Kevin Hall, who studied “Biggest Loser” contestants at the NIH; and science writer Julia Belluz, join Host Flora Lichtman and answer listener questions about nutrition, diet fads, and metabolism.

Read an excerpt of Food Intelligence: The Science of How Food Both Nourishes and Harms Us.

Guests:
Julia Belluz is a science journalist based in Paris.
Dr. Kevin Hall is a nutrition scientist and former NIH researcher based in Kensington, Maryland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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100 Years Later, Quantum Science Is Still Weird

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In July 1925, physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter to Wolfgang Pauli sharing his new ideas about what would eventually become known as quantum theory. A hundred years later, that theory has been expanded into a field of science that explains aspects of chemical behavior, has become the basis of a new type of computing, and more. But it’s still really weird, and often counterintuitive. Physicist Chad Orzel joins Host Ira Flatow to celebrate 100 years of quantum science, and separate quantum fact from science fiction.

Guest: Dr. Chad Orzel is the R. Gordon Gould Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy, and chair of the department, at Union College in Schenectady, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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An Off-The-Grid Nobel Win, And Antibiotics In Ancient Microbes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Sat, 11 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three people whose combined discoveries outlined the role of the peripheral immune system—how the immune system knows to attack just foreign invaders and not its own tissues and organs. But when the phone rang for Shimone Sakaguchi, Mary E. Brunkow, and Fred Ramsdell, only two of them picked up.

Host Ira Flatow talks with Nobel Prize winner Fred Ramsdell, co-founder and scientific advisor at Sonoma Biotherapeutics.

Plus, Ira talks with bioengineering professor César de la Fuente, who looks for solutions to the antibiotic resistance crisis in unexpected places. Now, he’s used AI to help identify promising antibiotic candidates lurking in ancient archaea, small organisms that can survive some of the most extreme conditions in the world.

Guests:
Dr. Fred Ramsdell is the co-founder and scientific advisor at Sonoma Biotherapeutics.
Dr. César de la Fuente is an associate professor of bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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World Space Week And Promising Climate Tech Companies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 10 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s World Space Week, and we’re fueling up the rocket for a tour of some missions and projects that could provide insights into major space mysteries. Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi joins Host Flora Lichtman to celebrate the wonders of space science, from the recently launched IMAP, which will study the solar environment, to the new Vera Rubin Observatory, and big physics projects like LIGO.

Plus, the latest in climate tech: MIT Technology Review has published its annual list of climate tech companies that show great promise in work ranging from producing sodium ion batteries to recycling rare earth magnets. Host Ira Flatow talks with climate reporter Casey Crownhart about trends in climate tech and what companies she’s excited about.

Guests: Dr. Hakeem Oluseyi is an astrophysicist and author of the upcoming book, Why Do We Exist? The Nine Realms of the Universe That Make You Possible, and host of the video podcast “Particles of Thought.”
Casey Crownhart is a senior climate reporter for MIT Technology Review based in New York City.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Story Behind The Largest Dam Removal In U.S. History

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 9 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Klamath River, which runs from southern Oregon to California, used to be a top salmon run. But after a series of hydroelectric dams was installed along the river around 100 years ago, salmon populations tanked.

This is the prologue to a remarkable story of a coalition that fought to restore the river. Led by members of the Yurok Nation, who’ve lived along the river for millennia, a group of lawyers, biologists, and activists successfully lobbied for the removal of the dams. The fourth and final dam was taken down last year.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to go behind the scenes of the dam removal and what’s happened since are Amy Bowers Cordalis, former general counsel for the Yurok Nation and author of the forthcoming book The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family’s Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life; and Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribes Fisheries Department.

Read an excerpt from The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family’s Fight to Save a River and a Way of Life.

Guests:

Amy Bowers Cordalis is an attorney, member of the Yurok Nation, and author of The Water Remembers: My Indigenous Family’s Fight To Save A River And A Way Of Life.
Barry McCovey Jr. is the director of the Yurok Tribes Fisheries Department, based in Klamath, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Archaeologists Try To Smell, Hear, And Taste The Past

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 8 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Archeologists in movies have a reputation for being hands-on, like Indiana Jones unearthing hidden treasure, or Lara Croft running through a temple. Archeology in real life tends to be a bit more sedentary. But some archeologists are committed to getting their hands dirty—even recreating the stinky, slimy, and sometimes tasty parts of ancient life.

Science writer Sam Kean enmeshed himself in the world of experimental archaeology for his new book Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists are Recreating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations. He joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss making stone tools, launching catapults, and DIY mummies.

Guest: Sam Kean is a science writer and author of Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists are Recreating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Moth Survival Strategies And A Rodent Thumbnail Mystery

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 7 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you’re a moth trying to stay uneaten, there are competing strategies. Some moths rely on camouflage, trying to blend in. Other moths take the opposite approach: They’re bold and bright, with colors that say “don’t eat me, I’m poison.” Biologist Iliana Medina joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe a study that placed some 15,000 origami moths in forests around the world to investigate which strategy might work best.

Then, mammologist Anderson Feijó and evolutionary biologist Rafaela Missagia join Flora to dive into another evolutionary conundrum: why so many rodents have thumbnails.

Guests: Dr. Iliana Medina Guzman is a Senior Lecturer in the School of BioSciences at the University of Melbourne in Australia.
Dr. Anderson Feijó is a mammal curator at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Dr. Rafaela Missagia is an assistant professor at the University of São Paulo in Brazil.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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As The CDC Falters, How Do We Fill Public Health Gaps?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 6 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Our country’s public health system is ailing. With layoffs and leadership changes at the CDC, changing vaccine guidelines, a government shutdown, and declining public trust—where do we go from here? Can state and local public health agencies pick up the slack? Are there other solutions?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with former CDC director Tom Frieden to put these questions into perspective.

Guest: Dr. Tom Frieden is a former CDC director, president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, and author of The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Anthropologists Have A Bone To Pick With New Skull Finding

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 3 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

There’s fresh drama in the field of human origins! A new analysis of an ancient hominid skull from China challenges what we thought we knew about our ancestral family tree, and its timeline—at least according to the researchers who wrote the paper. The new study claims that Homo sapiens, and some of our relatives, could have emerged at least half a million years earlier than we thought. But big claims require big evidence.

Anthropologist John Hawks joins Host Flora Lichtman to piece together the details.

Guest: Dr. John Hawks is an anthropologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Remembering Primatologist Jane Goodall

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 15:59:39 +0000

Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, conservationist, and humanitarian, died on October 1 at the age of 91. Goodall was born in London in 1934, and her curiosity about the natural world led her to the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, where she made groundbreaking observations of chimpanzee behavior, including tool use. Her research challenged the accepted scientific perceptions of our closest relatives.

Host Ira Flatow shares his memories of Dr. Goodall, including an interview from 2002 in which she discussed her life and work.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Do We Know About SSRI Antidepressant Withdrawal?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Roughly 1 in 10 Americans take antidepressants. The most common type is SSRIs, or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, like Prozac, Lexapro, and Zoloft. But what happens when you stop taking them? Studies don’t point to a single conclusion, and there’s ongoing debate among physicians and patients about the severity and significance of SSRI withdrawal symptoms. The discourse reached a fever pitch when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. compared SSRI withdrawal to heroin withdrawal in January.

Host Flora Lichtman digs into the data on SSRI withdrawal with psychiatrists Awais Aftab and Mark Horowitz.

Guests: Dr. Awais Aftab is a clinical associate professor of psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University.
Dr. Mark Horowitz is a clinical research fellow in the UK’s National Health Service and scientific co-founder of Outro Health.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Asha de Vos’ Journey From Deck Hand To Marine Science Leader

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 1 Oct 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The tropical waters of Sri Lanka, an island off the coast of India, are home to a population of blue whales unlike any other. These whales stay put, while every other known population migrates. That discovery was made by budding scientist Asha de Vos more than 20 years ago—it made a splash, and so did she. She later became the first Sri Lankan to earn a PhD studying marine mammals, charting a new scientific path in her country.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with de Vos about her path into science, what it means to be the first Sri Lankan in her field, and how she built a marine biology program from the ground up.

Guest: Dr. Asha de Vos is a marine biologist and the founder and executive director of the non-profit Oceanswell. She’s based in Sri Lanka.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Painters Are Obsessed With The Duck Stamp Art Contest

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt, Emma Gometz) — Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In mid-September, artists from around the country convened in Laurel, Maryland, for one of the splashiest events in the wildlife art world: the Federal Duck Stamp Art Contest. At the annual event, artists compete to have their excruciatingly detailed waterfowl painting appear on the Federal Duck Stamp, which is a waterfowl hunting license. This year, Digital Producer Emma Gometz was there to watch the duck drama unfold. They join Host Flora Lichtman to explain why artists take this competition so seriously, how duck stamps support conservation, and who took the crown this year.

Read our article about the 2025 competition.

Plus, Interlochen Public Radio reporter Claire Keenan-Kurgan shares the story of a volunteer group determined to bring one of the world’s rarest flowers back to a small river island in Illinois.

Guests: Emma Gometz is Science Friday’s Digital Producer of Engagement. They write SciFri’s “Science Goes To The Movies” series and are a journalist and illustrator based in Queens, NY.
Claire Keenan-Kurgen is a reporter for Interlochen Public Radio in northern Michigan.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Can Better Equipment Eliminate Concussions In Sports?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Football season is well underway, and fans know those athletes get hit hard. Could better helmets and guidelines around concussion prevention someday eliminate head injuries from the sport?

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with concussion doctor Michael Collins and helmet specialist Barry Miller about how our understanding of head injuries and equipment has evolved.

Guests: Dr. Michael Collins is the clinical and executive director of the Sports Medicine Concussion Program at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Dr. Barry Miller is the director of outreach at the Virginia Tech Helmet Lab.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is Tylenol Use During Pregnancy Connected To Autism?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

At a news conference on September 22, President Trump claimed that taking acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, during pregnancy “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.” Many experts have pushed back on the statement, saying it’s a false claim that downplays the risks of fever during pregnancy, which Tylenol may be used to treat.

Autistic people and their families also raised concerns about the language used and the premise that autism is a scourge that needs to be eliminated.

Host Flora Lichtman digs into what we know about acetaminophen use during pregnancy with epidemiologist Brian Lee, who led one of the largest peer-reviewed studies looking at the link between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and autism in children.

Guest: Dr. Brian Lee is a professor of epidemiology at Drexel University, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How AI Advances Are Improving Humanoid Robots

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Robots are just about everywhere these days: circling the grocery store, cleaning the floor at the airport, making deliveries. Not to mention the robots on the assembly lines in factories. But how far are we from having a human-like robot at home? For example, a robot housekeeper like Rosie from “The Jetsons.” She didn’t just cook and clean, she bantered and bonded with the Jetsons.

Stanford roboticist Karen Liu joined Host Ira Flatow to talk about how AI is driving advances in humanoid robotics at a live show at the Fox Theatre in Redwood City, California.

Guest: Dr. Karen Liu is a professor of computer science at Stanford University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The High-Tech Lab Unlocking Secrets Of Coral Reproduction

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In the heart of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, scientists are on the cutting edge of growing coral. Rising ocean temperatures have caused mass coral bleaching, and experts are racing against the clock to figure out how to help corals be more resilient to stress.

Coral scientist Rebecca Albright joined Host Ira Flatow at our live show at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, to talk about the work her lab does to help corals reproduce—romantic lighting and full moons included.

Guest: Dr. Rebecca Albright is a coral reef biologist, an associate curator, and a Patterson Scholar at the California Academy of Sciences.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Humble Microbe Could Help Us Understand Life Itself

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Sift through your memories and excavate an image of a fossil. Maybe you’re picturing dinosaur bones, the imprint of an ammonite, or the fronds of a fern etched into stone. But there’s a whole other category of fossilized remains that can tell us about life way before T. rexes, or even twigs, existed on this planet. That’s fossilized evidence of microbes.

Microbiologist Paula Welander uses these ancient remains to understand how life began on Earth. She joined Host Flora Lichtman for our live show at the Fox Theater in Redwood City, California, to talk about how her work may help us find life elsewhere in the universe.

Guest: Dr. Paula Welander is a professor of Earth system science at Stanford University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Raising A New Generation Of Bat Conservationists In West Africa

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Nigeria is home to 100 known species of bats—about a third of Africa’s bat species—but scientists don’t know much about them. Ecologists Iroro Tanshi and Benneth Obitte, collaborators and life partners, are trying to change that. In addition to studying and protecting the bats of their homeland, they’re also working to raise up a whole network of bat scientists across West Africa.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with them about how they started their work, what they’ve learned, and how they’re paving the way for other bat conservationists.

Guests:
Dr. Iroro Tanshi is an ecologist at the University of Washington and cofounder of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization.
Dr. Benneth Obitte is a conservation ecologist at Texas Tech University and cofounder of the Small Mammal Conservation Organization.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Conservation Efforts Brought Rare Birds Back From The Brink

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The overall state of birds can seem rather grim. Almost a third of North American bird species are in decline, and in the last five decades, more than 100 species have lost over half of their populations. This is primarily due to lack of food—fewer insects to eat—and habitat loss, like the development of grasslands.

But there’s a bright spot: Some birds that were once rare are now abundant, like the merlin, sandhill crane, and pileated woodpecker.

Host Ira Flatow talks with biologist Tom Langen, who explains these birds’ remarkable comebacks, and discusses his conservation work to bring threatened fish species back from the brink.

Guest: Dr. Tom Langen is a professor of biology at Clarkson University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Teamwork Between Species Is The Key To Life Itself

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Codependency between humans gets a bad rap. But in nature, species often rely on each other for survival. While humans think they’re in control of relationships between other species, like dogs and even the yeast for our breads, the opposite is often true.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with ecologist Rob Dunn, whose new book, The Call of the Honeyguide, argues that mutualisms are the story of life itself.

Read an excerpt of The Call of the Honeyguide: What Science Tells Us about How to Live Well with the Rest of Life.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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If An Asteroid Were Headed For Earth, Would We Be Ready?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 17 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

You might remember news reporting from earlier this year that a 180-foot asteroid had about a 3% chance of hitting Earth in 2032. And if it did, it would unleash energy equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs. After further observations, astronomers revised that probability way down, to close to zero. So what is our current capability to spot Earthbound asteroids? And how are governments preparing to communicate and respond to a potential impact on a populated area?

Joining Host Ira Flatow with some of the answers are Kelly Fast, from NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, and Leviticus “L.A.” Lewis, former FEMA liaison for that office.

Guests: Dr. Kelly Fast is the acting planetary defense officer in NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office, based in Laurel, Maryland.
Leviticus “L.A.” Lewis is a former FEMA liaison to the NASA Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Trailblazing Geneticist Reflects On Her Life And Work

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s common knowledge that many diseases and conditions have some kind of genetic link. But that wasn't always the case. In 1990, long before the Human Genome Project tied so many health issues to differences in genetics, researchers identified a gene called BRCA1. It was the first gene linked to a hereditary form of any common cancer. People with certain variants of BRCA1 stood a higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer than those without those mutations.

Geneticist Mary-Claire King and her lab were the first to identify that gene. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her background, her research, and her approach to science.

Guest: Dr. Mary-Claire King is an American Cancer Society Professor in the departments of Genome Sciences and Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What The Label Of ‘Genius’ Tells Us About Our Society

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

What makes someone a genius? Are they the smartest, most creative, most innovative people? Those with the highest IQ? Who we consider a genius may actually tell us much more about what we value as a society than any objective measure of brilliance. A compelling or quirky life story often shapes who is elevated to genius status.

Host Ira Flatow unpacks the complicated and coveted title of genius with Helen Lewis, author of The Genius Myth: A Curious History of A Dangerous Idea.

Read an excerpt of The Genius Myth: A Curious History of A Dangerous Idea.

Guest: Helen Lewis is a staff writer at The Atlantic, based in London, who writes about politics and culture.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Human Obsession With Aliens Goes Way, Way Back

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 12 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

A video shown on Capitol Hill on September 9 reportedly shows an American hellfire missile attacking and simply bouncing off a UAP (the military term for a UFO). When videos like this come out, speculation about aliens often follows. But our obsession with aliens isn’t new—and it didn’t begin with 1950s alien invasion movies like “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” or even with Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” mock news bulletins of the 1930s.

As science reporter Becky Ferreira writes in her upcoming book, First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens, humans have been fascinated with the potential for alien life for about as long we’ve been around. She joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss how our views of beings from other worlds changed throughout the millennia, and where we’re at now with scientific exploration of life beyond Earth.

Plus, science journalist Umair Irfan joins Ira to share other stories from the week in science, including what’s going on in a decision-making brain, the trouble with vector-borne illnesses, and the unusual tale of an ant queen that breeds ants of another species.

Read an excerpt of First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens.

Guests:
Becky Ferreira is a science reporter at 404 Media and author of First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens.
Umair Irfan is a senior correspondent at Vox, based in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Delicious But Invasive Mushroom Could Affect Fungal Diversity

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It all started harmlessly enough: People bought kits to grow mushrooms at home. But then, scientists in the upper Midwest noticed something strange. The golden oyster mushroom, which is not native to the United States, was thriving in local forests. Those homegrown mushrooms escaped our basements into the wild. Fungal ecologist Aishwarya Veerabahu joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss what impact these invasive mushrooms might have on the ecosystem.

Plus, nightshade expert Sandra Knapp describes the evolution of the potato plant, and how a lucky crossbreeding millions of years ago may have given rise to the starchy tubers we eat today.

Guests:
Aishwarya Veerabahu is a fungal ecologist and PhD candidate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Dr. Sandra Knapp is a Merit Researcher at the Natural History Museum in London.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Photographer Captures Nature In Mind-Boggling Detail

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you’ve flipped through an issue of National Geographic or scrolled through their social media, and caught a stunningly detailed photo of a tiny creature—like one where you can make out the hairs on a honeybee’s eyeballs, or the exact contours of a hummingbird’s forked tongue—you have probably seen the work of Anand Varma. He’s an award-winning science photographer, a National Geographic Explorer, and the founder of WonderLab, a storytelling studio in Berkeley, California.

Varma speaks with Host Flora Lichtman and takes us behind the lens to show what it takes to capture iconic images of creatures that are so often overlooked.

Guest: Anand Varma is a science photographer, a National Geographic Explorer, and the founder of WonderLab. He’s based in Berkeley, California.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Shoddy Science Is Driving A Supplement Boom

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 9 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Dietary supplements are big business, with one recent estimate showing the industry is worth almost $64 billion in the United States alone. Take a casual scroll through your social media and you’ll find influencers hawking all kinds of supplements. But how effective are they? How are they regulated? And why are these “natural” remedies so appealing to millions of Americans?

To size up the science and culture of supplements, Host Flora Lichtman talks with supplement researcher Pieter Cohen, and Colleen Derkatch, author of Why Wellness Sells: Natural Health in a Pharmaceutical Culture.

Guests: Dr. Pieter Cohen is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an internist at the Cambridge Health Alliance where he leads the Supplement Research Program.
Dr. Colleen Derkatch is the author of Why Wellness Sells: Natural Health in a Pharmaceutical Culture and professor of rhetoric at Toronto Metropolitan University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Octopuses Use Suckers To ‘Taste’ Harmful Microbes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 8 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Put on your party hat and wet suit because it is Cephalopod Week, Science Friday’s annual celebration of all things, octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish. To kick things off, we’re bringing you an ode to the octopus arm. You may have heard that octopuses can use their arms to “taste” their surroundings, which they use for finding food. Now, researchers have unlocked a key mechanism in the octopus sensory system. Octopuses use their suckers to detect harmful microbes on the surface of crab shells or even their own eggs.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with molecular biologist Nicholas Bellono about the latest in octopus sensory science.

Guest: Dr. Nicholas Bellono is a professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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After CDC Director Is Ousted, More Senior Officials Resign

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 5 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On August 27, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the White House fired CDC director Susan Monarez after only a month on the job. Right after she was ousted, other senior leaders resigned from the agency, including Demetre Daskalakis, an infectious disease physician and former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

Dr. Daskalakis speaks with Host Flora Lichtman about the state of the agency and what these developments mean for public health.

Guest: Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is the former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Meet 3I/Atlas, An Object From Another Solar System

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 4 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Earlier this summer, astronomers discovered something strange whizzing past Jupiter: an interstellar object. Scientists named it 3I/ATLAS. It’s only the third interstellar object ever observed, and it’s due to leave the solar system by the end of the year, so the race is on to learn as much as we can about it. Host Flora Lichtman talks with astrochemist Stefanie Milam about what this object could teach us about other solar systems—and ours.

And, for the past two years, researchers have been studying samples from the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, trying to tease out details about its origins, and what they tell us about our solar system. Researcher Jessica Barnes describes a new analysis of Bennu samples that found stardust, the residue of ancient exploding stars, older than our solar system.

Guests:

Dr. Stefanie Milam is an astrochemist at NASA and a project scientist for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Dr. Jessica Barnes is an associate professor in the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory at the University of Arizona.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Common Household Products Pollute Our Indoor Air

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 3 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

You have probably given some thought to outdoor air pollution, whether it’s wildfire smoke or smog from traffic. You may even check AQI measurements on your phone. But what about the air inside your home? Host Flora Lichtman talks to civil and environmental engineer Nusrat Jung, who studies indoor air pollution, about how we create toxic air without even knowing it, and what we can do to avoid it.

Guest: Dr. Nusrat Jung is a civil and environmental engineer at Purdue University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Shape-Shifting Science Of Sand Dunes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 2 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In some places, sand dunes protect shorelines from the onslaught of ocean waves. In other places, the dunes themselves are on the move, and threaten human structures.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with mechanical engineer Nathalie Vriend, who studies the structure of sand dunes, about what makes a heap of sand a dune, and what scientists still hope to learn about sand.

Guest: Dr. Nathalie Vriend is an associate professor in mechanical engineering and leader of the Granular Flow Laboratory at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Food Science Experts On Perfecting At-Home Ice Cream

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Mon, 1 Sep 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Summer may be winding down, but we’re not quite ready to let go of beach days, backyard cookouts, or ice cream cones. We love ice cream here at SciFri, so we’re pulling a few of our favorite ice cream science stories out of the freezer this week.

Back in 2015, ice cream expert Maya Warren sat down with Host Ira Flatow to help us understand a science mystery of “unmeltable” ice cream that made the evening news in Cincinnati.

That same summer, Ira spoke to Jeff Potter, author of Cooking for Geeks, and Brian Smith, founder of Ample Hills Creamery, who give us science-backed tips for making smooth, velvety ice cream at home.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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An ER Doctor Reflects On Hurricane Katrina, 20 Years Later

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, and the levees designed to protect New Orleans failed. Huge swaths of the city flooded, and 1,600 people were trapped inside Charity Hospital. Physician Erica Fisher was working in Charity’s emergency room at the time, and she and her colleagues fought for days to keep their patients alive.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Dr. Fisher, now an emergency medicine physician at University Medical Center in New Orleans, about Hurricane Katrina and the vulnerability of our healthcare systems in the face of disasters.

Plus, science writer Maggie Koerth joins Flora to share other science news the week, including the link between heat waves and aging, updated COVID vaccine guidelines, the ancient origins of human mucus, and the possibility that dwarf planet Ceres could once have sustained life.

Guest: Dr. Erica Fisher is an emergency medicine physician at University Medical Center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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An Archaeologist And A Tattoo Artist Decipher Ancient Ink

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Researchers recently used near-infrared photography to get a detailed look at ancient artwork showing scenes of wild animals tangled in a fight. But these weren’t paintings on a cave wall. They were tattoos on the arms of a Siberian woman who lived 2,300 years ago. What can ancient ink tell us about our ancestors?

Sticking and poking their way into this with Host Flora Lichtman are archaeologist Aaron Deter-Wolf and his research collaborator, tattoo artist Danny Riday.

Guests: Aaron Deter-Wolf is an archaeologist for the Tennessee Division of Archaeology in Nashville, Tennessee.
Danny Riday is a tattoo artist and independent researcher based in Les Eyzies, France.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Lies Beneath The Outer Layers Of A Star?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 27 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

You might think of a star as a mass of incandescent gas, a gigantic nuclear furnace where hydrogen is turned into helium at a temperature of millions of degrees. But researchers recently reported that they’d observed some of what lies beneath all that hydrogen and helium, at least inside one unusual supernova. The star, named supernova 2021yfj, had its outer layers stripped away, leaving behind a silicon- and sulfur-rich inner shell.

Astrophysicist Steve Schulze joins Host Flora Lichtman to describe what the team spotted in the heart of a dying star.

Guest: Dr. Steve Schulze is a research associate at Northwestern University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Have Gray Wolves Fared 30 Years After Reintroduction?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Gray wolves are native to the Rocky Mountains, but decades of hunting nearly eradicated them from the western United States by the 1940s. In 1995, wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park, and it’s been a conservation success story, but not a straight path out of the woods.

Host Flora Lichtman digs into the last 30 years of wolves in the West with Heath Druzin, creator of the podcast “Howl,” from Boise State Public Radio and The Idaho Capital Sun. Druzin reported the podcast and companion written series with Clark Corbin.

Guest: Heath Druzin is host of the podcast “Howl,” from Boise State Public Radio and The Idaho Capital Sun.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Are Food Dyes Really Bad For You?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

What do Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, lime Jell-O, and Kraft Creamy French Salad dressing have in common? They've all gotten a glow-up from artificial food dyes. Petroleum-based food dyes have become a target of RFK Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda—but what does science say about their effects on health?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss is Asa Bradman, an expert in the health effects of food dyes and other things we’re exposed to in our environment.

Guest:
Dr. Asa Bradman is a professor of public health at the University of California Merced based in Merced, California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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mRNA Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 22 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This month, the Department of Health and Human Services terminated almost $500 million in mRNA vaccine development grants and contracts. While HHS has said that these cuts won't affect mRNA cancer research, some researchers have expressed concern about the impact on their ongoing work. In light of these developments, we’re revisiting a conversation from February.

A team at Memorial Sloan Kettering is developing an mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer, which is notoriously difficult to treat. A few years ago, the team embarked on a small trial to test the vaccine’s safety. Sixteen patients with pancreatic cancer received it, and half of them had a strong immune response. A follow-up study found that in six of those patients, the cancer hadn’t relapsed after three years.

Host Flora Lichtman spoke to study author Vinod Balachandran about the work, which has not yet been affected by the cuts, according to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Guest: Dr. Vinod Balachandran is an associate attending surgeon and Director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York, New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Can The Rise In Solar Power Balance Out Clean Energy Cuts?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has been aggressive in rolling back clean energy initiatives. But that isn’t the whole story. Texas, California, and other states are bringing so much solar and battery power online that in March, fossil fuels generated less than half the electricity in the US for the first time ever. And internationally, solar has gotten so cheap to build and install that it’s fundamentally transforming many countries’ power grids. So where exactly does solar adoption stand in the US and across the world right now?

Climate activist Bill McKibben joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the recent wins and future challenges that sun-powered energy faces, which he writes about in his new book Here Comes The Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.

Guest: Bill McKibben is a climate activist and founder of Third Act. He’s based in Middlebury, Vermont.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Decoding Fireflies’ Smelly Signals And Blinking Butts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 20 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Fireflies’ magical blinking lights are tiny beacons in the warm dark night. Who can resist catching one? Not scientists.

Because their light comes from bodily chemicals, fireflies’ power of illumination has long been used as a tool in medical research. And that has driven scientists to investigate the inner workings of the blinking beetle itself. Researchers have recently discovered that fireflies’ glowing lanterns are only one of the ways they communicate.

Host Ira Flatow talks with entomologist Sarah Lower and biochemist Stephen Miller about the latest advances in firefly science.

Guests: Dr. Sarah Lower is an associate professor of biology at Bucknell University where she studies fireflies.
Dr. Stephen Miller is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biotechnology at the UMass Chan Medical School.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Uncertain Science Behind What We Understand As ‘Truth’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Throughout history, humans have been on a search for truth. From the ancient Greeks and their belief in a universal truth, to our Founding Fathers writing, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” In a world of disinformation, conspiracy theories, and the rising influence of artificial intelligence, where does truth fit in? Mathematician Adam Kucharski, author of Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty, joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the complicated truth.

Read an excerpt of Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty.

Guest:
Dr. Adam Kucharski is a mathematician and author of Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty. He is based in London.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Agatha Christie Used Chemistry To Kill (In Books)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Did you know that murder mystery writer Agatha Christie had a background in chemistry? In about half of her stories, the murder is committed using poison—something she was very, very familiar with. She had even trained in apothecaries to mix prescriptions by hand before she became a novelist. Chemist-turned-author Kathryn Harkup wrote about them in her new book, V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death. Harkup talks with Host Flora Lichtman about the science of poisons, why they’re so popular in whodunnits, and how to get away with murder (in fiction writing, of course).

Guest:
Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist and author of V is for Venom: Agatha Christie’s Chemicals of Death.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Do mRNA Funding Cuts Mean For Future US Research?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Dee Peterscmidt, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On August 5, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the Department of Health and Human Services would terminate almost $500 million in mRNA vaccine development grants and contracts, affecting 22 projects. Biologist and mRNA researcher Jeff Coller joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about what this move means for future mRNA research in the US beyond these immediate projects.

Plus, reporter Casey Crownhart joins Ira to discuss the latest in climate news, including flooding in Juneau, Alaska; how Ford is pursuing further electric vehicle manufacturing despite federal roadblocks; and a startup using Earth itself as a giant battery.

Guests:

Dr. Jeff Coller is the Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of RNA Biology and Therapeutics at Johns Hopkins University.
Casey Crownhart is a senior climate reporter for MIT Technology Review in New York, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Breast Milk Is Understudied. What Are Scientists Learning Now?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If you’ve found yourself scrolling through the breastfeeding world online, you know that people have a lot of strong opinions about breast milk. But what exactly do we know about the biology of it? Does breast milk really adapt to a baby’s needs? Does it confer immunity? How does making breast milk impact the breastfeeder? Joining Host Flora Lichtman to spin through the science of this sophisticated substance are experts Shelley McGuire and Deepshika Ramanan.

Guests:
Dr. Shelley McGuire is the director of the Margaret Ritchie School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Idaho.
Dr. Deepshika Ramanan is an assistant professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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When Headaches Are Ruining Your Life, Where Can You Turn?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 13 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Science journalist Tom Zeller Jr. has suffered from debilitating cluster headaches for three decades. Like other cluster headache sufferers, his episodes would leave him unable to function, and the fear of the next one happening was constant. In a quest to better understand his own condition, Zeller learned that headaches remain a great neurological mystery, with basic mechanisms behind why they happen still unknown. He joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about his new book, The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction – and a Search for Relief.

Guest:
Tom Zeller Jr. is editor in chief of Undark and author of the book The Headache: The Science of a Most Confounding Affliction – and a Search for Relief. He’s based in Montana.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Remembering Apollo 13 Astronaut James Lovell

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 12 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Last week, astronaut James Lovell died at the age of 97. In April of 1970, he was the commander of the Apollo 13 mission, which launched with three astronauts en route to the moon. While in space, however, the craft encountered a serious problem: an explosion in one of its fuel tanks that severely damaged the craft and disabled its electrical system, prompting the famous phrase, “Houston, we’ve had a problem.” In 1995, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the mission, Host Ira Flatow spoke with Lovell about the historic flight and how good luck and ingenuity among the crew and mission controllers on the ground combined to bring the Apollo 13 astronauts safely back to Earth.

Guest:
James Lovell was a NASA astronaut and commander of the Apollo 13 mission.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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‘Underground Atlas’ Shows How Vulnerable Fungal Networks Are

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Fungal networks in the soil are arguably the basis of much of life on Earth, but they’re understudied and underappreciated in the conservation world. Scientists at the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) are trying to fix that. They just unveiled a global map of mycorrhizal fungal networks, which highlights how widespread they are and how little protection they have. Host Flora Lichtman talks with two of the SPUN mapmakers, Adriana Corrales and Michael Van Nuland, about the importance of fungal networks and why they need more protection.

Guests: Dr. Adriana Corrales is a forest ecologist and scientist with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. She’s based in Bogotá, Colombia.
Dr. Michael Van Nuland is an ecologist and scientist with the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks. He’s based in Portland, Oregon.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Lithium May Have A Role In Causing—And Treating—Alzheimer’s

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 8 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s disease have eluded scientists for decades. But a new breakthrough points to lithium as a possible explanation—not only does it occur naturally in the brain, but a deficiency causes dementia in mice. This research is one of thousands of projects that have lost funding due to President Trump’s cuts to the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Host Ira Flatow speaks with Alzheimer’s researcher Bruce Yankner about this new finding, and then to epidemiologist Katelyn Jetelina and immunologist Elisabeth Marnik about the country’s “quiet engine of science,” the NIH.

Guests:
Dr. Bruce Yankner is professor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and author of the Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter. She’s based in San Diego.
Dr. Elisabeth Marnik is an immunologist and Director of Science Education & Outreach at the MDI Biological Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Are Cold Plunges Actually Good For You?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 7 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

If social media and certain influential podcast hosts are to be believed, cold plunges can do everything from boosting your immune system to reducing inflammation to acting as an antidote for depression. But what does the science say? Joining Host Flora Lichtman to throw at least a few drops of cold water on this science of plunging is biologist François Haman, who studies human performance and cold exposure.

And, with the help of the HBO show “Last Week Tonight,” a minor league baseball team in Pennsylvania rebranded themselves the Erie Moon Mammoths. That comes just a few months after the Utah NHL franchise renamed itself the Utah Mammoth as a nod to that state’s paleontological past. So, why are mammoths back? And do they really have what it takes to be a successful team mascot? Paleontologist Advait Jukar joins Host Flora Lichtman to weigh in.

Guests:
Dr. François Haman is a biologist at the University of Ottawa who studies how the human body responds to extreme environments.
Dr. Advait Jukar is the assistant Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Nagasaki Survivor And Physician Recounts His Life's Work

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 6 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Dr. Masao Tomonaga was only 2 years old when the United States bombed his home city of Nagasaki. He survived, and grew up to become a physician for other survivors, known as hibakusha. He also studied hematology, and his research on leukemia and myelodysplastic syndromes was foundational for understanding how radiation affects the body. On the 80th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he speaks with Host Ira Flatow about his life’s work, how hibakusha lived with the medical consequences of the bombs, and his message to the world.

Guest:
Dr. Masao Tomonaga is a survivor of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and director emeritus of the Japanese Red Cross Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Hospital.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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65 Genomes Expand Our Picture Of Human Genetics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 5 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The first complete draft of the human genome was published back in 2003. Since then, researchers have worked both to improve the accuracy of human genetic data, and to expand its diversity, looking at the genetics of people from many different backgrounds. Three genetics experts join Host Ira Flatow to talk about a recent close examination of the genomes of 65 individuals from around the world, and how it may help researchers get a better understanding of genomic functioning and diversity.

Guests:

Dr. Christine Beck is an associate professor of genetics and genome sciences in the University of Connecticut Health Center and the Jackson Laboratory.
Dr. Glennis Logsdon is an assistant professor of genetics and a core member of the Epigenetics Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Adam Philippy is a Senior Investigator in the Center for Genomics and Data Science Research at the National Human Genome Research Institute at the NIH.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How The Moon Transformed Life On Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Sophie Bushwick, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 4 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For almost their entire 4.5 billion-year existence, Earth and its moon have been galactic neighbors. And the moon isn’t just Earth’s tiny sidekick—their relationship is more like that of siblings, and they’re even cut from similar cosmic cloth.

Without the moon, Earth and its inhabitants wouldn’t be what they are today: The climate would be more extreme, lunar tides wouldn’t have given rise to life on Earth, biological rhythms would be off-beat, and even timekeeping and religion would have evolved differently. The new book Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed The Planet, Guided Evolution, And Made Us Who We Are explores how our existence is tied to the moon’s.

Ira Flatow and guest host Sophie Bushwick chat with journalist and author Rebecca Boyle about how the moon came to be, how it transformed life on Earth, and how our relationship with it is changing.

Guest: Rebecca Boyle is a journalist and author of Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed The Planet, Guided Evolution, And Made Us Who We Are. She’s based in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Transcript available at sciencefriday.com.

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EPA Seeks To Revoke Scientific Basis For Greenhouse Gas Rules

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 1 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This week the Trump administration indicated that it would seek to roll back a key EPA finding that allows the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from things like cars and power plants. The 16-year-old rule, known as the “endangerment finding,” states that six greenhouse gases pose a threat to human health. Sophie Bushwick, news editor at New Scientist, joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the proposed change, along with news about exoplanet life, Russian drones, rust-based batteries, hexagonal diamonds, quantum entanglement, and extra-old honey.

Plus, a robot performed surgery by itself for the first time, on a pig cadaver. Medical roboticist Axel Krieger joins Ira to discuss how he was able to train the surgical robot.

Guests:
Sophie Bushwick is senior news editor at New Scientist in New York.
Dr. Axel Krieger is an associate professor in the department of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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You Can Whistle While You Work—But How Does A Whistle Work?

Thu, 31 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Whistling is a skill used to communicate over distances—a whistle can mean anything from “you’re cute” to “time to come home for dinner.” There’s a complex series of mechanisms in the mouth that need to come together to make a whistle. Hosts Ira Flatow and Flora Lichtman discuss all things whistling with professional musician and whistler Wanda Civic, aka MCP, and speech language pathologist Aaron Johnson.

Guests: Wanda Civic aka MCP is a musician and whistler based in New York, New York.
Aaron Johnson is a speech and language pathologist at the Voice Center of New York University, in New York, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Reptile’s Baffling Backfin And The Math Of Dashing Dinos

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 30 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Paleontologists have identified an ancient reptile with a towering crest made not of skin, or scales, or feathers, or antler—but something else entirely. It’s some kind of integumentary outerwear we’ve never seen before. The small creature sporting the curious crest was named Mirasaura grauvogeli, and it lived during the Middle Triassic period, about 247 million years ago, just before dinosaurs evolved.

Host Flora Lichtman talks to evolutionary biologist Richard Prum about this dramatic dorsal mystery and what it tells us about the evolution of dinosaurs, birds, and feathers.

Plus, how fast did dinosaurs run? It turns out that the equation scientists have been using for five decades to estimate dinosaur speeds is not completely accurate. To understand what this could mean for velociraptor velocities, T. rex tempos, and spinosaurus speeds, Flora talks with paleobiologist Peter Falkingham.

Guests: Dr. Richard Prum is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and head curator of ornithology at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. He previously chaired Yale’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology.
Dr. Peter Falkingham is a professor of paleobiology at Liverpool John Moores University in England.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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NASA Employees Protest Cuts In Formal Dissent Letter

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The Trump administration has proposed cutting NASA’s budget by almost 25% and shutting down 19 currently operating science missions. On July 21, several hundred current and former employees of the space agency released an official letter of dissent, titled “The Voyager Declaration,” arguing against “rapid and wasteful changes which have undermined our mission.” Retired NASA astronaut Cady Coleman joins Host Flora Lichtman to explain why she felt compelled to add her signature to the letter of dissent.

Guest:
Dr. Cady Coleman is a retired NASA astronaut and the author of Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change. She’s based in Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Where Are We On The Science Of Menopause?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Menopause is having a moment. Celebrities like Halle Berry, Naomi Watts, and Michelle Obama have recently shared their personal menopause experiences. Menopause and perimenopause are showing up across social media and even in popular books. All this to say, menopause has finally gone mainstream.

But, it wasn’t until about three decades ago that menopause research really kicked into gear. Since then, scientists have made a lot of progress in understanding the basic biological process as well as treatments like hormone therapy and the importance of separating symptoms of menopause from those of aging.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with two menopause researchers, ob-gyn Monica Christmas and epidemiologist Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez, about what we’ve learned so far—and what misconceptions bug them most.

Guests: Dr. Monica Christmas is an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Chicago and director of the menopause program at UChicago Medicine.
Dr. Carrie Karvonen-Gutierrez is an associate professor of epidemiology and the director of the Center for Midlife Science at the University of Michigan.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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EPA To Shut Down Scientific Research Arm

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Sat, 26 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The EPA recently announced that it’s going to shut down its scientific research arm, called the Office of Research and Development. Since the agency was founded nearly 55 years ago, it’s had in-house scientists researching things like pollutants in our air and water, and the risks posed by toxic chemicals. That research informs the EPA’s guidelines and standards.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta, who spent 40 years working at the EPA, about the importance of the Office’s research and what losing it means for public health and the environment.

Guest: Dr. Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta spent 40 years working at the Environmental Protection Agency. She was the principal deputy assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Research and Development.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Parker Solar Probe Captures Closest-Ever Images Of The Sun

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In December, the Parker Solar Probe made history when it made the closest-ever approach to the sun by a spacecraft. As it whizzed by, a camera recorded incredibly detailed images, which show the sun’s surface, the flow of solar winds, and eruptions of magnetized balls of gas. Seeing this activity in such detail could help scientists understand solar weather.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Parker Solar Probe project scientist Nour Rawafi about what these images show and how the probe could fundamentally change our understanding of the sun.

Guest:
Dr. Nour Rawafi is the Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Climate Change Is Upending The Home Insurance Market

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

You can’t get a mortgage without home insurance. But in some parts of the country, it’s becoming harder and harder to find a plan, as insurance companies drop homeowners and pull out of entire states, as flooding, wildfires, and storms become more frequent and intense. Host Flora Lichtman talks to reporters Jessica Meszaros and Rachel Cohen, who have been covering this issue in Florida and Colorado. Flora then speaks with Benjamin Keys, who studies the impact of climate change on the real estate market, about the future of home ownership in a world increasingly unsettled by climate change.

Guests:

Rachel Cohen is the Mountain West News Bureau reporter for KUNC.
Dr. Benjamin Keys studies the impact of climate change on the real estate market at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Jessica Meszaros is a climate change and environment reporter for WUSF in Tampa, Florida.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What The Sigma Is Algospeak?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Gen Alpha slang can seem unintelligible to adults, but linguist and TikToker Adam Aleksic argues language development in the internet age is worth legitimate study. Adam talks to Host Flora Lichtman about how algorithms and social media are changing the way we speak, and discusses his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Guest:
Adam Aleksic is a linguist and content creator, and the author of Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Millions Of Flies Can Help Stop The New World Screwworm

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 22 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The New World screwworm has cattle ranchers, entomologists, and the federal government on edge. The pest was successfully eradicated from the US decades ago, but has recently been moving north from South America into Central America and Mexico, with concerns that it may cross the border into Texas. It’s notorious for laying eggs in the wounds of animals and slowly eating them from the inside out. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with entomologist Sonja Swiger about past efforts to get rid of the New World screwworm, and why that process involves dropping millions of bugs out of airplanes.

Guest: Dr. Sonja Swiger is an entomologist and professor at Texas A&M in Stephenville, Texas.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Is The Scopes Trial Still Relevant 100 Years Later?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In July 1925, the Scopes “Monkey” Trial captivated the nation. On its face, the case was relatively straightforward: A Tennessee biology teacher named John Scopes was accused of teaching human evolution to his students. At the time, that was against state law. Both sides enlisted the help of big name lawyers to represent them, and the case turned into a national spectacle. But, why has the legacy of the case persisted? And what can it help us understand about our current moment?

Host Ira Flatow talks with Brenda Wineapple, author of Keeping the Faith: God, Democracy, and the Trial that Riveted a Nation. Read an excerpt of the book at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Why Don’t We Have A Vaccine For Lyme Disease?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 18 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s shaping up to be one of the worst tick years yet, and concerns about Lyme disease—which is transmitted through the bites of some species—are high. Aside from a short-lived vaccine released in the late 1990s, people have not had the opportunity to get vaccinated against Lyme disease. But if our dogs can get vaccinated, why can’t we? Host Flora Lichtman speaks with immunologist and Lyme disease expert Linden Hu about the ongoing quest for a vaccine against Lyme disease, and our evolving understanding of the disease.

Guest: Dr. Linden Hu is a Professor of immunology at Tufts University School of Medicine.

Read an article from SciFri about the research towards finding an anti-tick vaccine.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is This PTSD Treatment Too Good To Be True?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday and WNYC Studios) — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

About 7% of veterans experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and that number can be closer to 30% for those who have served in a war zone.

But PTSD has been treated pretty much the same way since the disorder was first recognized roughly four decades ago: Patients are instructed to revisit their trauma until the memory no longer creates an emotional response. This process can be so harrowing that over half of veterans are unable to complete the full course of treatment. But what if there was a way for PTSD treatment to be virtually painless?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Yasmin Tayag, staff writer at The Atlantic, who explored a controversial treatment called Reconsolidation of Traumatic Memories, and the challenges of even studying a treatment that bucks conventional wisdom.

Guest: Yasmin Tayag is a staff reporter for The Atlantic.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Is It Time For A New Model Of The Universe?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Annette Heist, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 16 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For decades, astronomers have been trying to nail down the value of the Hubble constant—a measure of how fast the universe is expanding. But some cosmologists say there’s evidence that the universe is expanding faster than physics can explain, and our current models of it might be broken. Hosts Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow talk with Wendy Freedman and Dan Scolnic, two cosmologists with different takes on this constant controversy.

Guests:
Wendy Freedman, a former team leader of the Hubble Key Project, is a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois.
Dr. Dan Scolnic is a cosmologist and associate professor of physics at Duke University in North Carolina.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How PFAS From A Military Base Has Sickened Nearby Residents

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 15 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

For decades, residents of the small city of Newburgh, New York, were unknowingly drinking water contaminated with toxic PFAS—also known as forever chemicals. The source turned out to be firefighting foam used on a nearby air base that had seeped into streams and creeks, and ultimately the city’s main drinking water reservoir.

Now, Newburgh is one of 10 sites that are part of a CDC-led study investigating the health effects of PFAS exposure. Early data out of Newburgh links PFAS with high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Host Flora Lichtman discusses the research with environmental epidemiologist Erin Bell and reporter Shantal Riley.

Read our full story about what PFAS contamination has meant for Newburgh in English and in Spanish.

Guests:
Shantal Riley is an award-winning journalist and science writer, focused on environmental health.
Dr. Erin Bell is an environmental epidemiologist at the University at Albany in New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: And Then The Sub Went Silent

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Oceanographer Victoria Orphan’s dream was coming true. She was sitting in the Alvin submersible, on one of its deepest science dives ever. But the trip was anything but smooth sailing. Victoria takes us inside the sub, where her dream turns nightmarish as things start to go wrong, and Alvin pilot Nick O’Sadcia works frantically to troubleshoot. Oceanographer Shana Goffredi, who’s also Victoria’s wife, tells us about the tense scene unfolding on the ship miles above, as they wait for word from the sub.

“The Leap” is a 10-episode audio series that profiles scientists willing to take big risks to push the boundaries of discovery. It has premiered on Science Friday’s podcast feed every Monday since May 12. This is the final episode of the 2025 season.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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How These Spiders At The Bottom Of The Sea Run On Methane

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterscmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Sun, 13 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Researchers found a new sea spider with a giant nose, leg cannons, and—most remarkably—a novel way of surviving in the lightless, freezing environment miles below the sea surface. These oceanic arthropods are powered by methane that seeps out of the ocean floor.

Biologist Shana Goffredi joins Host Flora Lichtman to tell us more about the discovery and explain how we’re connected to these little beasts.

Guest: Dr. Shana Goffredi is a biology professor at Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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As Disasters Escalate, What’s The Future Of FEMA?

Fri, 11 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

President Trump has said that he wants to phase out FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, and move responsibility for dealing with major disasters to the state level. Since its creation in 1979, the agency has played a key role in coordinating emergency response nationally. Host Ira Flatow talks with Samantha Montano, an emergency management specialist and author of Disasterology: Dispatches from the Frontlines of the Climate Crisis, about the path forward for FEMA and how US emergency response efforts might change in the coming years.

Plus, how much can extreme flooding events be attributed to climate change? Host Flora Lichtman breaks down the science with Andrew Dessler, Director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather.

Guests:
Dr. Samantha Montano is an associate professor of emergency management at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy.
Dr. Andrew Dessler is the Director of the Texas Center for Extreme Weather.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Spaghetti Science And Mouth Taping Myths

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Most pasta is made from just two ingredients—flour and water. For decades this humble food has prompted physicists around the world to try to understand its mysterious properties and answer questions like: Why does a stick of spaghetti break into three pieces and not cleanly into two? And why is cacio e pepe so hard to perfect? The answers reveal more about the building blocks of the universe than you might expect. Host Ira Flatow talks with Joseph Howlett, math writer at Quanta Magazine, and author of a recent story for the BBC about spaghetti science.

And, if you frequent the wellness world on social media, you may have seen a trend popular with influencers: using adhesive tape to seal one’s mouth shut while sleeping. This is intended to help the sleeper breathe through their nose all night, which people claim has a slew of benefits including improved quality of sleep, reduced sleep apnea, a more defined jawline, and a brightened complexion. But should you add mouth taping to your nighttime routine? According to Dr. Linda Lee, physician and surgeon at Massachusetts Eye and Ear in Boston, you should be evaluated by a professional first.

Dr. Lee joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the right way to start nose breathing, what the scientific literature says (and doesn’t say) about mouth taping, and how social media is changing the information patients seek from their physicians.

Transcripts for each episode are available at sciencefriday.com.

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The Goo In Your Home Could Help Science Address Climate Change

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 9 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

We live in a world filled with microbes—they’re inside our bodies, in soil, in deep sea hydrothermal vents, and in your window AC unit. Some microbiologists are hopeful that finding more of these tiny organisms could help us address the climate crisis. Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about how are microbiologists James Henriksen and Lisa Stein.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Do GLP-1 Drugs Override Our Biology?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 8 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

GLP-1 medications like Ozempic have dominated headlines over the past couple of years. When writing his new book, Diet, Drugs and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight, former FDA commissioner David Kessler wanted to unpack the science beyond those headlines. He also has a personal relationship with the subject, having taken GLP-1 medications himself. Host Flora Lichtman joins Kessler to talk about the latest science on metabolism, weight loss, and how these blockbuster drugs actually work.

Guest:
Dr. David Kessler is the former commissioner of the FDA and the author of Diet, Drugs and Dopamine: The New Science of Achieving a Healthy Weight.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: Everything Else Is Boring

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 7 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In both her life and her work, researcher Karmella Haynes has never followed the pack. Karmella explains why she created her own area of research at the intersection of synthetic biology and epigenetics. Emory colleague David Katz weighs in on the challenges Karmella faces in pioneering a new research field. Plus Karmella’s sister Sherrone Wallace fills us in on their family life, and how their father raised them to inhabit spaces that weren’t always welcoming. Karmella has been recognized by the Hypothesis Fund as a Scout for her bold science and enabling others to pursue their big ideas.

“The Leap” is a 10-episode audio series that profiles scientists willing to take big risks to push the boundaries of discovery. It premieres on Science Friday’s podcast feed every Monday until July 21.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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The Seafaring Life Of ‘Modern-Day Captain Nemo,’ Robert Ballard

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 4 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In excerpts of two conversations from the Science Friday archives (originally recorded in 2000 and 2009), oceanographer Robert Ballard joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the 1985 expedition in which he discovered the wreck of the Titanic. He also emphasizes the value of combining the efforts of oceanographers, engineers, and social scientists to study the world’s deep oceans.

Guest:
Robert Ballard is a National Geographic Explorer-at-Large and a Professor of Oceanography in the Center for Ocean Exploration at the University of Rhode Island in Kingston, Rhode Island.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Understanding Sunscreen Ingredients And Which Ones You Need

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 3 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Summer is here, which means it’s the season for soaking up the sun. But it’s important to do so responsibly, considering the strong link between sun exposure and skin cancer. There are a lot of sunscreens on the market, so Hosts Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow join dermatologist Jonathan Ungar to discuss what ingredients to look for and how they work.

Guest:
Dr. Jonathan Ungar is a dermatologist and director of the Waldman Melanoma and Skin Cancer Center at Mount Sinai in New York, New York.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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In ‘Jurassic World Rebirth,’ Paleontology Is Still The Star

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 2 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The latest Jurassic World movie, “Jurassic World Rebirth,” is out today. The movie stars Scarlett Johansson (“The Avengers”) and Mahershala Ali (“Moonlight”). Their characters make a dangerous journey to an island chock-full of dinosaurs to get their hands on some dino blood for a life-saving heart medicine. But unfortunately for them, and luckily for us, things do not go as planned.

Producer Dee Peterschmidt saw the movie and has a behind-the-scenes look with the movie’s scientific consultant, paleontologist Steve Brusatte.

Guest:
Dr. Steve Brusatte is a paleontologist at the University of Edinburgh.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Does It Mean To Have A Chatbot Companion?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 1 Jul 2025 10:00:00 +0000

AI is not just for automating tasks or coming up with new recipe ideas. Increasingly, people are turning to AI chatbots for companionship. Roughly half a billion people worldwide have downloaded chatbots designed specifically to provide users with emotional and social support. And while these human-chatbot relationships might ease loneliness or simply be fun to have, these digital friends can also cause real harm by encouraging dangerous or inappropriate behavior—especially in children or teens.

To explore the emerging world of AI companion chatbots, Host Flora Lichtman is joined by freelance science reporter David Adam, who recently wrote about the effect of AI companions on mental health for Nature magazine; and Rose Guingrich, a psychology researcher studying interactions between humans and AI at Princeton University.

Guests:
David Adam is a freelance science reporter based in London.
Rose Guingrich is a researcher in the department of psychology at Princeton University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: Mars? It Was A Miracle We Got To Florida

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Geologist Steve Squyres risked his career and millions of dollars to get two rovers roaming on Mars. But the mission almost didn’t make it to the launch pad. Steve and NASA engineer Jennifer Trosper describe the many obstacles the team faced in getting Spirit and Opportunity ready, from ripped parachutes to fuzzy camera feeds, and the problem-solving it took to safely land the twin vehicles on Martian soil.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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After Her Grants Got Cut, This Researcher Is Suing The NIH

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 27 Jun 2025 13:27:50 +0000

Since January, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has made sweeping cuts to science. It's hard to keep track of how many research grants were canceled, but they add up to hundreds of millions—possibly billions—of dollars of research funding lost. Some scientists, like Dr. Katie Edwards, are taking the fight to the courts. Edwards studies interpersonal violence at the University of Michigan, and she speaks with Host Flora Lichtman about why she’s suing the NIH.

Guest:
Dr. Katie Edwards is the director of the Interpersonal Violence Research Laboratory and a professor of social work at the University of Michigan. She studies violence against marginalized communities.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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New Telescope Captures The Cosmos In Groundbreaking Detail

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The first images from the brand new Vera C. Rubin Observatory have finally been unveiled, and they show us the cosmos like never before. The camera captures so much detail that its first complete image contains about 10 million galaxies. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Federica Bianco about our dazzling new view of the night sky, how the camera works, and what cosmic mysteries it may reveal.

See images from the telescope on our website.

Guest: Dr. Federica Bianco is an astrophysicist at the University of Delaware and the deputy project scientist for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How Scientists Made The First Gene-Editing Treatment For A Baby

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 25 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Last month, scientists reported a historic first: they gave the first personalized gene-editing treatment to a baby who was born with a rare life-threatening genetic disorder. Before the treatment, his prognosis was grim. But after three doses, the baby’s health improved.

So how does it work? What are the risks? And what could this breakthrough mean for the 30 million people in the US who have a rare genetic disease with no available treatments?

To help get some answers, Host Flora Lichtman is joined by the physician-scientists who led this research: geneticist Dr. Kiran Musunuru and pediatrician Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas.

Guests:
Dr. Rebecca Ahrens-Nicklas is an assistant professor of pediatrics and genetics at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Kiran Musunuru is a professor of translational research at the University of Pennsylvania.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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Ancient Bone Proteins May Offer Insight On Megafauna Extinction

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Australia is known for its unusual animal life, from koalas to kangaroos. But once upon a time, the Australian landscape had even weirder fauna, like Palorchestes azael, a marsupial with immense claws and a small trunk. There was Protemnodon mamkurra, a massive, slow-moving, kangaroo-like creature. And Zygomaturus trilobus, a wombat the size of a hippo. They’re all extinct now, and researchers are trying to figure out why. Host Flora Lichtman talks with researcher Carli Peters about ZooMS, a technique that allows researchers to use collagen from ancient bone fragments to identify species, offering clues to those ancient extinction events. Peters recently described using the technique in the journal Frontiers in Mammal Science.

And, a recent study in the journal Nature Astronomy hints that our own Milky Way galaxy may not be doomed to collide with Andromeda after all. Till Sawala, an astrophysicist at the University of Helsinki, joins Flora to talk about the finding.

Guests:
Dr. Carli Peters is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behavior at the University of Algarve in Faro, Portugal.
Dr. Till Sawala is an astrophysicist at the University of Helsinki.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: You Do Realize… That’s Impossible

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

As a grad student, Suchitra Sebastian wasn’t sure she wanted to be a physicist. But when one of her experiments gave an unexpected result, she was hooked. Suchitra’s former PhD student Beng Sing Tan describes the late-night experiments that led to an “impossible” finding—a potentially new state of matter. Theoretical physicist Piers Coleman tells us about working on the edges of a scientific field, and what happens when a new theory ruffles old feathers.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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What We’re Learning From The James Webb Space Telescope

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Ira Flatow, Annette Heist) — Fri, 20 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started collecting data nearly three years ago, and it has already transformed our understanding of the universe. It has spotted the earliest galaxies ever seen, and, closer to home, captured auroras around Jupiter. So what’s the latest from the JWST? In this live broadcast, Hosts Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow talk with astrophysicist Macarena Garcia Marin, deputy project director for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Guest:
Dr. Macarena Garcia Marin is an astrophysicist and instrument scientist for the European Space Agency. She’s also deputy project director for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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How ‘Super Agers’ Stay Sharp And Active Longer Than Their Peers

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annette Heist, Ira Flatow, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Ever noticed how some people get to their 80s and 90s and continue to be healthy and active? They spend their days playing mahjong, driving to lunch, learning shuffle dancing, and practicing Portuguese. Those are “super agers,” seniors who stay fit well into old age. How do they do it? Is it luck or genetics? In this live broadcast, Hosts Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow discuss the science of aging with two experts on the topic, cardiologist Eric Topol and neuroscientist Emily Rogalski.

Guests:
Dr. Eric Topol is an author, practicing cardiologist at the Scripps Clinic, and a genomics professor at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California.
Dr. Emily Rogalski is a clinical and cognitive neuroscientist, and the director of the Healthy Aging & Alzheimer’s Research Care Center at the University of Chicago.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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A Dino’s Last Dinner And Eavesdropping Birds

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 18 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

While there are a lot of dinosaur fossils, and a lot of plant fossils, the precise connection between the two has been something of a mystery. Now, researchers report that they’ve found what’s called a cololite, fossilized gut contents, in the remains of a sauropod—a massive, long-necked plant-eater. The dino’s last meal dates back 95 to 100 million years. Paleontologist Stephen Poropat joins Host Flora Lichtman to dig into the mysteries of a dinosaur’s tummy.

And, for prairie dogs, communication is key. The rodents’ yips and barks can warn when danger is near—and not just to other prairie dogs. A new study suggests that birds called long-billed curlews are eavesdropping on this chatter to learn when a predator is lurking nearby. Using speakers and a taxidermied badger on wheels, ornithologists are untangling the social dynamics of black-tailed prairie dogs. Host Flora Lichtman talks with study author Andrew Dreelin about this eavesdropping behavior and what it means for conservation.

Guests:
Dr. Stephen Poropat is a paleontologist and deputy director of the Western Australian Organic and Isotope Geochemistry Centre at Curtin University in Perth, Australia.
Andrew Dreelin is a research fellow with the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and a PhD candidate at Northern Illinois University.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What Are The Best Practices For Prostate Cancer Screening?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 17 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Last month, former President Joe Biden announced that he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. The news sparked a larger conversation about what exactly the best practices are to screen for prostate cancer. Turns out, it’s more complicated than it might seem. Host Ira Flatow is joined by oncologist Matthew Cooperberg and statistician Andrew Vickers, who studies prostate cancer screening, to help unpack those complexities.

Guests:
Dr. Matthew Cooperberg is a urologic oncologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
Dr. Andrew Vickers is a statistician who studies the efficacy of prostate cancer screening at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center based in New York City.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: Garbage In, Garbage Out

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Biochemist Virginia Man-Yee Lee has spent a lifetime in the lab, figuring out what happens in the brains of people with neurodegenerative diseases. She’s made key discoveries about Parkinson's, ALS, and Alzheimer's.The secret to her success? Happiness. “If you're not happy, you don’t know what you’re capable of,” Lee says. Neurologist Ken Kosick reflects on the early days of Alzheimer’s research, and neurologist Alice S. Chen-Plotkin, a former postdoc in Virginia’s lab, gives us a fly-on-the-wall look at the unusual research partnership between Lee and her husband John Trojanowski.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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RFK Jr. Reshuffles CDC Vaccine Panel With Vaccine Skeptics

Fri, 13 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On Monday, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 members of the panel that advises the CDC on who should get certain vaccines and when. Then on Thursday, he appointed eight new members, some of whom have been critical of vaccines in the past. So who exactly is new on the panel and how are medical experts reacting?

Sophie Bushwick from New Scientist breaks down this reshuffling and the other top science stories of the week, including Starlink’s leaky satellites, Earth’s possible past encounters with dark matter, IBM’s quantum computing plans, a device that can extract water from dry air, and how a paralyzed man was able to speak thanks to brain-controlled synthetic voice.

Plus, nearly one in four Americans live within three miles of a Superfund site, places that are contaminated with hazardous waste and flagged for cleanup by the government. Amid sweeping cuts to science and environmental programs, the Trump administration appears to be prioritizing the cleanup of these polluted sites. But why? Host Flora Lichtman talks with science journalist Shahla Farzan about the Trump administration’s approach to cleaning up Superfund sites and what this means for impacted communities.

Read Farzan’s full story about the move to expedite cleanup, and her past coverage of how floods can impact the areas surrounding Superfund sites.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

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What’s Next For China’s Space Program?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 12 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

This week, China’s Tianwen-2 spacecraft sent back its first image from space. It’s headed to a rendezvous with the asteroid Kamoʻoalewa, one of Earth’s “quasi-moons,” where it will collect samples in 2026. The mission comes after several successful lunar missions, including a lunar rover and a sample return mission from the far side of the moon. Host Ira Flatow talks with reporter Ling Xin from the South China Morning Post about the goals of China’s space program, and what might be ahead.

Plus, astronomer Dean Regas describes his new “tactile astronomy” book, which seeks to bring stories of the constellations to young blind and low-vision readers.

Guests:
Ling Xin is a science reporter at the South China Morning Post based in Ohio.
Dean Regas is an astronomer, host of the “Looking Up” podcast, and author of the new book All About Orion.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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The Ruin And Redemption Of The American Prairie

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The prairie might just be the most underappreciated landscape in the United States. Beginning in the early 1800s, the majority of these grasslands were converted into big industrial farms. Now, some unaffectionately refer to it as “flyover country.”

Host Ira Flatow talks with Dave Hage and Josephine Marcotty, authors of Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie, about the loss of biodiversity on the American prairie and those working to restore what remains.

Guests:
Dave Hage is a longtime environmental reporter and co-author of Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie, based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Josephine Marcotty is a longtime environmental reporter and co-author of Sea of Grass: The Conquest, Ruin and Redemption of Nature on the American Prairie, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Transcript will be available on sciencefriday.com.

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Bedbugs Have Been Bugging Us Since Before Beds

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Bedbug infestations are not just a modern problem—these pests have been with early human ancestors for 245,000 years, causing problems long before the invention of beds. Lindsay Miles, an entomologist at Virginia Tech, has found that changes in bedbug population size mirrored those of humans, proving they might be our first pest. Miles talks with Host Flora Lichtman about our history with bedbugs and why they’re such prolific pests.

Plus, the discovery of a new wasp that catches its prey… with butt flaps. Dr. Lars Vilhelmsen, curator at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen tells us all about it.

Guests:
Dr. Lindsay Miles is an entomologist at Virginia Tech.
Dr. Lars Vilhelmsen is a curator at the Natural History Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: A Scientist’s Quest To See Every Organism On Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 9 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Manu Prakash is many things—biologist, engineer, inventor, philosopher—but what he isn’t is conventional. Following his instincts has led Manu to his most ambitious project yet: mapping the whole tree of life, with the help of everyone on this planet. Step one: make a cheap microscope anyone can use. Foldscope co-inventor Jim Cybulski describes their invention, and their dream to supply millions of microscopes to the masses. Manu has been recognized by the Hypothesis Fund as a Scout for his bold science and enabling others to pursue their big ideas.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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Are We Prepared To Fight ‘The New Polio’?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 6 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

A mysterious disease called acute flaccid myelitis (AFM) has been appearing in emergency rooms for about a decade. The disease has caused otherwise healthy children to lose the ability to move their arms and legs, and some become completely paralyzed. AFM is caused by a virus that's a cousin of the polio virus, earning it the nickname "the new polio.” Journalist and physician Eli Cahan joins Host Flora Lichtman to explain what doctors have been observing, the research efforts toward developing a vaccine, and what this emerging disease reveals about our readiness for future outbreaks and pandemics.

Read Cahan’s article about what fighting this “new polio” might look like as our healthcare infrastructure gets dismantled.

And, learning more about some non-cancerous cells may help researchers better understand how cancer progresses. When you think about how cancer spreads in the body, you’re probably thinking about cancer cells—they divide uncontrollably, form into tumors, and hide from the immune system. So, it makes sense that studying the behavior of these cells is critical to our understanding of cancer. But now, researchers are looking more closely at the non-cancerous cells that co-exist within tumors and the surrounding tissues. They make up what’s called the “colocateome.” Taking this more holistic approach to cancer research may help explain why some treatments don't work for all patients, and eventually may lead to more effective therapies. To better understand this expanding field, Host Ira Flatow talks with Sylvia Plevritis, a Stanford University cancer researcher.

Correction: In the second story of this episode, with Dr. Sylvia Plevritis, we misspoke and said, “Some of the hardest to treat tumors are actually non-cancer cells.” This was in reference to tumors that are mostly non-cancer cells, not entirely non-cancer cells.

Guests:
Dr. Eli Cahan is a journalist and physician based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Dr. Sylvia Plevritis is a professor of biomedical data science and radiology at Stanford University.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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How Science Communication Can Step Up Amid Federal Cuts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Thu, 5 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s a precarious time for science in the United States. Federal funding is being slashed, career scientists are being laid off, and researchers are considering leaving to work abroad. On top of that, public trust in science and experts has declined. Besides acknowledging the federal attacks on science, a lot of scientists are also asking themselves: What are we doing wrong? How do we engage the public? And what could we do better?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to dig through these questions is Felice Frankel, a science photographer and chemical engineer at MIT. She’s also the author of the upcoming book Phenomenal Moments: Revealing the Hidden Science Around Us, out this fall.

Guest:
Felice Frankel is a science photographer and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the department of chemical engineering.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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How Cannibalistic Tadpoles Could Curb Invasive Cane Toads

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 4 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

South American cane toads were brought to Australia in 1935 to help eradicate native beetles that were destroying sugar cane crops. The toads didn’t care much for the beetles, but they did spread across the coast of Queensland and beyond, with no natural predators to stop them. Their own deadly toxin devastated local reptiles along the way, and they now number over 200 million.

Invasive biologists have long tried to curb Australia’s cane toad population. The newest approach uses CRISPR gene-editing technology to create cannibalistic “Peter Pan” cane toad tadpoles: tadpoles that don’t fully mature and instead feast on the tens of thousands of eggs that the toads produce.

How was this approach developed, and how do these researchers think about making a potentially massive change to the ecosystem? Biologist Rick Shine, who has led the effort, joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss it. Later, science journalist Elizabeth Kolbert talks about her experience reporting on similar monumental efforts to control nature—and what they say about us.

Guests:
Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future (Crown, 2021). She’s based in Williamstown, Massachusetts.
Dr. Rick Shine is a professor of biology at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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Turning The Binoculars On Birders

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 3 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Birding is a hobby that attracts a very particular group of people: the kind who get up at sunrise, go into the woods, and wait for hours for a little tiny feathered friend to fly past. Author and illustrator Rosemary Mosco guides us into the world of birding with her new book, The Birding Dictionary. Plus, biologist Sara Lipshutz fills us in on the surprisingly high-drama world of some female birds.

Guests: Rosemary Mosco is an author, illustrator, and speaker whose work connects people with the natural world. Her latest book is The Birding Dictionary.

Dr. Sara Lipshutz is an assistant professor in biology at Duke University.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: Be Bold Or Just Don't Do It

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 2 Jun 2025 10:00:00 +0000

As a young plant scientist, Joanne Chory shook up the research establishment with her unconventional approach to figuring out how plants work. Her methods and success changed the field, and led her to her biggest project yet—tackling climate change, with the help of millions of plants. Colleagues Steve Kay, Detlef Weigel, and Jennifer Nemhauser describe what made Joanne outstanding in the field of plant scientists. Plus Joanne’s sister, Mary Ann Chory, describes their early family life and the sibling relationships that shaped them. Joanne Chory died in November 2024 at age 69 from complications due to Parkinson’s disease.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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What Huge Cuts To NSF Funding Mean For Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 30 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Grant funding by the National Science Foundation has been cut by more than half this year, bringing the foundation’s science funding to its lowest level in decades. Katrina Miller, who covers science for the New York Times, joins Host Flora Lichtman to unpack the cutbacks and discuss where the funding changes might lead.

And, the FDA has cleared a blood test to help diagnose Alzheimer’s disease. The first-of-its-kind test measures the levels of amyloid and tau proteins in a patient’s blood, two major biomarkers of the disease. Alzheimer’s researcher Jason Karlawish joins Flora to explain this new diagnostic tool and what it means for patients.

Guests:

Katrina Miller is a science reporter for The New York Times based in Chicago.

Dr. Jason Karlawish is a professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, and co-director of the Penn Memory Center, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Happens When Air Traffic Control Systems Go Dark?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 29 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

At the end of April, air traffic control radar surveillance and radio communication systems at Newark Liberty International Airport went dark for over a minute. A week and half later, radar went down again briefly. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has since cut down the number of flights in and out of Newark. But, how does our air traffic control system work? How do air traffic controllers keep track of all of the planes in the sky? And what happens when systems fail? Michael McCormick, a former air traffic control operations manager at the FAA, joins Host Flora Lichtman to dive into the science of air traffic control.

Guest:
Dr. Michael McCormick is a former vice president of the FAA’s Air Traffic Organization, and an associate professor and program coordinator of Air Traffic Management at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

Transcripts for the segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Could The NIH Plan For A ‘Universal Vaccine’ Really Work?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 28 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

At the beginning of May, the National Institutes of Health, part of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a plan to develop a universal vaccine platform. Think: a single shot for flu or COVID-19 that would last years, maybe a lifetime. The plan—called Generation Gold Standard—has a reported budget of $500 million, and a tight deadline. But will it work? And where does the science on this actually stand? In this live broadcast, Hosts Flora Lichtman and Ira Flatow talk with epidemiologist Michael Osterholm and vaccine researcher Ted Ross.

Guests:
Michael Osterholm is Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Dr. Ted Ross is the global director of vaccine research at the Cleveland Clinic’s Florida Research and Innovation Center in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: This Is Going To Kill Your Career

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 27 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Betül Kaçar started her scientific career as a biochemist, working on an enzyme found in zebrafish. But then she found her calling: investigating some of the hardest questions in evolutionary biology by resurrecting ancient life forms. NASA administrator Melissa Kirven-Brooks recalls the fellowship application that put Betül on her radar. And evolutionary biologist and geneticist Harmit Malik weighs in on what makes Betül's project so hard, and why he’s kind of jealous he didn’t think of it first. Betül previously received a Hypothesis Fund Award for her research.

Guest:
Dr. Betül Kaçar, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and leader of a NASA-funded multi-institutional research center focusing on life’s early evolution

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Of That Big Stunt From The New ‘Mission: Impossible’

Fri, 23 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The “Mission: Impossible” franchise is known for its big stunts, and the newest film is no exception. Producer Kathleen Davis talks to the film’s stunt coordinator, Wade Eastwood, about the science behind one big underwater scene. Plus, psychologist Kenneth Carter joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about what makes high-adrenaline adventurers tick.

Take this questionnaire to see where you fall on the "sensation scale" Carter mentioned in this episode.

Guests:
Wade Eastwood is a stunt coordinator, stunt performer, and director in the film and television industry. He was the second unit director and stunt coordinator on "Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning."
Dr. Kenneth Carter is a Professor of Psychology at Oxford College of Emory University, and the author of Buzz!: Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils, and Adrenaline Junkies.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Meet A Pioneer Of Modern Weather Prediction

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday and WNYC Studios) — Thu, 22 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Climate scientist Jagadish Shukla grew up in a small village in rural India, where people starved if the monsoon season didn’t bring rain. To help his village, he set out to become a scientist and discover a way to predict the seasons—an unthinkable idea at the time, in the 1960s and ‘70s. Shukla became a pioneer in modern weather forecasting, and he tells his unlikely story in his new memoir, A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory. He talks with Host Flora Lichtman about his journey to becoming a leading climate scientist, the state of weather forecasting today, and why forecasting is more important than ever in the face of climate change.

Guest:
Dr. Jagadish Shukla, author of A Billion Butterflies: A Life in Climate and Chaos Theory and climate scientist at George Mason University

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Are Physical Buttons And Knobs Making A Comeback?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 21 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In recent years, digital touchscreens have replaced many of the buttons and knobs that control various functions in cars. But when Host Ira Flatow went shopping for a new car, he noticed that physical controls seemed to be making a comeback. But will the rise of technologies like voice recognition and automation make cars more button-centric, or less? Ira talks with car ergonomics engineer James Forbes and buttonologist Rachel Plotnick about the advantages and disadvantages of the physical button or knob, and what might lead an automaker to choose one type of control over another.

Guests:
James Forbes, professor of practice in the department of automotive engineering at Clemson University.
Rachel Plotnick, author of Power Button: A History of Pleasure, Panic, and the Politics of Pushing (The MIT Press, 2018).

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Scientists Identify Genes For Tomato And Eggplant Size

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 20 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Tomatoes come in all kinds of colors, sizes, and flavors. But what’s going on at the genetic level? What makes a tomato red or yellow? Tiny or giant?

Researchers are mapping the genomes of 22 varieties of nightshades—the family of plants that includes tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. They located the genes that control the size of tomatoes and eggplants and then used CRISPR gene editing to grow bigger fruits without sacrificing flavor.

Geneticist Michael Schatz joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about his latest research into nightshade genomes and the current state of genetically modified crops.

Guest: Dr. Michael Schatz, professor of computational biology and oncology at Johns Hopkins University, based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: The Volcano Whisperer

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 19 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

As a teenager living in St. Vincent, Richie Robertson saw first-hand what a volcanic eruption did to life on the island. Forty years later, he was the scientist the community turned to when the same volcano roared back to life. Richie’s colleague, Stacey Edwards of the UWI Seismic Research Centre, explains how Richie earned the trust of the community, and why it was important to have a Vincentian leading the way in a crisis.

Guests:
Dr. Richard Robertson, geologist at the UWI Seismic Research Centre
Stacey Edwards, education & outreach manager at the UWI Seismic Research Centre

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Lesser Prairie Chicken May Lose Endangered Species Status

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 16 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The lesser prairie chicken was granted endangered species status in 2023. Now the Department of the Interior is moving to revoke those protections. What can this bird known for its flamboyant courtship rituals tell us about the Trump administration’s approach to environmental policy and protections for endangered species?

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Producer Shoshannah Buxbaum and Vox environmental reporter Benji Jones to talk about his reporting on the lesser prairie chicken and other science stories of the week including, Trump supporters in the wind energy sector, at-home cervical cancer screening, a new fossil from an ancient bird ancestor, the latest brood of cicadas emerging, and how flamingos eat with their heads upside down underwater.

Guests:
Benji Jones, environmental correspondent at Vox
Shoshannah Buxbaum, producer at Science Friday

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Tracking The Hidden Dangers Of Fighting Fires

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 15 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Firefighting is a career with an inherent cancer risk, but a full understanding of what those risks are has been elusive. An important registry designed to help understand the link between firefighters and cancer was taken offline on April 1 because of federal cuts, then restored six weeks later. Host Flora Lichtman discusses this with firefighter health researcher Sara Jahnke and reporter Murphy Woodhouse from Boise State Public Radio and the Mountain West News Bureau.

Plus, pests and pathogens are ravaging keystone tree species in forests across the country. Flora discusses the innovative science behind breeding pest-resistant trees with Leigh Greenwood from The Nature Conservancy.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Identifying New Plants, And The Scientific Secrets Of Superfoods

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 14 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

What does it take to create and maintain one of the largest repositories of botanical information in the world? For starters, it can mean helicopter-ing into remote nooks of the Amazon, hiking through rough terrain, looking for strange fruits and flowers, and climbing trees to pluck specimens from the branches. Then there’s all the science required to identify, classify, and codify those species.

Botanists Lúcia Lohmann and Charlotte Taylor join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss their work discovering new plant species and maintaining the storied Missouri Botanical Garden.

And, what does it mean to be a superfood? What is the science of micronutrient-dense foods like millet, which get less hype than foods like açaí, goji berries, and quinoa? Flora talks with biological engineer Kiruba Krishnaswamy, who puts food under a microscope—literally—and studies the nutrients that help make our bodies function, in hopes of harnessing them to fight hunger worldwide.

Guests:
Dr. Lúcia Lohmann, professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and president and director of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Dr. Charlotte Taylor, botanist and senior curator at the Missouri Botanical Garden
Dr. Kiruba Krishnaswamy, assistant professor in the Colleges of Engineering and Agriculture at the University of Missouri

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Designing Hyperrealistic Body Parts, From Eyeballs To Placentas

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 13 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Medical sculptor Damon Coyle walks around with a Mary Poppins bag of body parts. Fake ones, that is. At the University of Missouri, his lab creates hyperrealistic body parts designed to help medical providers practice for real-world surgeries and procedures. They make things like lifelike arms for practicing blood draws or a set of eyeballs for ocular trauma training. On stage in Columbia, Missouri, Damon talks with Host Flora Lichtman about how he creates these eerily realistic body parts and how they’re used.

Guest: Damon Coyle, medical sculptor and innovation specialist at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Leap: I Was Considered A Nobody

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 12 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Biochemist Kati Karikó spent decades experimenting with mRNA, convinced that she could solve the problems that had kept it from being used as a therapeutic. Her tireless, methodical work was dismissed and she was ridiculed. But that work laid the foundation for the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines that saved millions of lives, and was recognized by a Nobel Prize in 2023. Kati shares her secret weapon for dealing with stress and naysayers. Plus, neurologist David Langer describes Kati’s exacting research style, and her daughter, Olympic gold medalist Susan Francia, reveals the life lessons that led them both to the winner’s circle.

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Cuts To NASA And A Fast-Track For Deep Sea Mining

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 9 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 for NASA. It would slash funding for science while setting billions aside for initiatives to send humans to the moon and Mars. New Scientist editor Sophie Bushwick joins us to talk about this, as well as other news in science, like how many U.S. cities are sinking, the search for geologic hydrogen within mountains, the first photos of free-floating atoms, Chinese poetry about porpoises, and cicadas turned into speakers.

And, President Trump recently issued an executive order that would fast-track access for deep sea mining. Soon after, a Canadian company called The Metals Company submitted the first application for NOAA to review. This has raised environmental and climate concerns, as well as geopolitical tensions. Ocean geologist Sandor Mulsow breaks down what’s at stake for the ocean.

Guests:
Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist in NYC
Dr. Sandor Mulsow, marine geologist at the Austral University of Chile

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 8 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Guest: Dr. Bonnie Bassler, microbiologist at Princeton University

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Functional Fashion From An Artist And A Caterpillar

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 7 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 mountainside in Oahu, Hawaii, shares the juicy details.

And, what if clothes could remember our experiences? Computer programmer and artist Laura Devendorf is making textiles embedded with sensors and other tech that can tell us about our lives. One dress she made recorded her physical interactions with her kids—and played them back. Laura joins Host Flora Lichtman and spins a yarn about the future of e-textiles.

Transcript will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Ancient Iguanas Floated 5,000 Miles Across The Pacific | A Pregnant Ichthyosaur Fossil

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 6 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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

If you picture iguanas, you might imagine them sunbathing on hot sand in the Caribbean or skittering around the Mojave Desert. But far, far away from where these iguanas are found is another group of iguanas living on the islands of Fiji and Tonga in the South Pacific—closer to New Zealand than the Americas. And it raises the question: How in the world did these iguanas end up all alone, on the other side of the ocean? In a study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in March, scientists suggest that millions of years ago, iguanas hitched a ride on a raft and accidentally sailed all the way across the ocean before washing ashore and starting a new life. Host Flora Lichtman discusses the iguanas’ intrepid adventure with lead author Dr. Simon Scarpetta, evolutionary biologist and assistant professor at the University of San Francisco in California.

Meet Fiona, The Pregnant Icthyosaur Fossil

In the Patagonia region of Chile, Torres del Paine National Park is a graveyard of ichthyosaurs—ancient, dolphin-like reptiles that roamed the oceans when dinosaurs dominated the land. Nearly 90 of these giant reptiles’ fossils have been found amongst the glaciers. But the standout in the bone heap is Fiona, an ichthyosaur that lived 131 million years ago. She’s in pristine condition, the only fully preserved ichthyosaur in Chile. And, she died pregnant. She’s teaching paleontologists about the evolution of her species. And some of those findings were recently published in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Host Flora Lichtman talks with lead author Dr. Judith Pardo-Pérez, paleontologist at the University of Magallanes in Chile.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Are There Things That We Know We Can’t Know?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 5 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 Cosmos, astronomer Dr. Kelsey Johnson describes some of those concepts, and sketches out ways to try to wrap your brain around them. Johnson joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the limits of scientific inquiry, and what mysteries lie at the limits of science.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Two Steps Forward For Meat Alternatives

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 2 May 2025 10:07:40 +0000

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: the largest lab-grown chicken nugget and a plant-based fried calamari that tastes like the real thing.

Producer Kathleen Davis joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss these morsels of research and other science news of the week, including mandatory composting hitting the largest U.S. city, why human wounds heal slower than our primate cousins, and the disinfecting limitations of at-home washing machines.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations | Regional Allergies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 1 May 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Death metal vocalists also train their voices to hit that unique guttural register. And those iconic screams are not as easy to master as they might seem.

Vocal scientists at the University of Utah are now bringing death metal singers into the lab to try to understand how they make their extreme vocalizations. What they’re finding is not only insightful for metalheads, but might also help improve treatment for people with some types of vocal injuries. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Amanda Stark, speech pathologist and vocology researcher at the University of Utah, and Mark Garrett, vocal coach and lead singer of the band Kardashev.

Read the whole story at sciencefriday.com.

Also, we share a follow-up to our story about seasonal allergies based on a listener’s question about her family’s allergies.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A New Book On The Horrifying, Creative World Of Insect Zombies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 30 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

It’s zombie season! At least if you’re watching the new season of the fungal thriller “The Last of Us,” airing right now on Max, which chronicles what happens after a fungus turns most of humanity into zombies.

It’s fiction for us, but for some organisms on the planet, it’s more like a documentary. The fungus that zombifies humanity in the show is based on Ophiocordyceps, a real fungal group that infects ants, takes over their brains and bodies, and turns them into spore factories.

But this isn’t the only example of real-life zombies. Science writer Mindy Weisberger found a whole book’s worth of stories about horrifying and creative zombies and zombie-makers that inhabit the Earth, which she writes about in Rise of the Zombie Bugs: The Surprising Science of Parasitic Mind-Control.

Host Flora Lichtman sits down with Weisberger to talk about the creepy and inventive lifestyles of these parasites, and how studying these zombifiers can teach us about ourselves.

Read an excerpt from Rise Of The Zombie Bugs.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Untangling The Mind-Body Connection In Chronic Pain

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 29 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 in the US live with it. And people with chronic pain are more likely to have depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. But this relationship between physical and mental health is not as straightforward as you might think, and there’s still a stigma attached to neuro-psychological causes of chronic pain.

The latest research suggests that untangling the connections between mind and body is a key part of developing better treatments for people with chronic pain. Now, a new psychological treatment called pain reprocessing therapy has shown initial success in eliminating back pain in research participants.

Producer Shoshannah Buxbaum joins Host Flora Lichtman to share her reporting on the intersection of mental health and chronic pain.

Transcript for this story will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Precisely Pointed Laser Allows People To See New Color ‘Olo’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 present them with light in a form they’d never encounter in the natural world? What would we see?

This week, researchers reported in the journal Science Advances that by using precisely aimed laser light, they were able to selectively target just one of the three types of color-sensing cones in the human retina. The cone, dubbed “M” because it responds to medium wavelengths of light, is normally stimulated at the same time as cones that respond to longer wavelength reddish light, or shorter wavelength bluish light. But after mapping the location of the cones in several subjects’ eyes, the researchers were able to target just the M cones with one specific wavelength of green laser light—a condition that would never exist in nature. The result, they say, is a highly saturated bluish-green teal color unlike anything in the real world. The researchers named their new color “olo.”

Study author James Fong, a computer science PhD student at University of California Berkeley, and his advisor, Dr. Ren Ng, join Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the project, and the possibility of expanding the limits of human color perception.

Transcript for this story will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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$8B Of Climate Tech Projects Canceled | In Louisiana, A Successful, Growing Wetland

Fri, 25 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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

In the first three months of the Trump administration, officials have been aggressive in cancelling climate change related efforts, from enacting layoffs at large agencies to withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement and rescinding federal funding for green research and infrastructure.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to break down the changes we’re starting to see in climate policy and clean tech on the ground is Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review. They also talk about other science news of the week, including a Florida-based startup that’s recycling solar panels, an update on the growing measles outbreak in the Southwest, signs of a US science brain drain, humanoid robot participants in the Beijing half marathon, and how bats manage to drink on the fly.

In Louisiana, A Chance To Study A Successful, Growing Wetland

Amid the rapid erosion of Louisiana’s coast, something hopeful is happening where the Atchafalaya River meets the Gulf. A flow of sediment from a decades-old river diversion has accidentally given birth to new wetlands.

While that small delta is dwarfed by what’s washing away all around it, researchers have gained knowledge from Wax Lake Delta that could help save the rest of Louisiana’s coast and contribute to a better understanding of wetland science across the globe.

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Investigating Cat Behavior Through Genetics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 are working to close the cat gap by enlisting cat caretakers from across the country to submit a tuft of fur and answer a few questions about their feline’s appearance, personality, and behaviors.

Host Flora Lichtman talks about the project, as well as what we do and don’t know about cat genetics, with Dr. Elinor Karlsson, chief scientific officer at Darwin’s Ark, and director of the Vertebrate Genomics Group at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard Universities.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Advances In Brain-Computer Interfaces For People With Paralysis

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

An evolving technology is changing the lives of people with paralysis: brain-computer interfaces (BCI). These are devices that are implanted in the brain and record neural activity, then translate those signals into commands for a computer. This allows people to type, play computer games, and talk with others just by thinking, allowing more freedom to communicate.

For decades, this technology has looked like a person controlling a cursor on a screen. But this work has advanced, and in a recent breakthrough, a person with paralysis in all four limbs was able to move a virtual quadcopter with extreme precision by thinking about moving it with their fingers.

Another area of BCI research involves speech. Recent work has shown promise in allowing people with vocal paralysis to “speak” through a computer, using old recordings to recreate the person’s voice from before their paralysis.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss the state of this technology, and where it may be headed, are Dr. Matthew Willsey, assistant professor of neurosurgery and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Sergey Stavisky, assistant professor of neurosurgery and co-director of the Neuroprosthetics Lab at the University of California, Davis.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Blind Inventor’s Life Of Advocacy And Innovation

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, inventor Josh Miele recounts his life story and path to becoming an accessibility designer.

When inventor and scientist Josh Miele was 4 years old, a neighbor poured sulfuric acid on his head, burning and permanently blinding him. In his new book Connecting Dots: A Blind Life, Miele chronicles what happened afterwards, growing up as a blind kid, and how he built his career as an inventor and designer of adaptive technology.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Joshua Miele, an Amazon Design Scholar and MacArthur Fellow, or “Genius Grant” recipient. They talk about the inspiration for the book, how he grew into his career, and how disabled people need to be included in the technology revolution.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Lack Of Science In Road Design Is Deadly

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 for the crashes and the tens of thousands of annual fatalities that happen on our roads, including Dr. Wes Marshall, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Denver. In his book Killed By A Traffic Engineer: Shattering the Delusion that Science Underlies our Transportation System, he digs into the standards that have dictated traffic design for decades to find out exactly how much science they’re based on. Spoiler alert: It’s a lot less than you’d think.

Host Flora Lichtman sits down with Dr. Marshall to talk about how we got to this point and what a safer version of our streets could look like.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe | A Colossal Squid Video

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 18 Apr 2025 20:00:00 +0000

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

In major galactic news, scientists may have detected possible signs of life on a planet right here in our galaxy. Is this one of the best hints we’ve gotten that alien life exists? Host Flora Lichtman gets into it with Anil Oza, the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow at STAT and MIT. They discuss the latest in alien life, the Trump’s administration cuts to the “indirect costs” of science funding, the largest map of a brain yet, and how salmon on anti-anxiety meds make bolder choices.

A Colossal Squid Video? That’s A Big Deal

This week, scientists announced that they had captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid in its natural habitat, recorded some 1,968 feet (600 m) below the ocean surface near the South Sandwich Islands. While there have been sightings of the colossal squid before, they have mainly been of individuals entangled with fishing equipment—and much of what is known about the elusive creatures comes from dead specimens.

The video was captured by scientists on board the R/V Falkor (too) during an Ocean Census expedition searching for new marine life. As the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian descended towards the ocean floor, its cameras caught sight of a juvenile squid roughly one foot long (30 cm), and captured over a minute of high resolution video. The footage was later analyzed by experts and determined to be a colossal squid.

Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to 23 feet (7 m) in length and can weigh as much as 1,100 pounds (500 kg), making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. They are not the same as the giant squid, an entirely different species, which can grow to be longer but are lighter and slimmer.

Dr. Kat Bolstad, one of the squid experts the researchers sent their videos to for identification, joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the sighting.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How ‘Science Interpreters’ Make Hidden Science Visible

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Imagine you’re diving into a cell. You’re paddling around in the cytoplasm, you’re climbing up a mitochondria. If you’re having a hard time picturing this, that’s okay! There are professionals who do this for a living.

We wanted to learn more from expert science interpreters, who take the results section of a research paper and translate it into something tangible, like a 40-foot dinosaur skeleton or a 3D animation of cellular machinery too small to see.

At a live event in Salt Lake City in March, Host Flora Lichtman spoke with Dr. Janet Iwasa, head of the University of Utah’s Animation Lab and director of the Genetic Science Learning Center; and Tim Lee, director of exhibits at the Natural History Museum of Utah, about how they bring these out-of-reach worlds to life.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Navajo Researcher Reviving A Desert Peach | A New Dino With Blade-Like Horns

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi, Diana Plasker, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 16 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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.

How A Navajo Plant Researcher Is Reviving A Desert Peach

When you think of states known for their peaches, Utah might not be at the top of your list. But there is a variety—the Southwest peach—that grows in this arid landscape, and Native communities have cultivated this tree since the 1600s. But many of the orchards were intentionally destroyed by colonizers hundreds of years ago, and the remaining trees are now scattered across the region.

A local scientist and member of the Navajo Nation is on a mission to track down Southwest peach trees so we can learn more about how these peaches are so well-suited to grow in the desert.

At a live event in Salt Lake City in March, Host Flora Lichtman spoke with Reagan Wytsalucy, plant scientist and assistant professor at Utah State University Extension in San Juan County, Utah. She researches traditional Native American crops, including the Southwest peach.

Meet Lokiceratops, A Giant Dinosaur With Blade-Like Horns

The Intermountain West is a dinosaur nerd’s dream because it’s such a hotspot for fossils. Some of the most famous dino fossils in the world, like T. rex, triceratops, and stegosaurus can be found in western North America. So, of course, Science Friday couldn’t go to Salt Lake City, Utah, without digging into some dinosaur science.

At a live event in Salt Lake City in March, Host Ira Flatow spoke with the scientists behind the discovery of Lokiceratops, a large dinosaur with impressive horns that was unveiled in 2024. Dr. Mark Loewen, vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Utah and the Natural History Museum of Utah; and Savhannah Carpenter, paleontologist and school outreach coordinator at the Natural History Museum of Utah, discuss how they figured out Loki was a new dinosaur, the process of describing and naming the fossil, and what it taught them about dino evolution.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Interjections Regulate Conversation | Saccharin For Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 15 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

We are rounding up your questions about roads. What confounds you about traffic, or how interstates are laid out? Are there certain road design elements that ignite your road rage? Tell us about it: we’ve got a traffic engineer in the passenger seat this week, ready to answer your questions. Call us at (877) 4-SCIFRI or 877-472-4374.

In this episode, 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.

Huh? The Valuable Role Of Interjections

Listen carefully to a spoken conversation and you’ll notice that the speakers use a lot of little quasi-words—mm-hmm, um, huh? and the like—that don’t convey any information about the topic of the conversation itself. For many decades, linguists regarded such utterances as largely irrelevant noise, the flotsam and jetsam that accumulate on the margins of language when speakers aren’t as articulate as they’d like to be.

But these little words may be much more important than that. A few linguists now think that far from being detritus, they may be crucial traffic signals to regulate the flow of conversation as well as tools to negotiate mutual understanding. That puts them at the heart of language itself—and they may be the hardest part of language for artificial intelligence to master.

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

A Sweet New Treatment For Antibiotic Resistant Infections?

Researchers have discovered that the artificial sweetener saccharin has powerful antimicrobial properties. A new study published in EMBO Molecular Medicine suggests that saccharin can actually kill antibiotic resistant bacteria by interfering with DNA replication and cell division. The researchers also concluded that, with the help of traditional antibiotics, saccharin could even be used as an effective wound treatment.

Host Ira Flatow talks with study author Dr. Ronan McCarthy, professor in biomedical sciences and director of the Antimicrobial Innovations Centre at Brunel University of London.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Trump’s Nominee For NASA Administrator Meets Congress

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation heard testimony from Jared Isaacman, President Trump’s nominee to lead NASA. During the confirmation hearing, Isaacman indicated a priority of sending humans to Mars—while maintaining the agency’s plans to return people to the lunar surface.

In response to a question from Senator Ted Cruz, Isaacman said “I don’t think we have to make any tough trades here, Senator. I think if we can concentrate our resources at the world’s greatest space agency, we don’t have to make a binary decision of moon versus Mars, or moon has to come first versus Mars.” Senators questioned how a strategy involving both options would be possible under current funding levels, and stressed that a bipartisan law had codified the current approach of targeting the moon first, then Mars.

The fate of the Artemis lunar exploration program has faced questions in the new administration. In his inaugural address, President Trump expressed a desire to send astronauts to Mars, but didn’t mention the moon. Elon Musk, head of SpaceX and a favored advisor to the president, is in favor of prioritizing crewed Mars missions ahead of lunar programs. Under questioning, Isaacman repeatedly refused to say directly whether Musk had been present for his job interview with the President.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Senior Producer Charles Bergquist about the nomination and the path ahead for NASA. They also talk about other stories from the week in science, including the controversy over claims of a “de-extincted” dire wolf, advances in rapid bird flu sensors, and the detailed physics of a cup of pour-over coffee.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Real Doctors Brought ‘The Pitt’ To Life

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 11 Apr 2025 20:00:00 +0000

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,” a new medical drama on Max from the creators of “ER,” starring one of that show’s key actors, all grown up: Noah Wyle. The first season takes place over a single shift, and each episode is one hour of that shift in real time. And medical professionals are praising the show for its accuracy.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to talk about the accuracy of the show is one of its medical consultants, Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, associate professor of pediatrics and emergency medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Will Replace The International Space Station?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dee Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

NASA is planning to decommission the International Space Station by the end of 2030. The ISS, which began operations in 2000, is reaching the end of its lifespan and has become costly to maintain. NASA selected SpaceX to construct a vehicle that would “de-orbit” the football field-sized station, pushing it down into the atmosphere where it’ll burn up safely over the Pacific ocean.

So what comes next? So far, NASA has awarded contracts to private companies including Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Northrup Grumman, and Starlab to support the research and development for commercial space stations which would help facilitate future research in orbit, among their own space tourism offerings. Next year, NASA will certify one or more of these companies to build at least one space station, where it’ll then become one of many customers to purchase services from the new facilities.

Loren Grush, space reporter at Bloomberg News, joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss who’s in the running and how future space stations could differ from the one we know today. She also talks about her recent trip to the headquarters of Vast, one of the companies competing for this contract, to learn more about its cryptocurrency origins and its high-level recruitments from NASA and Apple.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Artificial General Intelligence Could Mean For Our Future

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 9 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 intelligence—a technology that can meet or outperform human capabilities on any number of tasks, not just chat or images.

The roadmap and schedule for getting to AGI depends on who you talk to and their precise definition of AGI. Some say it’s just around the corner, while other experts point a few years down the road. In fact, it’s not entirely clear whether current approaches to AI tech will be the ones that yield a true artificial general intelligence.

Hosts Ira Flatow and Flora Lichtman talk with Will Douglas Heaven, who reports on AI for MIT Technology Review; and Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, who specializes in ethical, explainable and transparent AI, about the path to AGI and its potential impacts on society.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Climate Change Has Made Allergy Season Worse. How Do We Cope?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 8 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In many parts of the United States, spring has sprung. There’s nothing quite like those first few beautiful days of spring. They’re delightful—until the sneezing starts.

According to the CDC, a quarter of US adults deal with seasonal allergies. And if you think they’re getting worse, it’s not just in your head. Previous research has shown that climate change is making pollen seasons start earlier and become more intense, a problem that’s expected to get worse.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to discuss the science behind seasonal allergies, and the best methods for treating them, is Dr. Neeta Ogden, director of the Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center in Edison, New Jersey.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Microdosing Peanut Butter Could Alleviate Some Peanut Allergies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 7 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Over the past two decades, rates of peanut allergies in children have more than tripled. A variety of theories has been proposed to explain this, from a rise in industrialization keeping kids away from the germs that develop the immune system, to the previous pediatric guidelines that urged parents to restrict access to peanuts early in life. Whatever the cause, higher rates of peanut allergies means effective treatments are in higher demand.

New research published in NEJM Evidence shows that a simple treatment could be effective for kids who can tolerate half a peanut or more before an overwhelming reaction: eating a small amount of store-bought peanut butter, gradually increasing the amount over 18 months. In the study, 100% of participating kids increased their tolerance to three tablespoons of peanut butter without an allergic reaction.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss this study and other food allergy treatments on the horizon is Dr. Scott Sicherer, Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Department Of Health And Human Services Cuts 10,000 Jobs

Fri, 4 Apr 2025 20:00:00 +0000

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. Scientists and civil servants at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health were let go as part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to cut jobs at the country’s top disease-fighting agencies.

Host Ira Flatow talks with Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox in Washington, D.C., about the repercussions of these cuts. They also discuss other science news of the week, including a pacemaker the size of a grain of rice, how air pollution affects the climate, and miso made on board the International Space Station.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Forecasting Cuts Spark Worries About Hurricane Season | Soothing Babies With Music

Thu, 3 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 Helene last fall.

Now, firings and funding cuts at the National Weather Service and other agencies have some experts worried about accurate forecasts heading into the next hurricane season, which begins June 1.

Hundreds of workers have been fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, including meteorologists at the Weather Service. More cuts by the Trump administration are reportedly on the way.

“The forecast is not going to be as accurate because it won’t have as much information in it,” said Chuck Watson of ENKI research in Savannah, who studies disaster preparedness and response.

Read the whole story at sciencefriday.com.

Tips For Soothing Your Baby With Music, From A Music Therapist

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably heard that playing music is good for your baby’s brain development. But that’s where many people’s knowledge about the subject ends. What about music is good for a baby’s development? Will queuing up a lullaby playlist get the job done? And how can you tell if it’s all just too much for them?

Sarah Nolan, a board-certified music therapist and neonatal intensive care unit music therapist in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Mark Taper and Johnny Mercer Artists Program recently published recommendations on the best ways to play music around your baby.

Host Ira Flatow talks to Nolan about the ideal length of time to play music, what kinds of music are best, and the benefits of music therapy to babies and adults alike.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 2 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In January, an iceberg the size of Chicago splintered off from the Antarctic Peninsula and drifted away in the Bellingshausen Sea.

As luck would have it, a team of scientists was nearby on a research vessel, and they seized the chance to see what was lurking on the seafloor beneath that iceberg—a place that had long been covered, and nearly impossible to get to.

They found a stunning array of life, like octopuses, sea spiders, and crustaceans, as well as possible clues to the dynamics of ice sheets.

Host Ira Flatow talks with the expedition’s two chief scientists: Dr. Patricia Esquete, marine biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, and Dr. Sasha Montelli, glaciologist and geophysicist at University College London.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 1 Apr 2025 10:00:00 +0000

Mental health information on social media can be both revelatory and misleading. How do clinicians and their patients make sense of it?

A new study published in PLOS One analyzes the 100 most viewed TikTok videos about ADHD to assess both how accurate they are and how young people respond to them. Researchers found that about half of the videos were inaccurate or missing key context, and that the more TikToks young adults watched, the less critical they were of the content.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Engineering Lessons One Year After The Baltimore Bridge Collapse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 talk about what went wrong, and how to improve the safety of our nation’s bridges and prevent another tragic crash.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Abi Aghayere, professor of civil engineering at Drexel University; and Dr. Thomas McKenney, associate professor of engineering practice in the naval architecture and marine engineering department at the University of Michigan.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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23andMe Bankruptcy | A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 28 Mar 2025 20:00:00 +0000

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, consumer advocates have a message for you: Delete your data. On Sunday, the company, which has customers send saliva samples for DNA analysis, filed for bankruptcy. While many customers submitted their saliva for the purpose of ancestral analysis, 85% of customers also consent to their data used for genetic disease research.

As the company searches for a buyer, consumer advocates, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have urged customers to delete their data from 23andMe’s website. 23andMe and other genetic testing companies are not subject to HIPAA, meaning health and medical records kept by 23andMe could be shared with a future buyer.

Producer Kathleen Davis joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss this and other top science stories of the week.

Chemists Make A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll

With spring here, the days are getting warmer and longer, meaning conditions are perfect for a trip to the golf course. And while golf is certainly a game of physics—force, angles, parabolas—this week researchers presented work showing that chemistry could play an important role on the golf course as well. Speaking at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, researchers described a high performance coating that could be incorporated into the polyurethane shell of a golf ball.

The hydrophilic (water-loving) coating would make tiny bits of water stick to the surface of the golf ball and sheet off, modifying the way the ball interacts with the grass of the green. That interaction, says Tom Kennedy, owner of Chemical Innovative Solutions Inc., would lead to the ball rolling more slowly and reliably, especially on “fast,” closely-cut greens in dry and windy conditions.

Kennedy joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the technology, and how hydrophilic coatings could find a home in other applications, including solar cells.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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AI Word Choice | When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 unusual trend—an increase in the number of abstracts using certain words. The terms, including “delve,” “realm,” “evolving landscape,” and more, were suddenly appearing more often than they used to.

Researchers analyzed the abstracts and compared them to abstracts written just a few years earlier, before the widespread availability of artificial intelligence large language model chatbots. They came to the conclusion that abstracts written by AI were more likely to use words from a list of around 20 favorites than regular human speech. The question was, why? If the models were trained on conventional writing, how did a preference for words such as “delve” creep in?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Tom Juzek and Dr. Zina Ward of Florida State University, who set out to try to understand the origins of some of AI’s favorite words.

When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd

The fat-tail dwarf lemur is one of the only primates that hibernate for the winter. A new study published in the journal Biology Letters takes a closer look at what’s going on inside lemur cells when they are in this extended phase of suspended animation. It turns out that their telomeres, the ends of the chromosomes, actually grow longer when the dwarf lemurs hibernate. Typically telomeres shorten as we age, as cells continuously divide. So, what exactly does this finding mean for lemurs and other primates, like humans?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with the co-authors of this study, Dr. Marina Blanco and Dr. Lydia Greene, research scientists at Duke University.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Developing Faster, Simpler Tools To Treat Tuberculosis

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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 tuberculosis (TB), which is the deadliest infectious disease in the world.

If you live in the United States, it’s likely that TB is not on your radar: It’s rare, and if someone is infected, there are effective treatments. But elsewhere in the world, more than a million people die of the bacterium each year, mostly in low-resource, high population regions.

Tuberculosis isn’t a straightforward bug to treat. It has a unique armor, which helps it evade treatment like antibiotics. The current treatment regimen involves taking 16 pills a day for six months, which for people in regions with limited access to medicine, can be a massive barrier.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss the science behind this deadly bacterium, and new tools to test for and treat it, is Dr. Mireille Kamariza, a chemical biologist at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Author John Green On The Many Ways Tuberculosis Shaped Human Life

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 25 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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, geography, and fashion—and even killed off some of literature and media’s most famous heroines.

While TB incidence has gone down tremendously in the United States, it remains a massive issue in low-resource nations. About 1.25 million people die of TB each year, making it still the deadliest infectious disease in the world.

Author John Green explores humankind’s relationship with TB in the new book Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection. Green speaks with Host Flora Lichtman about how TB’s path reflects our society and culture. He joins us from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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DESI Data Strengthens Evidence Of Change In Dark Energy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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. That observation was the basis for a concept now known as dark energy. In the years since, cosmologists have been trying to get a handle on better measurements of that effect, and hoping to figure out what dark energy actually might be.

This week, researchers on a project called DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, released results based on their first three years of data at an international physics conference. They found that it appears possible that dark energy—whatever it is—has changed over the lifetime of the universe. In other words, the so-called cosmological constant may not, in fact, be a constant. The data is not quite statistically significant yet, so researchers can’t definitively say that this is true, which leaves many questions about the nature of dark energy still unresolved.

Dr. Andrei Cuceu of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Dr. Adam Riess of Johns Hopkins University and the Space Telescope Science Institute join Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the new research, and what remains to be discovered in dark energy.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS | Bottle "Pop" Physics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 20:00:00 +0000

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—278 days longer than their initial planned mission—NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams landed safely back on Earth on Tuesday, off the coast of Florida. Their mission turned into a nine-month stay on the station after their Boeing Starliner capsule had issues with its thrusters and NASA deemed it unsafe to carry the astronauts back. SpaceX’s Dragon capsule instead ferried them to Earth earlier this week. And they had a splashdown surprise: A pod of curious dolphins greeted them after they landed.

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, to catch us up on that and other big science stories from this week, including why a company is trying to “refreeze” a massive glacier, why the 10 hottest years on record are the last 10, and how the London Zoo is trying to conserve a unique frog that incubates its young in its vocal sacs.

The Physics That Makes Swing-Top Bottles ‘Pop’

For a lot of us, uncorking a bottle is the sound of celebration. It’s also a sound that we may not think too much about—until we open our next bottle.

But Dr. Max Koch, a physicist at the University of Göttingen who does home brewing on the side, got to wondering what actually makes that popping sound. What’s happening inside that bottle, physics-wise? To find out more, he recorded the uncorking of an unsuccessful batch of his ginger beer using microphones and a high-speed camera, and analyzed the bubbly results with a physicist’s rigor. His team’s findings were published in the journal Physics of Fluids.

Dr. Koch sits down with Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the brief but intense changes to temperature, sound, and speed that happen when you uncork a swing-top glass bottle.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Evolving Science Of How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adults | Butterfly Memories

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

The framework of Adverse Childhood Experiences started with an unexpected finding over 30 years ago. How is our approach changing?

We know that experiences from our childhood, both good and bad, shape who we become as adults. But, understanding what kinds of early experiences have staying power into adulthood and the wide range of impacts they can have is an emerging science.

In the 1980s, Dr. Vincent Felitti ran a weight loss clinic in San Diego, California. He noticed that some patients who regained weight were more likely to have experienced sexual abuse in childhood.This eventually led him to conduct research on a larger scale to better understand the correlation between what he and his colleagues dubbed adverse childhood experiences, or ACES, and mental and physical health challenges later in life.

This same 10-question survey Dr. Felitti gave participants in the 1990s is still used by researchers and clinicians to assess childhood trauma. But recently, some psychology experts have begun to question how accurately the ACES framework identifies trauma in diverse populations, since it was originally developed for a mostly white and affluent study population.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Preeti Simran Sethi, science writer and Rosalyn Carter Mental Health Journalism fellow, about her reporting for Science Friday about adverse childhood experiences.

Also, to see more butterfly stories from our listeners, visit our story from last week.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How NIH Cuts Could Affect U.S. Biomedical Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 19 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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, a pause in the “study sections” that evaluate and award grant funding, and a cap on indirect costs included in research grants. Some of those moves have been paused following court cases.

Dr. Harold Varmus, a former director of the National Institutes of Health, joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the actions, and the impact he fears they could have on the future of biomedical research in the United States.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Fungi Create Complex Supply Chains | A Rookie Robot Umpire Takes The Field

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

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

As the leaves start to pop out, it’s natural to look up and admire the trees. But actually, there’s a lot of action happening underneath your feet. Beneath you is a complex network of fungal trade routes carrying essential nutrients to the roots of plants, mined from the soil by fungus. It’s a subterranean supply chain.

But how exactly do these complex networks form? How does the fungus decide where to ship which resources, or where to build roads? Basically, how does a brainless thread make decisions?

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Dr. Toby Kiers, an author on a recent study of those networks, and professor of evolutionary biology at Vrije University in Amsterdam. She’s also the executive director of the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN).

A Rookie Robot Umpire Takes The Field

Baseball fans are eagerly awaiting opening day. And while spring training is a time for teams to test out new players and strategies, it’s also a time for Major League Baseball to trial new rules and procedures. One of the things that the league has been testing this year is a robotic system to call balls and strikes.

The Automated Ball-Strike System, which is based on the same technology used for line judging in tennis, isn’t calling every pitch, but is used to back up a challenge system at the plate. The tech is already in use in Triple-A games, and could make it to the major leagues in the years ahead. Baseball writer Davy Andrews joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the technology, and how it could subtly change the rules of the game.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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10% Of NOAA Staff Laid Off | Frozen Funds Leave Farmers In Limbo

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 10:15:00 +0000

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, impacts and provides services for Americans every day. The agency releases daily weather forecasts and monitors extreme weather, and it also conducts research into global weather and climate change.

Along with many other federal science agencies, NOAA is being subjected to layoffs in the name of cost-cutting: 10% of the agency’s workforce has been laid off, with 1,000 more cuts potentially to come. According to Dr. Timothy Gallaudet, acting NOAA administrator during Trump’s first term, this is likely to lead to declines in quality of service and access to information about weather events.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks to Umair Irfan, science correspondent at Vox, who has been covering the turmoil at NOAA. They also discuss other science stories of the week, including the death of prolific blood donor James Harrison.

Frozen Climate And Conservation Funds Leave Farmers In Limbo

Around the country, farmers are planning and planting this year’s crops. It can be uncertain work, made even more tenuous by some of the Trump administration’s changes to climate and conservation policies.

The administration has frozen billions of dollars in grants to farmers for sustainable agriculture, conservation, and “climate smart” projects. In some cases, farmers had already signed contracts with the government and begun work on these projects.

While some funding from the Inflation Reduction Act was recently released, many farmers across the country are still in limbo.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Patrick Brown, a farmer in Warren County, North Carolina; and Dr. Kitty O’Neil, an agricultural climate resiliency specialist at Cornell University’s Cooperative Extension about the future of farming in a changing climate.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Pi, Anyone? A Celebration Of Math And What’s New

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 20:00:00 +0000

It’s March 14, or Pi Day, that day of the year where we celebrate the ratio that makes a circle a circle. The Greek letter that represents it is such a part of our culture that it merits our irrational attention.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to help slice into our pi’s is Dr. Steven Strogatz, professor of math at Cornell University and co-host of Quanta Magazine’s podcast “The Joy Of Why.” They talk about how pi was “discovered,” the ways it’s figuring into recent science, and how AI is changing the field of mathematics.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Plants Powered Prehistoric Giants Millions Of Years Ago

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 10:15:00 +0000

When you imagine prehistoric life, it’s likely that the first thing that comes to mind are dinosaurs: long-necked Apatosauruses, flying Pterosaurs, big toothy Tyrannosaurs. But what don’t get as much attention are the prehistoric plants that lived alongside them.

Plants, shrubs, and trees played a key part in the food chains of dinosaurs, and many dinosaurs evolved to match the plant life available to them. The Apatosaurus’ long neck, for example, developed to reach leaves high up in prehistoric trees.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to defend the importance of prehistoric plants is Riley Black, author of the new book When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals and Evolution’s Greatest Romance. She’s based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Read an excerpt from When the Earth Was Green at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Narwhals Use Their Tusks To Hunt And Play | This Week's ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 10:15:00 +0000

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, also known as narwhals!

An international team of researchers used drones to observe narwhals in the wild and learned new things about their behavior, including how they use their tusks to hunt and play.

How To See The ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse This Week

Early on Friday, March 14 (or super late on Thursday, March 13, depending on your time zone) people across the U.S. will be able to watch a total lunar eclipse, if skies are clear. The partial eclipse will begin at 1:09 a.m. Eastern time on Friday the 14th, with totality lasting from 2:26 to 3:31 a.m. Eastern.

Astronomer Dean Regas joins Host Flora Lichtman to tell us what to expect, and share some tips for comfortable lunar eclipse viewing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Where Have All The Butterflies Gone?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 10:15:00 +0000

A sweeping new study on one of the most beloved insects, maybe the only truly beloved insect—the butterfly—details its rapid population decline in the United States. The new research, published in the journal Science widens the butterfly net and looks at how more than 500 species have fared over the past 20 years.

Researchers found that many populations are taking a nosedive. What’s causing the downswing, and is there anything we can do?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with two of the study authors, Dr. Elise Zipkin, Red Cedar distinguished professor of quantitative ecology and director of the ecology, evolution and behavior program at Michigan State University; and Dr. Nick Haddad, professor of integrative biology also at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Does Dismantling USAID Mean For Global Health?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 10:00:00 +0000

On the very first day of Donald Trump’s second term, he signed an executive order targeting foreign aid programs, especially the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Comprising less than 0.1% of the federal budget, USAID provides international humanitarian and development aid for poverty eradication, education, disease prevention, and medical programs. The Trump administration has cut off funding for these programs and most of the USAID staff was placed on leave or laid off.

Since January, hospitals and clinics in places like Thailand, Syria, and India have shuttered; clinical trials on HIV and maternal health have been canceled; and projects on polio, malaria, and tuberculosis prevention have been stopped.

Then, this week, the Supreme Court rejected a bid to keep some aid funds frozen. But what does that mean in practice for USAID’s global health initiatives?

Host Flora Lichtman talks about the global health implications of dismantling USAID with Dr. Atul Gawande, surgeon and former head of global health at USAID; and Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, epidemiologist and director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Protesters ‘Stand Up For Science’ At Rallies Nationwide | Blue Ghost Lunar Lander

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 7 Mar 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Scientists aren’t always encouraged to be politically active. But recent political interference by the Trump administration has many fired up. And, the Blue Ghost lunar lander, part of NASA’s CLPS initiative, completed the first fully successful commercial moon landing.

Protesters ‘Stand Up For Science’ At Rallies Across The Country

Scientists and defenders of science are gathering in cities across the U.S. today as part of Stand Up for Science rallies, events to protest recent political interference by the Trump administration in science funding. The main rally in Washington, D.C. features speakers including Bill Nye, Dr. Frances Collins and Dr. Atul Gawande, and will advocate for ending censorship, expanding scientific funding, and defending diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks to science reporter Anil Oza, a Sharon Begley Fellow at STAT and MIT, about the runup to Stand Up For Science, and what he’s heard from organizers and attendees. Then, Flora speaks with two listeners, D.C.-based planetary scientist Mike Wong and University of Louisville student Emily Reed, about why they’re fired up to attend local rallies.

Touchdown For The Blue Ghost Lunar Lander

Last weekend, the Blue Ghost lander, built by the Texas-based company Firefly Aerospace, became the first commercial spacecraft to execute a fully successful landing on the surface of the moon. On board the lander were 10 NASA instruments flown as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative. The lander will be in operation on the moon over the course of one lunar day (about 2 Earth weeks), before running out of battery power as the lunar night falls.

Kevin Scholtes, an engineer at Firefly Aerospace, and Dr. Nicky Fox, associate administrator for the NASA Science Mission Directorate, join Host Flora Lichtman to talk about building a commercial spacecraft, the role of private companies in spaceflight, and some of the science the mission aims to achieve.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Effort To Save Thousands Of Donor Kidneys | Ocean Liner Will Become An Artificial Reef

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 6 Mar 2025 11:15:00 +0000

Last year, 9,000 deceased donor kidneys were discarded due to storage and time limitations. A kidney “life support” machine could change that. Also, the SS United States will join Florida’s 4,300 artificial reefs—human-made places for fish and other marine life to live. How do these reefs work?

The Effort To Save Thousands Of Donor Kidneys From Being Wasted

Sylvia Miles was diagnosed with lupus in 2006, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes the body’s immune system to attack healthy tissue—including her kidneys.

Miles, who lives in Indianapolis, was later diagnosed with advanced kidney disease, and was in need of a kidney transplant.

Kidney diseases are one of the leading causes of death in the United States with 37 million people living with chronic kidney disease. Together with advanced kidney disease—the later stage of CKD—it cost Medicare billions of dollars in recent years.

People like Miles, who need a kidney transplant, wait an average of five years—often on dialysis.

But despite the long waitlists and organ shortages, around 9,000 kidneys from deceased donors last year were discarded due to perceived issues with their viability. A new Indiana-based organization, 34 Lives, is working to limit that waste and rehabilitate the organs.

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

Ocean Liner SS United States Will Become An Artificial Reef

This week, after a notable career, the SS United States, a 1950s ocean liner, took her sunset cruise. Like many retirees, the ship is heading south—from Philadelphia to Florida—where she’ll be reinventing herself. In this next chapter, the SS United States will have new passengers: fish and other marine creatures. The ship will be sunk to the bottom of the sea and turned into an artificial reef, joining more than 4,300 artificial reefs off the coast of Florida.

Other sunken ships have become artificial reefs in the past, which have helped boost marine life as well as scuba diving and fishing tourism. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Scott Jackson, a regional specialized agent with the Florida Sea Grant and University of Florida IFAS extension, about the science behind artificial reefs, and what has been learned from decades of research.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 5 Mar 2025 11:15:00 +0000

A journalist traveled to five continents to learn about the afterlife of our trash, and why most “recyclable” plastic actually isn’t.

Have you ever gotten to the end of, say, a jar of peanut butter and wondered if it should go in trash or recycling? If it’s worth rinsing out? And where will it actually end up?

Journalist Alexander Clapp had those same questions, and went to great lengths to answer them—visiting five continents to chronicle how our trash travels. Along the way, he discovered a multibillion dollar trash trade run by shady waste brokers, and a global industry powered by slimy spoons, crinkled plastic bags, and all the other stuff we throw away. It’s a putrid business that we’re a part of, and many of us know little about.

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Clapp about the garbage business and his new book Waste Wars: The Wild Afterlife Of Your Trash.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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An Animal’s Size And Its Cancer Risk | Bastetodon, A 30 Million-Year-Old Apex Predator

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 4 Mar 2025 11:15:00 +0000

A study finds that Peto’s Paradox, which states that larger animals are no more likely to get cancer than smaller ones, may not hold up. Also, a nearly complete predator skull was found in the Egyptian desert. Its lineage indicates that it was a top carnivore of the age.

What Does An Animal’s Size Have To Do With Its Cancer Risk?

If you throw a huge party, there’s more of a chance of problems than if you host a quiet get-together for a couple of friends. The logic is simple: Having more people around means more opportunities for chaos. Similarly, it would seem to make sense that in animals, a bigger species with more cells might have a greater chance of something going wrong with one of those cells, including mutations leading to cancer.

Back in 1977, a British epidemiologist named Richard Peto observed that that didn’t seem to be true. Bigger animals didn’t seem to have a greater risk of cancer than smaller ones. That became known as Peto’s Paradox, and has been a topic of debate among cancer biologists ever since.

Research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences takes a new look at Peto’s Paradox using an unusual set of data—death reports from zoos around the world. Dr. Sarah Amend of Johns Hopkins Medical School joins Host Flora Lichtman to explain why, in their findings, Peto’s Paradox doesn’t seem to hold up—and what studying animal cancer rates could teach scientists about improving human health.

Meet Bastetodon, A 30 Million-Year-Old Apex Predator

Once upon a time, some 30 million years ago, what is now Egypt’s Western Desert was a lush forest. Humans had not evolved yet, the nearest relatives being monkey-like creatures. And through those forests stalked Bastetodon syrtos, a newly described apex predator from an extinct lineage known as the Hyaenodonts—one of the top carnivores of the age.

Researchers recently discovered a nearly complete skull of the creature. They reported on the find in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. Host Flora Lichtman talks with Shorouq Al-Ashqar of the Mansoura University Vertebrate Paleontology Center about the discovery, and the picture it helps paint of ancient life.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Trump’s DEI Ban Will Affect Medical Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 3 Mar 2025 11:15:00 +0000

Changes limiting programs, grants, and even the nature of studies are already underway at the NIH, NSF, FDA, CDC, and more.

On President Trump’s first day in office, he signed an executive order to end what he calls “illegal and immoral discrimination programs,” referencing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the federal government. The repercussions of this are already being felt across science agencies.

Things are changing fast: Last week, a federal judge in Maryland temporarily blocked parts of the DEI purge from being carried out. At the same time, federal research agencies have already made changes. For example, the National Institutes of Health suddenly pulled a program that provides grants to PhD students from marginalized backgrounds, and has already canceled studies mid-project, like one on LGBTQ cancer patients. The National Science Foundation has begun reviewing active research science projects that may not comply with Trump’s executive orders. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention took down resources for HIV prevention, LGBTQ+ health, contraception, and more—then partially restored them, as ordered by a judge. And the Food and Drug Administration pulled its guidance on the importance of having some diversity in clinical trials, like those to test drugs and medical devices.

So, what does banning diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts mean for medical research? And what does it mean for our health?

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Rachel Hardeman, director of the Center for Antiracism Research for Health Equity at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; and Dr. Melissa Simon, an ob-gyn at Northwestern Medicine, and director of the Center for Health Equity Transformation in Chicago.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Conflicting Directives Sow Confusion For NIH Workers | The Mycobiome

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah buxbaum, Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The acting head of the NIH reportedly pushed back against legal guidance to resume grant funding, leaving federal workers in the lurch. Also, though fungi make up a tiny part of the human microbiome, they play an important role in both the prevention and development of many diseases.

Cuts And Conflicting Directives Sow Confusion For NIH Workers

Just over a month after President Trump’s inauguration, federal science in the US is in a state of disarray. Executive orders to halt grant funding at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have faced court challenges. Last week, a federal judge extended a restraining order on a proposal to cap NIH grant funding for indirect costs, costs that experts say are critical to their work. But according to new reporting, staff within the NIH have been left without clear guidance about moving forward with those grants, with the NIH’s acting director reportedly pushing back against legal guidance from the agency’s lawyers to restart distribution of the funding.

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Katherine J. Wu, staff writer for The Atlantic, who reported on the turmoil at the NIH. They also talk about other science news of the week, including an update on the measles outbreak in Texas, how to see every planet in the solar system this week, and how scientists think runner Faith Kipeygon could be the first woman to break a four-minute mile.

You’ve Heard Of The Microbiome—Welcome To The Mycobiome

You’ve heard of the microbiome, the community of bacteria, viruses, archaea parasites, and fungi that live in our bodies. But that last member of the group, fungi, get a lot less attention than the others. And perhaps that’s unsurprising. After all, bacteria outnumber fungi 999 to 1 in our guts.

But now, scientists are beginning to piece together just how important fungi truly are. Disruption in the fungal balance can play a role in the development of Crohn’s disease, irritable bowel disease, celiac disease, colorectal cancer, some skin diseases, and more.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Mahmoud Ghannoum, microbiologist and professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Medicine, who has dedicated his career to studying the fungi in our bodies, and coined the term mycobiome over a decade ago.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Best Tail For Balance | Bindi Irwin Wants Kids To Become ‘Wildlife Warriors’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 11:15:00 +0000

The bone and joint structures in mammal tails help them keep their balance. Could those benefits be adapted for robots? And, in her first children’s book, conservationist Bindi Irwin takes little readers on a journey through Australia Zoo.

In Search Of The Best Tail For Balance

If you have met a cat, you’ve probably at some point been amazed by how acrobatic they are. They’re able to reorient themselves effortlessly, even in midair. It turns out that a lot of that twistiness comes down to having a top-tier tail. While most reptile tails can swing only in one plane of movement, mammal tails have more joints, leading to better inertial control. That lets mammals tweak their balance better, much as holding a balance pole can help an acrobat navigate a tightrope.

In a recent study published in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface, researchers explored the biomechanics of different tails, and considered how a better tail could help build a better robot. Dr. Talia Moore, a roboticist at the University of Michigan, and Dr. Ceri Weber, a cellular and developmental biology postdoc at UC San Diego, join Host Flora Lichtman to talk tails.

Bindi Irwin Encourages Kids To Become ‘Wildlife Warriors’

Almost 30 years ago, conservationists Terri Irwin and the late Steve Irwin captured the world’s attention with their show “The Crocodile Hunter.” It introduced millions of people to Australia Zoo and the strange, often scary, sometimes cute, critters from Down Under.

Now, Terri and her children—Bindi and Robert—are at the helm of the zoo, which is the setting for Bindi’s new children’s book, You Are a Wildlife Warrior!: Saving Animals & the Planet. In it, Bindi takes little readers and her own daughter, Grace, on an adventure through the zoo.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Bindi about her family’s legacy, how motherhood fuels her approach to conservation, and what it’s like to run a zoo.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Dee Peterschmidt) — Wed, 26 Feb 2025 11:15:00 +0000

Pancreatic cancer is notoriously difficult to treat, and about 90% of diagnosed patients die from the disease. A team at Memorial Sloan Kettering has been working to improve those outcomes by developing a new mRNA vaccine for pancreatic cancer.

A few years ago, the team embarked on a small trial to test the vaccine’s safety. Sixteen patients with pancreatic cancer received it, and even though it was a small study, the results were promising: Half the participants had an immune response, and in those patients the cancer hadn’t relapsed after 18 months.

This week, the team released a new study in Nature following those same patients, and found six out of eight who responded to the vaccine in the first study did not have their cancer return more than three years later.

Joining host Flora Lichtman to talk about these results, and what they could mean for the future of cancer treatment, is study author and surgeon Dr. Vinod Balachandran, director of The Olayan Center for Cancer Vaccines at Memorial Sloan Kettering, based in New York City.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Are Flu And Other Viral Infection Rates So High This Year?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 25 Feb 2025 11:15:00 +0000

It’s been an unusually tough winter virus season. Rates of flu-like infections are higher than they’ve been in nearly 30 years. And for the first winter since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, flu deaths have surpassed COVID deaths. Add to that a higher-than-average year for norovirus, a nasty type of stomach bug.

Then there’s the emerging threat of avian flu. While there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, about 70 people in the US have contracted the virus from livestock since April 2024.

To make sense of the latest viral trends, Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and author of the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist”; and Dr. Erica Shenoy, chief of infection control at Mass General Brigham hospital.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Making Sense Of Federal Cuts To Science—And What Comes Next

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000

Last week, some 3,500 people from across scientific fields gathered in Boston for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The organization’s CEO, Dr. Sudip Parikh, gave a rousing speech to attendees.

“Destruction for the ill-conceived notion of cutting costs didn’t put an American on the moon, and it didn’t wipe smallpox from the face of the Earth,” Parikh said in opening remarks.

He was referring, of course, to the huge funding cuts and mass firings happening across federal science and health agencies under the Trump administration. Over the last few weeks, news of these cuts has been frequent—along with the cancellation of grants that include certain prohibited words and the disappearance of data from agency websites.

So what’s happening, and how should the scientific community respond? Host Flora Lichtman sat down with Dr. Sudip Parikh to discuss the importance of this point in time for American science and technology, what cuts for “efficiency” are getting wrong, and what’s at stake in the next few weeks.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Tomb Of Egyptian King Unearthed | Why The Internet Was Captivated By A Hideous Fish

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, D. Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 21 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Finding the original tomb of the royal is one of the most significant developments in Egyptian archeology in recent history. Also, a video of a gloriously creepy anglerfish inspired tears and poetry online. But why was this deep-sea dweller near the surface at all?

Royal Tomb Of Egyptian King Thutmose II Unearthed

A British-Egyptian team has made one of the most significant Egyptian archeological finds in recent history: the tomb of pharaoh King Thutmose II, who ruled sometime between 2000 and 1001 BCE. This is the first tomb of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun’s in 1922.

Thutmose II’s mummified remains were found two centuries ago, but they had been moved from his original tomb, the location of which remained a mystery until now. Part of the reason why his tomb’s location was such a mystery was that Thutmose II was buried in an area associated with the wives of Egyptian kings, about 1.5 miles west of Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about this and other science stories of the week is Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead of CarbonPlan, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Why The Internet Was Captivated By A Hideous Fish

Last week, a viral video likely floated to the top of your feed: a rare black seadevil anglerfish, which looks like a floating head with a frightening amount of teeth and two cloudy eyes, swimming in azure waters. The fish showed up near Spain’s Canary Islands, off the northwestern coast of Africa. It made the news because it was spotted near the surface, while anglerfish normally reside in the deep ocean.

So why was she paddling so close to the surface? Was she sick? How unusual is this? And also, why do they even look like that? We had questions.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Kory Evans, assistant professor of biosciences at Rice University, to separate fact from fish-ction. He also explains new research he helped conduct about the evolutionary history of anglerfish, which could help explain why they look the way they do.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Happens To Your Body When You’re Grieving

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:15:00 +0000

We have lots of expressions to describe the pain of loss—heartache, a broken heart, a punch in the gut. These aren’t just figures of speech: While grief is an emotional experience, it’s also a physical one. Studies show that grief can change your physiology, most dramatically in the cardiovascular and immune systems.

One staggering finding? A heart attack is 21 times more likely to happen in the 24 hours after the death of a loved one. And after the death of a parent, risk of ischemic heart disease rises by 41%, and risk of stroke increases by 30%.

Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor has dedicated her career to understanding the physiology behind grief and grieving. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss what she’s learned over the years, and her new book The Grieving Body.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Can Men and Women (Baboons) Really Just Be Friends? | The Best Bear Deterrent May Be Drones

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 11:15:00 +0000

Can Men and Women (Baboons) Really Just Be Friends?

In the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” the central premise, as Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s characters stay friends throughout the years, is, can men and women really just be friends?

In the movie, the answer is no, not really. Spoiler alert: They do get together in the end. But what if we take that concept and bring it to the animal kingdom, specifically to primates?

The Kinda baboon is known for its distinct social behaviors. Individuals form long-term, social bonds, and those relationships are seen, uniquely, between male and female baboons. Over nine years, researchers studied the Kinda baboon, a kinder, gentler species of baboon, to learn more about their social lives. Kindas are unique among baboons because they’re the least sexually dimorphic: males and females are close to the same size, making them a better analog for us humans.

So can male and female baboons really be just friends? Much like the movie, long friendships do happen between Kindas—but there also appears to be a benefit during mating season.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her work with these baboons is Dr. Anna Weyher, founder of the Kasanka Baboon Project in Zambia. Weyher has studied Kinda baboons for over a decade.

The Best Bear Deterrent May Be Drones

What do you do when a bear keeps coming too close to people, and doesn’t take the hint to stay away? It’s a serious problem, because human-wildlife conflict can be dangerous for both the people and animals involved. Wildlife managers have for years used a collection of deterrents, including firecracker noises, rubber bullets, and trained dogs, to try to chase bears away from human habitations.

Writing in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science, former Montana bear management specialist Wesley Sarmento claims that a high-tech approach may be more effective: drones. Sarmento joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss his experiences with hazing stubborn bears.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Adventures In Science At The Icy ‘Ends Of The Earth’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 11:30:00 +0000

The North and South Poles, also known as Earth’s iceboxes, help cool the planet, store fresh water, influence weather patterns, and more. They’re also the fastest warming places on Earth.

A new book called Ends of The Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future illustrates the wonders of Antarctica and the Arctic—and the lengths scientists go to to study them before it’s too late.

Host Ira Flatow talks with author Dr. Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago, about some of the wonders found at the ends of the Earth, and the threats they’re facing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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FDA Approves A New, Non-Opioid Painkiller | Deep, Multi-Layer Oceans On Uranus And Neptune?

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 11:30:00 +0000

It’s the first FDA approval for a pain medication in 25 years. How does the drug work, and who is it for? Also, non-mixing layers of water and hydrocarbons thousands of miles deep could explain the icy planets’ strange magnetic fields.

The FDA Approves A New, Non-Opioid Painkiller

In January, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new pain medicine called Journavx (suzetrigine), made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It’s the first time in 25 years the agency has given the green light to a new painkiller. Notably, it’s not an opioid and, according to the company, it’s not addictive. Unlike opioids, which act directly on the brain, Journavx instead blocks nerve endings across the body that transmit pain.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Sean Mackey, a professor of anaesthesiology and pain medicine at Stanford University and chief of the Division of Stanford Pain Medicine, to discuss how the new drug works, who should take it, and what its limitations are.

Might Uranus And Neptune Have Deep, Multi-Layer Oceans?

We’ve got a pretty good idea about what’s beneath the surface of our nearest planetary neighbors, like Mars. But as you get farther out into the solar system, our knowledge becomes scarce. For instance, what’s inside the so-called ice giants, Neptune and Uranus?

Recent research based on computer simulations of fluids hints that the planets could contain vast multi-layered oceans, as much as thousands of miles deep. A layer of water that is on top of—but doesn’t mix with—a deeper layer of hydrocarbons could help explain strange magnetic fields observed during the Voyager mission.

Dr. Burkhardt Militzer, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Berkeley, wrote about this idea in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He joins Host Ira Flatow to explain his theories.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Most Powerful Neutrino Ever Is Detected In the Mediterranean | Nerdy Valentines

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Most Powerful Neutrino Ever Is Detected In the Mediterranean

Neutrinos are sometimes called “ghost particles,” because they are nearly weightless, rarely interact with any other matter, and have very little electric charge.

Now, scientists have discovered a neutrino with a recording-breaking level of energy, which could bring us closer to understanding physics underpinning the creation of the universe.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, to talk more about the latest in neutrino research and other top science news of the week, including supersonic spaceflight without a sonic boom; an asteroid headed for Earth; and why loggerhead turtles are dancing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Common Side Effects’ And An All-Healing Mushroom | The Unique Smell Of Snow

Thu, 13 Feb 2025 11:30:00 +0000

In "Common Side Effects," the starring scientist finds a mushroom that can heal any ailment. But powerful people will do anything to stop him from cultivating it. And, a combination of environmental factors and the way our bodies function play a role in how we perceive the smell of snow.

In ‘Common Side Effects,’ A Clash Over An All-Healing Mushroom

In the new Adult Swim show “Common Side Effects,” an eccentric scientist has a secret: He’s discovered a strange mushroom that can cure any illness or injury, and he wants to get it to people in need. The only problem is that a pharmaceutical company doesn’t want that secret to get out and will do anything to make sure he’s stopped.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to break down this fungal drama, and the science that inspired it, are the show’s creators, Steve Hely, who previously wrote for “30 Rock” and “Veep;” and Joe Bennett, creator of the animated sci-fi show “Scavengers Reign” on Max.

Why Snow Has That Crisp, Clean Smell

If you know snow, you might know that it has a particular smell to it. It has to do with where you are and how cold it is. It may even involve the memory parts of your brain.

Producer Rasha Aridi talks with Host Flora Lichtman about the science behind that snowy smell, featuring Dr. Johan Lundström, snow aficionado and professor of psychology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Investigating Fraud At The Heart Of Alzheimer’s Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 12 Feb 2025 12:00:00 +0000

Every year, billions of dollars are funneled into Alzheimer’s research. And yet, so far, there’s no treatment that’s been able to reverse the disease, or even meaningfully slow the cognitive decline of patients.

Part of the reason is that the disease is complex, and brain disorders are notoriously difficult to understand.

But in a new book, an investigative science reporter makes the case that there’s another reason progress toward Alzheimer’s treatments has stalled: scientific fraud.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Charles Piller, investigative journalist at Science and author of the book Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s.

Read an excerpt of Doctored at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Managing Wildfires Using A Centuries-Old Indigenous Practice

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000

In late September, firefighters in flame-resistant Nomex were strung out along a fireline. It ran midslope through a pine and hardwood forest above the Klamath River and the small northern California town of Orleans.

Several members of the Karuk tribe were laying down strands of fire with drip torches.

Aja Conrad, who runs the tribal natural resource department’s environmental education field institute, was the firing boss trainee. She kept a close eye as the strips burned together and smoke filled the air.

“Can you just keep an eye on that and maybe not put too much fire below it?” she told one of her burners.

“Copy that.”

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

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Can Vaping Help You Quit Cigarettes? What Are The Risks?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 11:00:00 +0000

The harms of smoking cigarettes are pretty clear. Smoking causes cancer as well as heart and lung diseases, and it’s the leading cause of preventable death in the United States.

When it comes to vaping, or electronic cigarettes, the risks are a bit more tricky to parse, especially if you read media reports about them. The outbreak of Vaping Use-Associated Lung Injury, also known as EVALI, in 2019 and 2020 made things even more confusing.

The founders of Juul, the company that mainstreamed vaping in the early aughts, said they wanted to help people kick their smoking habits. But can vapes really help people quit? And how bad are they for you, really? And if you’re addicted to vaping, what’s the best way to stop?

To answer those questions and more, Host Ira Flatow talks with one of the top researchers in the field, Dr. Jamie Hartmann-Boyce, assistant professor of health policy and management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Lucy Runs On A Virtual Treadmill | Comparing DeepSeek’s AI To Other Models

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 7 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Scientists determined that Lucy, a human ancestor from 3.2 million years ago, couldn’t have beaten modern humans in a foot race. Also, the Chinese AI company DeepSeek startled industry observers with an efficient new system. But how does it compare with the leading tech?

How Lucy, Our Famous Ancestor, Runs On A Virtual Treadmill

Lucy is one of the most famous fossils—an Australopithecus afarensis who lived about 3.2 million years ago. Her skeleton is about 40% complete, and has been studied since its discovery in 1974. In a quest to learn more about what Lucy’s life may have looked like, scientists estimated what her leg and pelvic muscles were like based on her skeleton. They then put her on a treadmill—virtually, of course.

The findings? Lucy was likely not a natural runner, and the modern human body evolved for improved running performance. Host Flora Lichtman talks to Producer Kathleen Davis about these findings, and other news of the week.

Flora also speaks to Anil Oza, a Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow at STAT and MIT, about the latest news on the Trump administration taking down scientific data from the Centers for Disease Control website for mentioning topics like gender, DEI and accessibility. They also discuss the National Institutes of Health resuming grant reviews after two weeks of restrictions imposed by the president.

How DeepSeek’s AI Compares To Established Models

The Chinese company DeepSeek recently startled AI industry observers with its DeepSeek-R1 artificial intelligence model, which performed as well or better than leading systems at a lower cost. The DeepSeek product apparently requires less human input to train, and less energy in parts of its processing—though experts said it remained to be seen if the new model would actually consume less energy overall.

Will Douglas Heaven, senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review, joins Host Ira Flatow to explain the ins and outs of the new DeepSeek systems, how they compare to existing AI products, and what might lie ahead in the field of artificial intelligence.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Scientists Create Glowing ‘RNA Lanterns’ With Bioluminescence

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 6 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The inner workings of our bodies, particularly what’s happening inside our cells, can be kind of a black box—with countless tiny molecules constantly working and churning to keep us alive. A new technology that blends bioluminescence with cellular machinery may shine some light on the details of their comings and goings and interactions that can be hazy.

Scientists had the bright idea to take that same enzyme that makes fireflies glow and tie it to RNA, the molecule that reads the genetic information in DNA. This developing technology has been used on mice, with the hope that these light-up molecules can help illuminate how viruses replicate or even how memories form in the brain.

Flora Litchtman talks with Dr. Andrej Lupták, professor of pharmaceutical sciences at the University of California Irvine and Dr. Jennifer Prescher, professor of chemistry at the University of California Irvine, about their research on the topic.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What’s Next For Quantum Computing In 2025?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, D. Peterschmidt) — Wed, 5 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

It seems that every few months, there’s an exciting breakthrough in quantum computing, a kind of computing that takes advantage of quantum physics to perform calculations exponentially faster than our most advanced supercomputers. Last December, Google announced that its quantum computer solved a math problem in five minutes—a problem that would’ve taken a normal supercomputer longer than the age of the universe to solve. And earlier this month, Microsoft, coming off a quantum advance in the fall, told businesses to get “quantum-ready” for 2025, saying that “we are right on the cusp of seeing quantum computers solve meaningful problems.”

So, are we on the cusp? Flora Lichtman is joined by Dr. Shohini Ghose, a quantum physicist and professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Canada and CTO of the Quantum Algorithms Institute, for a quantum computing check-in and a look at when this futuristic technology could start to have an impact on our lives.

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Building Blocks Of Life Found On Asteroid Bennu

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 4 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

About four and a half years ago, a spacecraft called OSIRIS-REx touched down on the surface of an asteroid called Bennu. It drilled down and scooped up samples of rock and dust and, after several years of travel, delivered those samples back to Earth.

Since then, researchers around the world have been analyzing tiny bits of that asteroid dust, trying to tease out as much information as they can about what Bennu is like and where it might have come from. Two scientific papers published this week give some of the results of those experiments. Researchers found minerals that could have arisen from the drying of an icy brine, and a soup of organic molecules, including ammonia and 14 of the 20 amino acids necessary for life on Earth.

Dr. Danny Glavin and Dr. Dante Lauretta join Flora Lichtman to talk about the samples, what their analysis is revealing, and what those findings could mean for the hunt for life elsewhere in the solar system.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Toxic Aftermath Of An Urban Fire

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 3 Feb 2025 21:00:00 +0000

After nearly four weeks of burning, the fires in Los Angeles are almost fully contained, and cleanup is underway. But as the dust literally settles, people in LA are left with major questions, like: What is actually in the ash? What’s in the air? And how do I stay safe?

Flora Lichtman talks with two experts in public health and toxic substance exposure about the chemicals left behind after an urban fire as well as what science needs to be done to fully understand the issue. She speaks with Dr. Rima Habre, associate professor of environmental health and spatial sciences at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles; and Dr. Mark Wilson, director of exposure science at Chemical Insights Research Institute (CIRI) in Marietta, Georgia.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Strain Of Bird Flu Discovered In California | Understanding Bipolar Disorder Through The Genome

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The outbreak of H5N9 avian influenza occurred at a California duck farm in November 2024. Also, new research pinpoints 298 parts of the genome associated with higher risk of bipolar disorder. This could lead to better treatments.

Another Strain Of Bird Flu Discovered In California

This week, the World Organization for Animal Health reported that it had been notified by the USDA that a November outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza on a California duck farm was caused by a strain not before seen in the United States: H5N9. The dominant bird flu strain circulating currently, H5N1, has led to massive culling of bird flocks, has infected dairy cattle, and has killed almost 500 people around the world since 2003. The US reported its first human death from bird flu earlier this month.

Experts stressed that the new strain did not itself appear to be an immediate human threat. But the rise of a new strain is troubling and points to the risk of a viral phenomenon known as “reassortment,” in which different viruses mingled in a host can sometimes exchange bits of viral code, forming new strains.

SciFri’s Charles Bergquist joins Flora Lichtman to talk about H5N9 and other stories from the week in science, including a spacewalk that was meant to include a search for microbes on the outside of the International Space Station, a possible positive side effect of scratching an itch, and the discovery of 66 million-year-old fossilized vomit.

Understanding Bipolar Disorder Through The Genome

Bipolar disorder is one of the most common mental illnesses—it affects an estimated 40 million people worldwide, about 2.8% of the population. Bipolar disorder can cause extreme mood swings, and be debilitating without treatment.

In an effort to untangle the mysteries of where bipolar disorder originates, researchers studied the genomes of more than 40,000 people with the condition. When comparing these genomes to those of people without bipolar disorder, the researchers were able to pinpoint 298 different parts of the genome associated with the mental illness. With this better understanding of the genome, better, more targeted treatments for bipolar disorder may be possible.

Joining Flora to talk about this research is Dr. Niamh Mullins, assistant professor of psychiatric genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Of Thriving In Winter—By Embracing It

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Kari Leibowitz, author of How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days, about saunas, cold plunges, candles, and other small ways to make winter a season to look forward to rather than dread. Plus, she responds to some of our audience’s own tips to make the season enjoyable.

What Would You Call The Fun Parts Of Winter?

Do you think “winter doldrums” needs a positive rebrand? Let us know what you would call the winter experience instead by leaving us a voicemail at 1-646-767-6532.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Factors That Make Bird Sounds So Diverse Across The World

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 29 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Birds are the master vocalists of the animal kingdom. They can make a remarkable variety of sounds.

But why is a barred owl more of a baritone, while a cedar waxwing is a soprano?

And what influences a bird’s vocal range, and the kinds of sounds it can make? Beak size? Body size? Geography?

To answer some of these questions, researchers analyzed over 140,000 bird vocalizations from all over the world to try to peck out some kernels of knowledge about bird calls and songs. Their research was recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Zuzana Burivalova, assistant professor of forest & wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about her latest research.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Can Paxlovid Relieve Long COVID Symptoms? For Some, Yes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 28 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

It’s been five years since the first laboratory-confirmed case of COVID-19 in the U.S., a bleak milestone in the early days of a pandemic that touched the lives of everyone. For the lucky ones, the virus mainly meant more precautions: mask-wearing, the occasional COVID test. But for others, a COVID-19 infection turned into long COVID. This is a chronic condition that lingers long after a COVID infection, and can reduce one’s ability to live their day-to-day life.

It’s been estimated that about 400 million people worldwide have had long COVID. Some researchers say that number is much higher. But there’s a lack of research on successful treatments for long COVID.

Some patients living with the condition have taken things into their own hands. A recent investigation documented the experiences of 13 long COVID patients who tried taking Paxlovid for longer than the typical 5-day course. The patients had mixed results, adding to a growing body of evidence that there will not be one silver bullet for treating the condition.

Joining Ira to talk about the results are two authors of the study, who have both had long COVID for years: Dr. Alison Cohen, assistant professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California San Francisco, and Dr. Julia Moore Vogel, senior program director at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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AI Is Coming Up With Brand New Molecules, Fueling Drug Discovery

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

A recent study in the journal Nature unveiled new proteins that can neutralize the deadliest of snake venoms. They’re “new” in that they aren’t found in nature—they were created in a lab, dreamed up by AI.

Using AI to discover, or design, the building blocks of drugs is a fast-growing area of research. Another team of scientists out of Philadelphia is using AI to discover new antibiotics by resurrecting long-lost molecules from extinct species like neanderthals and woolly mammoths.

We know what you’re thinking: It sounds too sci-fi to be true.

Flora Lichtman talks with two pioneers in the field about how AI is supercharging drug discovery: Dr. César de la Fuente, bioengineer and presidential associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Nobel laureate Dr. David Baker, director of the Institute for Protein Design and professor at the University of Washington in Seattle.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

For our Los Angeles listeners: We’re working on a story about the toxins left behind by the fires and we want to hear from you. How is this affecting you? Are you worried about the air and water and soil? How are you approaching clean-up? And what questions do you have?

Leave us a voicemail at 1-646-767-6532 or send us an email at scifri@sciencefriday.com.

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Trump Administration Cancels Meetings, Freezes Hiring At NIH | What Is A Meme Coin?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 24 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health say the move has sent fear and confusion throughout the agency. Plus, what's the technology behind meme coins?

Trump Administration Cancels Meetings, Freezes Hiring At NIH

This was President Trump’s first week back in the Oval Office. Along with issuing a flurry of executive orders, his administration has imposed a range of restrictions on the National Institutes of Health, affecting meetings, travel, hiring, funding, and communications. Scientists expressed alarm about what this could mean for ongoing research, with no clear timeline for if or when the freeze would be lifted.

Flora Lichtman is joined by Casey Crownhart, climate editor at the MIT Technology Review, to catch up on this and other big science stories of the week, including what’s coming next this year for nuclear power, why a record amount of snow fell in the Southeast this week, and new research on the surprisingly complex biology of a manta ray tail.

What Exactly Is A Meme Coin And How Does It Work?

A few days before President Trump’s inauguration, he hosted a “crypto ball” in Washington, D.C. That night, he unveiled his very own meme coin—a kind of digital asset that has gained a reputation for facilitating scams. Soon after, first lady Melania Trump also launched her own meme coin. After its launch, Trump’s coin’s market capitalization reached billions of dollars.

This isn’t the first time meme coins have gotten a lot of attention—you might remember Elon Musk joked about another one called Dogecoin on SNL in 2021—but it is the first time that this technology has been used by a sitting president. So what exactly is a meme coin anyway? How does the blockchain play into all this? And how might a president use it differently than an internet celebrity?

To find out more, Flora Lichtman talks with Liz Lopatto, a senior writer at The Verge who covers cryptocurrency and business, about how this market started, how Trump could use meme coins, and where the crypto market could go next.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Editors At Scientific Journals Are Resigning En Masse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Editors at scientific journals are quitting in droves. According to Retraction Watch, a watchdog publication, there have been at least 20 mass resignations since 2023.

So, what’s going on? If you look closely, you’ll notice a common pattern—publishers are cutting back on the number of editors, increasing the number of papers, and charging hefty fees for authors to publish their work.

The most recent mass resignation happened at the Journal of Human Evolution at the end of 2024. Both co-editors in chief and the entire editorial board quit, except for one person.

What does this mean for the future of scientific publishing? Have these resignations made the big publishers change their ways? Is the strict academic publishing system we know in danger?

To answer those questions and more, Ira talks with Dr. Andrea Taylor, former co-editor in chief of the Journal of Human Evolution; and Ivan Oransky, co-founder of Retraction Watch and editor in chief of The Transmitter.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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This January, See A ‘Planet Parade’ In The Night Sky

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Rejoice, amateur and professional astronomers: This January is a fantastic time for looking up at the sky.

The flashiest event of the season is also one of the easiest to see without binoculars or a telescope. A “parade of planets”—Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars—will be visible, and recognizable by their incredible brightness against the night sky. Uranus and Neptune will also be visible, but with a telescope. This string of planets will be visible for all of January.

Additionally, the ATLAS comet, discovered last year by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, has come close enough to the sun—8.3 million miles away—to be visible with binoculars or a telescope. Be careful, though: looking at sunrise or sunset could hurt your eyes.

Astronomer Dean Regas, host of the podcast “Looking Up with Dean Regas,” joins Ira from Cincinnati, Ohio, to discuss the best things the winter night sky has to offer this year, with or without a telescope.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Orbital’ Imagines The Inner Lives Of Astronauts On The ISS

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

From down here on Earth, life on the International Space Station seems magnificent: floating through the day, enjoying stunning views out your window, having an experience only a handful of other people will ever get.

But what’s it really like to live up there? How does experiencing 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day change your perception of time? How do you cope with being so far from the people you love?

Those are some of the questions explored in the novel Orbital, which won the Booker Prize late last year. In the book, author Samantha Harvey imagines the inner life of astronauts aboard the ISS.

Host Flora Lichtman is joined by Samantha Harvey, along with astronaut Dr. Cady Coleman, who spent almost six months on the Space Station, and is an author herself. They talk about the unexpected mundanities of living in space, how Harvey was inspired to write the book during lockdown, and how astronauts make sense of their new reality when separated from the rest of humanity.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Fire Risk To Homes Where Cities And Wildlands Meet

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Since January 7, wildfires have been devastating the Los Angeles area. In the span of 10 days, several different fires, including the Palisades and Eaton fires, have burned more than 40,000 acres and destroyed more than 12,000 structures. At least 25 people have died.

The threat of fire is growing, especially in zones known as the wildland-urban interface, or WUI. That’s where unoccupied wildland and human developments meet and mingle. Think of a city sprawling around a forest, for example. In the US, around one in three homes is in this type of high-risk zone.

So what’s the science behind urban fires? And how do we protect ourselves in the face of them?

Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Kimiko Barrett, senior wildfire researcher and policy analyst at the research group Headwaters Economics in Bozeman, Montana; and Dr. Alexandra Syphard, senior research scientist at the Conservation Biology Institute in San Diego, California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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2 Private Lunar Landers | Cervical Cancer Deaths Plummet, Experts Credit HPV Vaccine

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 17 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

The SpaceX rocket carries lunar landers from companies based in Texas and Japan. They could arrive at the moon in the coming months. HPV can cause a variety of cancers, including cervical. New mortality data for women under 25 point to the success of the HPV vaccine.

Rocket Launches With Lunar Landers From 2 Private Companies

On Wednesday, a SpaceX rocket launched carrying payloads from two separate private companies hoping to achieve lunar landings. The pair of landers—one from Japanese company ispace, and one from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace—will take months to reach the moon. Firefly’s lander is scheduled to arrive first, in March, with ispace’s lander planned for a touchdown in late May or early June.

Another SpaceX launch on Thursday, a test flight of the company’s Starship system, had mixed results. The booster returned to earth and was successfully “caught,” but the spacecraft exploded over the Caribbean shortly after launch. That explosion is under investigation.

Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos in Washington, D.C., joins Ira to talk about the Wednesday launch and plans for private lunar exploration. They also discuss other stories from the week in science, including the ban of Red Dye #3 an AI approach to snake antivenom, and a study predicting a rise in US dementia cases by 2060.

As Cervical Cancer Deaths Plummet, Experts Credit HPV Vaccine

In 2006, a vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV) became widely available to adolescents. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, and it can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, and sexual organs. It’s also the cause of nearly every case of cervical cancer.

Now, almost 20 years after the HPV vaccine was introduced, a study published in JAMA noted a 62% drop in deaths due to cervical cancer in women under 25 in the US: from 50 or 60 deaths per year to 13. This follows earlier research that noted a decrease in cervical precancer and cancer since the introduction of the vaccine.

With HPV vaccine uptake at about 60% for adolescents aged 13-15, a higher uptake could virtually eliminate cervical cancer, experts say. However, childhood vaccination rates have dwindled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking concerns about the spread of preventable disease.

Joining Flora Lichtman to talk about this latest study is lead author Dr. Ashish Deshmukh, professor of public health sciences and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Artificial General Intelligence’ Is Apparently Coming. What Is It?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D Peterschmidt) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

For years, artificial intelligence companies have heralded the coming of artificial general intelligence, or AGI. OpenAI, which makes the chatbot ChatGPT, has said that their founding goal was to build AGI that “benefits all of humanity” and “gives everyone incredible new capabilities.”

Google DeepMind cofounder Dr. Demis Hassabis has described AGI as a system that “should be able to do pretty much any cognitive task that humans can do.” Last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said AGI will arrive sooner than expected, but that it would matter much less than people think. And earlier this week, Altman said in a blog post that the company knows how to build AGI as we’ve “traditionally understood it.”

But what is artificial general intelligence supposed to be, anyway?

Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Melanie Mitchell, a professor at Santa Fe University who studies cognition in artificial intelligence and machine systems. They talk about the history of AGI, how biologists study animal intelligence, and what could come next in the field.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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NASA Considers Cheaper Ways To Retrieve Mars Samples | How Does A Hula Hoop Stay Up?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman, D Peterschmidt) — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Scientists investigated how the shape of the human body makes hula hooping possible—and what hips and a waist have to do with it. And, the decision for how to proceed with NASA's Mars Sample Return Mission will fall to the incoming administration.

What Makes A Hula Hoop Stay Up?

Hula hooping might appear to be a simple physical activity. But there’s some complex math and physics at play as the hoop goes around your body, and scientists haven’t had a clear understanding of those hidden forces—until now. A team of mathematicians at New York University recently published research into the science of hula hooping in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Flora Lichtman is joined by Olivia Pomerenk, a PhD candidate in mathematics at New York University, and a coauthor of that paper. She talks with Flora about why the motion of hula hooping prevents the hoop from falling down and which body types make for the best hooper.

NASA Considers Cheaper, Faster Ways To Retrieve Mars Samples

NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission is an ambitious project that aims to use the Perseverance rover to collect Martian rocks, sand, and even gulps of Martian air. Then, through a complicated handoff between different spacecraft, it would ferry those samples to Earth.

A 2023 assessment found that the original plan to retrieve the samples would be much more expensive, and take much longer, than initially expected.

This week, NASA announced two options for how to cut costs and bring the samples to Earth by the late 2030s. But the agency did not solidify a plan, leaving it to the next administration to sort out around 18 months from now. Is the project on the rocks?

To get up to speed on the mission, Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Jim Bell, professor of earth and space exploration at Arizona State University, and distinguished visiting scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Surgeon General Highlights Link Between Alcohol And Cancer

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Alcohol poses many risks to our health, including liver damage and driving under the influence.

Now, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy has highlighted another risk of drinking alcohol: cancer. In his latest advisory, Murthy detailed the growing body of research showing that drinking alcohol can increase the risk of at least seven types of cancers, those of the mouth, throat, voice box, esophagus, breast, liver, and colon.

He’s also recommended adding a warning to alcohol outlining the connection between alcohol use and cancer.

Ira talks with Dr. Murthy about the science that informed his latest advisory and his parting message for the nation as he ends his term as Surgeon General.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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First U.S. Bird Flu Death Raises Concerns About Preparedness

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

On January 6, the U.S. reported its first human death from the bird flu. According to the CDC, more than 60 people were diagnosed with bird flu in the US last year, up from just one case in 2022.

If you look at global cases over the last two decades, of the nearly 900 reported cases in people, roughly half the patients died.

H5N1 avian influenza has been circulating in birds—and even some mammals—for years. But in the spring of 2024, the virus turned up in dairy cattle. Since then, over 900 herds have been affected, according to the CDC.

This might bring back memories from early in the COVID-19 pandemic—but is that the right way to think about this? Should we be concerned? And what steps should we be taking?

To unpack this, host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Seema Lakdawala, co-director for the Center for Transmission of Airborne Pathogens and associate professor studying influenza viruses at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia; and Dr. Richard Webby, director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds and virologist at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Meet Flora Lichtman | Los Angeles Wildfires Stoked By Santa Ana Winds

Fri, 10 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

After her SciFri internship 20 years ago, Flora went on to become a beloved science journalist, video producer, and podcaster. Now she’s back! Also, several different fires are causing extreme damage in the Los Angeles area. Strong Santa Ana winds are one factor behind their rapid spread.

Science Friday Now Has Two Hosts: Meet Flora Lichtman!

Big news! Science Friday now has two hosts—Ira Flatow, the program’s founder, and veteran science journalist Flora Lichtman. Going forward, you’ll hear both of them regularly on the air and on our podcast.

Flora joins Ira to introduce herself and talk about her background, from her start as an intern at Science Friday 20 years ago to her role as a video producer, then a writer for Bill Nye, and as creator of the podcast “Every Little Thing.”

Los Angeles Wildfires Burn For Days, Stoked By Santa Ana Winds

This week, the Los Angeles area has been battered by at least five separate wildfires. Tens of thousands of acres have burned, and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Fire experts had warned on January 2 that conditions were ideal for wildfires in parts of Southern California. One factor that has helped these fires spread rapidly? Unusually strong Santa Ana winds.

On the other side of the country, Winter Storm Blair has caused freezing temperatures and up to a foot of snow across the Midwest and up into the East Coast, putting more than 60 million people under weather alerts.

Joining Ira Flatow to discuss these and other top stories of the week is Umair Irfan, science correspondent at Vox, based in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Lichen Tell Us About Ecology, Air Quality, And More

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker, Ira Flatow, John Dankosky) — Thu, 9 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Last October, Ira Flatow took a trip to the World Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon, for a daylong exploration of lichen—the fuzzy growths often found on trees, roofs, and gravestones. Ira sat down in front of a sold-out room with Dr. Hannah Prather, postdoctoral researcher and visiting assistant professor of biology at Reed College, and Dr. Jesse Miller, lead botanist for the Washington Natural Heritage Program. From their crucial role in ecosystems as indicators of air quality to their striking colors and forms, we’ve really taken a lichen to these amazing organisms.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Biologists Call For A Halt To ‘Mirror Life’ Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 8 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

You’re probably familiar with the concept of handedness—a glove made for your left hand looks basically like the one for your right hand, but won’t fit—it’s a mirror image. Many of life’s important molecules, including proteins and DNA, are chiral, meaning they can exist in either a left-handed or a right-handed form. But on Earth, nature only uses one version or the other in living organisms. Your proteins, for example, are all the left-handed version, while your DNA is all right-handed.

With advances in synthetic biology, it could be possible to build an artificial organism that flips that shape, having right-handed proteins and left-handed DNA. Writing in the journal Science, an international group of researchers recently cautioned against anyone trying to create that sort of so-called mirror life, saying that it poses the threat of “unprecedented and irreversible harm” to human health and global ecosystems.

Dr. Drew Endy, a synthetic biology researcher at Stanford University and one of the authors of that warning, joins Ira to discuss the concept of mirror life and why a group of researchers felt compelled to call for a halt to mirror life experiments.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Breakthrough Technologies To Watch In 2025

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 7 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Each year, the journalists at the MIT Technology Review publish a list of 10 breakthrough technologies: these are things poised to hit a tipping point, and potentially change the way the world works.

Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence remains a big breakthrough. While 2024 was the year of large learning models, small learning models top Technology Review’s list this year. These smaller models are more accessible, efficient, and could be better for the climate than their larger counterparts.

Also on the list is generative AI search, which is already implemented by Google with its Gemini language model. A new HIV medication called Lenacapavir, which has been shown to be incredibly effective in trials, is also on the list, along with cleaner, alternative jet fuels.

Joining Ira to talk through these and other items on the list is Amy Nordrum, executive editor of operations at MIT Technology Review based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Scientists Have Learned From 125 Years Of Bird Counts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi, John Dankosky) — Mon, 6 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

This winter marks the 125th year of Audubon’s Christmas Bird Count, in which bird nerds across the Western Hemisphere venture outside to record all the birds they see and hear.

Scientists use that data to understand how birds are faring, where they’re moving, and what they’re up to when it’s not breeding season. With 125 years under its belt, the Christmas Bird Count is the longest-running community science program in the world.

How do scientists use this data? And what have they learned in those 125 years? Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Brooke Bateman, senior director of climate and community science at the National Audubon Society, and Dr. Janet Ng, wildlife biologist at Environment and Climate Change Canada in Regina, Canada.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Scientists Predict Loss Of Deep Snow In Most Of U.S.

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 3 Jan 2025 21:00:00 +0000

Researchers have projected that by the end of the century, days where snow covers the ground will virtually disappear in the United States, except for in very high mountains like the Rockies. This would affect entire ecosystems, disrupting animals and plants that live beneath the snow and increasing flooding and runoff.

Ira talks with Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, about the latest snow projections and other top science news of the week, including the discovery of an ancient piece of clothing, how blinking can give you a “cognitive break,” and how dolphins could be using their teeth to improve hearing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Jane Goodall On Life Among Chimpanzees

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Few living scientists are as iconic as Dr. Jane Goodall. The legendary primatologist spent decades working with chimpanzees in Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. More recently, Goodall has devoted her time to advocating for conservation, not just in Africa, but worldwide.

Ira spoke with Goodall in 2002, after she had published her book The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals, and an IMAX film about her work with chimpanzees had just been released.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Science That Captivated SciFri’s Reporters In 2024

Mon, 30 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Today, we’re taking time to reflect on all that 2024 brought us in the world of science, from the total solar eclipse in April to the demise of the Ingenuity helicopter on Mars and the rise of the blockbuster GLP-1 weight-loss medications. SciFri producers Kathleen Davis and Charles Bergquist join Ira to wrap up the year in science, in a conversation recorded in a live event at WNYC’s Greene Space.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Health, Astronomy, And Climate Experts On 2024’s Coolest Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, John Dankosky, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

It’s been an exciting and hectic year in science discovery and innovation. We’ve reported on stories from across many fields of science—from city climate plans and panda conservation to AI energy consumption and the spread of bird flu.

Earlier this month, Ira sat down in front of a live audience at The Greene Space in New York City with Drs. Céline Gounder, Jackie Faherty, and Kevin Reed, three researchers from different areas of science. Together, they reflected on the most exciting discoveries in their fields, important stories you might have missed, and what they're looking forward to in 2025.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Meet Leaders Of 3 Local Conservation Projects | Preserving ‘Space Junk’ Left On Mars

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D Peterschmidt, Emma Gometz, Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

What makes three very different conservation projects so successful? These experts say it’s getting the community involved. And, archaeologists make a case for tracking and preserving artifacts left on Mars to chronicle humans’ first attempts at interplanetary exploration.

Meet 3 Leaders Addressing Local Conservation Problems

While 2024 saw a lot of governments and institutions falling short on climate goals, there were also smaller, localized efforts making a big difference for the environment.

To understand more about the creative ways that people are protecting nature, Science Friday began a newsletter series called “Tiny Nature Triumphs.” It highlights small conservation projects that have helped scientists and communities alike—and inspired people to get involved in solutions in their own backyard.

SciFri Digital Producer Emma Gometz sits down with leaders on three projects featured in “Tiny Nature Triumphs”—Claire Lane, an urban ecologist and leader on the Hamilton County Invasive Species Trade In Program; Jake Rose, co-founder of Chronolog; and Shaun Preston, yardmaster at Camp Small. They discuss how their programs address local conservation problems, and how to get involved.

A New Argument For Preserving ‘Space Junk’ Left On Mars

Over the past 60 years or so of space exploration, humans have left some things behind: bits of satellites, moon buggies, Mars rovers, even human excrement. It’s all part of the countless bits of human-made material that some people have dubbed “space junk.”

But what if, many, many years from now, archeologists wanted to trace the chronology of space exploration by examining the items we left in our wake? A new paper in the journal Nature Astronomy argues just this, that artifacts should be considered heritage, rather than trash.

Lead author Dr. Justin Holcomb, assistant research professor at the University of Kansas, joins Ira to discuss shifting our mindset on “space junk.”

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Top Dino Discoveries Of 2024 | Can Spiking Eggnog Kill Bacteria From Raw Eggs?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 25 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

To wrap up 2024, science writer Riley Black shares her favorite paleontology discoveries of the year. And, if treated properly, even old-fashioned eggnog made with cream and raw eggs can be a safe holiday beverage.

The Most Exciting Dino Discoveries Of 2024

December is, traditionally, a time to reflect on the events of the past year—including dinosaur discoveries. In 2024, researchers learned more about T. rex and the spiky tails of stegosaurs as well as how dinosaurs evolved, lived, and more.

For Smithsonian Magazine, dinosaur enthusiast and science writer Riley Black rounded up her top dino discoveries of the year. She talks with Ira Flatow about the most exciting paleontology news of 2024.

Can Spiking Eggnog Kill Bacteria From The Raw Eggs?

It’s a question that occasionally comes up over the course of a holiday celebration, at least in certain circles: whether or not the alcohol in old-fashioned eggnog made with real cream and raw eggs can protect against foodborne pathogens such as salmonella.

Around 15 years ago, Science Friday investigated, enlisting the help of a lab at Rockefeller University that has a tradition of mixing up a big batch of old-fashioned eggnog around Thanksgiving, then serving it weeks later at a lab holiday party. The researchers kindly conducted a controlled study in which they deliberately spiked samples of their potent eggnog with salmonella, then followed the mixture’s bacterial status over the course of several weeks.

Science Friday’s Charles Bergquist checks in with Dr. Vincent Fischetti, a bacteriologist at Rockefeller, to see if there have been any advances in the field of eggnogology.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Parker Solar Probe Will Make Closest-Ever Approach To Sun

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 24 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

On December 24, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe will make the closest-ever approach to the sun by a spacecraft. Parker has made more than 20 close approaches to the sun before, but this one will swoop in even closer than 3.8 million miles away from the sun’s surface.

Since the probe was launched back in 2018, it’s helped scientists better understand our star and unravel mysteries about solar wind, high-energy solar particles, the sun’s corona and more. Scientists hope that this upcoming approach will reveal even more about the star at the center of our solar system.

Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Nour Rawafi, project scientist for NASA’s Parker Solar Probe mission and astrophysicist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland. They discuss the goal of this close approach, how the spacecraft will stand the heat, and what else there is to learn about our sun.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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If ‘Interstellar’ Were Made Today, What Would Be Different?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D Peterschmidt) — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

For its 10th anniversary, the science advisor for “Interstellar” discusses the film’s impact and how new information about gravitational waves could have changed it.

The science fiction film “Interstellar” turns 10 years old this month. For many of us, it was our first encounter with some pretty advanced astrophysics, taking sci-fi concepts like wormholes and time warping, and backing them up with actual science. Now, we’re revisiting the impact that movie’s science had on pop culture, and how astrophysics has advanced in the past decade. If it were made today, what would be different?

Ira Flatow sits down with “Interstellar” science advisor Dr. Kip Thorne, a professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute of Technology. Since the film’s release, he has won a Nobel Prize for his contributions to the detection of gravitational waves generated from black holes. They discuss how the film inspired people to pursue scientific careers and how recent astrophysics discoveries, like gravitational waves, could’ve made it into the movie.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Farewell, Murder Hornet | What FAA Regulations Tell Us About Mysterious Drone Sightings

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 20 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Officials say the invasive Asian giant hornet, with its menacing nickname, has been eradicated from the United States. Also, with drone sightings in the news, we take a look at the current laws and regulations around hobby and commercial drone operation.

Farewell, Murder Hornet, We Hardly Knew You

Over the past few years many words have been written about an invasive insect known casually as the “murder hornet”—more formally, the Asian giant hornet, or northern giant hornet. But this week, the USDA and the Washington State Department of Agriculture announced that the insect has been eradicated in the United States. Our long national nightmare is over.

Science journalist Maggie Koerth joins Ira to talk about the entomology news, plus other stories from the week in science, including debate over how viruses should be named, the complicated relationship between science and law in the courtroom, and work tracing health signs—through earwax.

What FAA Regulations Tell Us About Mysterious Drone Sightings

It’s been all over the news the last few weeks: a slew of drone sightings in New Jersey and elsewhere on the East Coast, starting in mid-November. Federal authorities and President Biden have said that these drones don’t appear to be a threat to public safety, and that the sightings have been a mix of legal drones, airplanes, and helicopters. But questions and concerns remain, particularly among people who live in these areas. And just this week, the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) banned most drones from flying over nearly two dozen New Jersey towns.

Dr. Missy Cummings, professor and director of George Mason University’s Autonomy and Robotics Center in Fairfax, Virginia, has worked on drone technology extensively over the years. She agrees with what federal authorities have said: that these drones sightings are likely legal drones and aircraft, with some prankster drone owners mixed in.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Blind Women In India Detect Early Breast Cancer | Web-Slinging Silk Becomes Real

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

A program trains women as tactile medical examiners to identify tumors before they show up on imaging scans. And, in a materials science discovery, scientists made a liquid silk solution that hardens and picks up objects—not unlike Spider-Man’s web.

How Blind Women In India Are Detecting Early Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer worldwide, just behind lung cancer. And the earlier a breast tumor is found, the more likely it is that the person survives their diagnosis.

An international program called Discovering Hands trains blind women to detect even the smallest lumps and bumps through breast exams. The idea is to leverage the blind examiners’ sense of touch, which may be more acute than sighted people’s, to feel for breast abnormalities and, hopefully, catch cancer in an early stage.

Discovering Hands has a cohort in India, a country where only around one in every two people diagnosed with breast cancer survive, and imaging equipment can be expensive or hard to come by.

SciFri producer Rasha Aridi talks with science journalist Kamala Thiagarajan, who reported on Discovering Hands’ program in India for NPR’s global health blog, Goats and Soda.

Accidental Breakthrough Makes Web-Slinging Silk A Reality

We’re all familiar with Spider-Man—the red-suited hero who swings through New York using spider silk that shoots from his hands. While Peter Parker has a radioactive spider to thank for his shooting webs, scientists at Tufts University have made their own version of liquid silk that solidifies and can pick up objects.

This discovery was made accidentally, says biomedical engineer Dr. Marco Lo Presti of the Tufts University Silklab. Lo Presti found that combining silk from a silkworm with dopamine and acetone made the silk change from a flexible liquid to a hardened fiber that attaches to objects.

Lo Presti joins guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about the possibilities of liquid silk adhesives, and the advancements he’d like to see to make the technology better.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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8.5 Hours Of Daily Sitting Linked To Higher BMI And Cholesterol

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Sitting is a big part of modern life. Many people work at a desk all day, have long commutes, or at least enjoy some time relaxing on the couch at the end of the day. But sitting has gained a reputation as being bad for us—with some going so far as to call it “the new smoking.”

A recent study in the journal PLOS One sheds more light on just how much sitting is too much, using a cohort of more than 1,000 young adults, including 730 twins. The results showed that sitting for more than about eight and a half hours per day is linked to a higher total cholesterol and body mass index than sitting for less than that amount of time.

But there’s good news: 30 minutes of vigorous exercise per day may counter the negative effects that come from long days of sitting.

Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to discuss the findings are two of the study authors: Dr. Chandra Reynolds, professor in the Institute of Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado, Boulder; and Ryan Bruellman, PhD candidate in genetics, genomics, and bioinformatics at the University of California, Riverside.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Accidental Discovery That Gave Us ‘Forever Chemicals’ | A Pregnancy Play Inspired By Mushroom Research

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 17 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The Accidental Discovery That Gave Us ‘Forever Chemicals’

When it comes to PFAS chemicals—known as “forever chemicals”—we often hear that they’re used in nonstick coatings, flame retardants, and stain repellants. But those examples can hide the truth of just how widespread their use has been in modern life.

A new season of the “Hazard NJ” podcast looks at the origin story of PFAS chemicals, and the accidental discovery of PTFE—aka Teflon—in a DuPont laboratory in southern New Jersey. “Hazard NJ” host Jordan Gass-Pooré joins guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about the history of PFAS, their effect on the environment and health of New Jersey residents, and work towards cleaning up the PFAS mess.

A Play About Pregnancy Inspired By Mushroom Research

People are finding all sorts of uses for mushrooms these days, but we’re going to focus on two of them: how scientists are using them in robots and how playwrights are using them in theater. A few weeks ago, SciFri producer and host of our “Universe of Art” podcast D Peterschmidt moderated a panel at the Science In Theater Festival in Brooklyn, New York.

The festival is put on by a company called Transforma Theatre that stages science-inspired plays. Each year, they pair playwrights with scientists to make short plays that explore the research focus of the scientist.

Director and playwright Hannah Simms was paired with Dr. Andrew Adamatzky, a professor of unconventional computing, who’s learning how to connect various parts of nature, like mushrooms, to computers, and consulted with Hannah during the writing process. The play, called “Fruiting Body,” is about a fungal-computing scientist who, while pregnant, creates a fetal heart monitor powered by mycelium, which turns out to be sentient. While the concept is definitely science fiction, it is based on real unconventional mushroom research.

D talks with Hannah to learn why she wanted to explore her pregnancy through the lens of mushroom research. They’re also joined by Dr. Anand Mishra, a research associate at Cornell University’s department of mechanical and aerospace engineering, who explains how he helped build a robot that’s powered by king oyster mushroom mycelium.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Empire and Environmental Destruction Go Hand-In-Hand

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

“The Burning Earth” examines over 800 years of history to demonstrate how violence against people and the planet are one and the same. Also, the host of the “Hazard NJ” podcast talks about the origins of PFAS “forever chemicals” and their impact on New Jersey residents.

How Empire and Environmental Destruction Go Hand-In-Hand

A new book called The Burning Earth: A History takes on a massive question: How did we get here? “Here” being this point in environmental history and decades deep into the climate crisis. Over the span of 800 years of history, the book connects the dots of how the pursuit of empire, environmental destruction, and human migration led us to this moment in time.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with author Dr. Sunil Amrith, a historian at Yale University. They discuss some common threads that run through human and environmental history, why peace has to be a part of climate action, and what we can learn from understanding the past.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than Expected | Are Food Recalls Actually On The Rise?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The effect, known as the Hubble Tension, has been confirmed by James Webb Space Telescope observations. Also, despite near daily warnings of food recalls, 2024 hasn’t been that different from previous years.

The Universe Is Expanding Faster Than Expected

There’s still a lot to be learned about the physics of our universe—and one of the most perplexing ideas is something called the Hubble Tension. That’s an observation, made around a decade ago, that the universe seems to be expanding faster than it should be according to cosmologists’ understanding of its earliest days. Now, two years of James Webb Space Telescope observations of supernovae have confirmed those previous measurements made by the Hubble telescope, meaning that the puzzle isn’t just due to some instrumental error.

Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, joins Kathleen Davis to talk about that finding and other stories from the week in science, including a new quantum computing chip from Google, efforts to improve electrical control of prosthetics, proposed new protections for monarch butterflies, and more.

Are Food Recalls Actually On The Rise? Not Really.

It feels like there’s been an onslaught of food recalls this year. The Food and Drug Administration and the Department of Agriculture have issued recalls for items like cucumbers and carrots, deli meat and smoked salmon, which have been contaminated with pathogens like salmonella, E. coli, and listeria.

There were just over 1,900 food recalls in the fiscal year ending in October 2024. While that number has been increasing since an initial dip in recalls early in the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s still lower than the numbers seen in the several years before the pandemic.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Byron Chaves, food scientist and professor at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, about why it feels like there are so many food recalls this year, how a recall happens, and what food safety tips you should know as a consumer.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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You Share Your Gut Microbiome With Your Friends

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D Peterschmidt) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The microbiome, the network of tens of trillions of microbes that live in and on our bodies, helps us digest food and protects us from diseases. And depending on what species of bacteria you have, your microbiome could impact your stress response, decision-making, and how likely you are to develop arthritis and depression.

Scientists have known that your microbiome is partially shaped by your environment, and the people you spend your time with. But they haven’t had a lot of clarity on how exactly social networks outside of home and family impact our microbiome makeup.

To learn more, a team from Yale University mapped the connections among 2,000 people in isolated villages in Honduras and compared their microbiomes to see how exactly their social closeness impacted their gut bacteria. And it turns out, we’re more connected to people in our lives than you may think. Their research was published in the journal Nature.

Ira Flatow is joined by sociologist and physician Dr. Nicholas Christakis, who directs the Human Nature Lab at Yale University. He studies the biology of human social interactions and was an author on the recent paper. They discuss how the researchers worked with villages in Honduras to gather samples and how they can tell who your friends are, just by looking at your poop.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Marie Curie And The Women Scientists Who Became Her Legacy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

When you consider someone’s legacy in science, you might think about their biggest discovery, their list of publications, or their titles, awards, and prizes. But another kind of scientific legacy involves the students and colleagues that passed through a scientist’s orbit over the course of a career.

A new book, The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science, takes a look at the legacy of Madame Marie Curie, one of the most recognizable names in science history. But instead of looking only at Curie’s own life, author Dava Sobel views her through the lens of some of the 45 women who trained in Curie’s lab during her research into radioactivity.

Ira Flatow talks with Sobel about her research into Curie’s life, some of the anecdotes from the book, and how she interacted with some of her lab assistants and colleagues.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Protecting Against Poison Exposure This Holiday Season

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

There are a lot of holiday gatherings at this time of year, and families getting together can mean that kids are in places that don’t normally have a lot of kid visitors. And, as we know, curious kids can get into trouble.

Dr. Sing-Yi Feng, a pediatric emergency physician and medical toxicologist with the North Texas Poison Center, joins Ira to talk about some of the most common toxic exposures seen in hospital emergency rooms over the holidays. She stresses that even more than protecting against consumption of poinsettia plants or the cleaning supplies under the sink, households with young kids should be sure to control access to prescription medications, alcohol, and cannabis gummies.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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2024’s Best Science Books For Kids

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow, Diana Plasker) — Mon, 9 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

It’s that time of the year when you’re making your list, checking it twice, for gifts that spark a love of science for the kids in your life.

Ira talks with Mahnaz Dar, young readers’ editor at Kirkus Reviews and Carrie Wolfson, collection development librarian at the Boulder Public Library to round up some of the top kids’ science books of 2024 and make recommendations based on listener questions.

See their full list of recommendations on sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Supreme Court Case On Regulation Of Vapes | Predicting Lithium-Ion Battery Explosions

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow, D Peterschmidt) — Fri, 6 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The Supreme Court hears a case centering on the FDA’s denial of applications for nicotine-based vapes containing flavored liquid seen as addictive for young people. And, damaged lithium-ion batteries can cause deadly explosions. An algorithm could help detect when they’re about to happen.

Supreme Court Hears Case On FDA Regulation Of Flavored Vapes

On Monday, the US Supreme Court heard arguments in a case that could change the Food and Drug Administration’s power to regulate nicotine-based vapes. It revolves around the FDA’s denial of applications from two vape companies that sell flavored liquids in their products, citing that the liquids presented a danger in addicting young people to nicotine. But a lower court rejected that denial, saying the agency was inconsistent in its approval process. The decision could impact the FDA’s regulatory power to ban the sale of some of these vapes in the US.

Ira Flatow is joined by Rachel Feltman, host of the Popular Science podcast “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” to talk about the health implications of the case. They also discuss other top science stories of the week, including why there’s been a large decrease in cervical cancer rates over the past decade, why Venus probably wasn’t able to support ancient life (contradicting some hopeful theories), and new information about when humans might’ve started to wear clothing, thanks to some clues from lice.

A Warning For When A Lithium-Ion Battery Is About To Explode

Lithium-ion batteries are used in all sorts of electronics, like smart phones, laptops, and e-bikes. That’s because they can store a lot of energy in a small package. Unfortunately, this also means that when a battery is damaged, there’s a lot of energy to expel, which can lead to explosions and fires.

While there are no national statistics available, in New York City alone, there have been 733 fires started by lithium-ion batteries since 2019, which killed 29 people and injured 442. Most of these fires are a result of e-bike or scooter batteries catching fire.

Now, researchers have trained AI algorithms to be able to better predict when a lithium-ion battery is about to explode. The battery makes a hissing sound two minutes before an explosion.

Ira talks with two researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology about their work on the subject: Dr. Andy Tam, mechanical engineer in the Fire Research Division, and Dr. Anthony Putorti, fire protection engineer and leader of the Firefighting Technology Group.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Theatrical Tribute To Unexpected Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 5 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The Ig Nobel awards are a salute to achievements that, in the words of the organizers, “make people laugh, then think.” Each year, the editors of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research choose 10 lucky(?) winners who have unusual achievements in science, medicine, and other fields. This year’s awards were presented in a theatrical extravaganza in an MIT lecture hall in September.

They included awards for studying coin flipping (including hundreds of thousands of real coin flips), the movements of a dead trout, and an opera about Murphy’s Law. In a Science Friday holiday tradition, Ira hosts an hour of highlights from the ceremony.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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'They Might Be Giants' Sings About Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Wed, 4 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

As part of Science Friday’s 33rd anniversary show, we’re revisiting our listeners’ favorite stories, including this one from 2009.

In the album “Here Comes Science,” the band They Might Be Giants tackled the scientific process, plasma physics, the role of blood in the body, and the importance of DNA, all in song. Band members John Linnell and John Flansburgh discuss the album and play some science tunes.

The transcript for this segment is available at sciencefriday.com.

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What Was It Like To Witness The End Of The Dinosaurs?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 3 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

As part of Science Friday’s 33rd anniversary show, we’re revisiting our listeners’ favorite stories, including this one from 2022.

66 million years ago, a massive asteroid hit what we know today as the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico. Many people have a general idea of what happened next: The age of the dinosaurs was brought to a close, making room for mammals like us to thrive.

But fewer people know what happened in the days, weeks, and years after impact. Increased research on fossils and geological remains from this time period have helped scientists paint a picture of this era. For large, non-avian dinosaurs like Triceratops and Tyrannosaurus rex, extinction was swift following the asteroid impact. But for creatures that were able to stay underwater and underground, their post-impact stories are more complicated.

In 2022, Utah-based science writer Riley Black joined Ira to discuss her book The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Nobel Prize For Chemistry Work ‘Totally Separate From Biology’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Jason Dinh, Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 2 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In 2022, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi of Stanford University, Dr. Morten Meldal of the University of Copenhagen, and Dr. K. Barry Sharpless of the Scripps Research Institute “for the development of click chemistry and bioorthogonal chemistry.” In “click chemistry,” molecular building blocks snap together quickly and efficiently to let chemists build more complicated molecules. But bioorthogonal chemistry takes that work one step further, allowing the technique to be used within living organisms without damaging cells.

“When someone is thinking outside the box, or in a very different way, we like to think of that as orthogonal thinking,” Bertozzi explained. “So biorthogonal means not interacting with biology. Totally separate from biology.” Her research began with an interest in developing ways to see specific sugar molecules on the surface of cells. But it has developed into an approach that can be used for advanced drug delivery in fields such as chemotherapy.

As part of Science Friday’s 33rd anniversary show, we’re revisiting our listeners’ favorite stories, including this one. In 2022, Bertozzi joined Ira Flatow for a wide-ranging conversation about her research, chemistry education, her early music career, and the importance of diversity in the field of chemistry.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Alan Alda Reflects On Life With Parkinson’s

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 29 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In 2018, actor, author and science communicator Alan Alda spoke publicly about his diagnosis for Parkinson’s Disease. Alda, who is best known for his role in “M*A*S*H,” “The Aviator,” and “The West Wing,” shifted his interests to science communication in his later years. He’s written several books on the topic, and has an ongoing podcast, “Clear + Vivid.”

As part of Science Friday’s 33rd anniversary show, we’re revisiting our listeners’ favorite stories, including this one. Alda came on Science Friday in 2018 to talk about his life since his Parkinson’s diagnosis, and how being an advocate for science changes his perspective on his condition.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Horn Of Potato Plenty | Adding Marbling To Fake Meat For An Extra-Realistic Bite

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a potato researcher explains potato varieties, potato nutrition, and some tubular tuber facts. And, irregular, fatty marbling gives meat a unique texture. Recreating that in plant-based products isn’t easy.

A Horn Of Potato Plenty

The potato is a versatile vegetable—baked, roasted, fried, mashed—it can bring something to just about any menu. But, how exactly do these tasty tubers end up on our tables? We’ll give you a crash course in potato science, including how potatoes are grown (hint: not from seeds!) and what scientists look for when they develop new potato varieties.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Rhett Spear, assistant professor in the Plant Sciences Department at the University of Idaho.

Adding Marbling To Fake Meat For That Extra-Realistic Bite

Plant-based meat products have evolved over the past few decades. You can find them in many forms, like sausages, deli meats, and faux chicken nuggets. During the holiday season, no plant-based meat is more famous than the Tofurky Roast, a round imitation turkey.

Despite improvements in flavor for plant-based meat products, there are still lots of challenges to getting fake meats to mimic their real counterparts. One tough one is textural: instilling a marbling effect. This is the effect of irregular fat deposits, which occur naturally in animal meat.

Plant-based meat has a uniform texture by design. Because each product is processed to be a certain way, the randomness and irregularity of fat pockets is taken out of the equation. But some food scientists are working on adding more of this meaty texture to plant-based meat.

Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to discuss the challenges and possibilities for the next stage of plant-based meat is Dr. David Julian McClements, distinguished professor in food science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Nutritionist Clarifies Some Common Health Claims

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 27 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

We recently asked our listeners which dubious health claims they’ve been seeing in their social media feeds or being circulated by friends and family. Unsurprisingly, we received a ton of questions about nutrition, including: Is seed oil bad for you? Does apple cider vinegar really lower blood sugar? What is the difference between processed and ultraprocessed foods?

To answer those questions and more, SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with RDN Jessica Clifford, a nutrition specialist at Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition at Colorado State University.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Restoring Drinking Water After Hurricane Helene | Oyster Shell Reefs And Sea Level Rise

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D Peterschmidt) — Tue, 26 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Fifty-three days after Hurricane Helene, residents of Asheville can safely drink their tap water without boiling it. Why did it take so long? And, tribes’ historic lands on the Gulf Coast are being lost to the sea. To slow it down, one tribe has turned to oyster shells.

The Struggle To Restore Drinking Water After Hurricane Helene

When Hurricane Helene barrelled through the southeastern US in September, it dumped an estimated 40 trillion gallons of water on the region. That resulted in immense flooding that destroyed roads, buildings, power lines, and other infrastructure.

And it also impacted the region’s potable water supply. For weeks, residents in Asheville, North Carolina, didn’t have access to clean drinking water because the extensive flooding washed large amounts of sediment into the local reservoir. As of Monday, limited access to potable water was restored, marking the first time in 53 days that local residents didn’t have to boil tap water to drink it.

Before that access was restored, we heard from listeners Sarah and Alison in Asheville who had their own questions about the water quality in their city, and the science behind sediment issues in a local reservoir.

Guest host and SciFri producer Kathleen Davis is joined by Dr. Sarah Ledford, associate professor of geosciences at Georgia State University, to figure out why it can take so long for cities to clean their potable water after a storm like this and what other regions expect from the aftermath of future extreme weather.

Using Oyster Shell Reefs To Counter Sea Level Rise In Louisiana

On a hot Friday morning, the sun beat down on volunteers gathered at the edge of the water in southern Plaquemines Parish. They passed heavy sacks of oyster shells to each other down a line. The volunteers loaded the shells onto boats to use them for building an oyster reef to help slow land loss in Grand Bayou Indian Village.

“The oyster reef is a living thing. Baby oysters are going to attach to it. It’s going to grow. It’s going to become bigger,” said James Karst with the Coalition for Coastal Louisiana, the organization that built the reef. “But when the sea level rises, because oysters are growing on it, it will grow vertically as well, so it will continue to add protection.”

Louisiana’s land loss is an existential crisis for many of the tribes who live along the coast. Grand Bayou Indian Village, a small community, home to the Atakapa-Ishak/Chawasha tribe, is watching its lands wash away. Nearly 1,000 people lived in the village in the 1940s, but now there are only about a dozen homes raised on stilts right along the edge of the bayou. Boats are the only way to get around.

“You can look at the GPS and it will indicate a different color for where land is,” said Karst. “You’ll be looking at this on the screen, then you’ll look up and there is no land there. It’s just open water.”

Volunteers built the reef by stacking bags of recycled oyster shells in the water, up and down the shoreline. The shells came from restaurants in New Orleans. The coalition recently expanded its oyster recycling services to Baton Rouge.

Read the full story at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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50 Years Of Science With Lucy, Our Famous Early Ancestor

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

On November 24, 1974—50 years ago this November—a pair of paleoanthropologists made the discovery of a lifetime: a set of 47 bones, hidden in the dusty, rocky hills of a fossil site in Hadar, Ethiopia. The skeleton belonged to a 3.2 million year old hominin, which came to be nicknamed Lucy.

She marked the very first specimen of Australopithecus afarensis—a species of early hominins that were very likely our own ancestors. Lucy might be the most famous fossil in the world, and she’s transformed our understanding of human evolution.

SciFri’s Kathleen Davis looks back at 50 years of Lucy with the people who know her best: Dr. Donald Johanson, founding director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University and the paleo legend who discovered her, as well as Dr. Zeray Alemseged, paleoanthropologist at the University of Chicago who discovered “Lucy’s baby.” They discuss what Lucy has taught us in the last 50 years, why she remains a scientific icon, and how understanding our ancestral origins helps us understand humanity.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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SpaceX’s Starship Completes In-Orbit Engine Test | Resuscitating Shipwrecked Rye Seeds

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 22 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

This was the sixth test launch of the Starship vehicle, which could eventually carry humans and cargo to the moon. It was extremely loud. Also, divers have recovered seeds of a long-lost rye variety from a 146-year-old shipwreck in Lake Huron. Scientists hope to bring it back to life.

SpaceX’s Starship Completes In-Orbit Engine Test

On Tuesday, the rocket company SpaceX conducted another test flight of its Starship spacecraft. In the uncrewed mission, the sixth test of the system, the company was seeking to test its ability to restart the Starship engines while in orbit, a function that’s necessary for in-space maneuvering. The rocket did launch successfully, and the engine test worked. However, at the last minute the company elected not to try to repeat an October maneuver in which it caught a returning SuperHeavy rocket booster at the launch tower, citing safety concerns.

SciFri’s Charles Bergquist joins guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about the launch, and related research into the tremendous sound created by the system’s launch and reentry. They also discuss other stories from the week in science, including the discovery of a saber-toothed kitten in Siberian permafrost, efforts to use light to help destroy PFAS chemicals, a company using Pokemon Go game data to train an AI, and more.

Michigan-Based Team To Resuscitate Shipwrecked Rye Seeds

In 1878, a wooden schooner named the James R. Bentley set sail from Chicago to Buffalo, New York. But strong winds and rough waters damaged the ship, and it sank to the bottom of Lake Huron. The crew was saved, but the ship’s cargo—a large shipment of rye—sank with it. In the years since the shipwreck, that particular variety of rye has faded out of existence.

Now, almost 150 years later, a Michigan-based team is trying to bring the long-lost rye back to life. They dove to the shipwreck, retrieved a tube full of seeds, and are planning to use gene technology to recreate the rye variety. Their goal is to encourage farmers to grow it, so that distillers can use it to make whiskey.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Eric Olson, professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Michigan State University, and Chad Munger, founder and CEO of Mammoth Distilling.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Chef Jack Bishop Breaks Down ‘The Science of Good Cooking’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Denise Chow, Ira Flatow, John Dankosky) — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

What’s the secret to making a fluffy omelet or the perfect pie dough? In this interview from 2012, Jack Bishop, now senior content advisor at America’s Test Kitchen, debunks cooking myths and highlights some of the surprising finds from the show’s cookbook, The Science of Good Cooking.

Bishop tells us that water is one of the key parts of the perfect pie crust. You need it to roll out the dough, but it also forms gluten which makes the dough chewy. So, how can your pie dough be both soft and easy to handle? Use science—and a little bit of vodka.

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Bacteriophages Lurk In Your Bathroom, But Don’t Worry

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

It sounds like something from an advertisement for bathroom cleaner: Researchers found over 600 different viruses, most of which are new to science, in samples taken from showerheads and toothbrushes. The viruses, however, are unlikely to affect humans. They are bacteriophages, a type of virus that preys on bacteria. The expedition into bathroom biodiversity was recently published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiomes.

Around a hundred years ago in the former Soviet Union, there were major efforts to develop bacteriophages for medical use. The approach really didn’t catch on in Western countries, overshadowed there by the rise of conventional antibiotics like penicillin. But with some diseases developing resistance to those conventional antibiotics, there’s been increased interest in phages as part of an antibacterial toolkit.

Dr. Erica Hartmann, an associate professor in the department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at Northwestern University, joins Ira to talk about what researchers found when they took a close look at a collection of bathroom samples, and how phage research has advanced in recent years.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Managing Invasive Plants And Ticks Together | Clue Into The Evolution Of The Bird Brain

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 19 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Researchers are connecting two ecological problems in the Northeast in hopes of reducing the risk of tick-borne illnesses. Also, a “one-of-a-kind” fossil of Navaornis hestiae helps fill a giant gap in scientists’ understanding of how bird brains evolved.

Managing Some Invasive Plants Might Reduce Blacklegged Ticks

In much of the eastern US, October and November usher in an autumn peak of the blacklegged tick season.

For years, researchers have noticed that these ticks, also called deer ticks, are more abundant on certain invasive plant species, like Japanese barberry, that create dense thickets in the forest understory.

Now, a group of scientists in Vermont and Maine is investigating how managing these plants might decrease the number of blacklegged ticks—and the risk of people developing tick-borne illnesses, like Lyme disease and Babesiosis. After getting a $1.8 million grant from the National Science Foundation, they’re hoping to come up with guidance for landowners.

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.

Ancient Bird Fossil Offers Clues Into How Bird Brains Evolved

Archaeopteryx is the earliest bird-like dinosaur that we know of. It lived 150 million years ago, but researchers don’t know much about how the bird brain evolved from then to now.

An 80 million-year-old bird from the Mesozoic Era is now helping fill in the blanks. It’s called Navaornis hestiae. Researchers uncovered a fossil of this species, which was previously unknown to science, in Brazil in 2016. That specimen has a remarkably well-preserved skull, which a team of paleontologists used to digitally reconstruct the bird’s brain. The researchers recently reported their findings in the journal Nature.

Ira talks with a lead author of the study, Dr. Luis Chiappe, a paleontologist and curator at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Gurgling, Growling History Of The Gut

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Despite advances in scientific research, the stomach remains a subject of mystery and intrigue. After all, it’s nearly impossible to ignore its gurgles and growls. Some cultural understanding of the gut has changed too—from an unruly being that must be fed and placated, to a garden ecosystem that is to be nourished in order to flourish.

And if you’re a frequent listener of Science Friday, you’re familiar with the gut’s microbiome—the constellation of trillions of microbes thriving in our bodies. And that the stomach has some of the same neuroreceptors as the brain, which has earned it the nickname of the “second brain.”

Ira talks with Dr. Elsa Richardson, author of Rumbles: A Curious History of the Gut and co-director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare at University of Strathclyde in Scotland. They discuss the changing cultural and scientific understanding of the gut, including the discovery of the enteric nervous system and Victorian-era physician Sir William Arbuthnot Lane’s obsession with curing constipation.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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At COP29, The World’s Top Polluters Are No-Shows | Walking Pneumonia Is Spiking

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 15 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Leaders from the top-polluting countries, like the US and China, aren’t showing up to the UN’s big climate conference in Azerbaijan. And, walking pneumonia typically affects school-age kids, but the CDC reports a rise in cases in children aged 2-4.

At COP29, The World’s Top Polluters Are No-Shows

The United Nations’ annual international climate conference, COP29, got underway this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Leaders from around the world come together at this conference to hammer out deals between nations to lower emissions and coordinate climate change-related financial efforts.

And a big focus this year was to negotiate a deal for wealthier countries to financially compensate developing nations who’ve experienced climate-change related damage. The only problem is that world leaders from the top-polluting countries, like the US and China, aren’t even showing up.

Ira Flatow is joined by Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, to catch up on this and other science stories of the week, including new data on rising alcohol consumption, why Voyager 2 got an inaccurate snapshot of Uranus in the 1980s, and why the world’s largest organism might also be its oldest.

Walking Pneumonia Is Spiking. Here’s How To Stay Safe

Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a report outlining a significant spike in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, better known as walking pneumonia. This respiratory illness is caused by bacteria spread through respiratory droplets, and symptoms usually mimic the common cold. It’s pretty common, with about 2 million infections happening each year, mostly in school-age kids. This year’s spike, which started in the spring, is a little different: There’s been a significant increase in kids aged 2 to 4 and it is now the new leading cause of pneumonia for that group.

Dr. Preeti Sharma, pediatric pulmonologist at Children’s Heath in Dallas, knows what it’s like to have a child with mycoplasma pneumonia. Her daughter came home with the illness in the spring. What she thought was a typical cold turned into a deep and lingering cough: a telltale sign of walking pneumonia.

Dr. Sharma, who is also an associate professor at UT Southwestern, joins Ira Flatow to discuss this year’s Mycoplasma pneumoniae spike, the best treatments, and how to keep your family healthy this holiday season.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Oliver Sacks Searched The Brain For The Origins Of Music

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Today, November 8, 2024, marks Science Friday’s 33rd broadcast anniversary. One of the most beloved interviewees on Science Friday over the years was the late neurologist and author Dr. Oliver Sacks, who shared his insights into neuroscience, art, and what it means to be human. Recently, Sacks’ long-time collaborator Kate Edgar published a book of Dr. Sacks' letters. And earlier this fall, the New York Public Library announced its acquisition of Sacks’ entire archive.

In this segment, Ira revisits a 2007 conversation with Oliver Sacks about his book Musicophilia. They talk about the way music and the brain interact, why music can sometimes remain in the brain long after other memories fade, and why a person with limited language abilities might still be able to sing unimpaired.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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CAR-T Cell Therapy For Autoimmune Diseases | Measuring Early Life Adversity—In Marmots

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 13 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In a Chinese study, donor CAR-T cells sent autoimmune diseases into remission. There’s hope that the therapy is scalable. And, scientists used decades of yellow-bellied marmot research to find a way to measure how adverse events affect wild animals’ survival.

CAR-T Cell Therapies Show Promise For Autoimmune Diseases

For decades, immunologists have explored CAR-T cell therapy as an effective tool to fight blood cancer. Increasingly, CAR-T cells are being explored as a potential silver bullet for treating autoimmune diseases, like lupus—which currently have no cure.

Thus far, CAR-T cell therapy has largely used CRISPR-modified immune cells from a person to treat that person’s own diseases. But new research from China has made a huge step forward for this treatment: Researchers were successful in using donated CAR-T cells from one person to treat another person’s systemic sclerosis, an autoimmune condition that causes atypical growth of connective tissues.

If donor CAR-T cell therapy does indeed work, as posited in this paper, it could mean the therapy is more scalable than it would be otherwise. Joining Ira to talk about this study and its potential impact is Daniel Baker, PhD student in the immunology lab of Dr. Carl June at the University of Pennsylvania.

Measuring The Effects Of Early Life Adversity—In Marmots

It’s well-established in psychology that if you experience trauma as a child, chances are it’ll impact your physical and mental health as an adult, and could even affect your economic status. In academic terms, this is called early childhood adversity. And psychologists have developed a scoring system for measuring the cumulative effect of adverse childhood experiences, which can include abuse and household dysfunction, and it can help predict health risks later in life.

So we can specifically measure that in humans. But what about other animals? If you’ve adopted a dog that’s had a turbulent past, you know that that can result in reclusive or skittish behavior as an adult. But there hasn’t been a good way to measure it in wild animals.

Well, a new study from UCLA, published in the journal Ecology Letters, establishes a similar index for wild animals, and it used decades of findings from a mammal: the yellow-bellied marmot. So how could it help conservation efforts for other animals?

Ira Flatow talks with Xochitl Ortiz-Ross, a PhD student in ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA, and one of the authors on that study.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Your Arm Position Can Make Blood Pressure Readings Inaccurate

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Think back to the last time you went to the doctor’s office. Chances are, at the start of the visit, they took your temperature, pulse, and blood pressure—your “vitals.”

But how did they take your blood pressure? The medical literature that describes safe blood pressure ranges is all based on readings taken with the patient sitting with feet flat on the floor, legs uncrossed, back supported, and the testing arm supported by a desk at mid-heart level. But if the blood pressure is measured with the person in a different position—say, perched on the edge of an exam table, legs dangling, and an arm hanging at the side—the readings given by a blood pressure monitor can be distorted. In a recent study published in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine, researchers found that arm position could account for as much as a 7mmHg difference in pressure readings. That difference could be enough to incorrectly classify some people as hypertensive.

Dr. Tammy Brady, medical director of the Pediatric Hypertension Program at Johns Hopkins University, joins Ira to talk about the art of blood pressure measurement, how to better track your own blood pressure, how to find blood pressure monitors that have been properly validated, and the importance of advocating for yourself in medical settings.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Do We Keep Widening Highways If It Doesn’t Reduce Traffic?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Have you ever been stuck in traffic and thought, if only this highway was a little wider so it could fit more cars? You aren’t alone.

Many states have been expanding their highways. New York Governor Kathy Hochul recently announced a $1.3 billion project to expand one of the state’s highways for an estimated maximum six-minute travel savings. Other highway-widening projects are underway in Texas, California, and Maryland. In 2022, federal, state, and local governments in the US spent $127 billion on highway construction. Some departments of transportation say expanding highways is necessary to reduce congestion, especially in areas with growing populations, and to encourage economic development.

But decades of research shows the opposite effects when highways are expanded—that travel times actually increase when more lanes are added. So how does this happen, and why do we keep expanding highways even though the research says it doesn’t work?

Megan Kimble, journalist and author of City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, And The Future Of America’s Highways, joins Ira to break down the research behind highway widening and discuss how increasing funding for public transit could help make traffic better, and why some cities are deciding to remove their highways entirely.

Read an excerpt from City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, And The Future Of America’s Highways.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Ballot Measures Passed To Protect Abortion Rights | New Largest Prime Number

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 8 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Abortion was on the ballot in 10 states, and seven of them passed constitutional amendments defending abortion rights. Also, this ginormous number has a whopping 41,024,320 digits, which isn’t very helpful for mathematicians but is certainly exciting for math nerds.

Seven States Passed Ballot Measures To Protect Abortion Rights

This week, science was on the ballot in many states. Voters across the country weighed in on issues like drug legalization, money to fund climate programs, and, of course, abortion rights. Ten states voted on the issue, and in seven of them, voters chose to protect or expand abortion rights. Those states are Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New York, Colorado, Arizona, and Missouri. On the flip side, voters in Florida, Nebraska, and South Dakota rejected measures that would protect abortion rights.

Ira Flatow talks with Tim Revell, executive editor at New Scientist, about the outcome of some sciencey ballot measures and what we can expect going into another Trump presidency. They also discuss the launch of the world’s first wooden satellite, what scientists learned when they put vampire bats on a treadmill, and more.

Math Enthusiast Finds The Largest Known Prime Number

Let’s go back to grade school—do you remember learning about prime numbers? They’re numbers that can only be divided by themselves and one.

So 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, and so on are prime numbers. The number 12, for example, wouldn’t be prime because you can divide it by other numbers, like 2 and 3. And as you count up and up, prime numbers become more sparse.

Math lovers are always competing to find the largest prime number, and just recently, an engineer discovered the largest one—so far. And you won’t believe how ginormous it is: It has more than 41 million digits.

Ira talks with Jack Murtagh, math writer and columnist for Scientific American, about why prime numbers are so cool, and the quest to find the largest one.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Chickens Have Friendships And Reputations | Tourist Photos May Help Map Penguin Colonies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Rachel Feltman) — Thu, 7 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Author and naturalist Sy Montgomery discusses chicken intelligence and her experience raising a flock in New Hampshire. And, snapshots from over the years could provide researchers with valuable data about how penguin colonies have shifted.

Chickens Have Friendships, Memories, And Reputations

Chickens don’t exactly have a reputation of being the sharpest creatures in the animal kingdom. Yet, talk to anyone who raises chickens and they’ll tell you that they are far more intelligent and social than we often give them credit for. For example, chickens can recognize the faces of 100 other chickens and find their way home just days after birth.

Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with Sy Montgomery, author of the new book, What the Chicken Knows: A New Appreciation of the World’s Most Familiar Bird, about her own flock and what she’s learned about chicken intelligence.

Tourist Photos From Antarctica May Help Map Penguin Colonies

If you’re lucky enough to visit Antarctica, you’ll probably aim to snag a classic photo—a colony of penguins, set against the chilly, barren landscape. But now, in addition to being a cherished memory, those pictures could turn out to be a valuable source of ecological data.

Writing in the journal PLOS One, researchers describe a computer vision technique that uses elevation data combined with landscape features in photographs to allow the images to be positioned in a 3D rendering of the Antarctic landscape. And that allows scientists to map the precise boundaries of penguin colonies over time, even without knowing who held the camera or where the photographer was standing.

Dr. Heather Lynch, the Institute for Advanced Computational Science Endowed Professor of Ecology & Evolution at Stony Brook University, joins guest host Rachel Feltman to discuss the technique, and the value in being able to extract scientific data from pictures stored in photo albums and museum archives.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Clean Air Act Has Saved Millions Of Lives—But Gaps Remain

wnycdigital@gmail.com (John Dankosky) — Wed, 6 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In the 1960s, the urban air pollution crisis in America had reached a fever pitch: Cities were shrouded in smog, union steelworkers were demanding protections for their health, and the Department of Justice was mounting an antitrust lawsuit against the Detroit automakers for conspiracy to pollute.

But all that changed when Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air Act of 1970. The law set national limits for six major pollutants, established stringent emissions standards for vehicles, and required the latest pollution-limiting technology for industrial facilities. It was widely recognized as innovative, landmark legislation because it was evidence-based, future-proofed, and it had teeth.

Since the Clean Air Act took effect, emissions of the most common pollutants have fallen by around 80%. The law has saved millions of lives and trillions of dollars. An EPA analysis showed that the Clean Air Act’s benefits outweigh its costs by a factor of 30. Thanks to this policy, the United States enjoys some of the cleanest air in the world.

But five decades on, has the Clean Air Act protected everyone? And can a policy designed for the problems of urban, mid-century cities protect our health in the face of climate change?

Read the full story at sciencefriday.com.

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How Does Long-Distance Running Affect Your Body?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rachel Feltman) — Tue, 5 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

On Sunday, more than 50,000 athletes are expected to compete in the New York City Marathon, one of the largest, and most elite marathons in the world. Running a continuous 26.2 miles is a major physical challenge. But what exactly is happening in the body when running such a long distance?

Joining guest host Rachel Feltman to answer questions from long-distance runners is Dr. Brandee Waite, Director of UC Davis Health Sports Medicine. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Waite has directed the medical care for multiple marathons and ultra-marathons, and has served as a team physician for USA Track & Field.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Gender-Affirming Care Is On The Line In This Election

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rachel Feltman, D. Peterschmidt, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 4 Nov 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Gender-affirming care is on the ballot in this presidential election. These treatments, which can include hormone therapy and surgeries, can be lifesaving for trans people. But they could be impacted by the results of this election.

This year alone, states have considered 182 bills aimed at prohibiting gender-affirming care. It’s become a central part of Donald Trump’s campaign, which has stated that, if he is elected, he’ll ask Congress to ban Medicare and Medicaid from covering gender-affirming care, and cut off federal funding to hospitals and clinics that do provide it.

Guest host Rachel Feltman discusses what’s at stake for gender-affirming care this election season with Dr. Logan Casey, director of policy research for the Movement Advancement Project, and Kate Steinle, chief clinical officer at FOLX Health.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Maine Offshore Wind Auction Draws Few Bids | An Artist Combines Indigenous Textiles With Modern Tech

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rachel Feltman, Shoshannah Buxbaum, D Peterschmidt) — Fri, 1 Nov 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Two years ago, energy companies scrambled for offshore wind contracts. At a recent auction, the demand was significantly lower. Plus, artist Sarah Rosalena uses Indigenous weaving, ceramics, and sculpture practices to create art that challenges tech’s future, in a segment from earlier this year.

Maine Offshore Wind Auction Draws Few Bids

Offshore wind is coming to the Gulf of Maine. Earlier this week, the US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management held an auction for eight leases to develop wind projects off the coast of Maine. But companies bid on only half of the available leases.

Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with Casey Crownhart, senior climate reporter for MIT Technology Review about that and other top science news of the week including; bird flu found in pigs, AI’s electronic waste problem, what’s in your black plastic spatula, and giant rats fighting the illegal wildlife trade.

An Artist Combines Indigenous Textiles With Modern Tech

When multidisciplinary artist Sarah Rosalena looks at a loom, she thinks about computer programming. “It’s an extension of your body, being an algorithm,” she says.

Rosalena, a Wixárika descendant and assistant professor of art at the University of California Santa Barbara, combines traditional Indigenous craft—weaving, beadmaking, pottery—with new technologies like AI, data visualization, and 3D-printing. And she also works with scientists to make these otherworldly creations come to life. She involved researchers at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab to make 3D-printed pottery with simulated Martian clay. And she collaborated with the Mount Wilson Observatory to produce intricately beaded tapestries based on early-1900s glass plates captured by the observatory’s telescope, which women mathematicians used to make astronomical calculations.

And that’s also a big focus for Rosalena: spotlighting the overlooked contributions women made to computer science and connecting it to how textiles are traditionally thought of as a woman-based craft. When she first started making this kind of art, Rosalena learned that the Jacquard loom—a textile advancement in the 1800s that operated on a binary punch card system which allowed for mass production of intricate designs—inspired computer science pioneer Ada Lovelace when she was developing the first computer program. “[They] have this looped history,” she says. “And when I weave or do beadwork, it’s also recalling that relationship.”

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After A Park Fire, Milkweed Bloomed | The ‘Creepy’ Procedure That Taps Into Young Blood

Thu, 31 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Great news for the nearly-extinct monarch butterflies, which will pass through the area as they migrate back to Mexico. Also, to find out how blood affects aging, scientists can surgically connect two animals and let blood circulate between them.

After California’s Park Fire, A Second Bloom of Milkweed

Don Hankins examines a bright yellow-green patch in the meadow. The land all around is charred by fire. But here, there’s a sort of miracle at work. Native milkweed has sprung up and bloomed for the second time this year. This is not something these plants, Asclepias eriocarpa, also known as Indian milkweed, are known to do.

They bloomed in late spring and early summer and had already done so this year when the Park Fire roared through. But the fire seemed to happen at just the right time to coax a second flowering, one that is likely to line up with the return migration of the monarch butterflies south to overwinter in Mexico. Monarchs rely on these flowers to complete their life cycle. For researcher Don Hankins, this is a surprise delight.

“We may be coming back into some knowledge here that hasn’t been practiced in a long time,” said Don Hankins, a professor at Chico State, who teaches classes in geography with a focus on fire. He is also a California Plains Miwok traditional cultural practitioner.

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Inside The ‘Creepy’ Procedure That Taps Into Young Blood

While fictional vampires suck the blood of the young to live forever, some researchers have found that certain elements in young blood actually can improve the health of the old. This is possible through a spooky procedure called parabiosis, in which the circulatory systems of two animals are joined, letting the blood flow from one into the other.

By connecting old mice and young mice through parabiosis, researchers have observed how different molecules in the blood impact symptoms of aging. While some outcomes have excited experts, enthusiastic biohackers attempting to defy their own aging might have jumped the gun. There’s a long way to go before we understand how elements of young blood might be harnessed to treat aging humans.

Emma Gometz, SciFri’s digital producer of engagement, talks to Dr. Tony Wyss-Coray, a neurology professor at Stanford University who has used parabiosis (which he once described as “creepy”) to help reveal how components of our blood affect our cognition as we age. They discuss parabiosis, vampires, and how far the field has to go before humans can benefit.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Insects Changed The World—And Human Cultures

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Sophie Bushwick) — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 humans, there are 1.25 billion insects hopping, buzzing, and flying about.

A new book called The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture celebrates the diversity of the insect world, as well as the many ways it has changed ours—from fashion to food to engineering.

Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with entomologist and author Dr. Barrett Klein about the beauty of the insect world, how it has shaped human history, and what we can learn from these six-legged critters.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Behind Third-Trimester Abortions

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Sophie Bushwick) — Tue, 29 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 ruling overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, many states have curtailed access to abortion, and 13 states have a total abortion ban.

The election season in particular, there’s been a focus on abortions in the third trimester of pregnancy. Some of the political rhetoric is inflammatory and false. But even among politicians who support abortion rights, there’s a tendency to deflect attention away from these procedures later in pregnancy.

Though third trimester abortions are rare, they make up about 1% of abortions in the United States and are often the most stigmatized. They are legal in only a small number of states, and just a fraction of providers perform them.

To better understand the real science behind abortions later in pregnancy, guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with Dr. Katrina Kimport, professor of obstetrics, gynecology & reproductive sciences at the University of California, San Francisco; and Dr. Cara Heuser, a maternal and fetal medicine physician who specializes in high risk pregnancy and complex abortion care, based in Salt Lake City, Utah.

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How Aging Water Systems Are Pushing Sewage Into U.S. Homes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shahla Farzan, John Dankosky) — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 20:12:02 +0000

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 the bathrooms was so full of waste, at least 4 inches high in there. It smelled just like a hog pen.”

He sopped up the murky, foul-smelling water and doused the floor with bleach. But the sewage kept coming. On rainy days, it overflowed from drainage ditches into his yard, carrying wads of toilet paper and human waste.

The eight-bedroom home in Cahokia Heights, Illinois, had been a source of pride for Byrd when he first built it in 1996. He spent a lot of time outside, caring for his vegetable garden and watching wildlife wander through the backyard. But trying to stop the sewage backups quickly became his main focus, consuming countless hours and thousands of dollars of his savings.

“It was a dream house, until the floods came,” says Byrd, now 67. “That house broke me down.”

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Did Dinosaur Flight Evolve More Than Once? | Biodiversity’s Biggest Event Is Underway

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Sophie Bushwick, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 25 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Some paleontologists argue the ancient footprints found in South Korea show flight may have evolved in multiple dinosaur lineages. And, COP16 will tackle questions like who should profit from non-human DNA, and who is responsible for financing critical conservation projects.

Do Fossil Prints Show Dinosaur Flight Evolved More Than Once?

Researchers studying tracks fossilized in Cretaceous-era lakeshore mud in what is now South Korea argue this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that the dinosaur footprints are “indirect evidence of pre-avian aerial behavior” in a tiny microraptor.

The tracks, which belong to a sparrow-sized theropod related to Tyrannosaurus rex, are spaced far enough apart to indicate that the tiny dino was moving across the mud very quickly. That speed, the researchers argue, is faster than the animal should have been able to go just by running with its hindlimbs. However, if flapping wings were added into the equation to give a power boost, the spacing might make sense.

If the microraptor did, in fact, have flight-capable wings, that would mean that the ability to fly may have evolved in multiple lineages of dinosaurs, not just the descendants of Archaeopteryx we see as modern birds. Other researchers are not convinced of the analysis, arguing that the tracks may not all have come from the same individual at the same time.

Jason Dinh, climate editor for Atmos, joins guest host Sophie Bushswick to talk about the debate, and other stories from the week in science, including an archeological find of medieval-era Silk Road cities in the Uzbek mountains, breathing differences in people born with the inability to smell, and the surprising ability of hornets to hold their liquor.

Biodiversity’s Biggest Event Is Underway In Colombia

From now until November 1, bureaucrats from nearly every country in the world will be gathered in Cali, Colombia, for COP16, better known as the United Nations biodiversity summit. This “conference of the parties” comes together about every two years to deliberate on the biggest issue in conservation science: how to stop ecological collapse.

At the last summit, COP15, nearly every country agreed to a deal to halt biodiversity loss by 2030. This year’s conference will take a temperature check on how nations are doing in their quest to meet this goal (spoiler alert: not well).

Also on the agenda are the questions of who should profit from non-human DNA, and how a $700 billion funding gap for conservation work can be filled. Joining guest host Sophie Bushwick to parse through these big ideas is Benji Jones, environmental correspondent for Vox based in New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Do Animals Understand Death?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 to mourn the loss of a loved one.

But what about other animals? How do they understand death? Scientists have begun looking at this question more closely in the last two decades.

For example, chimpanzees have a wide variety of responses to death based in part on their relationship with the deceased. Possums put on elaborate displays to fake their own deaths. Ants can tell another ant is dead by the chemicals it omits, but have no concept of what death actually means.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Susana Monsó, associate professor of philosophy at the National Distance Education University in Spain and author of Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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MRIs Show How The Brain Changes During Pregnancy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 23 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 body that’s been under-researched in relation to pregnancy: the brain.

Those who have been pregnant often talk about “pregnancy brain,” the experience of brain fog or forgetfulness during and after pregnancy. There’s also the specter of postpartum depression, a condition that affects about 1 in 7 women post-birthing. There’s still a dearth of information about what causes these cognitive, psychological, and emotional experiences.

In a recent study, scientists took MRI scans of participants before, during, and after pregnancy, and spotted distinctive changes in the brain’s gray and white matter. While these anatomical changes are noticeable, the researchers are still trying to determine what they actually mean for behavior. Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about this study is Dr. Liz Chrastil, associate professor of neurobiology and behavior at the University of California Irvine.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Metaphor Shapes Science | Intertwining The Lives Of Moths And Humans Through Music

wnycdigital@gmail.com (John Dankosky, D Peterschmidt) — Tue, 22 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 moths—and found that humans have more in common with the insects than they expected.

How Metaphor Has Shaped Science, For Better Or Worse

Here at Science Friday, we’re big fans of metaphors. They can make complicated scientific concepts easier to understand, for both non-experts and scientists themselves. For example, “the big bang” helps us visualize the beginning of the universe. Or we can understand DNA’s role better as a “building block of life.”

But some of these scientific metaphors also have a downside, and can even set research back.

Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff are the hosts of the podcast series “The World According to Sound,” and they sat down with Science Friday’s Director of News and Audio, John Dankosky, to talk about their new project, “An Inexact Science.” They discuss a special two-hour episode that explores how language and metaphor have shaped science, for better or worse.

Intertwining The Lives Of Moths And Humans Through Music

Before the pandemic, Peter Kiesewalter didn’t think much of moths. Like a lot of people, he’d thought of them mostly as pests. But when his brother Tobi, an interpretive naturalist for Ontario Parks and moth enthusiast, showed him macro photos he’d taken of them, he was blown away. “[They were] absolutely stunning,” Peter says. “The amount of colors and hair were just extraordinary.”

Peter is a Grammy-nominated musician based in New York City. He’s composed music for ABC News, Monday Night Football, and even a “Winnie The Pooh” show. As COVID-19 spread in 2020, work for him and his partner Whitney La Grange, a professional violinist, dried up. So they hunkered down at the family cottage in Ottawa, Canada, along with Tobi’s family. Peter was looking for a new show idea, and when his brother opened up the world of moths to him, he was hooked. “I had to find a way to interpret moths artistically,” he said. “And I started to find connections between them and us.”

That led to “The Moth Project,” a concept album and stage show that combines moth science and visuals with a whole ecosystem of musical genres: 80s pop, funk, classical, covers, even spoken word. Each song ties a stage of a moth’s life (emergence, flight, migration) to a universal human experience. But for Peter, a lot of these songs turned out to be far more personal than he initially thought.

SciFri producer and host of our Universe of Art podcast D Peterschmidt sat down with Peter and Tobi Kiesewalter and Whitney La Grange to find out how this album came together and how understanding moths could better help us understand ourselves.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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NASA’s Europa Clipper Heads To Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 ocean of liquid water hidden under its icy crust. And where there’s water, scientists think there may be evidence of life. The spacecraft is equipped with nine different instruments and will complete nearly 50 flybys of Europa, scanning almost the entire moon.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Padi Boyd, NASA astrophysicist and host of the agency’s podcast “Curious Universe,” about the launch and the excitement at NASA. Then, Ira checks in with two scientists who are working on the mission about what they’re excited to learn: Dr. Ingrid Daubar, planetary scientist at Brown University and a Europa Clipper project staff scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory; and Dr. Tracy Becker, planetary scientist at Southwest Research Institute and a deputy principal investigator for the ultraviolet spectrograph on the Europa spacecraft.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Pandas Return To Washington, D.C. | A Lesser-Known Grain Called Kernza

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 every year, unlike crops such as corn and soybeans.

Pandas Return To Washington, D.C., Zoo

On Tuesday, two VIPs (Very Important Pandas) arrived at Washington’s Dulles International Airport, en route to new quarters at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute.

The arrival marks a new chapter of “panda diplomacy,” which leverages the public’s affection for the cute, charismatic animals to both strengthen US-China ties and fund conservation initiatives. Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, joins SciFri’s John Dankosky to talk about the giant pandas’ arrival and other stories from the week in science.

Scientists Push For A Lesser-Known Grain Called Kernza

On a recent weekday afternoon, dozens of people filled the cozy taproom at Blue Jay Brewing Company. On tap that day was a fresh creation called New Roots. The American Lager was a hit, with many of the patrons going back to the bar for another glass.

Blue Jay’s owner and brewer, Jason Thompson, was also pleased with the result of this experimental beer, which he described as “earthy, almost nutty,” with a “lingering honey-like sweetness to it.” Those flavors came from his choice to use a novel grain called Kernza for 25% of the 600 pounds of grain needed for the whole brew, he said.

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How Health Misinformation Spreads | A Play About Ben Franklin And His Son

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The Basics Of How Health Misinformation Spreads

Health misinformation can circulate quickly on social media: false claims about vaccines, ads pushing suspicious-looking supplements, politicians making claims about contraception or abortion that don’t match the science.

As November nears, Science Friday is spotlighting the science that’s shaping the election with a short series about health misinformation.

Ira is joined by Irving Washington, senior vice president and executive director of the Health Misinformation and Trust Initiative at KFF, a nonprofit health policy research, polling, and news organization to provide a primer on the basics of health misinformation; how to identify it, emerging trends and the role of artificial intelligence.

We want to hear from you! Is there a piece of health information that you’ve seen recently that you’re skeptical about? Fill out this form, email us a voice memo to scifri@sciencefriday.com, or leave us a voicemail at 1-646-767-6532.

In the coming weeks we’ll select a couple of topics from our listeners to investigate with the help of a subject matter expert.

Benjamin Franklin And The American Experiment Collide On Stage

When you think of famous scientists of the early United States, you likely think of Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and even the glass harmonica.

He and his son are the subject of the play “Franklinland.” It explores their sometimes contentious relationship, Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments as a scientist, and how the scientific method can be used to understand the ongoing experiment of the United States. It’s running now until November 3 at the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York City.

Ira Flatow is joined by the playwright of “Franklinland,” Lloyd Suh, to learn how he joined all of these elements for the stage.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Searching The Universe For Clues To The Ultra-Small

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 extreme, you’ve got the vast expanses of space, such as spinning galaxies and black holes.

By mapping the cosmic microwave background, surveying the distribution of galaxies around the sky, and listening for gravitational waves, researchers are studying the cosmos for clues to the quantum. They hope that by finding patterns in some of these large-scale structures, tiny irregularities involving quantum effects in the earliest days of the universe might be revealed.

Charlie Wood, a staff writer covering physics for Quanta Magazine, has written about some of these space-time mysteries in a special issue. He joins Ira to discuss the nature of space-time and how scientists are trying to decode its physics.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Makes ‘SuperAgers’ Stay Healthy For So Long?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, while staying cognitively sharp and free of major health complications. They’re called “SuperAgers.”

Researchers are working to figure out some of the genetic factors behind SuperAgers’ longevity—and how that knowledge might help the rest of the population live longer and healthier lives.

Ira talks with Dr. Sofiya Milman, director of Human Longevity Studies at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the lead researcher of the SuperAgers Family Study; and one of the study’s participants, Sally Froelich, a 95-year-old New York resident.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Asheville Was Never A ‘Climate Haven.’ Nowhere Is.

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 month, Hurricane Helene called that label into question. Some of the worst damage of the storm occurred inland, in Western North Carolina.

Data visualization designer David McConville lived in Asheville for about 20 years, before moving to California.

“Watching people idealize Asheville was a little bit crazy-making,” McConville says. “There were very clear patterns of the combination of the topography and hydrology, weather patterns, and development patterns that were creating these dangers,” he says, referring to the extreme flooding and damage brought on by Hurricane Helene.

Resilience and adaptation for communities hit hard by storms is a huge area of conversation for cities. And for places hit hard consecutively, like Florida’s coast after Hurricanes Helene and Milton, that need is even more pressing. Joining Ira to talk about this is Dr. Jesse Keenan, associate professor of sustainable real estate and urban planning at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Dr. Jola Ajibade, associate professor of environmental and climate justice at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Science Behind Hurricane Milton | ‘Unsettling’ Warm Water In Lake Michigan

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 11 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 so far. All five Great Lakes are heating up.

The Science Behind Hurricane Milton

On October 9, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Siesta Key, Florida, then barrelled across the state. This comes just a couple of weeks after Hurricane Helene devastated parts of the southeastern US. Hurricane Milton dumped up to 18 inches of rain in some places, flooding cars, homes, and other buildings. Several people are confirmed dead. Around 3 million are without power.

Hurricane Milton was expected to cause a 15-foot storm surge, but it appears that the storm surge maxed out at five to six feet. And there wasn’t just a storm surge, but a reverse one.

Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead for Carbon Plan, about some of the science of Hurricane Milton. They also discuss other science stories from the week, including President Biden’s new rule for replacing lead pipes, concerns about the security of genetic data with 23andMe, and how to tell if an elephant is left or right-trunked.

Lake Michigan Swimmers Enjoy ‘Unsettling’ Warm Water

On a sunny, mid-September afternoon, Olu Demuren took a running start off the concrete ledge just south of Belmont Harbor and leapt into Lake Michigan for the first time.

“I was preparing myself for cold water,” Demuren said. “And this immediately felt very nice.”

The water along Chicago’s lakeshore averaged an unseasonable 71 degrees that day. The weather was picturesque too: clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid-80s. Annelise Rittberg watched their friends from the concrete ledge and said the weather felt “deeply abnormal.”

“While it’s fun to be out here, it’s also unsettling,” Rittberg said.

Lake Michigan is heating up. The lake’s surface temperature has surpassed the running average dating back to 1995 nearly every day this year, according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data. And it’s not just one Great Lake. All five are warming. The massive bodies of water, which provide drinking water to more than 30 million people, are among the fastest-warming lakes worldwide, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment.

Read the full story at sciencefriday.com.

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How Campaigns Use Psychology To Get Out The Vote

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 enough to motivate voters to both go to the polls—and to vote in their favor.

But just how solid are people’s political opinions at this point? Can anyone be swayed at this point by another debate, campaign ad, or stump speech talking point? And how do campaigns judge the mood of the electorate to better position their messages?

Dr. Jon Krosnick, director of the Political Psychology Research Group at Stanford University, joins Ira Flatow to talk about political decision-making, the ways campaigns can influence voters, the effectiveness of polling, and what researchers know about how people make and hold opinions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Gut Microbes Are Linked To Stress Resilience

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 9 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 Mental Health shows the gut really could have a big impact on mental health and decision-making.

This study shows a clear link between people who handle stressful situations well and certain biological signatures in their microbiomes. Certain metabolites and gene activity in study participants were associated with high emotional regulation and cognition. These more resilient participants also had reduced inflammation and improved gut barrier integrity.

The study builds on previous research that shows the brain and the gut are closely linked, and that a dysregulation in one can lead to a dysregulation in the other. Lead author Dr. Arpana Church, co-director of UCLA’s Microbiome Center and associate professor of medicine, joins Ira to talk about the study. They also discuss how probiotics could someday be a promising treatment for mental health conditions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Magnetic Brain Stimulation Helps Relieve Depression

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Tue, 8 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 depression can be difficult to treat, especially for people who don’t respond well to talk therapy or antidepressants.

But there’s a relatively new technique that seems to have a significant positive impact on people with treatment-resistant depression, even sending many of them into remission. It’s called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and it uses magnets to stimulate certain areas of the brain that play a role in depression.

A team at Stanford developed a protocol for TMS that received FDA clearance in 2022 and, as of this year, it’s covered by Medicare. In a study from 2021, it was shown to improve remission rates for depression by up to 80%, with one patient calling it “a game changer.”

So how does TMS work, and could it change the way we treat depression and other mental illnesses?

Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Nolan Williams, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, where he’s also the director of the Stanford Brain Stimulation Lab. They talk about the advances that Williams’ team made with their SAINT protocol (Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy), patient experiences with the technology, and potential future applications of this technique.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How The Origin Of Life On Earth Can Help Find Life In Space

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 7 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 life originated from the primordial ooze of early Earth, could that process be unfolding elsewhere in the universe?

The search for life elsewhere in the universe is at the center of the book Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life, by Mario Livio and Jack Szostak. Dr. Livio, an astrophysicist previously with the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the Hubble Space Telescope, joins Ira to talk about the possibilities of life beyond Earth, and where we would most likely find it.

Read an excerpt of Is Earth Exceptional?: The Quest for Cosmic Life.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Hurricane Helene's Effect On The Global Tech Industry | A Stretchy Band-Aid For The Heart

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 4 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 a 3D-printable material, inspired by worms, that can act as a Band-Aid for damaged heart and cartilage tissue.

Hurricane Helene’s Damage Could Affect The Global Tech Industry

After making landfall on September 26, Hurricane Helene devastated regions in the southeastern US. Over 200 people are confirmed dead so far. About a million people are still without power, and many lack clean water.

As climate change intensifies, hurricanes like Helene are expected to occur more often and be more intense. What’s become very clear in the last few years is that due to the interconnectedness of the modern world, extreme weather in one place can have global implications.

For example, Spruce Pine, North Carolina, home to around 2,200 people, flooded during Hurricane Helene. The town is also home to several mines that produce some of the world’s purest quartz, an ingredient necessary to make solar panels, smartphones, semiconductors, and more.

Ira talks with Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, about this and other science news of the week, including a completed map of a fruit fly’s brain, how scientists in the United Kingdom are screening newborns for rare diseases, and how octopuses and fish are hunting as a team.

A Strong, Stretchy, And Sticky Band-Aid For The Heart

The heart is an impressive organ that has to beat constantly for years. But what happens when heart tissue is damaged? Or when cartilage in joints like our knees wears out? These constantly moving tissues don’t regenerate easily, and there aren’t a lot of great treatment options.

To address these kinds of problems, a team at University of Colorado Boulder invented a new strong, stretchy, and sticky hydrogel material that could act as a Band-Aid to heart or tissue lesions. They were inspired by masses of worms that tangle and untangle themselves, behaving almost as both a solid and liquid. The team was able to replicate that in a molecular structure with the help of a new 3D-printing technique. And it could have applications far beyond medicine, including for manufacturing and improving the 3D-printing process itself. Their research was published in the journal Science, and their lab has filed for a provisional patent for the material.

Dr. Jason Burdick, professor of chemical and biological engineering at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute, joins Ira Flatow to talk about the new material and how it could improve future tissue and cartilage treatment.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Herbicides Approved For Public Land | Hidden Physics In Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Anna Rothschild, D. Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 3 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 famous painting, they found Van Gogh depicted forces of nature with startling accuracy.

What Newly Approved Herbicides Could Mean For Federal Land

Invasive plants are a big problem across the western US.

Cunning interlopers like cheatgrass, leafy spurge and red brome can outcompete native vegetation, crowd habitats and steal water and other vital soil nutrients.

Of the 245 million acres controlled by the Bureau of Land Management, harmful non-native plants have already infested 79 million acres—an area larger than the states of Pennsylvania, Virginia and South Carolina combined. That’s why the federal agency felt the urgency to approve seven new herbicides to kill invasives on its land nationwide, said Seth Flanigan, a BLM senior invasive species specialist based in Idaho.

“If we don’t remove this now, what is it going to look like 10 years from now?” he said.

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

The Hidden Physics In Van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’

One of Vincent Van Gogh’s most famous creations is “The Starry Night,” an oil painting of a quaint French village at night with a blue night sky that dramatically swirls around the yellow stars and moon.

It’s easy to admire this painting as a casual viewer, but if you research fluid dynamics, one thing in particular stands out: those iconic swirls in the sky. To a physicist, they look an awful lot like the swirls that atmospheric turbulence produces. And some researchers have been wondering if Van Gogh’s swirls actually match the mathematical models of turbulence theory.

Well, a team of researchers from China and France set out to analyze all the swirls in “The Starry Night,” and it turns out that Van Gogh had a knack for depicting the forces of nature. Their results were published in the journal Physics Of Fluid.

Guest host Anna Rothschild sits down with Dr. Francois Schmitt, research professor in physics at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and co-author of the recent study, to talk about the hidden physics in this famous painting.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Improving Hospitals’ Support For Teens In Mental Health Crises

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Anna Rothschild, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 2 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 self-harm, text TALK to 741-741 or call 9-8-8 to reach the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

In the United States, suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people aged 10 to 24. One in five high school students seriously considered attempting suicide in 2023, according to the latest data from the CDC.

Doctors, researchers, and mental health professionals have been looking for solutions to support our country’s struggling youth. One place to start is in hospital emergency departments.

How can emergency departments be better equipped to help struggling teens, and potentially save lives?

Guest host Anna Rothschild is joined by Dr. Samaa Kemal, an emergency medicine physician at the Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago to discuss her research on the subject.

The following resources are available if you or someone close to you is in need of mental health support:

Call 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. Or text TALK to 741-741.
Call 1-800-662-HELP for the SAMHSA National Helpline; they can provide referral and information services for mental health and/or substance use disorder treatment.
Locate additional resources through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Greenhouse Gases From Anesthesia | Fighting Militarization In The Mariana Islands

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Anna Rothschild) — Tue, 1 Oct 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Emissions from anesthesia are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gases from hospitals. This anesthesiologist wants to change that. And, a cultural anthropologist discusses the Mariana Islands’ long history of colonization and why demilitarization matters for climate progress.

A Major Source Of Greenhouse Gases In Hospitals? Anesthesia

Did you know that some of the gases used in anesthesia are strong greenhouse gases? A few years ago, Seattle Children’s Hospital analyzed its carbon footprint and found that the gases used in anesthesia made up about 7% of the hospital’s total emissions, right behind emissions from heating and power and those from commuting.

Faced with this problem, Dr. Elizabeth Hansen, a pediatric anesthesiologist at Seattle Children’s, took matters into her own hands and slashed the operating room’s emissions. She now helps other hospitals do the same with Project Spruce.

Guest host Anna Rothschild talks with Dr. Hansen about how and why she took on the problem.

Militarization And Environmental Injustice In The Mariana Islands

Let’s take a trip to the Northern Mariana Islands, a string of islands in the Pacific just north of Guam. The islands were sites of major battles during World War II and were captured by the United States in 1944. The US established a military presence across the territory—including building the world’s largest air force base at the time, on an island called Tinian.

The US military never left, and in the 1980s, the Northern Mariana Islands became a US territory. A few years ago, the Pentagon proposed building a bombing range on an island called Pagan, but residents of the islands pushed back.

Dr. Isa Arriola is a cultural anthropologist at Concordia University in Montreal and co-founder of the organization Our Common Wealth 670, based in Saipan, the capital of the Northern Mariana Islands. She’s fought back against the militarization of her home islands, and she talks with guest host Anna Rothschild about how the military presence has affected the people and environment of the Marianas, and why demilitarization needs to be part of climate action.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Empowering Older Adults To Step Up For The Climate

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, because the 1960s and 70s were packed with social revolutions. But the organization Third Act has a message for boomers: Your work isn’t done yet.

Third Act empowers folks over the age of 60 to get involved in the climate movement. It aims to leverage older generations’ access to power, money, and life experiences to create change.

Ira Flatow talks with Third Act founder Bill McKibben and lead advisor Akaya Windwood about the importance of including older adults in the climate movement.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Microsoft Makes Deal To Restart Three Mile Island | Fish That Use Their Legs To Taste

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Anna Rothschild, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 27 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 fish known as the sea robin finds that leg-like appendages can “taste” prey buried in the sand.

Microsoft Makes Deal To Restart Three Mile Island

Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania has quite a reputation in the world of nuclear energy: One of its reactors suffered a catastrophic partial meltdown in 1979, earning the title of the largest nuclear accident in US history. The failed reactor has been inoperable since the accident, while the other reactor shuttered in 2019.

But now, tech giant Microsoft has made a deal with the nuclear site to reopen Three Mile Island, and purchase all of its generating capacity over the next 20 years. As Big Tech bets big on artificial intelligence, the need for electricity to power data centers is increasing tremendously. Former Microsoft CEO Bill Gates is a large investor in nuclear energy.

To help Science Friday celebrate Climate Week NYC, Casey Crownhart, climate reporter for MIT Technology Review joins guest host Anna Rothschild to discuss this and other top climate stories of the week.

These Fish Use Their Legs (Yes, Legs) To Taste

Your legs may help you get around, but what if they could also help you sniff out a snack? That’s a trick achieved by a fish called the sea robin. The fish, which lives on the seafloor, has an unusual appearance, with wing-like fins and leg-like appendages that it uses to walk along the ocean bottom. But in work published this week in the journal Current Biology, researchers report that those legs are also chemical sensing organs that can taste for prey buried under the sand.

Dr. Nicholas Bellono, a professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard, first learned of the unusual fish on a visit to the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, where he was planning to obtain squid and octopus for another research project. MBL workers showed Bellono and colleagues the sea robin, and explained that they have a reputation for being able to locate hidden prey—to the point that other organisms will follow the sea robin, hoping to get in on the meal. The intrigued researchers brought some sea robins back to the lab, and began a series of experiments to better understand their prey-sniffing abilities.

Bellono joins guest host Anna Rothschild to talk about the fish, the genetic adaptations that allow it to sense the world through its legs, and the value of serendipity and curiosity-driven research in the scientific world.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Former NIH Director Reflects On Public Mistrust In Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 COVID-19 pandemic,in the early days of changing public health guidance as scientists learned more about this new virus. He was also involved in the quickest development of a vaccine in history.

Now, he’s had some time to reflect on how the US arrived at such a divisive place about COVID-19 and vaccines, how trust in science has dwindled, and what we can do about it.

Ira sits down with Dr. Collins to talk about the lessons from his new book, The Road to Wisdom: On Truth, Science, Faith and Trust, and why he decided to speak publicly about his prostate cancer diagnosis.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Are AI Chatbots Changing Scientific Publishing?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 25 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 recent Hollywood strikes, energy usage is spiking because of them, and they’re having a chilling effect on various writing-related industries.

But they’re also affecting the world of research papers and scientific publishing. They do offer some benefits, like making technical research papers easier to read, which could make research more accessible to the public and also greatly aid non-English speaking researchers.

But AI chatbots also raise a host of new issues. Researchers estimate that a significant amount of papers from the last couple years were at least partially written by AI, and others suspect that they are supercharging the production of fake research papers, which has led to thousands of paper retractions across major journals in recent years. Major scientific journals are struggling with how to set guidelines for generative AI use in research papers, given that so-called AI-writing detectors are not as accurate as they were once thought to be.

So what does the future of scientific publishing look like in a world where AI chatbots are a reality? And how does that affect the level of trust that the public has with science?

Ira Flatow sits down with Dr. Jessamy Bagenal, senior executive editor at The Lancet and adjunct professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to talk about how generative AI is changing the way scientific papers are written, how it’s fueling the fake-paper industry, and how she thinks publishers should adjust their submission guidelines in response.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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These Artists Serve Up Environmental Crises Through Food

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Robin Kazmier, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 24 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 few of the projects from the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, based in Amsterdam and Portugal, where artists use innovative ingredients to represent environmental crises and imagine what the future of food could look like.

Ira talks with Zack Denfeld, co-founder of the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, about how art and food can help us envision a more sustainable food system.

Read the full story about how artists and chefs are putting ecological crises on the menu.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Surgeon General Takes On Parental Stress And Mental Health

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 cards falling apart. Not to mention, being keenly aware of how the parents around you are doing. Are you keeping up?

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy is paying close attention. His most recent advisory is about parental stress and mental health. It’s been a busy summer for Dr. Murthy. He’s called for a warning label on social media because of its effects on mental health and declared gun violence a public health crisis. Ira talks with the Surgeon General in depth about these latest initiatives.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Earth May Once Have Had A Ring Like Saturn | An AI For Sand

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 20 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 whether sand came from a beach, a river, a glacial deposit, or a wind-blown dune.

Earth May Once Have Had A Ring Like Saturn

Hundreds of millions of years ago, Earth may have looked quite different when viewed from space: Scientists propose it may have had a Saturn-like ring, made up of lots of smaller asteroids.

The new paper, published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, proposes that this ring formed around 466 million years ago. A major source of evidence is a band of impact craters near the equator. The researchers also posit the ring would have shaded this equatorial area, possibly changing global temperatures and creating an icehouse period.

Ira speaks to Rachel Feltman, host of the Popular Science podcast “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” about this and other top science stories of the week, including how lizards use bubbles to “scuba dive” underwater, and ancient cave art that possibly shows a long-extinct species.

An AI To Identify The Environment A Grain Of Sand Came From

If you were given a bucket of sand and asked to determine where it came from, you’d probably have a hard time guessing if it was from a beach, a riverbank, the playground down the street, or a Saharan sand dune.

There are experts who can make a guess at that sort of ID, using a categorization process that takes skill, a scanning electron microscope, and hours of time. Now, however, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that they’ve developed an AI model that can quickly judge whether a sample of sand came from a beach, a river, a glacial deposit, or a wind-blown dune.

That type of identification isn’t just of interest to geologists. Sand is one of the world’s most in-demand resources, second only to water in use. And different applications need different types of sand—for instance, making concrete and mortar requires angular sand for good adhesion and stability. These kinds of needs have given rise to illicit sand mining, sand theft, and sand smuggling. A way of rapidly identifying the origins of a sample of sand could be useful to investigators, or to companies seeking to ensure sustainability goals.

Michael Hasson, a PhD candidate in Stanford’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, joins SciFri’s Charles Bergquist to discuss the new SandAI, and the challenges of tracking grains of sand.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Physicists Create Heaviest Antimatter Nucleus | Bird Species May Team Up For Migration

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 different songbird species might intentionally travel together during migration, giving each other a possible boost in survival.

Physicists Create Heaviest Antimatter Nucleus Yet

Antimatter is one of science’s great mysteries. It is produced all around us for fractions of a second, until it collides with matter, and the particles annihilate one another. But what is it?

Antimatter is just like matter, except for one thing. Its particles have the same mass as ordinary matter, but an opposite charge. For example, an electron has a negative charge, so an anti-electron—called a positron—weighs the same, but has a positive charge.

Antimatter is a natural product of some types of radioactive decay and cosmic ray collisions, but it can also be made in particle colliders here on Earth. But making antimatter particles this way is difficult and expensive—let alone controlling them enough to create an entire anti-atom. NASA estimates that creating a gram of antimatter would cost about $62.5 trillion.

But why does antimatter matter? It may hold the key to understanding one of the universe’s biggest mysteries: why there’s something rather than nothing. Cosmologists say that during the Big Bang, matter and antimatter should have been created in equal amounts. But everything around us today is mostly matter, meaning either that there was an excess of matter created, or that matter and antimatter don’t quite follow the rules physicists expect.

Recently, scientists at Brookhaven National Laboratory’s Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider spotted 16 instances of the heaviest exotic antimatter nucleus observed to date: antihyperhydrogen-4.

To explore what this breakthrough means for antimatter research, SciFri producer Charles Bergquist talks to Dr. Jamie Dunlop, associate department chair for nuclear physics at Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Different Bird Species May Team Up For Migration

This season, billions of birds will take to the skies as they flock to their wintering grounds. With so many different species on the move, they’re bound to run into each other. A new study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that this mixing and mingling might not be coincidental.

In fact, different bird species could have their own social networks that might boost each others’ survival.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with lead author Dr. Joely DeSimone, migration ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory, about untangling avian relationships.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Your Questions About The Updated COVID Vaccines, Answered

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 18 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire, assistant professor of immunology and infectious diseases at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health to help answer our listeners’ top questions about the updated COVID-19 vaccines.

This Q&A, which includes questions from our audience members, has been adapted from our interview with Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett-Helaire. It has been edited for clarity and brevity.

If I’ve already had COVID and it wasn’t so bad, why should I even bother with this new booster?

There’s always a chance that COVID-19 will cause more than the sniffles, or that you could end up in the emergency room—especially for older people. Why take that chance when you have the option to go to your local CVS and, in many cases, get a free vaccine that has been proven to decrease your chances of more severe disease?

My hope is that as time progresses, people become more comfortable with the idea of getting seasonal vaccinations for COVID-19 along with flu.

Is the new COVID-19 vaccine one shot?

Yes.

Read the full Q&A at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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To Confront Climate Change, Imagine Getting It Right

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and co-founder of the Urban Ocean Lab, argues that to prevent the worst effects of climate change, we have to start by asking ourselves, what if we get it right?

She’s the author of a new book with that same title, What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures. In the book, she poses that question to experts in oceans, farming, architecture, finance, and even Hollywood to find out what getting it right looks like in their own fields and what those solutions could look like for the rest of us.

Read an excerpt from What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Research Shows About Smartphone Bans In Schools

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sandy Roberts, D. Peterschmidt) — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 lamented about the distractions these devices cause in and out of the classroom. Last year, the US surgeon general declared a youth mental health crisis, citing social media as a significant factor, and more than 40 US states are suing Meta, owner of Facebook and Instagram, arguing that the company intentionally manipulated their apps to addict teens and kids.

A 2021 survey showed that 76% of US public schools prohibit cellphones. Seven states have implemented bans, and 14 more recently introduced similar legislation.

To parents and educators, it might seem that phones and social media are bad for kids and bad for learning. But research shows that the reality is more complicated, with some suggesting that a blanket smartphone ban isn’t necessarily the solution.

So what are the best ways to approach school phone bans? What do we know about the psychological effects of smartphones on kids and teens? And why does this research tend to defy simple answers?

To answer these questions, guest host and SciFri producer Kathleen Davis is joined by Dr. Emily Weinstein, co-director of the Center for Digital Thriving at Harvard University, and the author of Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (And Adults Are Missing), and Sandy Roberts, education program manager at Science Friday and former middle school teacher.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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First Citizen Spacewalk | First Successful Whole-Eye Transplant, Over A Year Later

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 13 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

SpaceX Crew Completes First Citizen Spacewalk

Big news in the world of commercial space flight: On Thursday morning, Jared Iasaacman and Sarah Gillis, members of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, became the first civilians to complete a spacewalk. The mission is a collaboration between Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Isaacman, a billionaire tech entrepreneur. While outside the spacecraft, the two crew members conducted mobility tests on their spacesuits.

SciFri Producer Kathleen Davis talks with Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos Magazine about this and other top science news of the week including deadly cholera outbreaks, germs at 10,000 ft, and Japanese eels that can escape a fish stomach through their gills.

The First Successful Whole-Eye Transplant, Over A Year Later

In May of 2023, there was a massive advance in the world of organ transplantation: the first whole human eye and partial face transplant. The man at the center of this procedure is 46-year-old Aaron James, who sustained significant facial injuries from a high-voltage work accident.

At the time, it was unclear just how successful the operation would be. Previous tests in animals had resulted in shrinkage of the transplanted eye, if not outright rejection. But now, more than a year after the transplant, a new paper in the journal JAMA outlines the success of this first-of-its-kind operation. While James cannot see out of his new eye, there is blood flow, normal pressure, and a retinal response to light.

Guest host Kathleen Davis speaks with Dr. Daniel Ceradini, director of research at NYU Langone’s Department of Plastic Surgery and first author of the JAMA study. They discuss the implications this success could have for the future of eye surgery, and the dramatic improvements in James’ quality of life.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Time Capsule’ Rocks And Earth’s Mantle | Genetically Engineering Stronger Wood

Thu, 12 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 the amount of lignin in poplar tree wood, making it stronger and slower to deteriorate.

‘Time Capsule’ Rocks Provide Clues About Earth’s Mantle

If you’re looking to really learn about the history of our planet, look to geology. Ancient rocks can provide a time capsule of the conditions in which they formed. But even the geologic record has its limits—rocks and minerals get weathered, buried, heated, melted, and recycled over time—so geologists need to search out rare super-old geologic holdouts to tell about the earliest times.

Writing in the journal Nature in July, researchers described what they can learn about the chemical history of Earth’s mantle, the geologic layer beneath the planet’s crust, from studying 2.5 billion-year-old rocks collected at spreading ocean ridges. They found that these unusual mantle rocks didn’t necessarily have to have been formed in a world with less available oxygen, but could have been produced just by the mantle layer being hotter long ago.

Dr. Elizabeth Cottrell, chair of the Department of Mineral Sciences at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, joins Ira to talk about the research and why a collection of old rocks is an important part of international scientific infrastructure.

Genetically Engineering Stronger Poplar Tree Wood

Trees play a big role in the fight against climate change: They can soak up carbon dioxide from the air and store it for centuries in the form of biomass. But it turns out that trees could be doing even more.

In 2023, Science Friday covered how the company Living Carbon had genetically engineered poplar trees to have a more efficient photosynthesis process. This allowed the trees to grow twice as fast and store 30% more carbon biomass than regular poplars, making them ideal for the carbon credit market.

Recently, researchers at the University of Maryland also experimented with genetically modifying poplar trees. But this time, they had a different goal in mind. They modified the tree to reduce the amount of lignin in its wood. This made the wood stronger without the need for harsh chemical processing. It also slowed the deterioration rate of the wood, which allows it to store carbon for longer periods.

To explain more about this “super wood,” SciFri guest host Sophie Bushwick is joined by the lead plant geneticist on the study, Dr. Yiping Qi, associate professor at Department of Plant Science and Landscape Architecture at the University of Maryland.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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To This Neuroscientist, Cows Are Like Puppies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday and WNYC Studios) — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 gobble down tasty treats, and if you’re lucky, they might flop over for a nice belly or neck scratch.

Cows are clearly emotional animals, but how smart are they exactly? That’s the question that neuroscientist and author Dr. Gregory Berns had when he and his wife moved from Atlanta to the Georgia countryside in 2020, and started raising cows of their own. And to better understand them, he applied his years of experience researching the brains of animals, like dogs and dolphins.

He joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about his new book, Cowpuppy: An Unexpected Friendship And A Scientist’s Journey Into The Secret World Of Cows.

Read an excerpt of Cowpuppy: An Unexpected Friendship And A Scientist’s Journey Into The Secret World Of Cows.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks | Scientists Identify ‘ManhattAnt’ Spreading Across NYC

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Sophie Bushwick) — Tue, 10 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, and it quickly spread through New York City. We now know what it is.

Fishing For—And Saving—Sharks off the Jersey Shore

At an undisclosed beach at 5:30 p.m. in New Jersey, shark fisherman AJ Rotondella and two clients wait for beachgoers to leave. Once the beach is empty, Rotondella cuts up some chunks of fish as bait, and casts lines into the water.

“I shark fish, shark fish, shark fish, eat pizza, and shark fish … that’s pretty much it,” Rotondella said. “Waking up in the morning … wide open ocean, anything could be anywhere at any time. And I think that’s fascinating. No matter how long you’ve done this, you’ve never seen it all.”

He has always loved fishing, and got into shark fishing 13 years ago, when his brother told him they could catch sharks from the beach. They caught two on their first day and could not catch another shark for the rest of the year.

“That really got me interested because I knew it was possible, but I couldn’t do it again,” he said. “I … absolutely obsessed over this.”

But Rotondella had a steep learning curve ahead of him. By trial and error, sometimes staying on a beach for multiple days, he learned how to read the tides, water temperatures, currents, and even phases of the moon to figure out how to track the sharks.

Read the full story at sciencefriday.com.

Scientists Identify The ‘ManhattAnt’ Spreading Across NYC

New York City is home to more than 8 million people. But there’s another massive population below their feet: ants.

In 2011, when surveying ant populations on Broadway and Times Square, researchers got quite a surprise: an unidentified species of ant, which was soon dubbed the “ManhattAnt.” Since then, it has become the second-most populous ant species in New York City.

Earlier this year, the first study on this unidentified species was released. It concluded that this species, Lasius emarginatus, likely hitchhiked from Europe to the US. Though their populations have grown tremendously, it’s unclear how the ants are interacting with New York’s native ants.

Joining guest host Sophie Bushwick to discuss this ant species is Dr. Clint Penick, assistant professor of insect ecology at Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Using DNA To Boost Digital Data Storage And Processing

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sophie Bushwick, Andrea Valeria Diaz Tolivia) — Mon, 9 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 phone can probably store 256 gigabytes.

But did you know that your body also stores information in its own way?

We see this in DNA, which has the instructions needed for an organism to develop, survive, and reproduce. In computing storage terms, each cell of our body contains about 1.5 gigabytes worth of data. And with about 30 trillion cells in our bodies, we could theoretically store about 45 trillion gigabytes—also known as 45 zettabytes—which is equivalent to about one fourth of all the data in the world today.

Recently, a group of researchers was able to develop a technology that allows computer storage and processing using DNA’s ability to store information by turning genetic code into binary code. This technology could have a major impact on the way we do computing and digital storage.

To explain more about this technology, SciFri guest host Sophie Bushwick is joined by two professors from North Carolina State University’s Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Dr. Albert Keung and Dr. Orlin Velev.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance | Extreme Heat Is Making Learning More Difficult

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sophie Bushwick, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 6 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 linger, educators are increasingly worried about keeping kids safe from heat exhaustion.

An Asteroid Impact, Spotted In Advance

On Wednesday, an asteroid named 2024 RW1 burned up in the atmosphere above the Philippines. As asteroids go, it was not especially notable. Astronomers say objects the size of 2024 RW1, which was about a meter in diameter, encounter the Earth about every two weeks. Due to local weather conditions, not many ground observers were able to see the fireball produced by the impact on the atmosphere. But astronomers on the Catalina Sky Survey project had observed the asteroid a few hours earlier as it approached the planet, and were able to give a prediction for where and when it was likely to enter the atmosphere. European Space Agency officials said it was only the ninth time people were able to spot an asteroid in advance of Earth impact.

SciFri’s Charles Bergquist joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about that astronomical event and other stories from the week in science, including work on gold nugget geophysics, a potential advance in pain medications, and the mystery of a missing pregnant shark.

Extreme Heat Is Making Learning—And Teaching—More Difficult

Kids across the United States just kicked off a new school year. But in recent years, summer weather has spilled over into fall, with temperatures staying hotter than normal through September and even into October. Sitting in a sweltering classroom can make learning difficult—and even dangerous.

A recent story in The 19th describes how learning and teaching have become more challenging as the climate heats up. Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with The 19th reporter Jessica Kutz about her reporting and what solutions might be on the horizon.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Dino-Killing Asteroid Was Rich In Carbon | The Dogs Sniffing Out Spotted Lanternflies

Thu, 5 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 lanternflies often lay eggs on vehicles and shipped goods. Now researchers are training dogs to sniff them out before they hatch.

Asteroid That Killed The Dinosaurs Was A Carbon-Rich Rock

Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into the Earth, blasted debris everywhere, plummeted the planet into cold darkness, and ended the age of dinosaurs. (Though birds survived, of course.)

It might be the most famous disaster in our planet’s history, but scientists still have plenty of questions about it. Like, what was the asteroid made of? And where did it come from? A new study in the journal Science offers up some long-awaited answers.

Guest host Rachel Feltman speaks with study author Dr. Mario Fischer-Gödde, a geochemist at the University of Cologne in Germany.

Training Dogs To Stop The Spread Of Spotted Lanternflies

In 10 years, the spotted lanternfly has gone from non-existent in the U.S. to being established in at least 16 states. They’re quite distinct: The adults measure about an inch long, they’ve got striking red and black markings, and are, as the name suggests, spotted. And they’ve got a worrisome tendency to chow down on certain plants, including grapevines, and some fruit and hardwood trees.

Spotted lanternflies are able to spread so effectively in part because they tend to lay eggs on things that travel from state to state: shipping supplies, vehicles, and lumber.

There’s a new tactic to detect spotted lanternfly eggs before they can hatch: training dogs to sniff them out. Guest host Rachel Feltman speaks to two researchers behind this project: Dr. Nathan Hall, director of the Canine Olfaction Research and Education Laboratory at Texas Tech in Lubbock, and Dr. Erica Feuerbacher, associate professor of applied animal welfare and behavior at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Read the full story here.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Eels Are So Mysterious—And In Demand

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rachel Feltman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 4 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Eels have fascinated humans for thousands of years, even captivating big thinkers like Aristotle and Freud. Despite having been around for some 200 million years, eels are still rather mysterious creatures. For example, scientists still aren’t sure exactly how they spawn.

But those unanswered questions haven’t stopped humans from wanting to eat them. So much so that they’re now endangered in some areas—and a lucrative criminal enterprise has risen up to poach baby eels from the wild.

Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with Ellen Ruppel Shell, author of Slippery Beast: A True Crime History, with Eels about her journey into the wild world of eels.

Read an excerpt of Slippery Beast: A True Crime History, with Eels.

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Webb Telescope Data Point To Six ‘Rogue Worlds’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Rachel Feltman) — Tue, 3 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 that look a lot like planets, but just float around freely in the cosmos, unattached to any particular star. They’re called rogue worlds. With data from the James Webb Space Telescope, astrophysicists just identified six right here in our own Milky Way galaxy.

So what can we learn from these rogue worlds? Can they teach us anything about how stars and planets are formed? Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with two authors of the recent study: Assistant Research Scientist Dr. Adam Langeveld, and Professor of Physics and Astronomy Dr. Ray Jayawardhana, both of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Could ‘Season Creep’ Affect Human Behavior?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Andrea Valeria Diaz Tolivia, Rachel Feltman) — Mon, 2 Sep 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 longer and feel more intense. This shift is known as season creep, where the timing of the seasons starts to shift.

This phenomenon is mostly due to climate change creating temperature imbalances and throwing weather patterns off kilter year-round. And it can cause problems for plants and animals as their natural cycles fall out of sync. But what does it mean for human behavior?

Seasonal Affective Disorder, often called seasonal depression, tends to hit during the cold, dark winter months. But as the seasons start changing more quickly and unpredictably, the shift could have a wide range of effects on us that we’re only just beginning to understand.

SciFri guest host Rachel Feltman is joined by Dr. Michael Varnum, social psychology area head and associate professor at Arizona State University, to discuss these questions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading | ‘Slingshot’ And A Space Mission Gone Wrong

Fri, 30 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 astronaut’s mental breakdown, prompts questions about how to prepare humans for long-term space travel.

Mosquito-Borne Diseases Are Spreading As Temperatures Rise

This week, a New Hampshire man died of eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), a rare but extremely serious disease caused by a mosquito-borne virus. Human cases of EEE have also been reported in Wisconsin, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Vermont, causing some municipalities to step up mosquito control efforts or attempt to limit outdoor activities during peak mosquito times at dawn and dusk.

Other mosquito-borne diseases are on the rise as well. Oropouche fever, a viral disease typically found in South America, has been spotted in the US—and in Brazil, health officials are reporting an 800% increase in the disease. Dengue fever, also spread by mosquitoes, has been increasing across Europe. Experts attribute all the surges to climate change, which has brought warmer, wetter weather that has allowed mosquito populations to thrive and expand their ranges.

Sophie Bushwick of New Scientist joins guest host Rachel Feltman to talk about climate, mosquitoes, and disease, and how communities are trying to curb the spread. They also tackle other stories from the week in science, including a puzzling result in a dark matter search, how fruit flies change their threat perception during courtship, and investigations into how marmoset monkeys call each other by name.

‘Slingshot’ Imagines A Yearslong Space Mission Gone Wrong

The new movie “Slingshot,” a sci-fi thriller about a yearslong mission to Saturn’s moon Titan, is out in theaters today. It follows the crew members, played by Casey Affleck, Laurence Fishburne, and Tomer Capone, as they start to unravel, highlighting how long, lonely missions can put astronauts’ well-being in peril.

While the movie is certainly a work of science fiction, it does remind us that a lot can go wrong in space, both physically and mentally. So as humans get closer to embarking on long missions to places like Mars and beyond, how are real space agencies thinking about keeping them happy and safe?

Science Friday’s digital producer of engagement Emma Gometz sat down with “Slingshot” director Mikael Håfström, and former NASA organizational psychologist Dr. Kelley Slack, to answer those questions and more.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The History Of Teeth, From Ancient Fish To Humans

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Maggie Koerth, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, making them more than 250 million years older than dinosaurs. They came before the evolution of warm bloodedness, eggs, and even limbs. From that very first set of chompers emerged a bewildering and diverse group of teeth, including narwhal tusks, sharks’ pearly teeth, snake fangs, and, of course, ours.

Now teeth are the subject of a new book called Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth from Hagfish to Humans. Guest host Maggie Koerth talks with zoologist and author Dr. Bill Schutt about how teeth evolved, why they’re so neat, and what we can learn from studying them.

Read an excerpt of Bite: An Incisive History of Teeth from Hagfish to Humans.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Errors On Death Certificates May Be Skewing Mortality Data

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Val Diaz, Maggie Koerth) — Wed, 28 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 countries: About 22.3 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. This is on par with China and Iran, based on UNICEF data.

So why is the US maternal mortality rate so high? It may have to do with how we fill out death certificates.

A study from earlier this year found that misfiling of information in death certificates may be inflating the numbers. The study authors concluded that the US maternal mortality rate was actually half of the CDC-reported rate—about 10.4 per 100,000 live births—which is in line with countries like Canada and the United Kingdom.

But if death certificates can skew maternal mortality statistics by such a huge margin, what else could they be influencing? And how does our system for filling out death certificates work?

To answer these questions, guest host Maggie Koerth is joined by Dr. Robert Anderson, chief of the statistical analysis and surveillance branch at National Center for Health Statistics.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Astronaut Cady Coleman On ‘Sharing Space’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday and WNYC Studios) — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 Coleman says that for her, it was a sense of home and connection.

“First of all, I just don’t feel that far away,” she said. “I feel like home is bigger than we thought and I just happened to be the one of the furthest out people. But the overwhelming sort of sentiment that I have is if only everyone knew how connected they could be, there’s literally nothing we couldn’t solve.”

Coleman flew on two space shuttle missions, spent 159 days on board the International Space Station, and operated the robotic arm during the deployment of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. Her new book is Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.

She joins Ira to talk about her experiences in space and some of the challenges she faced in getting to orbit, from selection to training to the problem of obtaining a properly-fitting space suit.

Read an excerpt of Sharing Space: An Astronaut’s Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Protecting Sequoias From Wildfire Gets Tricky | Ancient Cave Art And Human Creativity

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Maggie Koerth, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Sequoia National Park is largely designated as wilderness. That complicates efforts to protect its iconic trees from worsening wildfires. Also, archaeologists keep finding older and older cave art. Here’s what it could tell us about how humans evolved over time.

Protecting Sequoias From Wildfire Raises Tricky Questions

Sequoia National Park in California is known for its towering, iconic sequoia trees, some of which are thought to be thousands of years old. Severe wildfires fueled by climate change and a long history of fire suppression have put these trees at risk. One solution to this problem is to plant new sequoias. But an interesting debate has sparked between those in favor of this and those against it.

The vast majority of the park is officially considered “wilderness,” a federal designation that describes an area “untrammeled by man.” This concept of “untrammeled” has become more complicated in the age of climate change: Some people argue that it means humans shouldn’t intervene, even when the ecosystem is changing because of human-made climate change.

Guest host Maggie Koerth speaks with Marissa Ortega-Welch, host and producer of the “How Wild” podcast from KALW and NPR. The first episode of this podcast, “Untrammeled,” highlights this debate.

What Newly Discovered Cave Art Tells Us About Human Creativity

In July, researchers discovered the oldest known cave art. It was found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and it shows three human-like figures and a wild pig. The painting was dated at 51,200 years old—5,000 years older than any other known cave art.

The finding continues a trend of researchers unearthing older and older examples of human-made art, including those found outside of Spain and Southern France, where most cave art discoveries have been made.

Guest host Maggie Koerth is joined by Dr. Isobel Wisher, a postdoctoral researcher with the Evolution of Early Symbolic Behavior project at Aarhus University in Denmark, to discuss how this field of archeology has changed over the years, how new technology is making these ancient cave paintings more accessible to the public, and what they can tell us about the human experience.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Plastic In Human Brains | Local Anesthetics Recommended For IUD Insertion

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Maggie Koerth, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 23 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 IUD inserted in the uterus is extremely painful for some people. The CDC now recommends that doctors use local anesthetics.

Study Finds A Staggering Amount Of Plastic In Human Brains

It only takes a quick look at our streets and waterways to be reminded that plastic pollution is a big problem. But that’s just the plastic that we can see. An increasing amount of scientific literature points to microplastics accumulating inside our bodies, particularly in organs.

A recent preprint published by the National Institutes of Health found a staggering amount of microplastics in livers, kidneys, and brains of recently deceased cadavers. The brains, however, were the biggest shock: They had 10 to 20 times more microplastics than the other organs studied. Twenty-four of the brain samples measured were found to be about 0.5% plastic by weight.

Joining guest host Maggie Koerth is Tim Revell, executive editor of New Scientist based in London. The two discuss this and other top stories of the week, including a possible explanation for an “alien” radio signal, a look into how orb spiders use fireflies to lure other insects, and a study that says playing video games is good for you, actually.

CDC Updates Guidelines For Managing Pain From IUD Insertion

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced updated guidelines for managing pain from inserting a popular form of birth control called an intrauterine device, or IUD. The recommendations now advise doctors to consider using local anesthetics like lidocaine to help manage patients’ pain.

An IUD is a small T-shaped device that is passed through the vagina and cervix and placed in the uterus, where it can remain for several years. Figures vary, but this insertion process can be very painful for roughly 10%-20% of patients. In recent years there’s been an outpouring of patients speaking out on social media about just how painful their IUD insertions were. Many people have recounted how their doctors did not provide anything to help mitigate their pain or, in some cases, dismissed their experiences altogether.

Guest host Maggie Koerth talks with Dr. Beverly Gray, associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University to discuss the significance of these new guidelines.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Don’t Just Walk In The Woods—Touch, Smell, and Taste Them, Too

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Diana Plasker, D. Peterschmidt) — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 unpredictable weather have sometimes made it riskier to be outside. Maybe you’ve chosen an easier hike, or doubled up on water bottles, or stayed inside when you’d much rather be outdoors with friends and family.

If you’ve been feeling apathetic about the outdoors, a new book called Forest Walking, Discovering the Trees and Woodlands of North America might be a helpful read. Co-authors Peter Wohlleben, a forester and conservation advocate, and Jane Billinghurst, an editor, author, and translator, teach readers how to engage with their local forested areas in a deeper way. And it’s what we’re reading for September’s SciFri Book Club.

Diana Plasker, Science Friday’s senior experiences manager, sat down with the authors to talk about how to decode nature’s subtle signs and why it’s important to use all five senses when exploring your surroundings.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Are Space Elevators Really A Possibility?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Val Diaz) — Wed, 21 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 the work and theories to make it a reality have been in development since the late 19th century.

It’s a simple concept: Imagine a long cable, stretching from the Earth’s surface to a satellite locked in orbit 22,000 miles high. It would work like elevators here on Earth, enabling us to send things—and people—up into space. And it would make the need for the expensive rockets we use today obsolete.

Although it has never been considered feasible due to the exorbitant cost and the engineering challenges it poses, the idea refuses to go away.

One of Japan’s biggest construction companies, the Obayashi Corporation, which built the Tokyo Sky Tree, had plans to build a space elevator in 2025 but has reportedly delayed that goal.

So what are the hurdles that keep us from building it? And why does it seem that the space elevator is always 25 years away? Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Dennis Wright, president of the International Space Elevator Consortium to talk about the feasibility of this megaproject.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Could Light And Sound Therapy Treat Alzheimer’s?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 20 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 substantial decrease in amyloid plaques, a key biomarker for the disease, and an improvement in cognitive function. Clinical trials testing the efficacy of this method in humans are underway.

But how exactly does this treatment work? Could it be a game changer in Alzheimer’s patients? And what potential does it have for other degenerative diseases, like multiple sclerosis?

Ira talks with Dr. Li-Huei Tsai, professor of neuroscience and director of Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, about her work developing this therapy.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Dr. Fauci On A Life Of Medical Research And Public Service

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 guest on the program, discussing everything from the common cold to SARS, food allergies to Ebola, and malaria to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.

After leading the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for 38 years, Fauci stepped down in December 2022. But he certainly hasn’t disappeared from the public eye. He’s been called to testify regularly before Congress and he’s written a new book, On Call: A Doctor’s Journey in Public Service. He joins Ira for a wide-ranging discussion of AIDS, COVID-19, public health vulnerabilities, and his new post-government role as a teacher.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Evidence For Liquid Water On Mars | Making Campsite Booking Fairer

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 open up campsite reservations online to make them more accessible to everyone.

Scientists Find Strong Evidence For Liquid Water On Mars

Scientists discovered that there could be oceans’ worth of liquid water hidden underneath Mars’ surface. More than 3 billion years ago, Mars had lakes, rivers, and maybe even oceans on its surface. It was very different from the arid red planet we know today.

But the question remains—when Mars’ atmosphere changed, where did all that water go? This discovery could offer up new clues and possibly spur on the search for life on Mars.

Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead for Carbon Plan, about this discovery and other science news of the week, including why the WHO declared mpox a global health emergency, the microbiome of your microwave, a green-boned dinosaur named Gnatalie, and how love is in the air for brown tarantulas.

Releasing Campsite Reservations In Waves Makes Booking Fairer

Back in 2022, Science Friday discussed how campsites in state and national parks were virtually impossible to reserve, unless you had a lot of time on your hands and knew exactly when those reservations were going online. Research had shown that the people able to reserve these sites were often wealthy, educated, and white, leaving lots of other people out of the fun of camping.

But two years later, the same team that found those results says there’s good news: Many state and federal campgrounds have changed how their booking windows work, and as a result, camping has become more equitable.

For example, Saddlehorn Campground near Grand Junction, Colorado, was identified as a campground with an inequitable reservation system in a 2022 study. After its publication, campground managers reached out to the study authors to see how they could do better.

“They’ve created what I would call the gold standard in an equitable recreation rationing spectrum for these campsites,” said Dr. Will Rice, assistant professor of outdoor recreation and wildland management at the University of Montana in Missoula.

This method is to release campsites in waves: Some become available six months in advance, some two weeks in advance, and some day-of. This allows more flexibility for people to book, and is an easy fix on the part of the campgrounds.

Rice joins Ira Flatow to talk about these advancements. Since his first appearance on Science Friday, Rice has testified before Congress about the importance of camping reservation equity, and has helped both federal and state campgrounds change their booking reservation windows.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Dinosaurs’ Secrets Might Be In Their Fossilized Poop

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, how they moved, and where they lived.

But there’s one type of dinosaur fossil that’s sometimes overlooked: poop. Its scientific name is coprolite. These fossilized feces are rarer than their boney counterparts, but they’re key to better understanding dino diets and ecosystems.

This all raises an important question: How scientists know if something is fossilized dino poop or just a rock?

At Science Friday Live in Boulder, Ira talks with Dr. Karen Chin, paleontologist and professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado, Boulder to answer that question and much more.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Promise Of Perovskite Solar Panels

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 fields. And solar panel technology has advanced quite a bit over the past few decades: panels have become less expensive, more efficient, and more widely used. Panels also generally fare well, considering that they’re outside in inclement weather year after year.

Recent advancements with perovskite solar cells—a type of cell whose name refers to the structure of a compound it contains—have many clean energy enthusiasts excited. Perovskite solar cells are a thin, flexible technology that can even be painted onto a structure and conduct electricity. Much of the work on these has been conducted at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) based in Golden, Colorado.

At Science Friday Live in Boulder, Colorado, Ira sat down with two solar experts from NREL, Dr. Joseph Berry and Dr. Laura Schelhas, to discuss perovskite solar cell advancements and the future of this clean energy technology.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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An Expert Vegetable Breeder On Innovating Crops For The Future

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 13 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 moving into different regions, and there’s a growing need for vegetable varieties that are resilient to the stresses of this new age.

In the world of organic farming, the job of creating those new varieties falls to a plant breeder: someone who, often painstakingly, crosses plants until they create a new variety. Dr. Jim Myers, one of the most accomplished plant breeders in the country, has lots of experience with this.

Myers created the Indigo Rose tomato, a strikingly purple variety with the same antioxidants as blueberries. He also created the green bean cultivar predominantly used by Oregon producers, and is debuting two new varieties of low-heat habanero peppers next month, dubbed “Mild Thing” and “Notta Hotta.”

Myers joins Ira Flatow from Corvallis, Oregon, where he’s a professor of agricultural science at Oregon State University. They discuss his decades-long career in plant breeding and what he sees as the biggest challenges for the plant breeders of the future.

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What The Private Sale Of Fossils Means For Paleontology

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Val Diaz, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 Citadel, who says he plans to loan the fossil to American institutions for display.

But despite Griffin’s statement, some paleontologists aren’t too happy about the trend of fossils going up for auction.

The sale of dinosaur fossils has become more and more profitable in recent years. Eight out of the ten most expensive fossils have been sold in the last four years. This trend of rising sale prices leaves museums and research institutions unable to pay for fossils that could benefit paleontological research.

Paleontologists fear that as more and more fossils become privately owned, the availability of fossils for research and even access to dig sites might decrease or be restricted.

SciFri guest host and producer Kathleen Davis is joined by Dr. Steve Brusatte, professor of paleontology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland to talk about the potential scientific impacts of privatizing and selling fossils.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Starliner Leaves Astronauts Stuck | Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years In Advance?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 9 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 weather forecast could be on the horizon.

Boeing’s Starliner Leaves Astronauts Stuck On The Space Station

In another blow to Boeing’s Starliner program, which is meant to ferry astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, NASA announced Wednesday that the troubled spacecraft would not be able to take astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth due to issues with its thrusters.

The two astronauts arrived at the International Space Station in June for a mission that was supposed to last eight days. But with the current problems, the pair might be stuck on the space station, where Starliner remains docked, until early next year. NASA is considering bringing them back in an upcoming SpaceX Dragon mission.

Ira Flatow is joined by Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, who breaks down this and other top science stories this week, including how the Olympic Games are adjusting to abnormally high temperatures in France, why the EPA banned a widely used weedkiller, and what the moon’s atmosphere is made of.

Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years—Or A Decade—In Advance?

Access to weather forecasts has been made easier than ever with the advent of smartphones. Most of the time, we can get accurate information about weather for the next few hours up through the next few days. But a week or two out, those predictions get less reliable.

In the near future, it may be possible to get accurate weather forecasts weeks, months, or even a decade ahead of schedule. While this sounds like science fiction, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are working on this very challenge.

Earth system predictions, as the field is called, combines a variety of factors including atmospheric conditions, ocean currents, and even what’s happening in the soil to form predictions. These forecasts are in high demand as the climate changes, particularly as farmers need more information about incoming heat and precipitation. There’s even the possibility that Earth systems predictions could help regions prepare for dangerous natural hazards well ahead of time.

At Science Friday Live in Boulder, Colorado, Ira sat down with two NCAR scientists, Dr. Yaga Richter and Dr. Jerry Meehl about their work in this field.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Does COVID-19 Spike In Summer?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, D. Peterschmidt, John Dankosky) — Thu, 8 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 experiencing a summer surge.

The CDC now tracks COVID-19 mostly through wastewater and found that viral activity has multiplied more than four times from the beginning of May to now. The CDC classifies the viral activity level as “high.”

So what’s behind this surge? And why does it keep happening in the summer?

SciFri’s John Dankosky talks with Jessica Malaty Rivera, infectious disease epidemiologist and science communicator at the de Beaumont Foundation, about what’s behind the surge and how to stay safe.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Deep-Sea ‘Nodules’ May Produce Oxygen | A Bird’s Physics Trick For High-Altitude Flying

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Andrea Valeria Diaz Tolivia) — Wed, 7 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

New research suggests that polymetallic nodules found 13,000 feet deep produce “dark oxygen” by electrolyzing water. Also, at higher altitudes, the air is less dense, which makes it harder for birds in flight to generate lift. The turkey vulture has a solution.

Deep-Sea ‘Nodules’ May Produce Oxygen, Study Finds

An international team of researchers recently discovered that some 13,000 feet below the ocean’s surface, oxygen may be produced through natural electrolysis. The group found that small lumps called polymetallic nodules at the bottom of the ocean appeared to act as geo batteries, producing enough electricity to break down water and make oxygen.

That observation challenges the idea that photosynthesis is necessary to produce enough oxygen for living organisms. The researchers hypothesize that this could be a source of oxygen for deep-sea creatures. But while it gives some answers as to how life can thrive at the bottom of the sea, it also raises a lot of new questions.

Science Friday guest host and producer Charles Bergquist is joined by the lead electrochemist of the study, Dr. Franz Geiger, the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry at Northwestern University, to answer some of these questions.

One Bird’s Physics Trick For Flying At High Altitudes

If you’ve ever taken a trip to a higher elevation, you know that the air gets thinner as you go up. If you’re not acclimated to the altitude, it can feel harder to breathe. That thinner air also makes it more difficult for birds and airplanes to fly, because it’s harder to produce the lift forces in thinner air. But it turns out that turkey vultures have a way of dealing with that problem.

Researchers observed turkey vultures in flight at different altitudes and found that rather than flapping harder or more rapidly to deal with decreased lift, the turkey vulture exploits the lower drag in thinner air to fly faster, using increased speed to help balance the lift equation. Dr. Jonathan Rader, a postdoctoral research associate in biology at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and an author of a report on this research published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, joins SciFri’s Charles Bergquist to explain how flying things work to adapt to different flight conditions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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PLATO’s Mission To Discover Exoplanets Like Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Val Diaz, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 6 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 orbiting distant stars.

And more discoveries will be on the way.

PLATO, which stands for PLAnetary Transits and Oscillations of stars, is a satellite made by the European Space Agency that will help put more exoplanets on the map. Scheduled for launch in late 2026, it will look at around 200,000 sun-like stars to categorize them and the planets that orbit them.

Science Friday guest host and producer Charles Bergquist is joined by one of the scientists working on the telescope, Dr. Suzanne Aigrain, professor of astrophysics at Oxford University, to learn more about PLATO and the future of deep space exploration.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Cancer Death Rates Have Decreased Over The Last 30 Years

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, John Dankosky) — Mon, 5 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

“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 common being breast, prostate, and lung cancer, according to the National Institutes of Health.

But in the last few decades, major progress has been made in the world of cancer treatment and prevention. Cancer death rates have decreased by about 30% over the last quarter century, with some of the largest decreases seen in lung, melanoma, and myeloma cancers. The Biden administration’s Cancer Moonshot program aims to reduce the number of cancer deaths by at least 50% by 2050.

Early detection methods like mammograms and colonoscopies have improved outcomes for many types of cancer, and new treatment options, like cancer vaccines, immunotherapy, and targeted genetic therapies, have shown promising early results. And the breakthroughs made from the development of the mRNA covid vaccines are bringing even more promise for hard-to-treat cancers.

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Emperor of all Maladies: The Biography of Cancer, joins guest host John Dankosky to give a broad update on the progress made in cancer treatment and prevention. They also discuss the role AI can play in new breakthroughs, and why some cancers are still particularly difficult to treat.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Hawaiʻi Wildfire Survivors Join Health Study | Wind Turbine Blade Sinks Off Massachusetts Coast

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 2 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 is washing up on Nantucket’s shores, and residents are concerned about the long-term environmental impact of this debris.

Hawaiʻi Wildfire Survivors To Join Long-Term Health Study

Nearly a year ago, Maui experienced a series of wildfires that caused major destruction and anguish for residents. More than 100 people died and thousands of structures were destroyed in what was the fifth deadliest wildland fire in U.S. history.

Survivors of those fires are now taking part in the largest study of its kind to understand the health and social impacts of the Maui wildfires. The research team will sample the blood, DNA, and urine of participants over at least a decade to see if they develop conditions such as cancer. Researchers say this information will be essential as the island and its residents continue to recover.

Casey Crownhart, climate reporter for the MIT Technology Review joins guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about this story and other top science news of the week, including California’s Park Fire.

Damaged Wind Turbine Blade Sinks Off Massachusetts Coast

A large piece of fiberglass debris from the damaged Vineyard Wind turbine blade has sunk to the ocean floor, as the debris cleanup continues, according to press release from the town of Nantucket that’s timestamped for 9:10 a.m.

Town officials said that about half of the fiberglass shell of the blade remains attached and crews will continue to monitor it until a removal plan is developed. Most of the green and white foam fill dislodged during the initial failure last Saturday.

They added that Vineyard wind is also developing a plan to test water quality around the island.

“This complex undertaking involves engaging experts to determine the best path forward. To conduct the testing, specific information from GE’s Safety Data Sheets is required, which is expected to be delivered to Vineyard Wind today,” according to the press release.

To read the full story, visit our website.

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The Science And History Of Refrigeration

wnycdigital@gmail.com (John Dankosky, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 1 Aug 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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, dried-out bread, or oozing strawberries?

Refrigeration fundamentally changes the chemistry of our food, but at this point, most of the United States’ food system relies on the use of refrigerators. Almost three-quarters of the food on an average American’s plate has been refrigerated during production, shipping, and storage. So how did we end up relying so heavily on the fridge? And on a warming planet, can refrigeration keep its cool?

A new book called Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves challenges the definition of “freshness” and our relationship with the fridge. SciFri’s John Dankosky talks with author Nicola Twilley, co-host of the podcast “Gastropod.”

Read an excerpt from Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Sodium Replaces Lithium In A New Type Of Battery

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, D. Peterschmidt) — Wed, 31 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 for many technologies, they’ll also be necessary to meet energy demands with a power grid that is mainly supplied by renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Without batteries, power from those sources can’t be stored for use when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing.

Right now, many technologies depend on lithium-ion batteries. While they certainly work well and have revolutionized mobile devices and electric vehicles, there are drawbacks. First, the lithium, cobalt, and nickel they require can only be found in some countries, and there have been accusations of unethical mining practices, including child labor. The mining and production processes also emit a large amount of CO2, and the batteries themselves can explode and cause fires, although these incidents are becoming less common.

A promising, greener solution to our battery needs could be something called a solid-state battery. Lithium-ion batteries conduct electricity through a liquid electrolyte solution, while solid-state batteries do so with solid materials, such as ceramic, glass, and sulfides. This means they have lower risk of fires, charge faster, have higher voltages, and can be recycled. However, their development has taken longer than expected, due to cost, production hurdles, and lack of large-scale, real-world testing.

Earlier this month, teams at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and the University of California San Diego published a paper in Nature Energy demonstrating the world’s first anode-free, sodium-based, solid-state battery architecture, which can charge quickly and last for several hundred cycles. Its main ingredient, sodium, is much more abundant than lithium, cobalt, and nickel, which could mean more affordable and environmentally friendly batteries in the future.

Ira Flatow sits down with Dr. Y. Shirley Meng, a professor at the University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering and chief scientist for energy storage science at Argonne National Laboratory, to talk about the advancement, and when we could expect to see these unique batteries in our devices.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Inside The Race To Save Honeybees From Parasitic Mites

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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’t climate change, starvation, or even pesticides, but a parasite: Varroa destructor.

“The name for this parasite is a very Transformer-y sounding name, but … these Varroa destructor mites have earned this name. It’s not melodramatic by any means. [They are] incredibly destructive organisms,” says Dr. Sammy Ramsey, entomologist at the University of Colorado Boulder.

These tiny mites feed on the bees and make them susceptible to other threats like diseases and pesticides. They’re also highly contagious: They arrived in the US in 1987, and now they live in almost every honeybee colony in the country. Honeybees pollinate many important crops, like apples, peaches, and berries, and their pollinator services add up to billions of dollars.

Ramsey and his lab are trying to put an end to the varroa mites’ spree. Part of their research includes spying on baby bees and their accompanying mites to learn how the parasites feed on the bees and whether there’s a way to disrupt that process.

In Boulder, Colorado, SciFri producer Rasha Aridi speaks with Dr. Ramsey and fellow entomologist Dr. Madison Sankovitz about how the varroa mites terrorize bees so effectively, and what it would take to get ahead of them.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What A Rodent Brain Shows Us About Love | If Colorado Was Flattened, How Big Would It Be?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi, John Dankosky, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

What A Rodent Brain Shows Us About Love–And Loss

Love has the reputation of being a fairly unique human emotion. If we’re lucky, we can experience lots of love in our lives: with romantic partners, children, family, friends. But with love comes the possibility of another, less desirable emotion: heartbreak.

Neuroscientists at the University of Colorado Boulder have found that these feelings seem to actually leave a mark on the brain, with dopamine and other feel-good chemicals flooding to the brain’s reward centers when lovers are reunited.

The source for this data may be surprising: prairie voles, tiny rodents that are among the small percentage of mammals that form monogamous pair bonds. By studying their brains when the voles were united with their mates, researchers were able to pinpoint this dopamine flood that they suspect happens in humans’ own brains under the same conditions.

When the voles were separated for four weeks—long enough for them to consider their pairing “over” and find new mates, the broken-up voles had much more muted dopamine response when reunited. Researchers say that could be good news for heartbroken humans because it shows the brain could have something of a “reset” mechanism that allows individuals to go on and form new bonds.

Joining Ira to talk about this research is Dr. Zoe Donaldson, associate professor of behavioral neuroscience at the University of Colorado in Boulder.

If You Rolled Colorado Out Into A Brownie, How Big Would It Be?

The surface area of Colorado is 104,094 square miles, according to the US Geological Survey, making it the 8th largest state in the country.

But the state, unlike our neighbors to the east, has a lot of extra geographical stuff — like mountains.

One Coloradan who loves to spend time in those big hills wondered if our dear state wasn’t getting a bit short-changed. Denver-based photographer and editor Howard Paul also happens to love baked goods. So when he posed his question to Colorado Wonders, he couldn’t help but combine his two passions.

Paul had a hunch that such a squishing would make Colorado the largest state in the lower 48. Bigger than Texas. Smaller than Alaska. (For whatever it’s worth, this numerically-challenged reporter thought that was an eminently reasonable guess.)

The first bit of due diligence was to research if this quandary had been approached before. Well, what do you know, the headline of a March 2005 article from Ski Magazine reads “How big would Colorado be if you steamrolled all of the mountains?”

Read the rest on sciencefriday.com.

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Curiosity Rover Discovers Pure Sulfur On Mars | A Science Hero, Lost and Found

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, John Dankosky, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 26 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 Andrea Wulf's “The Invention of Nature,” which is our August book club pick.

Curiosity Rover Discovers Pure Sulfur On Mars

NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover ran over a rock, which cracked open to reveal pure sulfur crystals. This was the first time pure sulfur has been discovered on the planet. The rover found many other similar rocks nearby, raising questions about the geologic history of the location.

Ira talks with Alex Hager, who covers water in the West for KUNC, about Martian sulfur rocks and other top science stories of the week, including melting glaciers increasing the length of the day, life rebounding at Lake Powell, a rare whale and new research on how psilocybin rewires the brain.

A Science Hero, Lost and Found

Alexander von Humboldt was a globetrotting explorer, scientist, environmentalist, and the second-most famous man in Europe—after Napoleon. So why haven’t you heard of him? This week we revisit an interview with writer and historian Andrea Wulf, whose 2015 book The Invention of Nature aims to restore Humboldt to his rightful place in science history. Not only did this singular polymath pioneer the idea that nature is an interconnected system, but, Wulf argues, he was also the lost father of environmentalism.

Ira speaks with Wulf about the man who inspired the likes of Darwin, Thoreau, and Muir, whom contemporaries called “the Shakespeare of the Sciences.”

If this book sounds like a great read for your upcoming vacation, you’re in luck! The SciFri Book Club is reading The Invention Of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World by Andrea Wulf in August. Find out all you need to know, including how to win a free book on our website.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Are The Risks Of Drinking Raw Milk?

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 to around 15 million people. And those numbers seem to be increasing. According to data from the market research agency NielsenIQ from May, sales of raw milk increased by as much as 65% compared to that time last year.

This increase coincides with a recent trend of influencers and other public figures promoting raw milk as a completely safe and healthier alternative to pasteurized milk.

But despite claims about its safety, raw milk is more likely to contain pathogens than pasteurized milk, which is heated to kill harmful microbes. According to records released last week, some 165 people were sickened by salmonella linked to raw products from a single farm in California as of February, the largest raw milk-related salmonella outbreak in a decade. And the CDC recently reported that dairy cows in 13 states were infected with the H5N1 virus, also known as bird flu.

Host Rachel Feltman is joined by Dr. Céline Gounder, editor-at-large for public health at KFF Health News and Dr. Nicole Helen Martin, assistant research professor in dairy foods microbiology at Cornell University, to talk about the dangers of health misinformation and how the risks of drinking raw milk can far outweigh its potential benefits.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Space Suit To Turn Pee Into Water | A Bitcoin Mine Causing A Health Crisis In Texas

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Rachel Feltman) — Wed, 24 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Researchers developed a prototype of a space suit that could replace the high-absorbency diapers that astronauts wear on space walks. And, a bitcoin mine's cooling fans are so loud they rattle windows. Residents of Granbury, Texas, are having migraines, panic attacks, and hearing loss.

A ‘Dune’-Inspired Space Suit To Turn Astronaut Pee Into Water

On the International Space Station, resources are precious. That includes every single drop of water—which is why astronauts drink their own filtered and recycled pee. That might sound a little undignified, but things get worse when astronauts go out for a space walk. If nature comes calling, their only option is a super-strength diaper.

Inspired by the stillsuits that recycle water in Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ series, researchers have come up with a way to keep astronauts clean, dry, and hydrated while they’re hard at work. They’ve designed a system that turns astronauts’ pee into nice, clean drinking water while they’re suited up.

The researchers reported on their prototype in the journal Frontiers in Space Technology. Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with Sofia Etlin, a researcher at Weill Cornell Medicine, about the inspiration behind the stillsuit and how it works.

A Noisy Bitcoin Mine Is Causing A Health Crisis In A Texas Town

For the past several years, there’s been constant hype about AI, bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies. We’ve learned that it takes a massive amount of energy, water, and other resources to run the data centers that make these technologies possible, putting climate goals at risk. But these buzzy technologies could have an impact on public health, too.

Residents of the small town of Granbury, Texas, say bitcoin is more than just a figurative headache. Soon after a company opened up a bitcoin mine there a couple years ago, locals started experiencing excruciating migraines, hearing loss, nausea, panic attacks, and more. Several people even ended up in the emergency room. The culprit? Noise from the mine’s cooling fans.

Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with Andrew Chow, technology correspondent at TIME, who investigated the health crisis in Granbury.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How A Shark Scientist Forged Her Own Path

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Rachel Feltman) — Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 competitive field—especially if they aren’t white and male.

Jasmin Graham has an unparalleled passion for sharks, but a few years ago she started to feel that the traditional path in academia wasn’t designed for her to succeed. Instead of giving up, she forged a path of her own. And now she’s bringing other young researchers of color along with her.

Guest host Rachel Feltman talks with marine biologist Jasmin Graham, co-founder of Minorities in Shark Sciences (MISS) and author of Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Scientist.

Read an excerpt of Sharks Don’t Sink: Adventures of a Rogue Scientist.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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FDA Panel Rejects MDMA Therapy For PTSD

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rachel Feltman, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Last month, the first psychedelic therapy treatment came before the Food and Drug Administration for a vote. It entailed using MDMA, also known as ecstasy or molly, to treat PTSD.

MDMA therapy has looked promising as a treatment for PTSD and other mental health conditions in some studies. But the FDA scientific advisory panel that evaluated this treatment voted overwhelmingly against approving it.

Many of the arguments against approval had less to do with MDMA itself than with the methodology of the clinical trials done by Lykos Therapeutics, formerly the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, or MAPS. The FDA panel was presented with allegations of misconduct and incongruous data, including a letter by trial participant Sarah McNamee.

McNamee, who joined the trial for treatment of PTSD, is also a licensed psychotherapist and researcher of trauma and psychotherapy at McGill University in Montreal. She joins guest host Rachel Feltman alongside Dr. Eiko Fried, a methodologist and psychologist at Leiden University in the Netherlands, to discuss the decision.

If you or someone you know is struggling with PTSD or other mental health conditions, call 988 for the suicide and crisis lifeline.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Small Meteor Blazes Over New York City | Tornado Science From ‘Twisters’

Fri, 19 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 movie “Twister” is a whirlwind of tornado science. A weather expert decodes its lingo—and real-life tornado trends.

A Small Meteor Blazes Over New York City

Tuesday morning, some New York area residents heard a loud boom and saw a daytime fireball streaking overhead. According to observers, a small meteor entered the Earth’s atmosphere over New York City, passed by the Statue of Liberty, and proceeded west to New Jersey, moving at some 38,000 miles per hour. Meteor experts said that the object, estimated to be around a foot in size, posed no threat, as debris from an object that small would have burned up before reaching the ground.

Science Friday’s Charles Bergquist joins guest host Rachel Feltman to talk about the overhead display, and about other science news from the week, including a newly planned mission to fly by a near-Earth asteroid. They’ll also talk about a new pool of data for human genetics research, efforts to predict rogue waves, and the challenges of making food taste right in orbit.

The Tornado Science To Know Before Seeing ‘Twisters’

“Twisters,” the long awaited follow-up to the 1996 movie “Twister” drops in theaters today, July 19. It’s about a scientist (Daisy Edgar-Jones) who goes back to her home state of Oklahoma to try and stop a massive tornado outbreak from wreaking havoc on its citizens. On the way, she meets a quirky cast of storm chasers, and butts heads with a band of unorthodox “tornado wranglers” led by a YouTube personality (Glen Powell). “Twisters” delights in name-dropping tornado jargon, and its science advisory team said they hoped to make the movie as accurate as possible.

The movie makes science thrilling, but it also shows the ways that tornadoes affect people’s lives in the real world. For example, earlier this week, the Chicago area was hit with multiple tornadoes during a night of extreme weather, leaving thousands without power, and four tornadoes hit upstate New York, killing one person. This comes after a powerful, and some say unusual, tornado season in the Midwest. But just how tornadoes will continue to change is still unknown.

Digital producer Emma Gometz talks with Dr. Bill Gallus, a meteorology professor at Iowa State University, to decode some of the science from “Twisters” and understand how real-life tornadoes are changing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Are There So Many Drug Shortages In The U.S.?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (John Dankosky, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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.” That’s because there are some 323 active and ongoing drug shortages in the United States. That’s the highest number of such shortages since the American Society of Health System Pharmacists started tracking this data back in 2001.

These drug shortages touch every part of the healthcare system. Doctors are having to reconfigure their treatment plans due to short supply of certain drugs, like cancer treatments. And patients can be left going from pharmacy to pharmacy to get even the most common medications, like antibiotics.

SciFri’s John Dankosky talks with freelance journalist Indira Khera and journalist and physician Dr. Eli Cahan, who looked into why drug shortages happen, how they’re affecting the healthcare system, and what solutions are on the horizon.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What The Small Intestine Can Tell Us About Gut Health

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 intestine is an underappreciated part of the gut microbiome. Most of the research into our microbiomes has focused on the other end of the gastrointestinal tract, namely, the colon. And poop samples are an easy way to analyze the microbiome in that lower part of the gut.

Better understanding microbiome disruptions in the small intestines may allow researchers to better understand disorders like irritable bowel syndrome, and celiac disease.

Dr. Christopher Damman, associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of Washington, gives SciFri producer Kathleen Davis a crash course in the microbiome of the small intestine.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Helping Queen Conchs Mate In The Florida Keys

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 survive.

Warming seas and wild swings in temperature have shut down their reproductive impulses in the waist-deep water, leaving them to creep along the ocean floor, searching for food but not love. Meanwhile, just a few miles away in deeper, cooler waters, the iconic mollusks mate freely. So scientists have a rescue plan: load the inshore conchs into milk crates, ferry them to colonies in deep water, and let nature run its course.

As climate change fastracks ocean warming, the researchers hope their plan hatches enough baby conchs to help boost the flagging population.

“Once you put them in a more appropriate temperature regime, snails have a remarkable capability to heal themselves,” says Dr. Gabriel Delgado, a conch scientist with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who is leading the pilot project. “Now you have a contributing member to future populations.”

To read the rest of this article (plus see stunning images of conchs!) visit our website.

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How Congestion Pricing Can Impact Human Health

Mon, 15 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 a fee for cars to enter the central business district of Manhattan, and it would have been the first congestion pricing plan to be fully implemented in the United States.

While congestion pricing can be costly for commuters, the fact that it keeps some cars off the road means it can have health benefits for surrounding communities. Successfully implemented congestion pricing plans in cities such as London, Singapore, and Stockholm have led to better air quality and health.

SciFri’s John Dankosky sits down with Dr. Janet Currie, co-director of Princeton’s Center for Health and Wellbeing, and Dr. Andrea Titus, assistant professor of the Department of Population Health at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, to talk about the health impacts that congestion pricing has had around the world as well as the potential effects it could have in New York City and in other cities in the United States.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Galaxies ‘Dance’ In Stunning New JWST Image | Why Some Cats Scratch Furniture

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 cats’ tendency to scratch is affected by stress, certain kinds of play, and how active they are at night.

Galaxies ‘Dance’ In Stunning New JWST Image

The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope created by humans, has been successfully operating in space for two years now. Since its launch, the telescope has dazzled astronomers and the public with new kinds of scientific data about the universe and with stunning, highly detailed pictures. And on its two-year anniversary, the telescope continues to return impressive visuals: NASA released a mesmerizing image today of two intermingling galaxies nicknamed the Penguin and the Egg.

Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos, joins guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about that and other top science stories of the week, including a new study that shows that children with autism have a unique microbiome, new FEMA rules that factor in climate change when rebuilding in flood-prone areas, and how invasive insects use hitchhiking to spread their populations.

Why Some Cats Scratch Furniture So Much

If you have a cat, you’ve probably endured your fair share of unwanted furniture scratching. Maybe you’ve purchased scratching posts, rearranged your furniture, or played with your cats before bed, to try to prevent it. And yet, you wake up to shredded upholstery or bedding.

Furniture scratching is often a stress response, and cats who live with kids or are more playful and active at night are more likely to scratch.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis spoke with Dr. Yasemin Salgirli Demirbas, a physiology professor at Ankara University in Turkey and visiting fellow at the Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island, about her recently published study which tracked why some cats are more prone to scratching destruction than others and explored the best way for cat owners to achieve a mostly intact living room.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Your Pain Tolerance May Have Been Passed Down From Neanderthals

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 about 40,000 years ago. That mixing means most modern humans have some amount of Neanderthal DNA—and it accounts for up to 3% of the genome in some people.

While these genetic remnants don’t have much impact on our day-to-day lives, they may be responsible for one surprising effect: pain tolerance. Recent research shows that people with Neanderthal variants in the gene SCN9A have a lower pain tolerance than people without the gene.

This isn’t the only Neanderthal remnant that’s been passed down. A study from earlier this year pinpointed a certain genome region that impacts nose shape. Taller, wider noses were passed down from our Neanderthal ancestors who lived in colder climates. A larger nose warmed air before it hit the sensitive lungs.

Ira speaks with Dr. Kaustubh Adhikari, assistant professor of statistics at the Open University in the United Kingdom, who worked on both of these studies.

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How Can Iowa’s Agriculture Adapt To Climate Threats?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Climate change is having a profound effect on agriculture. Farmers over the past decade have faced intensifying drought and heat stress on crops, leading many to wonder, what will agriculture look like 50 years from now?

In May, at SciFri Live at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, Ira Flatow discussed the future of agriculture, and potential solutions to these problems, from innovative farming techniques, to ensuring that Iowa’s farmers of color have the resources they need to succeed. He was joined by Todd Western III, a sixth-generation Iowan farmer with Western Family Farms and senior donor advisor at Greater Twin Cities United Way, and Dr. Patrick Schnable, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University and co-founder of Dryland Genetics.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Do They Actually Store The Declaration Of Independence?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 9 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

These days, the 4th of July is known for its fireworks and cookouts. But the holiday commemorates the ratification of the Declaration of Independence, one of the most important founding documents of the United States.

The Declaration of Independence, alongside the Emancipation Proclamation, the Constitution, and countless other documents, is housed in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Like any other museum, the National Archives doesn’t just house these items, it preserves them, protecting them from the degradation that happens over time.

In March, at SciFri Live in Washington D.C., Ira spoke to two restoration experts about what goes on behind the scenes of the National Archives: Conservator Saira Haqqi and physicist Mark Ormsby. They discuss the history of papermaking in the US, changes in restoration science, and what “National Treasure” really got right.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Politics And Diplomacy Shape Panda Conservation

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Aja Drain, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 8 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Earlier this year, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington announced that pandas would be returning to the capitol. This news was met with great fanfare because the zoo’s resident pandas had returned to China last fall, leaving the District panda-less for the first time in more than 50 years.

After the pandas left D.C. in the fall, SciFri producer Rasha Aridi and journalist Aja Drain dug into the juicy political history of panda conservation and how it shaped panda research. In this segment from December 2023, they look back at 80 years of panda conservation, and how “panda diplomacy” paved the way for groundbreaking science. And they try to answer the multi-million dollar question: Was it all worth it?

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Best Science Books For Summer 2024

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker) — Fri, 5 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

It’s officially summertime, and a new season of reading is here! Two science writers and voracious readers have compiled their summer reading recommendations, just for Science Friday fans. Before you head out for a week at the beach, start packing for that road trip, or stock up for a long staycation, we’ve got the list of science-y summer reads, straight from those familiar with the best on the shelf.

Joining guest host Diana Plasker to offer listeners their recommendations are Riley Black, a Salt Lake City-based science writer and the author of several books, including The Last Days of the Dinosaurs: An Asteroid, Extinction, and the Beginning of Our World; and Deborah Blum, director of the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and author of several books, including The Poison Squad: One Chemist’s Single-Minded Crusade for Food Safety at the Turn of the Twentieth Century, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Avoiding Grilling and Barbecue Pitfalls

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Alexa Lim) — Thu, 4 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

In a conversation from 2014, Ira talks marinade myths, charcoal chemistry, and the elusive “smoke ring”—the science behind barbecue and grilling.

Are marinades a myth? How does the elusive “smoke ring” form? And can the debate over gas versus charcoal be settled at last? In this episode of our “Food Failures” series, barbecue and grilling expert Meathead Goldwyn looks at the science behind the grill and offers tips for controlling smoke, temperature, and moisture.

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From Microbes To Mammoths: How Life Transformed The Planet

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Anna Rothschild, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 3 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 critters, plants, and people crawling around its surface.

A new book by Ferris Jabr called Becoming Earth: How Our Planet Came to Life argues otherwise: Life doesn’t just exist on Earth, but life is Earth, and the Earth itself is alive.

That idea might sound radical, and it is. There’s a shift happening in how we understand the planet, and what it’ll take to save it, and ourselves, from the future humans are creating.

Becoming Earth takes readers on adventures across the world to learn how life has transformed the Earth, from changing the color of the sky to reshaping the continents.

Guest host Anna Rothschild talks with author Ferris Jabr, a science writer based in Portland, Oregon.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Study Shows Which Kids Are Getting Periods Younger Than Others

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Anna Rothschild, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 2 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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. It’s not just in your head: A recent study from Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health confirms what many people have assumed, as well as additional findings about period regularity in younger generations.

The study, which analyzed self-reported data from more than 71,000 participants in the US, found that menstrual periods are arriving earlier for younger generations, with the average age dropping from 12.5 years old for people born in 1950 to 11.9 years old for those born in 2005. More staggering, however, is that both early menarche—a person’s first menstrual period—and irregular periods were much more common in the non-white and low-income study participants. And period irregularity has become more common for younger generations compared to their older counterparts.

These findings are a big deal, because early menarche and irregular periods can be a signal of future health issues, including pregnancy complications and mental health changes. Joining guest host Anna Rothschild to discuss the findings and their implications is lead study author Dr. Zifan Wang, postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What To Do When Your Hypothesis Is Wrong? Publish!

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Anna Rothschild) — Mon, 1 Jul 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Most scientific studies that get published have “positive results,” meaning that the study proved its hypothesis. Say you hypothesize that a honeybee will favor one flower over another, and your research backs that up? That’s a positive result.

But what about the papers with negative results? If you’re a researcher, you know that you’re much more likely to disprove your hypothesis than validate it. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of incentives to publish a negative result.

But, some argue that this bias to only publish papers with positive results is worsening existing issues in scientific research and publishing, and could prevent future breakthroughs.

And that’s where the Journal of Trial and Error comes in. It’s a scientific publication that only publishes negative and unexpected results. And the team behind it wants to change how the scientific community thinks about failure, in order to make science stronger.

Guest host Anna Rothschild talks with Dr. Sarahanne Field, editor-in-chief of the Journal of Trial And Error, and assistant professor in behavioral and social sciences at University of Groningen.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Sample From The Far Side Of The Moon | Will The Seine Be Clean Enough For The Olympics?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Anna Rothschild, Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 Seine for open-water swimming events, but recent tests indicate it’s not yet safe.

A Sample From The Far Side Of The Moon Lands On Earth

This week, the return capsule from China’s Chang’e 6 lunar mission returned to Earth, touching down in a remote part of Inner Mongolia. Inside were dust and rock samples collected from the far side of the moon. Researchers hope that the samples could shed light on both the moon’s formation, and conditions in the ancient solar system.

Rachel Feltman, host of the podcast “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” joins guest host Anna Rothschild to talk about the mission and other stories form the week in science, including a CDC warning about dengue fever, a trans-oceanic butterfly flight, and the possibility of seeing a stellar nova in the coming weeks.

Will The Seine Be Clean Enough For Olympic Swimmers?

The Paris Summer Olympics are fast approaching. Opening ceremonies for the games kick off on July 26. And all eyes are on the notoriously polluted River Seine. Due to aging infrastructure, sewage has sometimes flowed directly into it. For the past 100 years swimming in the river was banned. Now, the French government has spent roughly $1.5 billion to upgrade sewage treatment in Paris in order for athletes to be able to swim in the Seine.

Earlier this week, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo was set to take a dip in the river to prove its cleanliness. In protest some Parisians threatened to poop in the Seine to show their dislike of the disruptions and high price tag of the Games.

The dip was postponed until after upcoming elections, but recent water quality tests indicate that the river is not yet safe to swim in.

Guest host Anna Rothschild talks about the current state of the river with Dr. Dan Angelescu, founder and CEO of Fluidion, a water testing company based in Paris, France.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Octopus Overlooked By Science | Squid With ‘Giant’ Eggs Could Be New Species

Thu, 27 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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-sea squid in the family Gonatidae was filmed cradling large eggs for its body size, which suggests it’s an entirely new species.

Why It Took Decades For This Octopus To Be Recognized

Octopus mating behaviors can be quite deadly. Many species are cannibalistic, making the entire prospect of mating dangerous, and female octopuses often die after laying one clutch of eggs. Their cannibalistic tendencies mean that octopuses don’t socialize as much as other animals.

But the larger Pacific striped octopus (LPSO) is different. For one, they live together in colonies. And mating is not only a safer proposition, it involves beak-to-beak “kissing.” Plus, females can lay eggs repeatedly, even tending to embryos at various stages of development.

But because these behaviors are so uncharacteristic of most octopuses, the scientific community didn’t officially recognize their existence until 2015, despite the decades-long effort of a Panamanian diver and artist named Arcadio Rodaniche. When he tried to share his findings about the LPSO at a symposium and publish them in a journal, he was flatly rejected. But his persistent research and documentation of the species would eventually be validated when researchers were able to obtain and observe the octopuses in captivity.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis sits down with freelance science writer Kenna Hughes-Castleberry to talk about an article she reported for Science Friday about the late Rodaniche and his yearslong effort to get official scientific recognition for the LPSO.

Read the story at sciencefriday.com.

Squid With ‘Giant’ Eggs Could Be A New Species

To finish up our celebration of Cephalopod Week we wanted to share a bit of squid news. A group of researchers recently identified a potentially new squid species in the family Gonatidae. Scientists took a closer look at some video footage captured back in 2015 and found a deep-water squid that was cradling some rather large eggs, which was not in line with other squid of the same family.

John Dankosky talks with Dr. Bruce Robison, midwater ecologist and senior scientist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, about this new discovery.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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House Stalls On Bill To Compensate Victims Of Nuclear Testing

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, John Dankosky) — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 ground in places including New Mexico, Nevada, and several Pacific Islands.

For decades to come, “downwinders,” or people who lived near those test sites, and those involved manufacturing these weapons, were exposed to dangerous levels of radiation. They’ve disproportionately suffered from diseases like cancer, autoimmune disorders, and more.

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was established in 1990 to provide victims of the US nuclear program a one-time payment to help cover medical bills. But the program has fallen short of helping everyone affected—like the downwinders living around the Trinity Test site in New Mexico.

A new bill, which was passed in the Senate earlier this year, would expand the program to include more people and provide more money. It’s up to the House now to pass it, but Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana won’t call a vote. And the clock is ticking, because RECA expired on June 10. So what happens now?

SciFri’s John Dankosky speaks with Tina Cordova, downwinder and co-founder of the Tularosa Basin Downwinders Consortium in Albuquerque; Loretta Anderson, co-founder of the Southwest Uranium Miners’ Coalition Post ‘71, from the Pueblo of Laguna in New Mexico; and Lilly Adams, senior outreach coordinator at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Crowdsourced Data Identifies 126 ‘Lost’ Bird Species

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 starting points is to try and track down the birds that are “lost to science.” These are birds that have not been documented in over a decade, but just might still be out there, if we look for them.

A new study analyzed data, images, and recordings from platforms that crowdsource observations from all over the world to identify birds “lost to science.” In total, the project, called The Search for Lost Birds identified 126 such species.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis is joined by Dr. John Mittermeier, director of the Search for Lost Birds at the American Bird Conservancy to talk more about the findings of this research and what it’s like to track down a “lost” bird.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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20 Years Later, How Are City Climate Plans Actually Going?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, John Dankosky) — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

In 2005, countries around the world ratified the Kyoto Protocol. It was the first big, legally-binding international climate policy, but there was a big drawback: The United States, the world’s richest country and second-highest emitter, didn’t ratify it.

In response, American mayors took action. Even if the US wouldn’t commit to cutting climate emissions, their cities would. It was the classic “think global, act local” move.

It started with mayoral resolutions—a bunch of “whereases” laying out the reasons cities needed their own climate targets. Whereas manmade climate change is happening. Whereas cities are responsible for 70% of the world’s emissions. Whereas more than half the world’s people live in cities. Whereas cities are most vulnerable to the effects of climate change.

Therefore? Our city is going to do something about it. Mayors proclaimed, city councils adopted, and gavels cracked on podiums across the country as city climate plans were created, along with a new job to manage it all: the chief sustainability officer.

Twenty years later, hundreds of US cities have climate plans. Their chief sustainability officers are responsible for aggressive decarbonization goals that require deep cuts to emissions, and fast. But are cities actually meeting their targets? And do city sustainability officers have what they need to meet them?

Read the rest of this story at sciencefriday.com.

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It’s Hot. But How Hot? | Canine Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising Results

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, John Dankosky, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 21 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 has increased survival rates in clinical trials, offering hope for dogs and humans.

Yes, It’s Hot. But How Hot?

Much of the country has been enduring a heat wave this week, with millions sweating from Maine to the Midwest. But describing exactly how hot it is—and when temperatures become hazardous—can be challenging. Beyond the basic temperature, there’s the heat index, invented in 1978, which incorporates humidity measurements and is supposed to give a better indication of how a person might feel outside. Some health researchers are calling for more attention to a different type of temperature measurement known as the wet bulb globe temperature. It tracks temperature, humidity, and sunlight, and improves upon the heat index standard.

Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins SciFri’s Kathleen Davis to talk about measuring temperatures and protecting yourself from extreme heat. Plus, they discuss other stories from the week in science, including advances in tornado prediction, a delay in a return flight from the International Space Station, and a newly-described horned dinosaur that once roamed the US.

A Canine Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising Results

Dogs are by far the most popular pet in the United States: 62 million households have at least one. They are humans’ best friends, after all. Sadly, cancer is the leading cause of death in domestic dogs. And when a pet gets sick, it can be devastating for the entire family.

Lucky for dogs (and their people), there may soon be a breakthrough in treating canine cancer: a vaccine that can slow and even stop the spread of tumors. Clinical trial results are quite promising so far, increasing 12-month survival rates in dogs with some cancers from 35% to 60%. The research team also reports that in many dogs the vaccine shrinks tumors.

Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about this novel therapy is Dr. Mark Mamula, professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. Mamula discusses this important breakthrough, and possible future applications for human cancer therapies.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Mannequins Help Teach People How To Spot Ticks | Protecting A Flickering Symbol Of Summer Nights

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annie Minoff, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 citizen science observations and machine learning to understand where fireflies are and what they need to thrive.

In Wisconsin, Mannequins Help Teach People How To Spot Ticks

Nationwide, Wisconsin is a hot spot for Lyme disease. And cases are rising, as climate change and development alter how humans interact with the ticks that transmit this disease. In Wisconsin, cases reported annually have more than doubled in the last two decades.

With tick season underway, tick checks are one of the most important ways you can prevent infection. I recently visited the Midwest Center of Excellence for Vector-borne Disease, which is housed at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where researchers are using a new tool to teach people how to do tick checks — mannequins.

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com

Protecting A Flickering Symbol Of Summer Nights

When people talk about watching fireflies, a common comment is “You know, I don’t see as many fireflies as I used to.” Researchers are trying to figure out whether that impression is actually accurate, and which of the over 2,000 firefly species might be affected—and to do so, they need a lot more data. A recent paper published in the journal Science of the Total Environment used over 24,000 citizen science observations as well as machine learning models to try to better identify where certain species of fireflies can be found, and what types of habitat and climate they need to thrive.

Dr. Sarah Lower, a firefly researcher at Bucknell University and a co-author of the study, joins guest host Annie Minoff to talk about some ways to protect fireflies near you, including preserving darkness and providing moist, permeable, natural soils for firefly larvae.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘The Singularity Is Nearer,’ Says Futurist Ray Kurzweil

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 19 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 stage of evolution. This was the basis for Kurzweil’s book The Singularity is Near, which has been essential reading for technology buffs and critics since its publication nearly 20 years ago.

In the meantime, we’ve seen huge advances in artificial intelligence, computing power, and technological research. In response to all this growth, Kurzweil has published a followup to bring us up to date, The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge With AI. Ira Flatow speaks to Kurzweil about the book and his more than six decades of experience in the field of artificial intelligence.

Read an excerpt from The Singularity is Nearer: When We Merge With AI.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Do Cephalopods Make Ink?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Annie Minoff) — Tue, 18 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The most wonderful time of the year has arrived: Cephalopod Week, Science Friday’s annual tradition of spotlighting all things octopus, squid, and cuttlefish.

One of the many things that make cephalopods special is their ink. What’s it made of? Why do they shoot it at their predators? And why did they evolve this incredible skill?

To talk all about inking, guest host Annie Minoff is joined by Dr. Lauren Simonitis, research and biological imaging specialist at Florida Atlantic University.

Learn more about how to get involved in Cephalopod Week!

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Meet The Emotions Behind Teenage Angst In ‘Inside Out 2’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annie Minoff, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 by a different character. They lived inside Riley’s mind to help guide her feelings and actions, and towards the end of the film, their emotional control center gets an upgrade with a puberty button.

That’s where the new film “Inside Out 2” picks up. Riley is now 13 years old and dealing with the slew of emotions that come with puberty. In the new film, moviegoers meet a new crew of characters: Anxiety, Envy, Embarrassment, and Ennui, who is always bored.

But what’s the science behind Riley’s newfound teenage angst? Guest host Annie Minoff talks with psychologist Dr. Lisa Damour, who served as a science advisor to the film.

“Inside Out 2” is now playing in theaters.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Elephants Seem To Use Names For Each Other | Kids Discover Rare T. Rex Fossil

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Annie Minoff, D. Peterschmidt, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 14 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A new study used machine learning to analyze elephant vocalizations and identified “contact rumbles” that appear to function as names. Also, on a hike in the Badlands, a family found a dinosaur bone sticking out of a rock. It joined the few teenage T. rex fossils ever discovered.

Elephants Seem To Use Names For Each Other

Scientists have long known that elephants exhibit some advanced social behaviors that we humans find familiar, including tool use and funerals.

And a new study from Colorado State a university offers compelling evidence that African savannah elephants might engage in another human social behavior: having names for each other. Researchers applied machine learning to a database of 600 elephant vocalizations, which included “contact rumbles,” vocalizations that researchers observed that other elephants responded to. The algorithm identified repeated sections of those recordings that might represent names.

When the researchers played these possible “name” sections of audio to pairs of elephants—one of which was the suspected owner of the name—the appropriate elephant responded at a rate significantly better than random chance.

Guest host Annie Minoff is joined by Tim Revell, deputy editor at New Scientist, to talk about this and other science stories from the week, including the possible effects a freezing interstellar cloud had on Earth a few million years ago, the biological effects of short term spaceflight on private citizen passengers on SpaceX flights, and a new species of pterosaur found in the Australian outback with a killer tongue.

Kids Discover Extremely Rare T. Rex Fossil

For one family, a summer hike in the badlands of North Dakota turned into the discovery of a lifetime when they spotted a fossil jutting out of a rock. Two brothers, their dad, and a cousin found the fossil, and with the help of some dinosaur experts, they eventually learned it was a T. rex.

The fossil wasn’t just of any T. rex, but a teenage one. These fossils are incredibly rare—there are only a handful of them in the world.

Guest host Annie Minoff discusses this dino discovery and what it means for science with 12-year-old Jessin Fisher, a budding paleontologist and one of the brothers who discovered the fossil, as well as Dr. Tyler Lyson, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado who helped excavate the fossil.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Sound Rules Life Underwater

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

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 noisy, full of whale songs and echolocation, which whales and dolphins use to communicate. Cephalopods can make and hear sounds too, even without ears.

Then, there’s human-made noise, including the giant ships that crisscross the globe. The effects of this continuous low-volume noise are harder to track because they do not result in immediate injury or death. Rather, scientists are studying the long-term effects on animals’ communication, mating, and food gathering.

Ira talks with Amorina Kingdon, science journalist and author of the new book Sing Like Fish: How Sound Rules Life Underwater.

Read an excerpt of Sing Like a Fish: How Sound Rules Life Underwater.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener | A Tiny Fern's Gigantic Genome

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 12 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Plants called “hyperaccumulators” have evolved to absorb high levels of metals. Scientists want to harness them for greener metal mining. And, a little fern from New Caledonia is just a few inches tall, but its genome has 160.45 billion base pairs—50 times more DNA than a human.

How Metal-Absorbing Plants Could Make Mining Greener

Scientists are exploring a somewhat unusual green energy solution: mining metals from the earth using plants.

Typically, if soil has high levels of metal, plants will either die or do everything they can to avoid it. But, one group has taken a different path: evolve to be able to safely absorb large amounts of the metals. These special plants are called hyperaccumulators. And their ability to suck metals like nickel from the earth is called phytomining.

The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy announced in March up to $10 million in funding for phytomining research.

Ira talks with Dr. David McNear, professor of plant and soil sciences at the University of Kentucky, about these fascinating flora and their promise as a greener option to metal mining.

A Tiny Fern Has The Largest Genome Ever Discovered

Scientists just discovered the largest genome of any living thing on Earth, and it belongs to a small, unassuming fern called Tmesipteris oblanceolata. If you were to split open one of its cells and unwind the DNA that’s coiled up in the nucleus, it would stretch out more than 300 feet—taller than the Statue of Liberty.

Scientists reported the finding last week in the journal iScience. The fern is only a few inches tall and is found on the island of New Caledonia in the Southwest Pacific. Its DNA is made up of 160.45 billion base pairs—50 times more than the human genome.

This finding has left scientists scratching their heads, wondering how and why a fern ended up with so much DNA. Ira Flatow talks with co-lead author of this study Dr. Jaume Pellicer, evolutionary biologist at the Botanical Institute of Barcelona, about this research and why this fern’s DNA is so puzzling.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Psychological Warfare Moved From Battlefields To Politics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

When you think about connections between science and war, the obvious links are in technology—advanced radar, spy satellites, more powerful explosives—and in medical innovations that seek to heal the wounds caused by conflict. But in a new book, Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, author Annalee Newitz says that stories and narrative can be weapons too, used in battle on a psychological battlefield.

Ira talks with Newitz about the history of psychological warfare, from Sun Tzu to Benjamin Franklin, and its modern American incarnation under the guidance of Paul Linebarger, who was also a science fiction author known by the pen name Cordwainer Smith. They discuss the characteristics of a psyop, how techniques of psychological warfare have been co-opted into modern politics, and whether there’s a route toward “psychological disarmament.”

Read an excerpt from Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Step Aside, DNA. It’s RNA’s Time To Shine.

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

DNA has long been studied and understood as the genetic blueprint for life on Earth. And related scientific endeavors, like the Human Genome Project, have received enormous attention. But DNA’s lesser-known counterpart, RNA, which translates the instructions from those blueprints into proteins in our cells, has received far less focus.

But a lot’s changed in the last few years. The success of the mRNA COVID vaccines has led to a renewed interest in the potential medical therapies for this tiny molecular powerhouse, with applications ranging from CRISPR gene-editing to an mRNA-based cancer vaccine.

Dr. Thomas Cech, distinguished professor in biochemistry at University of Colorado, Boulder, and the author of the book The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets, joins Ira Flatow to tell us how why RNA has gotten the shorter end of the research stick for so long, how it could help us understand the origins of life, and why this misunderstood molecule might be the key to a next generation of big scientific discoveries.

Read an excerpt from The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Week Of Milestones For Spaceflight | Mexico Has Elected A Scientist President

Fri, 7 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A Week Of Milestones For Spaceflight

This has been a week of milestones for human spaceflight. After years of delays, Boeing’s Starliner capsule, carrying astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, successfully launched Wednesday on the United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V rocket. On Thursday, it docked with the International Space Station.

Also on Thursday, SpaceX’s Starship rocket made its first successful launch and reentry after three previous attempts (the massive rocket burned up in the atmosphere on the last launch). And on a more sobering note, NASA announced that its famous 34-year-old Hubble Space Telescope is experiencing issues with its gyroscopes and is opting to only use one for the time being. The agency says Hubble can still do science, but less efficiently than it once could.

Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead for Carbon Plan, joins Ira to discuss those and other top stories in science this week, including why the viral Joro spider you may have seen online does not pose a threat to humans, how a virus that’s spreading due to deforestation in South America could overwhelm local healthcare, and why the FDA voted against the medical use of MDMA.

Mexico Has Elected A Scientist President. What Will That Mean?

This week, Mexico elected a historic president: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, who will be the first woman to lead the nation, and was also an environmental engineer before entering politics.

Despite the president-elect’s scientific past, Sheinbaum Pardo has committed to following the lead of her predecessor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, whose science policies were deeply unpopular with many researchers in the country.

Mexico’s scientific community is split on how this election will impact science and research in the country. Rodrigo Pérez Ortega, a reporter at Science Magazine, joins Ira to talk through the complexities of this election and how scientists are reacting.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Organ That Gives Birds Their Voices | Common Loons Are Pop Music Icons

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 6 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Scientists are studying birds’ unique vocal organ, the syrinx, to better understand its evolutionary history. Also, the eerie calls of the common loon have been heard in songs by Michael Jackson, Lady Gaga, Lana Del Rey, and more.

The Organ That Gives Birds Their Voices

Have you ever wondered how a bird sings? Or made some of their less melodic vocalizations, like squawks, trills, or chirps? It all happens in the syrinx, a vocal organ unique to birds. Reptiles, amphibians, and mammals, including humans, use their larynx to produce sounds.

The syrinx varies widely between bird species and there’s still a lot that scientists don’t understand about how it works and its evolutionary history. Better understanding the syrinx of living birds can help scientists get closer to figuring out what dinosaurs sounded like. (No, the dinosaur sounds in “Jurassic Park” are not scientifically accurate.)

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with Dr. Julia Clarke, professor of vertebrate paleontology at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas, Austin, about her recent research studying the syrinxes of ostriches and hummingbirds.

Common Loons Are Pop Music Icons

For decades now, one music star has managed to show up on tracks spanning multiple genres and appear alongside many famous artists—while also remaining bafflingly under-recognized. Any guesses?

Of course, we’re talking about none other than the common loon—a waterbird with striking red eyes and black-and-white checkerboard plumage. This bird’s calls have been used in songs by artists like Michael Jackson, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Doja Cat, and Lana Del Rey. They’ve also been used as a sound effect in Hollywood blockbusters like “Harry Potter” and the TV show “Game of Thrones.”

So how did this bird’s call become a regular in everything from hip hop and EDM to pop music? A story in Audubon Magazine dove into this, and guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with author Maddie Burakoff, an associate editor at Audubon.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Indigenous Nations Are Fighting To Take Back Their Data

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 5 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

You might’ve heard this phrase before: data equals power. Because when you have data, you can decide how they’re used and who gets to use them.

The history of research on Indigenous communities in the United States is full of stories of exploitation, power imbalances, and stolen knowledge. Be it through the iodine experiments of the 1950s in Alaska, the racist and pseudoscientific conclusions drawn by American anthropologists in the 20th century, or through more recent examples in which genetic data from communities were used in studies without their consent— these practices have caused lasting mistrust and harm.

The growing field of Indigenous data sovereignty demands that Native communities maintain the right to decide how data about their people are collected, owned, and used.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with two people at the forefront of this movement: Dr. Stephanie Carroll is the director of the Collaboratory for Indigenous Data Governance and an associate professor of public health at the University of Arizona in Tucson. She is also Ahtna and a citizen of the Native Village of Kluti-Kaah in Alaska. Dr. Krystal Tsosie is a co-founder of the Native BioData Consortium and an assistant professor and geneticist-bioethicist at Arizona State University in Tempe. She’s a member of Navajo Nation. They discuss how data on Indigenous Peoples has been used and abused, why data sovereignty is more important than ever, and what solutions look like.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Unseen World Of Plant Intelligence

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Tue, 4 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Are plants intelligent? Until recently, botanists were hesitant to ask that question, at least publicly. But that’s changing.

In recent years researchers have learned more about how plants communicate with each other, respond to touch, store memories, and deceive animals for their own benefit: All bits of evidence that suggest plants possess a unique form of intelligence that humans have been overlooking.

Guest host Arielle-Duhaime Ross talks with science journalist Zoë Schlanger about her new book, The Light Eaters: How The Unseen World Of Plant Intelligence Offers A New Understanding Of Life On Earth. Schlanger is currently a staff writer at the Atlantic covering climate change.

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Right-To-Repair Laws Gain Steam In State Legislatures

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, D. Peterschmidt) — Mon, 3 Jun 2024 20:00:00 +0000

If you have a problem with your phone, like a bad battery or a cracked screen, you might decide to just buy a new one. That’s partly because we don’t have a lot of options to repair our devices: Manufacturers can make it extraordinarily difficult—or expensive—to do so.

But for years now, the right-to-repair movement in the US has been pushing for legislation that forces companies to provide consumers with more options to fix the products they actually own, instead of having to go through manufacturers to get them fixed.

And in the past year, multiple states, including California, New York, Minnesota, and Oregon, have adopted such laws. Companies like Apple and John Deere have been fighting these kinds of measures for years.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross speaks to Jason Koebler, co-host of the 404 Media podcast, about the growing adoption of legislation, why companies have been lobbying against it, and what he thinks the future of the movement is.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Starliner Crewed Test Flight Rescheduled | Slugs And Snails Like Cities

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Charles Bergquist, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 31 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The much-delayed crewed test flight is back on the calendar, despite a helium leak. Also, researchers used data from the crowd-sourcing nature observation app iNaturalist to rank animals’ tolerance of urban environments.

Starliner Crewed Test Flight Rescheduled For This Weekend

A long-delayed test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft is back on the calendar for Saturday, June 1, carrying astronauts to the International Space Station. It’s a demonstration flight as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, intended to show that the new spacecraft design can be a practical and safe way to get people into space. If the flight is successful, NASA can then consider using the Boeing Starliner system for crewed flights to the ISS, joining the current fleet of craft from SpaceX and the Russian Soyuz program.

The Starliner launch has been delayed numerous times. Its most recent launch attempt, on May 6, was scrubbed when systems flagged a bad valve in a rocket booster. That booster valve was replaced, but engineers then detected a small leak in the spacecraft’s helium thruster system, which led to still further delays. They have now determined that the flight can proceed even with the leaky system, allowing the upcoming launch attempt.

Science Friday senior producer Charles Bergquist joins guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to talk about the upcoming launch, and about other stories from the week in science, including the return of an active solar region responsible for recent fantastic aurora displays, research into how the brain decodes the meaning of “not,” and the announcement of two new giant pandas headed to the National Zoo.

Which Animals Like Cities Most? Slugs And Snails Top The List.

If you live in an urban environment, it might seem like the animals you see every day—birds, bugs, squirrels—have adapted perfectly fine to city life.

But according to a new study in PLOS ONE, that isn’t always the case. Urbanization is directly linked to biodiversity loss, but researchers at UCLA, including Joey Curti and Dr. Morgan Tingley, wanted to find out specifically which animals thrive and which struggle in urban environments. So they turned to iNaturalist, a crowd-sourcing app where users upload photos of flora and fauna they see, along with information like location and date.

The team combed through years of iNaturalist data in the Los Angeles metro area and developed an “urban tolerance score” for 511 animal species. This score, which incorporated data such as light and noise pollution from different sections of the city, was a factor tied to those species’ level of tolerance to the local environment.

They found that snails and slugs love urban environments, likely thanks to increased moisture from local landscaping. But most other animals, including native species, and especially bugs like butterflies and moths, were not as tolerant to the region.

Joey Curti, a PhD candidate in ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA and a co-author on that study, sits down with guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to discuss the results of the study and what cities can learn from this kind of research to encourage healthy biodiversity.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Your ‘Biological Age’ Could Be Different Than How Old You Are

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 30 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Aging often looks very different on different people. There are some 70-year-olds that exercise regularly, have no trouble going for a walk around the block, and remain mentally sharp. Others really struggle at 70, and aren’t able to maintain a quality of life they’ve had in the past.

There’s a growing field of medicine dedicated to better understanding how we age. And this field is looking less at the number on one’s birth certificate than you might expect. Dr. Aditi Gurkar, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh’s Aging Institute, is one of the researchers working to better understand why two different people may age very differently.

Earlier this year, Dr. Gurkar and her team published a study that identified certain metabolites that seem to be reliable markers to index biological age. Dr. Gurkar joins Ira to talk about this study and the implications of better understanding a person’s biological age.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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High-Speed Rail Gets A Boost In The U.S.

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 29 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

While the US was known for its railroads in the 1800s, we’ve fallen behind places like Japan, China, and Europe, which have invested in trains that go upwards of 200 miles per hour. There are economic, environmental, and practical benefits of electrified high-speed rail. But for generations, the US decreased passenger rail service and invested instead in highways and car-centric infrastructure.

But it appears we’re hitting a turning point. After decades in development, major sections of California’s high-speed rail project, which aims to connect Los Angeles to San Francisco, have been completed. And the project recently received a $3.1 billion federal grant to aid in further construction. Additionally, Amtrak is expanding service and increasing the speed of its trains. And private industry is also stepping in to fill the void—a rail company called Brightline has been operating in Florida since 2018. It now provides service between Miami and Orlando, and just broke ground on a high-speed route between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

But it’s not just California and Florida where growth is happening. Multiple regions in the US, including Texas and the Pacific Northwest, are actively planning high-speed rail lines between cities that are generally too long to drive between, but too close to justify air travel. (France recently banned short-hop flights over those kinds of distances to reduce carbon emissions and encourage people to take existing passenger rail.)

Rod Diridon Sr., co-chair for the US High Speed Rail Association, fills Ira in on the current state of faster passenger rail in the US, what challenges it still faces, and why he thinks there’s been a shift in public opinion about expanded train service.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Using A Lab On Wheels To Study Weed From Dispensaries

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow, Emma Lee Gometz) — Tue, 28 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Cannabis is legal in some form or another in over half of US states. But federally, it’s illegal and has no accepted medical use. However, the Biden administration is moving to reclassify cannabis as a less dangerous drug under the Controlled Substances Act.

Studying strictly controlled drugs like cannabis is a major challenge for scientists, because they have to meet specific registration and sourcing requirements. And researchers can’t give commercially available cannabis from dispensaries to study participants, or bring it onto campus at all. But questions around the health impacts of these widely available products continue to mount.

A team of scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder is driving around these federal roadblocks by bringing a mobile lab—nicknamed the CannaVan—to people, so they can consume weed in their own homes and then come outside for some routine tests.

SciFri producers Emma Gometz and Rasha Aridi visited the CannaVan last year and join Ira to unpack how this research gets done, what the CannaVan has taught us about weed, and how reclassifying cannabis might affect research.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Jelly Creatures That Swim In Corkscrews | Keeping Wind Turbines Safe For Birds

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 27 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

For the first time, scientists have recorded how salps form chains and swim in corkscrews to reach the ocean’s surface each night. Also, a wind utility company in Wyoming is trying to make wind turbines more visible to birds by painting just one blade black.

The Small Jelly Creatures That Link Up And Swim in Corkscrews

Salps are small, transparent barrel-shaped jelly creatures. They are sometimes confused with jellyfish, but they are so much more complex. Salps have nervous, circulatory, and digestive systems that include a brain, heart, and intestines.

Salps are known to link themselves together in long chains. And each night they journey from the depths of the ocean to the surface to feast on algae. New research shows that the key to their efficiency is swimming in corkscrews.

Ira talks with Dr. Kelly Sutherland, associate professor of biology at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology at the University of Oregon, about her work studying salp swimming patterns.

Painting Wind Turbine Blades To Prevent Bird Collisions

Wind energy is expected to be a big part of the transition away from fossil fuels. But that comes with consequences, including the potential for more deadly collisions between turbines and birds and bats. One experiment underway in Wyoming is studying a potentially game-changing—and simple—solution to this problem.

In the Mountain West, large and iconic avian species—such as owls, turkey vultures and golden eagles—are consistently colliding with the human world. At the Teton Raptor Center in Wilson, Wyo., veterinarians, avian scientists and volunteers often treat birds for lead poisoning, crashes into infrastructure, gunshot wounds or other injuries.

For the center’s conservation director, Bryan Bedrosian, his work is about preserving the wildlife that makes Wyoming special.

“We should be proud of the fact that we in Wyoming have some of the best wild natural spaces and some of the best wildlife populations,” he said. I think, unfortunately, it comes with a higher degree of responsibility.”

Wyoming is a critical habitat area for many species, especially golden eagles. Tens of thousands live here year-round and the state is also a huge migration corridor between Alaska and Mexico. Unlike its cousin the bald eagle, the golden eagle population is stable at best and could potentially decline in parts of the U.S. Bedrosian said wind energy growth is a threat for a species that has always been “at the top of the food chain.”

Read the full story at sciencefriday.com.

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Zapping Nerves Into Regrowth | Celebrating the Maya Calendar In Guatemala’s Highlands

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 24 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

An early study found that electrical stimulation could improve hand and arm function in people with spinal cord injuries. Also, for thousands of years, Indigenous communities in Guatemala have used observations and mathematics to track astronomical events.

Zapping Nerves Into Regrowth

Results of an early trial published this week in the journal Nature Medicine found that people with cervical spinal cord damage showed some improvements both in strength and movement in arm and hand function after they received electrical stimulation near the site of their injury. The improved function persisted even after the stimulation stopped, indicating that the treatment may be inducing nerve cells to regrow in the damaged area.

Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, joins Ira to talk about the work and what it could mean for people with severe spinal cord injuries. They also talk about other stories from the week in science, including creating the most powerful X-ray pulse ever reported, investigations into the microbiome of the scalp, and some epic cosplay—testing out the practicality of some ancient Greek armor in combat scenarios.

Celebrating the Maya Calendar In Guatemala’s Highlands

Every 260 days, Indigenous communities in the highlands of Guatemala celebrate a new cycle of the Maya calendar. This ceremony has persisted for thousands of years, from pre-Columbian times to today. The latest of these ceremonies happened in early May.

Joining Ira to talk about the importance of astronomical ceremony is Willy Barreno, a Maya calendar keeper based in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, and Dr. Isabel Hawkins, astronomer and senior scientist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco, California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Fine-Tuning Grapes For Iowa’s Wine Industry

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 23 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Did you know that almost all the wine we drink, no matter what color it is or where it’s produced, comes from a grape species called Vitis vinifera? But these grapes can’t survive the cold, harsh winters of Iowa, so researchers at Iowa State University are growing special varieties that can withstand a wider range of temperatures. Through this effort, they’re even hoping to expand Iowa’s wine industry.

Onstage in Ames, Iowa, Ira talks with Dr. Erin Norton, director of the Midwest Grape and Wine Industry Institute at Iowa State University. They chat about the science of growing cold-hardy grapes, taste a selection of Iowan wines, and explore the basics of viticulture.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How To Recycle Rare Earth Elements

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 22 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Rare earth elements are a group of 17 metals used in a wide range of things that make modern life possible, including batteries, magnets, LED light bulbs, phone screens, and catalytic converters.

These elements are essential to a green economy because they are integral to many technologies designed to have low environmental impact. However, mining these metals is a dirty, complex, and costly process. And as the world transitions towards more clean energy production, the demand for them will continue to grow.

One possible solution is to recycle rare earth elements when they’re discarded in electronics waste. On stage in Ames, Iowa, Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Ikenna Nlebedim and Dr. Denis Prodius, two materials scientists from the Critical Materials Institute at the Ames National Laboratory who have developed a new acid-free method to recycle rare earth metals found in magnets.

Transcript for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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New Evidence Questions Dark Energy’s ‘Constant’ Nature

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 21 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

After the Big Bang, the universe expanded rapidly. And, once upon a time, conventional wisdom held that that expansion would eventually slow, dragged back inwards by the gravitational pull of all the matter in the universe. But in 1998, two groups studying supernovae discovered that not only was the universe continuing to expand, but that the expansion was accelerating.

That accelerating expansion has been attributed to a force cosmologists have called dark energy. The energy itself has been represented by a number—thought to be a universal constant—called the cosmological constant. But recent data presented by a group called DESI, the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, says that possibly, the constant may not be a constant. Instead, dark energy may be evolving over time.

The finding, if it holds true, would be a big deal, requiring cosmologists to redo their equations for the way the universe works and, possibly, develop new physics to explain the phenomenon. Dr. Dillon Brout, an assistant professor of astronomy at Boston University and part of the DESI collaboration, joins Ira to talk about the data from the first year of the DESI instrument, and what may lie ahead in years to come.

Transcript for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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New Guidelines Recommend Earlier Breast Cancer Screening

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 20 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has updated its recommendations for breast cancer screening once again. The recommendations now stipulate that women and people assigned female at birth should begin getting mammograms at age 40, and continue every other year until age 74. The previous guidelines recommended beginning screening at age 50. These guidelines carry a lot of weight because they determine if mammography will be considered preventive care by health insurance and therefore covered at no cost to the patient.

Why have the guidelines changed? And how are these decisions made in the first place? To answer those questions and more Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Janie Lee, director of breast imaging at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center and professor of radiology at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Transcript for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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New Rule Sets Stage For Electric Grid Update | Harnessing Nanoparticles For Vaccines

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 17 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Upgrades to the power grid under a new rule could help accommodate an increasing renewable energy supply and meet data center demands. Also, extremely small particles might help scientists develop vaccines that are stable at room temperature and easier to administer.

New Rule Sets Stage For Electric Grid Update

The US electric grid is straining to keep up with demand. For starters, our warming climate means more electricity is needed to keep people cool. Last summer—which was the hottest on record—energy demand in the US experienced an all-time hourly peak. And even though more renewable energy is being produced, our current grid, largely built in the 1960s and 1970s, was not built to handle those needs. Increased use of AI and cryptocurrency, which require power-hungry data centers, have only increased the burden on the grid.

But on Monday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new rules to upgrade the grid to accommodate rising demands. The policy includes approval for the construction of new transmission lines and modification of existing transmission facilities.

Casey Crownhart, climate reporter for the MIT Technology Review, joins Ira to talk about this and other science stories of the week, including how a recent ocean heatwave will impact ocean life and the upcoming hurricane season, a new self-collection test for cervical cancer, and how a tiny beetle uses audio mimicry to avoid being eaten by bats.

Could Vaccines Of The Future Be Made With Nanoparticles?

In 2021, vaccines for COVID-19 were released, a little over a year after the SARS-CoV-2 virus triggered a global pandemic. Their remarkably short production time wasn’t the result of a rush-job, but a culmination of decades of advancements in infrastructure, basic science, and mRNA technology.

But despite the years of innovations that allowed those vaccines to be developed and mass-produced so quickly, their delivery method—an injection—still has some drawbacks. Most injected vaccines need to be kept cold, and some require multiple trips to a pharmacy. And people with needle phobias may be reluctant to get them altogether. So what could the vaccines of the future look like?

Dr. Balaji Narasimhan, distinguished professor and director of the Nanovaccine Institute at Iowa State University, joins Ira Flatow onstage in Ames, Iowa, to talk about how his lab is using nanotechnology to develop the next generation of vaccines, and how they could be more effective than current vaccines in the face of the next pandemic.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Climate Change Is Changing Sports

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sophie Bushwick, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 16 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Sports are a critical part of human culture just about everywhere in the world. Maybe you played little league as a kid, or like to go to the park for a game of pickup basketball, or even just cheer for your favorite team on the weekends.

Unfortunately, like so many other things, climate change is taking a toll on the world of sports. It’s getting too warm for appropriate ski conditions at ski resorts. Rising temperatures put athletes at risk of heat stroke.

Globally, sports are a trillion dollar industry, and billions of people rely on them for their jobs, fitness, and health.

Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with Dr. Madeleine Orr, sports ecologist and author of Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, about how our warming climate is altering how we play sports, and what to do about it.

Read an excerpt from Warming Up at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Is Tinnitus So Hard To Understand And Treat?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Sophie Bushwick) — Wed, 15 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Tinnitus, a condition commonly described as a persistent ringing in the ears, affects millions of people around the world. In the US, the prevalence of tinnitus is estimated at around 11% of the population, with 2% affected by a severe form of the condition that can be debilitating. But despite it being so common, the exact causes of some tinnitus, and how best to think about treating the condition, are still unclear. In some cases, it’s brought on by exposure to loud noise, while in others, an ear infection or even earwax can be to blame.

Dr. Gabriel Corfas, director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the University of Michigan, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about current research into the condition and possible treatments, from regrowing nerve cells, to devices that provide electrical stimulation.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Finding Purpose In A ‘Wild Life’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sophie Bushwick, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 14 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Wildlife ecologist Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant has tracked bears through the mountains, lived with lions, been chased by elephants, and trekked after lemurs in a rainforest. Now, she co-hosts the renowned nature television show “Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom Protecting the Wild.”

Dr. Wynn-Grant’s new memoir, Wild Life: Finding My Purpose in an Untamed World, documents her many adventures as well as her experience navigating conservation as a Black woman and landing her dream job as a nature television host.

Read an excerpt from Wild Life here.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Archeopteryx Specimen Unveiled | Trees And Shrubs Burying Great Plains' Prairies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis, Sophie Bushwick) — Mon, 13 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The Field Museum has unveiled a new specimen of Archaeopteryx, a species that may hold the key to how ancient dinosaurs became modern birds. Also, a “green glacier” of trees and shrubs is sliding across the Great Plains, burying some of the most threatened habitat on the planet.

Remarkably Well-Preserved Archeopteryx Specimen Unveiled

The Field Museum in Chicago just unveiled a new specimen of one of the most important fossils ever: Archaeopteryx. It lived around 150 million years ago, and this species is famous for marking the transition from dinosaurs to birds in the tree of life.

The Field Museum now has the 13th known fossil—and it may be the best-preserved one yet. So what makes this specimen so special? And what else is there to learn about Archaeopteryx?

To answer these questions, guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with Dr. Jingmai O’Connor, associate curator of fossil reptiles at the Field Museum, about what makes Archaeopteryx such an icon in the world of paleontology and why they’re so excited about it.

Trees And Shrubs Are Burying Prairies Of The Great Plains

In the Flint Hills region of Kansas, the Mushrush family is beating back a juggernaut unleashed by humans — a Green Glacier of trees and shrubs grinding slowly across the Great Plains and burying some of the most threatened habitat on the planet.

This blanket of shrublands and dense juniper woods gobbling up grassland leads to wildfires with towering flames that dwarf those generated in prairie fires.

It also eats into ranchers’ livelihoods. It smothers habitat for grassland birds, prairie fish and other critters that evolved for a world that’s disappearing. It dries up streams and creeks. New research even finds that, across much of the Great Plains, the advent of trees actually makes climate change worse.

Now a federal initiative equips landowners like Daniel Mushrush with the latest science and strategies for saving rangeland, and money to help with the work.

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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JWST Detects An Atmosphere Around A Rocky Exoplanet | Boeing Plans To Fly Humans To The ISS Next Week

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Sophie Bushwick) — Fri, 10 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Astronomers have confirmed they found an atmosphere around an Earth-like rocky exoplanet for the first time. Also, Boeing’s Starliner craft was scheduled to carry humans to the International Space Station in 2017. Its launch is now set for May 17, 2024.

In A First, JWST Detects An Atmosphere Around A Rocky Exoplanet

Earlier this week, astronomers announced they had discovered an atmosphere around a rocky Earth-like planet named 55 Cancri e, about 40 light-years away from Earth, thanks to instruments onboard the JWST telescope. Finding an atmosphere around a rocky planet is a big step for exoplanet exploration: Earth’s atmosphere is crucial to its ability to sustain life, and astronomers need to be able to identify rocky planets that have atmospheres to search for life outside the solar system.

However, 55 Cancri e is likely far too hot to have any life: Researchers estimate the surface temperature to be about 3,100 F, thanks to its close proximity to its sun and a probable magma ocean that envelops the planet. But this could also give clues to Earth’s formation, as its own surface was also once covered by lava.

Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about this and other top news in science this week, including tightening restrictions on risky virus research in the US, possible evidence for a sperm whale “alphabet,” and how environmental changes are leading to an increase in disease in humans, animals, and plants.

Boeing Plans To Fly Humans To The ISS Next Week

When NASA retired its space shuttle program in 2011, the agency had to find a new way to transport astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). Russia’s Soyuz program has met that need in the meantime, but NASA has wanted a more local solution. So they started awarding contracts to private US companies who could act as space taxis, including SpaceX, with its Dragon capsule, and Boeing with its Starliner capsule, through the United Launch Alliance (ULA).

Unlike SpaceX, Boeing has yet to fly humans in its spacecraft. But it plans to do so no earlier than next Friday, carrying Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, NASA astronauts and former Navy pilots to the ISS. Starliner was originally supposed to launch this week, but due to issues with a pressure regulation valve on the Atlas V rocket’s upper stage, ULA had to delay the launch to replace the valve.

Brendan Byrne, assistant news director at Central Florida Public Media, talks with guest host Sophie Bushwick about Boeing’s rocky road to the ISS and how NASA hopes to split the workload of ferrying astronauts between Boeing and SpaceX.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Challenging The Gender Gap In Sports Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 9 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The first Women’s World Cup was in 1991, and the games were only 80 minutes, compared to the 90-minute games played by men. Part of the rationale was that women just weren’t tough enough to play a full 90 minutes of soccer.

This idea of women as the “weaker sex” is everywhere in early scientific studies of athletic performance. Sports science was mainly concerned with men’s abilities. Even now, most participants in sports science research are men.

Luckily things are changing, and more girls and women are playing sports than ever before. There’s a little more research about women too, as well as those who fall outside the gender binary.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Christine Yu, a health and sports journalist and author of Up To Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, about the gender data gap in sports science.

Read an excerpt of Up to Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Martian Geology Can Teach Us About Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker, Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 8 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

At first glance, Mars might seem rather different from our own planet. Mars is dry, with little atmosphere, and no liquid water on its surface. It is half the size of Earth, lacks a planetary magnetic field, and does not appear to have active plate tectonics or volcanic activity. In some ways it is a world frozen in time, affected only by the force of wind and the occasional meteorite impact.

That static nature, however, could give scientists clues to conditions that once existed on Earth, but have been lost to the effects of plate tectonics and weathering. Ira talks with planetary geologist Dr. Valerie Payré of the University of Iowa about her research into the geology of Mars, and what it could tell scientists about early Earth.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Louisiana Is Coping With Flooding In Cemeteries

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 7 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Emily Dalfrey lives across the street from Niblett’s Bluff Cemetery, where generations of her family are buried, in Vinton, Louisiana.

In 2016, a period of prolonged rainfall caused flooding so severe that people could drive boats over the cemetery. The water put so much pressure on the graves that some of the vaults, which are located near the surface, popped open. Some of Dalfrey’s own family members’ caskets were carried away and deposited in her yard.

Unsure how to restore the cemetery, the community contracted Gulf Coast Forensic Solutions, a company that helps people locate and rebury loved ones after natural disasters damage cemeteries.

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

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Inside Iowa State’s Herbarium | Science-Inspired Art From ‘Universe of Art’ Listeners

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 6 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The Ada Hayden Herbarium preserves hundreds of thousands of specimens, including some collected by George Washington Carver. And, as the “Universe of Art” podcast turns one, listeners discuss solar music boxes and what it’s like making art with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Inside Iowa State’s Herbarium With 700,000 Plant Specimens

Herbariums are plant libraries—they contain fragile specimens of plants collected from near and far, and they are meticulously described and cataloged so that someone can reference them in the future. At Iowa State University, the Ada Hayden Herbarium contains more than 700,000 specimens, about half of which are from Iowa.

Ira talks with herbarium’s director, Dr. Lynn Clark, and curator Deb Lewis about how plants are preserved, why herbariums are so important, and what it takes to manage a plant archive.

Science-Inspired Art From Two ‘Universe of Art’ Listeners

Last week, we kicked off a first-anniversary celebration for Universe of Art, our science-meets-art spinoff podcast. A lot of listeners have written in since the start of the podcast, telling us about the science-inspired art they’ve made in their spare time.

Last week, host D. Peterschmidt spoke with Todd Gilens, a visual designer who worked with the city of Reno, Nevada, to create a mile-long poem on the city’s sidewalks about the connections between urbanism and stream ecology.

This time, we’ll meet two listeners. Craig Colorusso is a punk rock guitarist-turned-sound artist who creates public sculptures and experiences that enhance visitors’ connection to nature. Two of his projects, Sun Boxes and The Bridges At Coler, use solar panels to play reflective, calming music he composed. “You have this idea where you are in nature and you are listening to something that is powered by nature,” he said. “I think that’s perfect.”

And we’ll meet a listener who prefers to go by Chris, who was an engineer and avid artist who made mosaics and crocheted before developing Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, or Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). It’s a debilitating condition characterized by extreme fatigue that can’t be improved by rest, and can also include brain fog, pain, and dizziness. It’s similar to what many Long COVID patients experience. Chris’ condition is considered severe, and caused her to lose the use of her hands, and thus her preferred art mediums.

However, Chris could still use her left hand with a rollerball mouse and realized that she could use programs like Chaotica to create fractals that she adds to collages in Photoshop, resulting in colorful collages. “They’re just beautiful and I’m doing art again and I’m so happy about it,” she said.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Science From Iowa’s Prairies | Planning To Go See Cicadas? Here’s What To Know

Fri, 3 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Science Friday is in Ames, Iowa, home to prairies, greater prairie chickens, and an array of wildlife. Also, the co-emergence of two periodical cicada broods is underway. Scientists have tips for how to experience the event.

Science From Iowa’s Prairies

This week, SciFri is coming to you from Ames, Iowa. We’re kicking off the sciencey Iowa celebrations by spotlighting some of the plants, animals and unique ecosystems of the Hawkeye state. Ira talks with Charity Nebbe, host of the “Talk of Iowa” at Iowa Public Radio, about the state’s largest prairie restoration project, the conservation of prairie chickens, and its rebounding wildlife.

Planning To Go See Cicadas? Here’s What To Know

In parts of the American South and Midwest, two broods of cicadas are emerging: Brood XIX, known as the Great Southern Brood, and Brood XIII, called the Northern Illinois Brood.

The dual emergence of these two particular broods is a rare event, since the Great Southern Brood emerges on a 13-year cycle and the Northern Illinois Brood emerges on a 17-year cycle. The last time they were seen together was in 1803. The two could overlap this spring in parts of Illinois and Iowa, where cicada enthusiasts will gather in parks to observe the emergence.

“Plan to spend an afternoon or two,” recommends entomologist Dr. Laura Iles from Iowa State University. “Here in Iowa it tends to be pretty patchy even within a park, so talk to someone, a ranger, about what path to hike on and the best places to go see them.”

Ira Flatow speaks with Dr. Iles about the fascinating life cycle of cicadas, how best to approach cicada tourism, and why gardeners should hold off on planting new trees this year.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Maybe Bonobos Aren't Gentler Than Chimps | Art Meets Ecology In A Mile-Long Poem

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Charles Bergquist, D. Peterschmidt) — Thu, 2 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A study found aggression between male bonobos to be more frequent than aggression between male chimpanzees. Also, visual artist Todd Gilens created a walkable poem along Reno’s Truckee River that draws parallels between urbanism and stream ecology.

Bonobos Are Gentler Than Chimps? Maybe Not.

Bonobos are a species of great ape, along with gorillas, orangutans, and chimpanzees. Over the years, they’ve gained a reputation as being calmer and more peaceful than other ape species. But recent work published in the journal Current Biology finds male bonobos may be just as aggressive as male chimpanzees, if not more so.

Dr. Maud Mouginot, a postdoctoral associate in anthropology at Boston University, led the study, in which observers followed individual chimps and bonobos in the wild from morning to night, keeping track of all their interactions. The researchers found that bonobos engaged in 2.8 times more aggressive interactions and 3 times as many physical aggressions as the chimpanzees in the study.

Dr. Mouginot joins guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to discuss the findings, what might account for the differences in aggressiveness, and what it can teach researchers about primate behavior.

Art Meets Ecology In A Mile-Long Poem

One year ago this month, we launched our podcast Universe Of Art, which features arts-focused science stories, like the science behind “Dune” and why a group of science illustrators created an online celebration of invertebrate butts. And to our surprise, a lot of you wrote in to tell us about your own science-inspired art projects, including artist Todd Gilens.

Gilens is a visual artist and designer who collaborated with the city of Reno, Nevada, to create a mile-long poem, called “Confluence,” printed on the city’s sidewalks bordering the Truckee River. He was interested in how water shapes landscapes, and how urban architecture can mirror those natural processes. He later found the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory, a University of California field station near Mammoth Lakes, and spent several field seasons with them to learn about stream ecology.

Universe Of Art host D. Peterschmidt sat down with Todd to talk about how the poem came together and why he spent four field seasons in the Sierra Nevada with stream ecologists to create the piece.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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When Products Collect Data From Your Brain, Where Does It Go?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 1 May 2024 20:00:00 +0000

There are products on the market that monitor your brain waves through caps or headbands: Some aim to improve mental health, sleep, or focus, while others can plunge users into virtual reality for gaming.

What happens to the neural data that neurotechnology companies collect from these devices? Consumers may be accustomed to their personal data from apps and social media being sold to third parties. However, the potential sale of brain data to a third party raises additional privacy concerns.

There are no federal laws governing the data collected by these wearable devices. But Colorado recently became the first state in the country to pass legislation protecting neural data in consumer products.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with Jared Genser, general counsel and co-founder of The Neurorights Foundation about the current landscape of neuro privacy.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Visualizing A Black Hole’s Flares In 3D

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The words “black hole” might bring to mind an infinite darkness. But the area right around a black hole, called the accretion disk, is actually pretty bright, with matter compressing hotter and hotter into a glowing plasma as it is sucked in. And amid that maelstrom, there are even brighter areas—bursts of energy that astronomers call flares.

Scientists are trying to better understand what those flares are, and what they can tell us about the nature of black holes. This week in the journal Nature Astronomy, a group of researchers published a video that they say is a 3D reconstruction of the movement of flares around the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way.

Dr. Katie Bouman, an assistant professor of computing and mathematical sciences, electrical engineering and astronomy at Caltech in Pasadena, California, joins guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to talk about the research, and how computational imaging techniques can help paint a picture of things that would be difficult or impossible to see naturally.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The 4,000-Year History of Humans and Silk

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Silk is one of the most luxurious fabrics for clothing and bedding. Unlike cotton or linen, silk is made most commonly by insects—often the Bombyx mori, a domesticated moth that feeds on the leaves of mulberry trees. Humans have a 4,000-year history with the textile and the creatures that make it, as documented in the new book Silk: A World History.

Since silk has an unconventional origin as a secretion rather than a plant product, it has unique biological qualities that make it strong and enduring. And because it’s a natural protein fiber, it’s biodegradable, so scientists think it could have a future as a sustainable alternative to plastics and electronic parts.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross speaks with Dr. Aarathi Prasad, biologist and author of Silk: A World History. They discuss the ways humans have changed silk-creating creatures through domestication, future applications of the textile, and Prasad’s experience growing silkworms of her own.

Read an excerpt from Silk: A World History at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Flint’s Water Crisis, 10 Years Later | Underwater Cables Could Help Detect Tsunamis

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, D. Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 26 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

While progress has been made in replacing water pipes in Flint, many residents say they still don’t know if their tap water is clean or not. Also, scientists are adding sensors to an underwater cable network to monitor changes in the ocean and quickly detect earthquakes and tsunamis.

10 Years Later, Flint’s Water Crisis Still Isn’t Over

In 2014, city officials in Flint, Michigan, switched their water source to the Flint River, a move that was projected to save the city $5 million. Instead, the water corroded the city’s lead pipes, which led to multiple negative health impacts for local residents, including lead poisoning, and a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak that resulted in a dozen deaths.

Now, almost 30,000 homes and businesses have had their water lines replaced, but 1,900 others have still not been reviewed. The city says they’ve reached out to owners of these properties with no response and have not been able to move forward, but activists claim that the city hasn’t contacted them.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross is joined by Vox senior correspondent Umair Irfan to talk about this and other top science news from this week, including new Long COVID trials that are underway, regulations from the EPA that require new coal and gas plants to limit 90% of their CO2 emissions, and a positive software update for Voyager 1.

How Underwater Telecom Cables Could Help Detect Tsunamis

Deep under the sea, a wide network of cables crisscrosses the ocean floor, keeping the internet and other telecommunications online. While these cables have a big job to do, researchers want to make them even more important by giving them the ability to detect seismic activity and alert those on land of a tsunami risk earlier than is currently possible.

Portugal is about to be the testing ground for these new, integrated cables, with a 3,700-kilometer cable to be installed between the Iberian country and the Madeira and Azores archipelagoes. This is a fitting place to pilot this, as Lisbon was the site of a devastating 1755 earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands.

Joining guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to discuss the potential of smart cables is Dr. Bruce Howe, research professor of engineering at the University of Hawaii and chair of the United Nation’s SMART Cables Joint Task Force.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Fighting Banana Blight | Do Birds Sing In Their Dreams?

Thu, 25 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

America’s most-consumed fruit is at risk from a fungal disease. Researchers in North Carolina are on a mission to save Cavendish bananas. Also, birds move their vocal organs while they sleep, mimicking how they sing. Scientists have translated those movements into synthetic birdsong.

Fighting Banana Blight In A North Carolina Greenhouse

Bananas are the world’s most popular fruit. Americans eat nearly 27 pounds per person every year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. A deadly fungus could destroy most of the world’s crops, but a company in Research Triangle Park is trying to save the banana through gene editing.

When it comes to growing bananas, RTP may not be the first place that pops in your head. But Matt DiLeo has a greenhouse full of them.

DiLeo is Vice President of Research and Development at Elo Life Systems, a biotechnology firm that’s exploring how gene editing can improve fruits and vegetables.

On a cloudy afternoon in early April, DiLeo opened the greenhouse door and stepped into a steamy atmosphere with a slightly floral odor. This greenhouse is packed floor to ceiling with banana trees. You’ve got to duck to keep the giant leaves from hitting your face. Some of the bananas are yellow, some are green, some are tiny and pink. DiLeo says they all share an important trait.

“Many of these are naturally resistant to the TR-4 fungus,” DiLeo said.

Read the rest of the article at sciencefriday.com.

Do Birds Sing In Their Dreams?

When birds sleep, what are they dreaming about? Researchers from the University of Buenos Aires have figured out a way to tap into bird dreams. When a bird slumbers, its voice box, called the syrinx, can move in ways that are similar to when they sing while they’re awake. Essentially, birds are silently singing in their dreams.

Now, researchers have figured out how to translate that vocal muscle movement into a synthetic bird song, meaning you can listen to how birds sing in their dreams.

Guest host Maggie Koerth talks with Dr. Gabriel Mindlin, professor of physics at the University of Buenos Aires about his latest bird dream research, published in the journal Chaos.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Is Solving The Plastic Problem So Hard?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Maggie Koerth, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 24 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

One of the biggest environmental issues in our modern world is plastic, which has become integral in the manufacturing of everything from electronics to furniture. Our reliance on plastic has led to a recycling crisis: A vast amount of plastic that winds up in our recycling bins isn’t actually recyclable, and ultimately winds up in landfills.

Large companies have committed to reducing plastic packaging and cutting back on waste. But there’s still no good way to scale up the removal of plastic that already exists. Waste-eating bacteria and enzymes have been shown to work in lab settings, but the scale-up process has a long road ahead.

Judith Enck, former EPA regional administrator and founder of the organization Beyond Plastics, has dedicated her career to advocating for making plastics more recyclable and keeping toxic chemicals out of the manufacturing process. She joins guest host Maggie Koerth to talk about why plastics are such a difficult environmental issue to solve, and what makes her feel hopeful this Earth Day.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Worsening Floods Mean For Superfund Sites

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shahla Farzan, Charles Bergquist, John Dankosky) — Tue, 23 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Superfund sites are some of the most polluted areas in the country, containing highly toxic waste such as asbestos, lead, and dioxin. Cleaning them up, which follows a systematic, science-based process as required by law, can take decades.

There are more than 1,300 of these sites across the US, from Florida’s Panhandle to the banks of the Rio Grande in New Mexico. They’re found in nearly every state, often near residential areas. The EPA estimates that 78 million people live within three miles of a Superfund site—nearly 1 in 4 Americans.

But these waste dumps face a growing threat: the worsening effects of climate change. The EPA has determined that more than 300 Superfund sites are at risk of flooding. The actual number of flood-prone sites, however, may be more than twice that amount, according to a 2021 Government Accountability Office report. Floodwaters can move toxic waste into neighboring communities, which threatens drinking water, agriculture, and broader ecosystem health.

The Global Mental Health Toll Of Climate Change | Capturing DNA From 800 Lakes In One Day

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

An explosion of research is painting a clearer picture of how climate change is affecting mental health across the globe. Also, a citizen science project aims to find species that have gone unnoticed by sampling the waters of hundreds of lakes worldwide for environmental DNA.

Assessing The Global Mental Health Toll Of Climate Change

As the effects of climate change become more visible and widespread, people around the globe are dealing with the mental health impacts. But what are those impacts exactly, and how do they differ between people in different parts of the world? That’s been the focus of a rapidly growing area of research, which is seeking to understand the psychological impacts of climate change, sometimes referred to as “eco-anxiety.”

Guest host Maggie Koerth is joined by Dr. Alison Hwong, a psychiatry fellow at University of California San Francisco, to talk about what scientists have learned about global eco-anxiety and what strategies they’ve found to reduce its more harmful effects.

Citizen Scientists Will Capture DNA From 800 Lakes In One Day

Taking an accurate census of the organisms in an ecosystem is a challenging task—an observer’s eyes and ears can’t be everywhere. But a new project aims to harness the growing field of environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect species that might escape even the most intrepid ecologists. In the project, volunteers plan to take samples from some 800 lakes around the world on or around May 22, the International Day for Biological Diversity. Those samples will then be sent back to a lab in Zurich, Switzerland, where they’ll be analyzed for the tiny traces of DNA that organisms leave behind in the environment.

Dr. Kristy Deiner, organizer of the effort, hopes that just as lakes collect water from many streams across an area, they’ll also collect those eDNA traces—allowing researchers to paint a picture of the species living across a large area. She talks with SciFri’s John Dankosky about the project, and how this type of citizen science can aid the research community.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Clean Energy Transition Progress | Avian Flu In Cattle And Humans Has Scientists Concerned

Fri, 19 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Global temperature increases are slowing, electric vehicle sales are growing, and renewable energy is now cheaper than some fossil fuels. Also, in a recent outbreak of avian flu, the virus has jumped from birds to cows, and to one dairy worker. A disease ecologist provides context.

Progress Toward A Clean Energy Transition

In honor of Earth Day, we’re highlighting a few positive trends and some promising solutions to the climate crisis. Globally, a clean energy transition is underway. A recent column in cipher, an online news outlet focused on climate solutions, recapped some encouraging progress, including a rise in electric car sales, a drop in the cost of renewable energy, and a slowing of global temperature increases.

SciFri’s John Dankosky is joined by Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, to talk through some climate solutions news and other top science stories of the week, including a record year for wind energy, a proposal to swap out power lines to increase grid capacity, and hibernating bumble bees who can live for a week underwater.

Why Avian Flu In Cattle And Humans Has Scientists Concerned

During the last few weeks, you may have heard about an ongoing outbreak of avian flu in which the virus has jumped from wild birds and poultry to cattle in eight states, and now to one dairy worker. While transmission to cattle and humans is new, avian flu has been spreading and decimating wild bird populations for years, and has led to many farmers to “depopulate” their poultry stock to contain the spread of the deadly virus, with limited success.

Guest host Maggie Koerth is joined by Dr. Nichola Hill, assistant professor of biology at the University of Massachusetts Boston, to talk about how devastating this virus has been to birds across the world, why the jump from birds to mammals is making virologists anxious, and how concerned the rest of us should be.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Cheer For The Physics Of Baseball

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

College basketball’s March Madness concluded this week, meaning that now the national sports attention can turn fully to baseball.

The next time you’re at the ballpark—whether you’re devoted enough to fill in the box scores by hand, or are just there for the peanuts and crackerjacks—take some time to appreciate the physics of the game. There are tricky trajectories, problems of parabolas, converging velocities, and the all-important impacts.

Dr. Frederic Bertley, the president and CEO of the Center of Science and Industry in Columbus, Ohio, joins Ira to talk about the science of sports, and about how sports can be a gateway to scientific literacy.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Carbon Cost Of Urban Gardens And Commercial Farms | Why There's No Superbloom This Year

Wed, 17 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Some food has a larger carbon footprint when grown in urban settings than on commercial farms, while for other foods the reverse is true. Also, what’s the difference between wildflowers blooming in the desert each spring, and the rare phenomenon of a “superbloom”?

The Carbon Cost Of Urban Gardens And Commercial Farms

If you have a home garden, you may be expecting that the food you grow has less of an environmental impact than food grown on large commercial farms. But new research throws some cold water on that idea. A study led by scientists at the University of Michigan examined 73 small urban gardening sites across the U.S., the U.K., France, Poland, and Germany, and found that food grown in urban settings produced six times more carbon emissions per serving than commercially grown food. The bulk of these emissions (63%) came from the building materials used for items like raised garden beds.

However, there are some foods that have a smaller carbon footprint when grown at home. They include crops like tomatoes and asparagus, which sometimes need to be flown long distances or require power-hungry greenhouses when grown commercially.

Jason Hawes, PhD candidate in the School for Environment and Sustainability at University of Michigan and lead author of the study which was published in Nature Cities, breaks down the results of the research with Ira. They talk about how urban farmers have responded to the findings, the positive social benefits of community gardens, and what home gardeners can do to lessen their carbon footprint.

Why There Won’t Be A Superbloom This Year

In California, wildflowers are in bloom.

Last year, there was a superbloom. Though there’s no official criteria, a superbloom is when there is an above average number of wildflowers blooming, mostly in desert regions of California and Arizona. It’s an explosion of color in regions that typically have sparse vegetation.

About a month ago, a few news articles hinted that maybe, just maybe, we were in for another superbloom year. Turns out we’re not.

Who decides when there’s a superbloom anyway? And why did this year turn out not to be a superbloom after all?

To answer those questions and provide an update on the state of California’s wildflowers, SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Naomi Fraga, director of conservation programs at the California Botanic Garden, and research assistant professor at Claremont Graduate University.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Inside The Race To Save Honeybees From Parasitic Mites

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 16 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Brain’s Glial Cells Might Be As Important As Neurons

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 19:59:07 +0000

Half of the cells in the brain are neurons, the other half are glial cells.

When scientists first discovered glia over a century ago, they thought that they simply held the neurons together. Their name derives from a Greek word that means glue.

In the past decade, researchers have come to understand that glial cells do so much more: They communicate with neurons and work closely with the immune system and might be critical in how we experience pain. They even play an important role in regulating the digestive tract.

Ira is joined by Yasemin Saplakoglu, a staff writer at Quanta Magazine who has reported on these lesser-known cells.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Limits On ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Drinking Water | An Important Winter Home For Bugs | Eclipse Drumroll

Fri, 12 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A long-awaited rule from the EPA limits the amounts of six PFAS chemicals allowed in public drinking water supplies. Also, some spiders, beetles, and centipedes spend winter under snow in a layer called the subnivium. Plus, a drumroll for the total solar eclipse.

EPA Sets Limits On ‘Forever Chemicals’ In Drinking Water

This week, the EPA finalized the first-ever national limits for the level of PFAS chemicals that are acceptable in drinking water supplies. Those so-called “forever chemicals,” per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, have long been used in products like fire retardants and oil-and water-repellent coatings, and are now ubiquitous in the global environment. Water treatment plants will now have to test and treat for several varieties of the chemicals, which have been linked to a variety of health problems in people.

Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, joins SciFri producer Kathleen Davis to talk about the rule and its potential impact on water agencies. They’ll also talk about other stories from the week in science, including research into a new vaccine against urinary tract infections, theories that extend the multiverse into a many-more-worlds interpretation, the passing of particle physicist Peter Higgs, and a new front in the war on pest rats: rodent contraceptives.

Where Snowpack Meets Soil: An Important Winter Home For Bugs

When winter rolls around and snow piles up, many insects head down to a small layer called the subnivium for the season.. This space, between snowpack and soil, shelters small insects, amphibians,and mammals from freezing temperatures.

Arthropods as a whole are understudied, says Chris Ziadeh, graduate of the University of New Hampshire and lead author of a recent study about the distinct communities that live in the subnivium. Better understanding which creatures call the subnivium home in the winter, as well as their behavior, could help us conserve them as the climate warms.

Guest host Kathleen Davis talks to Ziadeh about winter arthropod activity, species diversity, and why we should all care about protecting insects in our communities.

Drumroll Please! A Performance For The Solar Eclipse

People found all manner of ways to celebrate the solar eclipse that happened earlier this week, but one Science Friday listener found a particularly musical way to take in the experience.

Matt Kurtz, a sound artist and musician based in Akron, Ohio, realized his town would be in the path of totality for the April 8 eclipse. So with some funding from Akron Soul Train, a local artist residency, he put together a percussion section (complete with a gong) to perform a drumroll and build suspense up until the moment of totality. They performed in Chestnut Ridge Park to a crowd of onlookers.

“When you hear a [drumroll], it forces you to be like, something’s about to happen,” he said in an interview. “It’s a way to pay attention.”

As the gong rang out and the crowd cheered, Kurtz put down his sticks and experienced his first solar eclipse totality. “It was a release,” he said. “I had a couple minutes of peace where I got to look at the stars and feel where all this work went to.”

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Investigating Animal Deaths At The National Zoo

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

When a critter meets its end at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, it ends up on a necropsy table—where one of the zoo’s veterinary pathologists will take a very close look at it, in what is the animal version of an autopsy. They’ll poke and prod, searching for clues about the animal’s health. What they do—or don’t—find can be used to improve the care of living animals, both in the zoo and in the wild.

On stage in Washington, D.C., Ira talks with Dr. Kali Holder, veterinary pathologist at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute, about her work, and they embark on a case of CSI: Zoo.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Eating More Oysters Helps Us—And The Chesapeake Bay

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The Chesapeake Bay produces around 500 million pounds of seafood every year, providing delicious blue crabs, striped bass, oysters, and more to folks up and down the coast. It’s one of the most productive bodies of water in the world, but the bay is constantly in flux due to stressors like overfishing, pollution, and climate change. But scientists have a plan to conserve the bay’s biodiversity, support the people who rely on it, and keep us all well fed—and it involves oyster farming.

On stage in Washington, D.C., Ira talks with Imani Black, aquaculturist, grad student at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, and founder of the nonprofit Minorities in Aquaculture, as well as Dr. Tara Scully, biologist and associate professor at George Washington University. They discuss the bay’s history, the importance of aquaculture, and how food production and conservation go hand in hand.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Trees Keep D.C. And Baltimore Cool

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 9 Apr 2024 21:03:43 +0000

Springtime is a great reminder of just how beautiful trees can be. Cherry blossoms and magnolias put on a gorgeous show, but trees aren’t just there to look good. They play an important role in absorbing heat, sequestering carbon dioxide, and preventing soil erosion.

Dr. Mike Alonzo, assistant professor of environmental science at American University, is using satellites to determine just how effective urban trees are at keeping neighborhoods cool. He’s been able to track changes to the tree canopy over time, and identify when during the day trees do their best cooling work.

In Baltimore, Ryan Alston with the Baltimore Tree Trust has been working with the community to help residents understand the importance of planting trees. The city has a history of redlining, which affected the number of big trees in historically Black neighborhoods, leading to major differences in how hot certain neighborhoods get in the summer.

Alonzo and Alston join Ira Flatow live on stage at George Washington University to discuss the power of urban trees.

The transcript for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Predicting Heart Disease From Chest X-Rays With AI | Storing New Memories During Sleep

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 8 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Dr. Eric Topol discusses the promise of “opportunistic” AI, using medical scans for unintended diagnostic purposes. Also, a study in mice found that the brain tags new memories through a “sharp wave ripple” mechanism that then repeats during sleep.

How AI Could Predict Heart Disease From Chest X-Rays

Research on medical uses for artificial intelligence in medicine is exploding, with scientists exploring methods like using the retina to predict disease onset. That’s one example of a growing body of research on “opportunistic” AI, the practice of analyzing medical scans in unconventional ways and for unintended diagnostic purposes.

Now, there’s some evidence to suggest that AI can mine data from chest x-rays to assess the risk of cardiovascular disease and detect diabetes.

Ira talks with Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and professor of molecular medicine.

Neurons ‘Tag’ New Memories For Storage During Sleep

All day long we’re taking in information and forming memories. Some stick around, others quickly fade away. But how does your brain push those memories into long term storage? And how does our brain recognize which memories should be kept and which should be discarded?

This topic has been debated for decades, and a recent study in mice may help scientists understand this process.

Researchers found that during the day, as the mice formed memories, cells in the hippocampus fired in a formation called “sharp wave ripples.” These are markers that tell the brain to keep those memories for later. Then, while the mice slept, those same sharp wave ripples activated again, and locked in those memories.

Ira talks with Dr. György Buzsáki, professor of neuroscience at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, about the findings of the study, which was published in the journal Science.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Recipient Of Pig Kidney Transplant Recovering | Answering Your Questions About April 8 Eclipse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 5 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A Massachusetts man who received a kidney from a genetically modified pig is recovering well. Also, on April 8, a total solar eclipse will plunge parts of North America into darkness. Scientists answer the questions you asked.

Recipient Of Pig Kidney Transplant Leaves The Hospital

Last month, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced that a team of doctors had transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into a living human for the first time. This week, that patient, a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease, was sent home from the hospital, having recovered enough to be discharged. Sixty-nine genes were edited in the donor pig, including three that coded for a certain sugar found on the surface of pig cells. The edits, hopefully, will make it less likely for the human recipient to reject the transplant.

Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins Ira Flatow to talk about the xenotransplantation advance, and how it could affect patients awaiting donor organs. They’ll also talk about other stories from the week in science, including how power grid operators are preparing for the upcoming solar eclipse, NASA’s search for a new lunar rover, an advance in getting robots to make appropriate faces, research into using a drug similar to the obesity medication Ozempic to delay Parkinson’s symptoms, and plans for a new time zone—on the moon.

Answering Your Questions About Monday’s Eclipse

After months of excitement, the 2024 total solar eclipse is almost here! On Monday, April 8, the moon will line up perfectly between the Sun and the Earth. For a few short minutes, it’ll plunge parts of North America into total darkness—right in the middle of the day.

More than 30 million people live in the path of totality—where the moon will completely block off the sun. It stretches from northwest Mexico, across the US, and into southeastern Canada. Depending how far you are from the path, you might experience a partial eclipse. Magical, nonetheless.

Ira talks with Dr. Padi Boyd, astrophysicist at NASA and host of the agency’s podcast Curious Universe, and Mark Breen, meteorologist and planetarium director at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in Vermont. They answer questions our readers and listeners have submitted about the eclipse, and discuss why we should be excited, how to prepare, and what scientists can learn from this phenomenon.

For more eclipse-day tips and facts, visit our website.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Our Inevitable Cosmic Apocalypse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Christie Taylor, John Dankosky) — Thu, 4 Apr 2024 20:13:54 +0000

When it comes to the eventual end of our universe, cosmologists have a few classic theories: the Big Crunch, where the universe reverses its expansion and contracts again, setting the stars themselves on fire in the process. Or the Big Rip, where the universe expands forever—but in a fundamentally unstable way that tears matter itself apart. Or it might be heat death, in which matter and energy become equally distributed in a cold, eventless soup.

These theories have continued to evolve as we gain new understandings from particle accelerators and astronomical observations. As our understanding of fundamental physics advances, new ideas about the ending are joining the list. Take vacuum decay, a theory that’s been around since the 1970s, but which gained new support when CERN confirmed detection of the Higgs Boson particle. The nice thing about vacuum decay, writes cosmologist Dr. Katie Mack in her book The End of Everything: (Astrophysically Speaking), is that it could happen at any time, and would be almost instantaneous—painless, efficient.

The End Of Everything is our SciFri Book Club pick for April—you can join in on the community conversation and maybe even win a free book on our book club page. In this interview from 2020, Mack joins Ira to talk about the diversity of universe-ending theories, and how cosmologists like her think about the big questions, like where the universe started, how it might end, and what happens after it does.

Also, Nobel Prize-winning psychologist Dr. Daniel Kahneman died this week at the age of 90. His work turned many traditional ideas about economics upside-down, arguing that people often make bad decisions that go against their own self-interest. It’s something he continued to study throughout his career, and that he wrote about in the 2022 book Noise: A Flaw in Human Judgment. At the end of this segment, we revisit an interview from 2022 with Kahneman in remembrance of his long career studying cognitive biases.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Complicated Truths About Offshore Wind And Right Whales

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Robin Kazmier, Kathleen Davis, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Wed, 3 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

By the time researchers found the dead whale on a Martha’s Vineyard beach, her jet-black skin was pockmarked by hungry seagulls, her baleen had been dislodged from her mouth, and thin rope was wrapped tightly—as it had been for 17 months—around the most narrow part of her tail.

Researchers quickly learned this was a 12-ton, 3-year-old female known as 5120, and that she was a North Atlantic right whale, a species with just about 360 members left.

A few weeks later, NOAA Fisheries announced that the entangling rope came from lobster fishing gear set in Maine state waters. The pain and discomfort of the entanglement likely affected 5120’s ability to swim and eat until finally, experts say, exhaustion or starvation probably killed her. A final cause of death is still pending.

The death of 5120 was devastating to right whale advocates, who know that losing a female doesn’t just mean losing one whale, but dozens of others that could have come from her future calves. For them, a death is often followed by a period of grief, and a renewed commitment to their work. And that might have been the end of 5120’s story.

But then came the online comments. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, across social media blamed offshore wind farms—the noise, electricity generated, and the mere presence of turbines. Along the way, the truth about 5120 became a non-concern.

In many cases, the rumors about offshore wind hurting and killing right whales are quite possibly spread from a place of concern, mistrust, or fear by well-meaning people who want to know our oceans are safe for marine mammals. But few people want that more than right whale scientists, who have dedicated their careers to saving a species that appears to be just a few decades from extinction. For many of them, talking about offshore wind has its own challenges, both because of the unknowns that come with a nascent industry and the knee-jerk reactions from people on all sides of the issue. So they say that yes, they’re uneasy about the potential threats of wind farms. But they agonize over the prospect of climate change destroying right whales’ shot at survival via their food web and ecosystem.

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Bumpy Road To Approving New Alzheimer’s Drugs

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Tue, 2 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

In the past few years pharmaceutical companies have developed a string of new Alzheimer’s drugs called anti-amyloids, which target amyloid plaques in patients’ brains. These plaques are one of the key biomarkers of the disease.

The first of these drugs, Aduhelm, was approved by the FDA in 2021 amid enormous controversy. The FDA approved the drug despite little evidence that it actually slowed cognitive decline in patients. Biogen, the maker of Aduhelm, pulled the plug on further research or sales of the drug last month.

In January 2023 The FDA approved another anti-amyloid medication from Biogen, lecanemab, sold under the brand name Leqembi. This time, there was much stronger evidence. Clinical trial results showed that the drug showed a modest improvement in cognitive decline in the early phases of the disease. But the drug comes with risks, including brain swelling and bleeding.

Most recently, at the beginning of March, the FDA delayed approval of another anti-amyloid drug, donanemab, created by Eli Lilly. The FDA said it will be conducting an additional review to further scrutinize the study design and efficacy data.

From the outside looking in, these Alzheimer’s drugs appear to be mired in controversy. How well do they actually work? And why has there been so much back and forth with the FDA?

To answer those questions and more, guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with Dr. Jason Karlawish, professor of medicine, medical ethics and health policy, and neurology at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, and co-director of the Penn Memory Center.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘3 Body Problem’ And The Laws Of Physics | In Defense Of ‘Out Of Place’ Plants

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, D. Peterschmidt) — Mon, 1 Apr 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Particle accelerators, nanofibers, and solar physics: The science advisor for the Netflix adaptation breaks down the physics in the show. Also, in her new book, Jessica J. Lee looks at how humans have moved plants around the globe–and how our migrations are intertwined with theirs.

How ‘3 Body Problem’ Explores The Laws Of Physics

Last week, Netflix released its adaptation of the Hugo Award-winning sci-fi book The 3 Body Problem by Cixin Liu. It follows the journey of several scientists, from the Chinese Cultural Revolution to the present day, as they seek to understand why their fellow researchers are dying and why their scientific results no longer make sense. Along the way, they discover an ultra-advanced VR game and a dark secret that suggests we might not be alone in the universe.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross sits down with the show’s science advisor, Dr. Matt Kenzie, an associate professor of physics at the University of Cambridge, to talk about what exactly the three body problem is, why he gave the actors physics lessons, and what he hopes audiences take away from a show focused on scientists.

In Defense Of ‘Out Of Place’ Plants

The new book Dispersals: On Plants, Borders, and Belonging unpacks how we think about the migrations of both plants and humans, as well as how those ideas shape our perceptions of what we call “non-native” or “invasive” plants like giant hogweed or English ivy.

Dispersals traces the history of how we moved plants around—including cherry blossoms, mangoes, and soy—and asks: What does it mean to be a plant out of place? And how does the migration of plants mirror our own?

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with environmental historian and author Jessica J. Lee about Dispersals and what we can learn from the histories of plants.

Read an excerpt from Dispersals at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Baltimore Bridge Collapse | Mapping How Viruses Jump Between Species

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 29 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

We look into the engineering reasons why the Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed after a ship crashed into it. Also, a new analysis finds that more viruses spread from humans to animals than from animals to humans.

The Engineering Behind Why The Bridge In Baltimore Collapsed

On Tuesday, a large section of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key bridge collapsed after an enormous container ship lost power and collided with the structure. Two people were rescued from the water, two bodies were recovered, and four others are unaccounted for and presumed dead.

The structural failure of the bridge, which cut off a key roadway and a major international shipping port, has many wondering why this happened. Does the fault lie in aging infrastructure or in the manner the container ship struck one of the bridge’s main supports?

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks to journalist Swapna Krishna about the engineering reasons behind why the bridge collapsed and other top stories in science this week, including rockets NASA is launching during next week’s solar eclipse, new research about how Homo sapiens traveled out of Africa, and visualizing the magnetic field of the black hole at the center of our galaxy.

Mapping Out How Viruses Jump Between Species

In the world of emerging infectious diseases, one of the looming threats comes from the so-called zoonotic diseases—pathogens that somehow make the jump from an animal host to a human one. This includes pathogens such as COVID-19 and avian influenza, a.k.a. bird flu, which can sometimes cross the species divide. But a new analysis published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution finds that when it comes to viruses, more viral species appear to have jumped from humans to animals than the other way around. And even more cases of interspecies transmission don’t involve humans at all.

Cedric Tan, a PhD student in the University College London Genetics Institute and Francis Crick Institute, joins guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to talk about the analysis, and what it tells us about our place in a global web of viruses.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Legacy Of Primatologist Frans de Waal

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

It wasn’t that long ago that scientists didn’t think animals could rival humans in terms of intelligence, emotions, or empathy. But the groundbreaking work of Dr. Frans de Waal helped change all of that. De Waal spent his life studying the lives of animals — especially our closest cousins, chimpanzees and bonobos.

The primatologist died last week at the age of 75, and we wanted to remember him by sharing one of our favorite conversations with him on the show. It’s from 2019, when he published his book Mama’s Last Hug: Animal Emotions and What They Tell Us About Ourselves.

In it, he tells the story of a female chimp who didn’t produce enough milk to feed her young. When de Waal taught her to feed her baby with a bottle instead, she repaid him with what most of us would recognize as gratitude: holding both of his hands, and whimpering sadly if he tried to leave.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The ‘Asteroid Hunter’ Leading The OSIRIS-REx Mission

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 27 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Ever since we learned that an asteroid slammed into Earth, wiped out the dinosaurs, and changed the course of life on this planet, scientists have wondered if it could happen again. It turns out there is an asteroid, called Bennu, that has a very small chance of colliding with our planet in the year 2182.

But beyond that, Bennu could hold information that would help unlock our solar system’s secrets, like how it began and where life originated. NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission launched in 2016 to collect a sample from Bennu. It was successful, and this past fall, the spacecraft safely delivered its asteroid sample to scientists waiting on Earth.

In a new memoir, The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist’s Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System, Dr. Dante Lauretta, principal investigator of OSIRIS-REx, gives readers a behind-the-scenes account on this high-stakes mission.

Ira talks with Dr. Lauretta, a planetary scientist at University of Arizona in Tucson, about why he chose to study Bennu, what it was like to run such a nail-biting mission, and what Bennu could reveal about our galaxy.

Read an excerpt from The Asteroid Hunter.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Swimming Sea Lions Teach Engineers About Fluid Dynamics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The next time you go to the zoo, take a few minutes by the sea lion habitat to watch the way they swim. While most high-performance swimmers use powerful kicks from hind appendages to power through the water, sea lions instead use their front flippers, moving with a pulling motion. With their propulsion source close to their center of gravity and their flexible bodies, sea lions are extremely agile under water, able to weave in and out among the stalks of an undersea kelp forest.

Researchers are studying the movements of these exceptional swimmers to try to design improved underwater vehicles. Mimicking some of the sea lion’s tricks could allow more maneuverable, quieter vehicles that produce less turbulence in the water.

SciFri’s Charles Bergquist talks with Dr. Megan Leftwich of George Washington University about her work with sea lions, and other research into fluids and biomechanics, including the fluid mechanics of human birth.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Botanical Rescue Centers Take In Illegally Trafficked Plants

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 20:07:06 +0000

There’s a thriving black market to buy and sell endangered plants, and the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitor endangered species that are brought into the United States illegally. When they are discovered, the plants’ home country has 30 days to accept them. If they aren’t claimed, they get rescued. Then where do they go? To one of 62 plant rescue centers across the country at botanic gardens, zoos, and arboretums, operating according to an agreement through the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES).

Ira talks with Dr. Susan Pell, executive director of the U.S. Botanic Garden, and Amy Highland, plant curator at the U.S. Botanic Garden in Washington, DC, about the garden’s plant rescue program.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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2023 Was Hottest Year On Record | The NASA Satellite Studying Plankton

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The World Meteorological Organization’s report confirms last year had the highest temperatures on record and predicts an even hotter 2024. Also, NASA’s new PACE satellite will study how these tiny creatures could affect Earth’s climate, and how aerosols influence air quality.

UN Report Confirms 2023 Was Hottest Year On Record

A new report from the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization shows that last year had the hottest average global temperatures since recording began 174 years ago. Ocean temperatures also reached a 65-year high last year, and 2024 is on track to be even hotter.

Ira talks with Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos Magazine about that and other top science news of the week including cannibal birds, fighting Dengue fever with bacteria-infected mosquitos and the evolutionary benefit of whale menopause.

Why This NASA Satellite Is Studying Plankton

Did you know you can see plankton … from space? Earlier this year, NASA launched a satellite to do exactly that. It’s called PACE, which stands for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem, and NASA hopes that the satellite can tell us more about how these tiny creatures interact with Earth’s atmosphere and influence our climate.

Some species of plankton, called phytoplankton, are microscopic plants that absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. PACE has equipment that can identify different species of phytoplankton by the kind of light they give off, giving NASA real-time information about their location and population size, which can also aid fisheries and coastal communities when algal blooms occur.

PACE will also study how aerosols affect air quality on Earth. Additional instruments on the satellite can differentiate between different kinds of aerosols by studying how they reflect light back into space, which will help scientists refine their climate models so that more accurate forecasts can be made.

Ira Flatow talks to Dr. Ivona Cetinic, PACE’s science lead for ocean biogeochemistry, about the satellite, her favorite species of plankton, and how the public can benefit from the data that the mission will provide.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Strange-Looking Fish, Frozen In Time

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

The term “living fossil” has been applied to any number of animals, from sharks to turtles to the coelacanth. It’s the idea that those animals look very much the same way their species may have looked millions of years ago, with limited evolutionary change over that time.

After analyzing the genomes of many different species on that “living fossil” list, researchers report they may have found an animal that evolves more slowly than all the others—a group of fish called gar. The rate of molecular change in gar genomes is the slowest of any jawed vertebrate, the researchers say. In fact, gar genomes change so slowly that two gar species that diverged from each other over 105 million years ago can still interbreed and produce fertile offspring. In evolutionary time, that’s comparable to the distance between humans and elephants. The researchers believe that the slow rate of change in gars may be due to an exceptional ability to repair mutations and other errors in their genes.

Dr. Solomon David, assistant professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Minnesota, and Chase Brownstein, a graduate student in Yale’s department of ecology and evolutionary biology, join Ira to discuss the findings, recently reported in the journal Evolution.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What We Know After 4 Years Of COVID-19

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Four years ago this week, the world as we know it changed. Schools shut down, offices shuttered, and we hunkered down at home with our Purell and canned foods, trying to stay safe from a novel, deadly coronavirus. Back then most of us couldn’t fathom just how long the pandemic would stretch on.

And now four years later, some 1.2 million people have died in the U.S alone and nearly 7 million have been hospitalized as a result of a COVID-19 infection, according to the CDC.

So, what have we learned about how COVID-19 attacks the body? What can be done for long COVID sufferers? And what can we expect in the future?

Ira analyzes this era of the pandemic with Hannah Davis, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative in New York City, and Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, immunobiologist at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Science Unlocks The Power Of Flavor In ‘Flavorama’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Think about the best meal you’ve ever eaten: Maybe it was in a restaurant in a far-off city, or perhaps it was a home-cooked meal made by someone you love. No matter where or what it was, odds are what made it so memorable was the flavor.

Flavor is arguably the most important part of a meal. If the flavor of something is off, or undetectable, it can jeopardize your enjoyment. There’s a lot of chemistry and biological science behind how and what we taste.

Flavorama: A Guide to Unlocking the Art and Science of Flavor is a new book that breaks down the mechanisms that go into these processes. Ira is joined by author Arielle Johnson, who holds a PhD in chemistry and co-founded the fermentation lab at the world-famous Copenhagen restaurant Noma.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Abortion-Restrictive States Leave Ob-Gyns With Tough Choices

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Roe v. Wade was overturned almost two years ago, and a lot has changed in terms of abortion choices in the United States. Some states have effectively banned abortion, while others have such confusing laws that it’s difficult for the people who live there to know what their reproductive rights are.

The post-Dobbs landscape hasn’t just affected the care people can receive: It’s also changed where physicians choose to work, especially if they’re in states where they can be criminally prosecuted for performing abortions.

Last month, the Idaho Coalition for Safe Healthcare published a report that found that 22% of ob-gyns have left the state since June of 2022 — a massive amount for a state that already has the fewest physicians per capita in the country. Ongoing research in Wisconsin has found that the Dobbs decision has affected where medical students choose to study, and has even dissuaded some from choosing obstetrics as a specialty.

Joining Ira to talk about this are two ob-gyns from states with abortion restrictions: Dr. Sara Thomson, based in Boise, Idaho, and Dr. Abby Cutler, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health.

Transcript for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Nasal Rinsing Safely | How Your Brain Constructs Your Mental Health

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 15 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

A recent study looked into life-threatening Acanthamoeba infections, and a few deaths, linked to the use of tap water with devices like neti pots. And, in ‘The Balanced Brain,’ Dr. Camilla Nord explores the neuroscience behind mental health, and how our brains deal with life’s challenges.

Scientists Warn Against Nasal Rinsing With Unboiled Tap Water

Researchers at the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention published a study Wednesday that examined 10 cases of life-threatening Acanthamoeba infections that occurred after people cleaned their sinuses with neti pots, squeeze bottles, or other nasal rinsing devices. In most of these cases, which occurred in immunocompromised individuals over the span of a few decades, individuals had used tap water for nasal rinsing.

Tap water, while generally safe to drink, is not sterile. Microorganisms and germs live in distribution systems and pipes that the water travels through, and Acanthamoeba amebae was the main link between the 10 cases, three of which resulted in death.

Although contracting the Acanthamoeba pathogen is extremely rare, many people are unaware of the unsterile nature of tap water and use it for their sinuses, according to a survey study published last year. A third of participants incorrectly believed U.S. tap water is sterile, and almost two-thirds assumed it was safe to rinse your sinuses with it.

The CDC and FDA recommend using distilled or sterile water for nasal rinsing. If you want to use tap water, they recommend boiling it for three to five minutes and allowing it to cool. While slightly more time consuming, it is an effective way to get sterile water.

Rachel Feltman, host of “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” joins Ira to talk about this story and other news in science this week, including a new study that links microplastics in the human body to increased risk of heart disease and death, why the U.S. maternal mortality rate might be inflated, and why cicadas produce high-speed jets of urine.

How Your Brain Constructs Your Mental Health

If you’ve ever struggled with a mental health issue like anxiety or depression, or know someone who has, it’s pretty clear that what works for one person might not work for another. Antidepressants only work in about 50-60% of patients. Meditation or yoga may be a gamechanger for some people, but ineffective for others.

Over the past few decades, neuroscientists have made huge advances in our understanding of the human brain. How can we use the latest neuroscience research to help improve our mental well-being? And what is the relationship between physical and mental health?

To answer those questions and more, SciFri producer Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with Dr. Camilla Nord, director of the Mental Health Neuroscience Lab at the University of Cambridge and author of the new book The Balanced Brain: The Science of Mental Health.

Read an excerpt of The Balanced Brain at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A New Book Puts ‘Math in Drag’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

It’s a common refrain from elementary school to adulthood: “I’m bad at math.” It’s a hard subject for a lot of people, and it has a reputation for being—let’s face it—boring. Math isn’t taught in a flashy way in schools, and its emphasis on memorization for key concepts like multiplication tables and equations can discourage students.

It’s not hard to understand why: Math has long been seen as a boy’s club, and a straight, cis boy’s club at that. But Kyne Santos, a drag queen based in Kitchener, Ontario, wants to change that.

Kyne is on a mission to make math fun and accessible to people who have felt like math isn’t for them. Her new book, “Math in Drag,” is one part history lesson, one part math guidebook, and one part memoir. Kyne speaks with Ira about “celebrity numbers,” Möbius strips, and why math and drag are more similar than you may think.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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With This Rare Disorder, No Amount Of Sleep Is Enough

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 13 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Humans need sufficient sleep to function. The conventional wisdom is that we need around 8 hours each night to be at peak performance.

But for people with idiopathic hypersomnia, or IH, no amount of sleep can shake a profound feeling of sleepiness. Some can sleep for over 24 hours, despite using stimulants and multiple alarm clocks. Others fall asleep while driving or doing other daily activities.

IH is rare. It affects just a small fraction of 1% of people, and the underlying cause is unknown. Now, scientists are doing more research into the condition, thanks in large part to patients organizing and advocating for better treatment options. Unlocking what causes this excessive sleepiness may be key to understanding the bigger picture of how the body enters and wakes from sleep.

Ira discusses the science of sleepiness with Dr. Quinn Eastman, science writer and author of The Woman Who Couldn’t Wake Up: Hypersomnia and the Science of Sleepiness, and Diana Kimmel, co-founder of the Hypersomnia Alliance, and board member of the Hypersomnia Foundation.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Election Science Can Support Democracy | The Genetic Roots Of Antibiotic Resistance

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

How Election Science Can Support Democracy

This week, the election season shifted into full gear with the Super Tuesday slate of primaries. But as the ballot options become more cemented, it’s not just pollsters and campaign operatives who are preparing for the elections—scientists are too.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has established what it calls an election science task force, looking at everything from ballot design to disinformation to voting security. Dr. Jennifer Jones, program director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, joins Ira to describe the goals of the effort in the weeks and months ahead.

The Genetic Roots Of Antibiotic Resistance

Antibiotic resistance—when pathogens no longer respond to the conventional antibiotic medications—is a serious medical problem. According to the CDC, over 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. each year, causing some 35,000 deaths. It’s in part due to overprescription of antibiotics in medicine, and the widespread use of antibiotics in animal agriculture. But the problem isn’t entirely of humans’ making. The roots of antibiotic resistance go back millions of years.

A recent study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences collected hundreds of soil and poop samples from around the world, to try to trace back the genetics of how resistance arose in Enterococcus, a genus of bacteria that live in the guts of pretty much every land animal. In the course of their analysis, the researchers identified 18 entirely new species in the genus Enterococcus, with over 1,000 genes that had never been seen before.

Dr. Michael Gilmore, the Chief Scientific Officer at Mass Eye and Ear, joins Ira to talk about the study and what the team hopes to learn about the causes of antibiotic resistance.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Triple Feature: Dune, Mars, And An Alien On Earth

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 20:00:00 +0000

Could A Planet Like Arrakis From ‘Dune’ Exist?

“Dune: Part II” is one of the year’s most highly anticipated films, and it picks up where the first film left off: with Paul Atreides escaping into the desert on the planet Arrakis. It’s a scorching-hot world that’s covered in dunes, and home to giant, deadly sandworms.

Obviously “Dune” and its setting are fictional, but could there be a real planet that resembles Arrakis? And if so, could it sustain life?

Ira talks with Dr. Mike Wong, astrobiologist and planetary scientist at the Carnegie Institution for Science, about what Arrakis’ atmosphere is like, the search for life in the universe, and what sci-fi films get wrong—and right—about alien planets.

Preparing Astronauts For The Loneliness Of A Mars Mission

NASA is preparing to send humans to Mars. Although the launch date has been pushed back over the years, the agency says it wants to get there in the 2030s. And it has a lot on its to-do list. NASA needs to build new rockets, new habitable living spaces, new spacesuits, and new radiation shielding, just to name a few items.

But what if the one of the biggest challenges of these missions is not the engineering, but the mental health of the astronauts? Can all of the crew members get along with each other and stay alive over the course of three years in tight quarters and unforgiving environments? How will they cope with being separated from their families and friends for so long? And what lessons can they learn from astronauts who’ve lived on the International Space Station—and from our collective experience of isolation during the pandemic?

A new documentary, out March 8, explores all these questions and more. It’s called "The Longest Goodbye," and it dives into NASA’s Human Factors program, which includes a group of psychologists who are trying to figure out the best way to preserve astronauts’ mental health on a long and demanding mission.

SciFri producer and host of Universe Of Art, D. Peterschmidt, spoke to the film’s director, Ido Mizrahy, and one of its featured astronauts, Dr. Cady Coleman, about how NASA is thinking about tackling loneliness in space and what we can learn from astronauts who’ve already lived on the space station.

Should The Aliens In “65” Have Known About Earth’s Dinos?

Some science fiction movies, like “Alien,” are instant classics. A good sci-fi movie weaves together themes of science and technology with a gripping narrative structure to create a memorable story that leaves the viewer with something to think about. But some (many) sci-fi movies leave the viewer with one thought: “Huh?”

The 2023 movie “65” is in some ways a reversal of “Alien.” Instead of humans coming to an alien world and getting attacked by aliens, in “65,” an alien that existed 65 million years ago crash lands on Earth and gets attacked by dinosaurs. Oh, and the alien is Adam Driver. What’s not to get?

Sometimes, calling in a real-life scientist is the best way to wrap your head around science fiction. Dr. Lisa Kaltenegger, an astrobiologist at Cornell University, says that if there were advanced extraterrestrials near Earth during the age of the dinosaurs, our planet’s life should have been no mystery to them. That’s because around 300 million years ago, Earth’s atmosphere had abundant oxygen and methane, two of the building blocks of life. Kaltenegger’s own research has shown how Earth’s atmosphere during that period would have been visible through a telescope—and indicated an even stronger potential for life than Earth’s atmosphere today. She also saw “65” on a plane.

Based on Kaltenegger’s research, should Adam Driver have seen those dinosaurs coming? In an interview with Digital Producer Emma Gometz, she shares how telescopes can spot exoplanet atmospheres, why Jurassic Earth’s atmosphere was special, and a few of her thoughts on “65.”

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Could This Be The End Of Voyager 1?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 8 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In 1977, NASA launched Voyager 1 and 2. Their mission? To explore the farthest reaches of our galaxy. Their missions were only supposed to last about four years, but it’s been almost 50. They’re now in interstellar space, navigating the region between stars.

But since November, Voyager 1 has been sending unintelligible data back to Earth, raising concerns that it could be nearing the end of its mission.

Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead at Carbon Plan, about Voyager 1 and other science news of the week, including work on detecting neutrinos with forests, calculating the age of giant sand dunes, uncovering the origins of cells, investigating why we don’t have tails anymore, and how a man walking his dog discovered a dinosaur fossil.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What It Takes To Care For The US Nuclear Arsenal

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 7 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

For many people in the US, the threat of nuclear weapons is out of sight and out of mind. But the nuclear complex is alive and well. In fact, the state of nuclear weapons is evolving in the US. The United States, among other countries, is giving its nuclear arsenal—which contains about 5,000 weapons—a makeover. This modernization costs around $50 billion a year, which will amount to more than $1.5 trillion over the next few decades.

With the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in place, countries should be stopping the spread of nuclear weapons and technology. That raises the question: If nearly all countries have agreed not to nuke each other, why are nuclear arsenals being updated? And what does that signal to the world?

In her new book Countdown: The Blinding Future of Nuclear Weapons, science journalist and author Sarah Scoles analyzes the current nuclear age, speaks with the scientists in charge of nuclear weapons, and asks, do more nukes keep us safer?

Scoles talks with Ira about why the US is modernizing its nuclear arsenal, the role of science in nuclear deterrence, and why this moment in nuclear history is so important.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Young Scientist Uplifts The Needs Of Parkinson’s Patients

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 6 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

"I heard elders talk about 'the shakes,' but I now know that language reflects deep historical inequities that have denied us access to healthcare, knowledge, and research that could help us alleviate burdens and strengthen our health—enough with the shakes!" —Senegal Alfred Mabry, in Cell

Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States. According to a 2022 study, some 90,000 people a year in the US are diagnosed with Parkinson’s. It’s a progressive disease that worsens over time, producing unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination.

Researchers are working to better understand the causes of the disease, how it connects to other health conditions, and how to slow or prevent its effects. Senegal Alfred Mabry is a third year PhD student in neuroscience at Cornell University, and was recently named a recipient of this year’s Rising Black Scientist Award by Cell Press. His research involves interoception—a sense that allows the body to monitor its own processes—and the autonomic nervous system. He joins Ira to talk about his research into Parkinson’s disease, and the importance of scientific research being connected to communities.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Snakes Are Evolutionary Superstars | Whale Song Is All In The Larynx

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 5 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In the trees, through the water, and under the dirt: Snakes evolve faster than their lizard relatives, allowing them to occupy diverse niches. Also, researchers are working to understand just how baleen whales are able to produce their haunting songs.

Snakes Are Evolutionary Superstars

Love ‘em or hate ‘em, new research shows that snakes deserve our recognition as evolutionary superstars. The study, published last week in the journal Science, found that snakes evolve faster than other reptiles, allowing them to thrive in a wide range of environments.

It shouldn’t be too surprising: Many of the nearly 4,000 snake species occupy extremely specialized niches in their ecosystems. The blunt-headed tree snake, for example, eats through batches of treefrog eggs in Central and South America. Pythons, which can grow to 20 feet long, can take down large mammals like antelopes.

Joining Ira to talk about the evolutionary speed of snakes is study co-author Dr. Daniel Rabosky, evolutionary biologist and curator of the Museum of Zoology at the University of Michigan.

Whale Song Is All In The Larynx

Whale songs can be both beautiful and haunting. But the exact mechanism that the 16 species of baleen whales, like humpback and minke whales, use to make those noises hasn’t been well understood. The finer points of whale anatomy are hard to study, in part because the soft tissues of beached whales often begin to decompose before researchers can preserve and study them. And until the relatively recent advent of monitoring tags that can be attached to individual whales, it’s been hard to associate a given underwater sound with any specific whale.

For a recent study, published in the journal Nature, researchers took advantage of several well-preserved beached whales to investigate the mysteries of the baleen whale larynx and its role in whale song. Dr. Coen Elemans of the University of Southern Denmark joins Ira to discuss the work, which included a MacGyveresque contraption involving party balloons and exercise bands that blew air at controlled pressures through preserved whale larynx tissues. The researchers found that there are limits to both the frequencies these whales can produce, and the depths at which they are physically able to sing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What’s Behind The Measles Outbreak In Florida?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Mon, 4 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The United States eliminated measles back in 2000, but it still pops up every now and then. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 35 measles cases across 15 states had been reported this year as of February 22. Early last month, a measles outbreak began at an elementary school in Broward County, in southern Florida. As of February 28, the Florida Department of Health reported 9 cases for Broward County—out of 10 for the whole state.

Measles is one of the most infectious diseases in the world, and it has a safe and effective vaccine called MMR—for measles, mumps, and rubella—that saves lives. Kids usually get the vaccine early in life, and it provides lifelong protection.

But childhood vaccination rates have declined in some areas, so preventable diseases like measles are on the rise. In Florida, the state’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, has been criticized for how he’s handling the outbreak—for example, by not explicitly encouraging parents to get their kids vaccinated.

So how did the measles outbreak in Florida get to this point? And is it a reflection of a broader public health risk?

Ira talks with pediatrician Dr. Rana Alissa, who is vice president of the Florida Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and an associate professor at the University of Florida in Jacksonville. He is also joined by Dr. Paul Offit, pediatrician and director of the vaccine education center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Pythagoras Was Wrong About Music | Biochar's Potential For Carbon Capture

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 1 Mar 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The Greek philosopher Pythagoras had specific ideas about the mathematical ratios behind music. It turns out that he was wrong. Also, the charcoal-like substance known as biochar packs carbon into a stable form, making it less likely to escape into the atmosphere.

Pythagoras Was Wrong About Music

The ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras proposed a mathematical argument for what music sounds best to the ear: According to legend, he said listeners preferred music with chords adhering to perfect mathematical ratios, like 3:2. This concept has persisted in modern Western music, specifically for building harmonies.

But new research out of the University of Cambridge disputes this idea. A set of behavioral experiments with more than 4,000 participants in the US and South Korea found that listeners actually prefer chords with a slightly imperfect mathematical ratio, particularly when played with non-Western instruments.

Tim Revell, deputy US editor of New Scientist joins Ira to talk through this story, as well as other big science stories of the week, including a big change to YouTube’s algorithm, a new battery breakthrough for electric cars, and the Smokehouse Creek Fire in Texas.

Farmers And Environmentalists Alike Are Excited About Biochar

In a former biomass plant in Greenville, wood chips are flowing from hoppers into long tubes about three feet in diameter.

Pat Jones is the president of Clean Maine Carbon, which burns wood in high-temperature, low-oxygen conditions known as pyrolysis. “It starts out as wood” he said. “And as you can see when we come over here what comes out the other end is biochar.”

In the quest for climate solutions, Jones is among the Maine entrepreneurs banking on this charcoal-like substance. They say it can bind up carbon for decades, and improve agricultural soils at the same time.

The end product has high carbon density, and is very stable, so less of the carbon will be released into the atmosphere than if it were left to decompose. So while Jones is making biochar, his business plan is focused on selling carbon credits to corporations.

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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As Space Exploration Expands, So Will Space Law

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Sophie Bushwick, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Almost 70 years ago—in the middle of the Cold War—the United States and the Soviet Union kicked off the race to space, and that high-stakes sprint transformed humanity’s relationship with space forever. Ultimately the USSR launched the first satellite, Sputnik, and the U.S. put the first humans on the moon.

Now we’re in a different space race. But this time, there are a lot more contenders. There are more satellites in orbit than ever before, NASA is trying to put humans on Mars, countries are still sending landers to the moon, and billionaires are using rockets as tourist vehicles. All this activity raises some serious questions: Who is in charge of space? And who makes the rules?

Journalist Khari Johnson explored these questions in a recent feature for Wired magazine, featuring experts at the forefront of these issues. Guest host Sophie Bushwick is joined by two of them: Dr. Timiebi Aganaba, assistant professor of space and society at Arizona State University, and Dr. Danielle Wood, assistant professor and director of the Space Enabled Research Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. They discuss the role of space lawyers, what cases they may argue, and how the rules of space—and the potential for conflicts—are evolving.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Blood In The Water: Shark Smell Put To The Test

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Wed, 28 Feb 2024 21:17:03 +0000

Sharks are somewhat notorious for their sense of smell and ability to sniff out prey deep in the ocean. There’s that persistent myth that sharks can smell a drop of human blood from a mile away. But that’s not exactly true. While sharks can smell human blood, they are more interested in sniffing out what’s for dinner: other fish, crustaceans, and molluscs. Ocean currents also play a role in how far a scent can travel. However, shark noses are just as powerful as any other fish in the sea.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Lauren Simonitis, a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow in biology at University of Washington and Florida Atlantic University, about her shark nose research, and what questions remain about shark snoots.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Trivia Experts Recall Facts | One Ant Species Sent Ripples Through A Food Web

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

How can some people recall random facts so easily? It may have to do with what else they remember about the moment they learned the information. Also, in Kenya, an invading ant species pushed out ants that protected acacia trees. That had cascading effects for elephants, zebras, lions, and buffalo.

A ‘Jeopardy!’ Winner Studied How Trivia Experts Recall Facts

When contestants play “Jeopardy!,” it can be amazing to see how quickly they seem to recall even the most random, obscure facts. One multi-time “Jeopardy!” contestant, Dr. Monica Thieu, noticed something interesting about the way that she and her fellow contestants were recalling tidbits of information. They weren’t just remembering the facts, but also the context of how they learned them: where they were, what they read, who they were with. Hypothesizing that for trivia superstars, information was strongly tied to the experience of learning it, she put that anecdotal evidence to the test. The results of her research were recently published in the journal Psychonomic Bulletin & Review.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Thieu, a psychology researcher at Emory University, and Dr. Mariam Aly, assistant professor of psychology at Columbia University, and a co-author of the new study. They discuss the psychology of trivia, how to get better at it, and why some people seem to be much more adept at recalling fun trivia facts than others.

See if you can beat a "Jeopardy!" champ on our website!

How One Invading Ant Species Sent Ripples Through A Food Web

When people talk about the interconnectedness of nature, the usual example involves a little fish that eats a bug, a bigger fish that eats the little fish, and an even bigger fish at the top of the chain. But in reality, the interconnected relationships in an ecosystem can be a lot more complicated. That was certainly the case in a recent study, published in the journal Science, which describes how the arrival of an invasive ant species changed the number of zebras that get eaten by lions on the Kenyan savannah.

The unwelcome ant is known as the big-headed ant. It’s on a list of top 100 invasive species around the world. When it arrived on the African savannah, the ant newcomer muscled out a native ant species known as the acacia ant—which, though tiny, was able to help defend acacia trees from being grazed upon by elephants (picture getting a trunkful of angry ants while snacking).

With the trees undefended, hungry elephants feasted, resulting in fewer trees on the savannah and more open space. That made the hunting environment less favorable to stealthy lions, and more favorable to fleet-footed zebras. But to the surprise of the researchers involved with the study, that didn’t mean hungrier lions. Instead, the lions shifted their hunting from targeting zebras to targeting buffalo instead.

Dr. Jacob Goheen and Douglas Kamaru of the University of Wyoming join guest host Sophie Bushwick to describe their research, and how a small ant can have a big effect on an ecosystem.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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OpenAI’s New Product Makes Incredibly Realistic Fake Videos

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Kathleen Davis, Sophie Bushwick) — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

OpenAI, the company behind the chatbot ChatGPT and the image generator DALL-E, unveiled its newest generative AI product last week, called Sora, which can produce extremely realistic video from just a text prompt. In one example released by the company, viewers follow a drone’s-eye view of a couple walking hand-in-hand through snowy Tokyo streets. In another, a woman tosses and turns in bed as her cat paws at her. Unless you’re an eagle-eyed AI expert, it’s nearly impossible to distinguish these artificial videos from those shot by a drone or a smartphone.

Unlike previous OpenAI products, Sora won’t be released right away. The company says that for now, its latest AI will only be available to researchers, and that it will gather input from artists and videographers before it releases Sora to the wider public.

But the fidelity of the videos prompted a polarizing response on social media. Some marveled at how far the technology had come while others expressed alarm at the unintended consequences of releasing such a powerful product to the public—especially during an election year.

Rachel Tobac, an ethical hacker and CEO of SocialProof Security, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about Sora and what it could mean for the rest of us.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Private Spacecraft Makes Historic Moon Landing | New Cloud Seeding Technique

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Sophie Bushwick, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 23 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Private Spacecraft Makes Historic Moon Landing

Thursday evening, the Odysseus moon lander successfully soft-landed on the moon, becoming the first U.S spacecraft to do so in over 50 years. The lander mission wasn’t created by NASA or another government space agency, but by the company Intuitive Machines, making it the first commercial mission to successfully soft-land on the surface of the moon. The mission was part of a NASA program called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which aims to make lunar missions faster and cheaper. There are other commercial moon missions planned for later this year. Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick for an update on the mission.

They’ll also talk about other stories from the week in science, including the move by some automakers toward plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, work on freezing antimatter, a strange meat-rice hybrid, and progress towards a universal snake antivenom.

A New Recipe For Cloud Seeding To Boost Snowfall In Idaho

We’re taught in school that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.

“It usually happens like that in the lake or on the ground,” said Derek Blestrud, a Senior Atmospheric Scientist at Idaho Power.

But the process differs in the sky, he said. Clouds contain supercool water that doesn’t turn to ice until it reaches about -40 degrees F. That is, unless some other substance initiates the freezing.

“Water’s really dumb,” Blestrud likes to say. “It doesn’t know how to freeze unless something else teaches it how to freeze.”

That’s where scientists like Blestrud step in. They help clouds produce more snow through cloud seeding, which involves releasing tiny particles that serve as nuclei for snowflakes to form.

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Making Chemistry More Accessible To Blind And Low-Vision People

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The field of chemistry is filled with visual experiences, from molecular diagrams to color-changing reactions to data displayed as peaks and waves on a spectrograph. Those experiences and representations are not very accessible to blind and low-vision people. In a recent article in the journal Science Advances, a group of researchers describes using 3D printing to create translucent raised images known as lithophanes that can represent high-resolution chemical data in a tactile and visual form simultaneously.

Biochemist Dr. Bryan Shaw joins Ira Flatow to discuss the approach, and other techniques and tools his lab group at Baylor University is developing to make the lab more accessible to blind and low-vision researchers—from specialized devices that assist in the loading of gels for protein electrophoresis, to tiny molecular models that are best experienced by putting them on the tongue.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Understanding And Curbing Generative AI’s Energy Consumption

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 21:05:02 +0000

The explosion of AI-powered chatbots and image generators, like ChatGPT and DALL-E, over the past two years is changing the way we interact with technology. Their impressive abilities to generate lifelike images from written instructions or write an essay on the topic of your choosing can seem a bit like magic.

But that “magic” comes at a steep environmental cost, researchers are learning. The data centers used to power these models consume an enormous amount of not just electricity, but also fresh water to keep everything running smoothly. And the industry shows no signs of slowing down. It was reported earlier this month that Sam Altman, the CEO of leading AI company OpenAI, is seeking to raise about $7 trillion to reshape the global semiconductor industry for AI chip production.

Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Jesse Dodge, research scientist at the Allen Institute for AI, to talk about why these models use so much energy, why the placement of these data centers matter, and what regulations these companies could face.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Which Feathered Dinosaurs Could Fly? | Some French Cheeses At Risk Of Extinction

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

How Do You Know If A Feathered Dinosaur Could Fly?

Not all birds can fly. Penguins, ostriches, and kiwis are some famous examples.

It’s pretty easy to figure out if a living bird can fly. But it’s a bit tricker when it comes to extinct birds or bird ancestors, like dinosaurs. Remember, all birds are dinosaurs, but not all dinosaurs evolved into birds.

Scientists at Chicago’s Field Museum wanted to figure out if there was a way to tell if a dinosaur could fly or not. They found that the number and symmetry of flight feathers are reliable indicators of whether a bird or dinosaur could lift off the ground.

Ira talks with two of the study’s co-authors about their research and how it might help us understand how dinosaur flight evolved. Dr. Yosef Kiat is a postdoctoral researcher and Dr. Jingmai O’Connor is the associate curator of fossil reptiles at The Field Museum in Chicago.

Sacre Bleu! Some French Cheeses At Risk Of Extinction

There’s bad news for the Camembert and brie lovers out there: According to the French National Center for Scientific Research, some beloved soft cheeses are at risk of extinction. The culprit? A lack of microbial diversity in the mold strains used to make Camemberts and bries.

As with many foods, consumers expect the cheese they buy to be consistent over time. We want the brie we buy today to look and taste like the brie we bought three months ago. But there’s a downside to this uniformity—the strain of Penicillium microbes used to make these cheeses can’t reproduce sexually, meaning it must be cloned. That means these microbes are not resilient, and susceptible to errors in the genome. Over the years, P. camemberti has picked up mutations that make it much harder to clone, meaning it’s getting harder to create the bries we know and love.

Joining Ira to talk about this is Benji Jones, senior environmental reporter at Vox based in New York City.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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Climate Scientist Michael Mann Wins Defamation Case

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann won a defamation lawsuit against two conservative writers last week.

The verdict was 12 years in the making. In 2012 writers Rand Simberg and Mark Steyn accused Mann of manipulating his data related to his famous 1998 “hockey stick” graph, which depicts rising global temperatures after the industrial revolution. Simberg compared him to former Penn State football coach and convicted child sex abuser Jerry Sandusky in a blog post for a libertarian think tank. Steyn later referenced Simberg’s article in a National Review piece, calling Mann’s work “fraudulent.”

Reviews by Penn State (Mann’s home institution at the time) and the National Science Foundation, found no scientific wrongdoing. And in fact the iconic graph has since been supported by numerous studies.

What does this ruling signal about the public’s understanding of climate change research? And the limitations of free speech?

Ira talks with Dr. Michael Mann, professor of Earth & environmental science at the University of Pennsylvania and author of Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Odysseus Lander Heads To The Moon | Ohio Chemical Spill, One Year Later

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

If successful, Odysseus will be the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo mission. And, in East Palestine, Ohio, the stream that flows under residents’ houses is still polluted following a train derailment and chemical spill.

Odysseus Lander Is On Its Way To The Moon

Just after 1:00 a.m. on Thursday, February 15, SpaceX successfully launched a commercial spacecraft from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Its destination? The moon. If the lander—named Odysseus—makes it all the way there, it’ll be the first U.S. spacecraft to land on the moon since the Apollo mission, more than 50 years ago.

If successful, this mission will also mark another historic milestone: the first commercial spacecraft to touch down on the moon.

Ira talks with Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, about this latest lunar mission and other science news of the week, including: a satellite to detect methane leaks from space, the development of lithium-sulfur batteries, the first treatment for frostbite, the development of “heart-on-a-chip” devices, a frog with a mushroom growing out of its leg, and how eavesdropping on the love songs of Skywalker gibbons helped scientists estimate their population size.

A Year After Chemical Spill, Ohio Community Is Still Recovering

Christina Siceloff and Randy DeHaven walk down a short bank to Sulphur Run, a creek that winds between houses in East Palestine, Ohio. They make their way to a section of the stream about three-quarters of a mile from where the Norfolk Southern train derailed last February 3rd. Siceloff has brought a shovel, but she doesn’t even need one to show the condition of the stream. She just pushes her rubber boot into the sandy streambed, and an oily sheen erupts out of the muddy bottom, spreading on the top of the brownish-grey water.

“Kind of like what you would see in a puddle at a gas station,” Siceloff said.

Siceloff has brought a mask because the creek water still gives her headaches. For much of the past year, she’s been helping DeHaven and a group of volunteers document the condition of the stream. Siceloff lives a few miles away in Darlington, Pennsylvania, and could see smoke from the 2023 derailment and subsequent fire from her bedroom window. She was sick for five and a half months, as were her father and son.

“I had migraines, congestion, runny nose. I had pressure in my ears, burning in my nose, eyes and throat,” Siceloff said. She now has tremors in her hands, and her eyes twitch. She sneezes in the laundry soap aisle at Walmart and can’t stand the chlorine smell at a swimming pool.

In the days after the derailment and subsequent chemical spill, over 40,000 fish and other species died. DeHaven, who lives in town and has been filming the stream for much of the past year, saw it firsthand. “Most of the frogs were belly up,” DeHaven says. “There was a few fish floating, but a lot of them were just laying on the bottom.”

Now, a year after the derailment, regulators say they have cleaned up the site, and that the air in town is clear.

But the stream running through the middle of town is still contaminated and some in the area still worry about whether the chemicals sitting at the bottom of the stream are going to make their way into peoples’ bodies.

One Crisis After Another: Designing Cities For Resiliency

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, John Dankosky) — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Over the past few years, many cities around the world have changed dramatically as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with shifts in office use and commuting patterns as well as where people choose to live, work, and play. But there are other major changes to communities on the horizon as well—such as the need to adapt to the changing climate and sea level rise, and move urban infrastructure away from dependence on fossil fuels.

Andy Cohen and Diane Hoskins are co-CEOs of Gensler, a global architecture and design firm, and authors of the new book Design for a Radically Changing World. They join guest host John Dankosky to talk about how design can help communities adapt to global crises, and the importance of involving local communities in design decisions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Using Sound To Unpack The History Of Astronomy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, John Dankosky) — Wed, 14 Feb 2024 21:47:01 +0000

Looking into space can be pretty daunting. How do we make sense of the vast expanse above our heads, the millions of stars we might be able to see, and the billions more we can’t?

Now, what about listening to space? That’s the task that Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff gave themselves, for their series “Cosmic Visions.” They’re the team behind “The World According to Sound,” a podcast that’s brought our listeners close to the sounds of science over the last few years.

This new series takes listeners through the history of astronomy and the study of the cosmos, from ancient Babylon to the Hubble Telescope. Harnett and Hoff join guest host John Dankosky to talk about why different ways of knowing are helpful for scientists, how images of nebulae share a striking resemblance to photos of the American West, and what their favorite space sounds are.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Colorectal Cancer Rates Rising In Young People | What An AI Learns From A Baby

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Kathleen Davis, John Dankosky) — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Colorectal Cancer Rates Are Rising In Young People

Gastrointestinal medicine practitioners have noticed something strange in recent years: More and more young people are being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

It used to be incredibly rare for anyone under the age of 50 to be diagnosed with colorectal cancer. Cases were generally limited to people with excess weight who live a sedentary lifestyle. But practitioners are increasingly seeing people in their 40s, 30s, and even 20s without prior risk factors being diagnosed with colorectal cancer.

Jennifer Fijor is one nurse practitioner who has seen this rise in cases firsthand at Virginia Mason Franciscan Health in Seattle, Washington. Jennifer has been spreading awareness about this rise on her social media accounts.

Jennifer speaks with guest host Kathleen Davis about the warning signs of colorectal cancer, such as sudden changes in bowel movements, and how patients can advocate for themselves to get screened early.

What An AI Learns From A Baby’s-Eye View Of The World

There’s a lot to learn in the first couple of years of a child’s life—not the least of which is how to talk. But little kids don’t sit down and study a vocabulary book. They soak up language from daily experiences, which are often filled with parents and caregivers saying things like “look at the kitty cat.” Scientists wondered whether an artificial intelligence model could learn about language using a similar strategy—not by being fed a curated set of pictures and words, but by eavesdropping on the day-to-day activities of a small child.

They found that associating images and sounds from 60 hours of video captured by a camera mounted on a baby’s head could teach a computer model a set of several dozen basic nouns, such as “car,” “cat,” and “ball.” And the learning was generalizable, meaning that the computer was able to properly identify cars and cats that it had not seen before.

Dr. Wai Keen Vong, a research scientist in the Center for Data Science at New York University and one of the authors of a study recently published in the journal Science, joins SciFri’s Kathleen Davis to talk about the research and what it can teach us about learning.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Black Physician’s Analysis Of The Legacy Of Racism In Medicine

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 21:11:25 +0000

Uché Blackstock always knew she wanted to be a doctor. Her mother was a physician at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Uché and her twin sister, Oni, would often visit their mother at work, watching her take care of patients. And they loved to play with their mother’s doctor’s bag.

The sisters went on to become the first Black mother-daughter legacy students to graduate from Harvard Medical School.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Uché Blackstock, emergency physician and founder and CEO of Advancing Health Equity, about her new memoir, Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine.

Read an excerpt from Legacy at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Faraway Planets With Oceans Of Magma | The Art And Science Of Trash Talk

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi, John Dankosky) — Fri, 9 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Hycean planets were thought to be covered by oceans of water, but a new study suggests it could be magma instead. And, author Rafi Kohan explains the psychological and physiological responses to trash talk, ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.

Faraway Planets Could Have Oceans Of Magma

Far beyond our solar system are hycean planets—planets that have hydrogen-rich atmospheres and are covered in giant oceans. Scientists have long believed that those oceans were made of water, but a new study throws a wrench in that idea, suggesting that they could actually be oceans of magma.

SciFri’s John Dankosky talks with Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist based in NYC, about this and other science news of the week, including a new type of thunderstorm, how droughts are affecting the Panama Canal, inhalable nanoparticles that could carry antibiotics, which dog breeds live longest, and a fern whose dying leaves can sprout roots.

The Art And Science Of Trash Talk

As frivolous as it may sound, the use of trash talk has a long, hilarious history that dates back to the Bible and the Homeric poems. Fundamentally, this insult-slinging is the presentation of a challenge, and it’s found its way into sports, politics, and even cutthroat family board game nights.

But there’s a science to trash talk that explains why it’s stuck around all these millennia, the psychology behind it, and how it can either rev up or fluster an opponent.

Just in time for the 2024 Super Bowl, guest host John Dankosky talks with Rafi Kohan, author of Trash Talk: The Only Book About Destroying Your Rivals That Isn’t Total Garbage.

Read an excerpt from Trash Talk at sciencefriday.com.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Is Each Fingerprint On Your Hand Unique? | In This Computer Component, Data Slides Through Honey

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 8 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

A new study uses artificial intelligence to show that each of our ten fingerprints are remarkably similar to one another. Plus, honey could be the secret ingredient in building a more eco-friendly “memristor,” which transmits data through malleable pathways.

Is Each Fingerprint On Your Hand Unique?

We often think about each fingerprint as being completely unique, like a snowflake on the tip of your finger.

But a new study shows that maybe each person’s fingerprints are more similar to each other than we thought. Researchers trained artificial intelligence to identify if a thumbprint and a pinky print came from the same person. They found that each of a person’s ten fingerprints are remarkably similar in the swirly center.

Ira talks with study author Gabe Guo, an undergraduate at Columbia University majoring in computer science, based in New York City.

In This Computer Component, Data Slides Through Honey

A honey bear is probably one of the weirder things you’d see in a science lab, especially in a lab making computer parts.

“It’s just processed, store-bought honey,” said Ph.D. student Zoe Templin. “Off the shelf — a little cute bear so we can put it in photos.”

But for Templin and her colleagues at Washington State University, Vancouver, the honey is key.

“It is cheap and it is easily accessible to everyone,” said master’s student Md Mehedi Hassan Tanim.

The honey also has natural chemical properties that make it a promising foundation for a new kind of environmentally friendly computer component — one that could make computing faster and more energy efficient while reducing the impact on the environment.

Read the rest of this article on sciencefriday.com.

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The FDA Approved The First CRISPR-Based Therapy. What’s Next?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 7 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Last month the FDA approved a new treatment for sickle cell disease, the first medical therapy to use CRISPR gene editing technology. It works by identifying the gene or genes causing the disorder, modifying those genes and then returning them to the patient’s body.

There are now two gene therapies offered by pharmaceutical companies for sickle cell disease: Casgevy from Vertex Pharmaceuticals and CRISPR Therapeutics, and Lyfgenia from BlueBird Bio. But prices for these one-time treatments are steep: Casgevy costs $2.2 million per patient and Lyfgenia $3.1 million.

Both promise a full cure, which would be life-changing for patients with this debilitating condition. Over 100,000 Americans, mostly of African descent, have sickle cell disease.

This milestone raises more questions: What will be the next disease that CRISPR can help cure? And is it possible to reduce the costs of gene therapy treatments?

Ira talks with Dr. Fyodor Urnov, professor of molecular and cell biology and scientific director of technology and translation at the Innovative Genomics Institute, based at the University of California, Berkeley, about the future of CRISPR-based cures.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Protecting The ‘Satan’ Tarantula | If Termites Wore Stripes, Would Spiders Still Eat Them?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 6 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

A team of scientists in Ecuador is on a mission to describe new-to-science tarantula species to help secure conservation protections. And, undergraduate researchers pasted striped capes onto termites’ backs to see if a well-known warning sign would fend off predators.

Protecting The ‘Satan’ Tarantula and Other Lovable Giant Spiders

A team of scientists in Ecuador is on a mission to find and describe species of an understudied, often unpopular group of critters: mygalomorphs, a group of large, stocky spiders that includes tarantulas. In late 2023, two of these researchers published a paper in the journal ZooKeys describing two new-to-science tarantula species, including one named Psalmopoeus satanas—affectionately called the “Satan tarantula” because of its erratic behavior.

Tarantulas are understudied in Ecuador, and there are many species left to describe. They’re also threatened by mining, agriculture, and the illegal pet trade. That’s what led Pedro Peñaherrera-R., a researcher at Universidad San Francisco de Quito to found the Mygalomorphae Research Group. Its members are working to describe these spiders and secure conservation protections before they possibly disappear.

Producer Rasha Aridi talks with Peñaherrera-R. and his co-author and fellow group member Roberto José León about how the Satan tarantula earned its name, how they discover and classify spiders, and why we should all show spiders a little more love.

If Termites Wore Stripes, Would Spiders Still Eat Them?

The animal kingdom is filled with colors and patterns. Sometimes, those colors are to signal to members of an animal’s own species, in a mating display for instance. In other cases, a bright color or vibrant pattern serves as a warning to potential predators—a signal saying “don’t eat me, I’m toxic.” That type of warning coloration, known as aposematism, can be seen in the bright colors of a poison dart frog, or the black, white, and yellow stripes of a monarch butterfly caterpillar.

Bigger animals, like birds, are known to consider that sort of warning signal when hunting. Researchers at the University of Florida were interested in whether jumping spiders might also take that sort of striped warning coloration into account when choosing their prey. To find out, they applied tiny striped capes to the backs of laboratory termites to study whether those stripes affected the behavior of hungry jumping spiders. They found that while the test spiders did notice the striped termites more than termites wearing solid colors, the spiders were less likely to attack striped termites when given the chance to do so.

Behavioral ecologist Dr. Lisa Taylor joins Ira to discuss the purpose of the project—and former lead undergraduate researcher Lauren Gawel describes the challenges of trying to get termites to dress up as superheroes.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Scientists Are Uncovering A World Of ‘Dark Matter’ Carcinogens

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 5 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Cancer, at its core, is a genetic disease: the result of DNA mutations that cause cells to grow out of control and develop tumors. And over the years, scientists have identified certain chemicals, called carcinogens, that are directly linked to those cancer-causing mutations, like those found in cigarettes.

But the rates of some cancers, like colorectal and lung, are rising dramatically in certain populations, leaving scientists to wonder what carcinogens they might be missing, and how traditional models of detecting them are falling short.

Last year, a landmark study published in the journal Nature confirmed a theory that toxicologists and cancer researchers had long suspected: that certain chemicals, like those found in air pollution, may not directly lead to cancerous mutations, but instead prime already vulnerable mutated cells to become cancerous. Some scientists have dubbed these chemicals “dark matter” carcinogens; they know they’re out there, exerting some kind of effect on increasing cancer rates, but they don’t fully understand what these chemicals are.

Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University, wrote about this scientific detective mystery in The New Yorker. This week, he joins Ira to talk about how scientists are rethinking their approach to identifying carcinogens, and why he’s hopeful for the future of cancer research in light of this new paradigm.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Syphilis Cases Up 80% Since 2018 | The Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef In The World

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 2 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

There has been a boom of syphilis cases, including a 180% increase in congenital syphilis cases, despite other STI levels staying stable. Also, the world's largest deep-sea reef stretches for hundreds of miles in near-freezing waters and total darkness, but it’s bustling with life.

Syphilis Cases Are Up 80% Since 2018

Syphilis is rearing its ugly head again in the United States. A new report on sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows a shocking statistic: Cases of syphilis are up by nearly 80% among adults since 2018. Congenital syphilis cases, which occur when an infection is passed from parent to child during pregnancy, are up by more than 180%.

Strangely, cases of other STIs have stayed about the same or decreased in the same timeframe. Rachel Feltman, host of “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” joins Ira to talk about this and other science stories from the week, including the first cases of transmitted Alzheimer’s disease, and why closing the toilet seat doesn’t keep aerosolized viruses from contaminating other bathroom surfaces.

Revealing The Largest Deep-Sea Coral Reef In The World

Scientists recently discovered the largest known deep-sea coral reef in the world. It’s called Million Mounds, and it stretches from Miami, Florida, to Charleston, South Carolina, covering around 6.4 million acres of the seafloor.

Unlike the colorful reefs found in sunlit tropical waters, this one is mostly made up of a stony coral that’s usually found from about 650 to 3,300 feet underwater—depths where it’s very cold and pitch black.

Ira Flatow talks with Dr. Erik Cordes, marine biologist and professor at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who collaborated on the study. They discuss what makes deep-sea corals different from those found in shallower waters, why it’s important to map them, and what it’s like to visit one in a submarine.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Expanding Our Umwelt: Understanding Animal Experiences

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Arielle Duhaime-Ross, D. Peterschmidt, Diana Plasker) — Thu, 1 Feb 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Take a quick moment to think about your surroundings. Tune into your senses, and contemplate what’s happening around you. What do you see, hear, and smell? Now take a moment to imagine: What if you were a bat? How would you experience your environment differently? Maybe you could sense a nearby spider through echolocation, or feel minute changes in air pressure and temperature to know where to fly next. This world of perception is unique to each organism. It’s what scientists call umwelt, from the German word meaning “environment” or “surroundings,” and it is the subject of this month’s SciFri Book Club pick.

Science writer, author, and birder Ed Yong returns to talk about how senses both familiar and foreign to us help animals experience their environment, and to tell us what he’s learned in the past year since his book, An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal The Hidden Realms Around Us (now available in paperback), was published.

The SciFri Book Club read An Immense World together this January, and readers joined Yong and guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross via a live Zoom Call-in for a conversation on how writing about animals changed his experience in nature, how educators can help students become better connected to the Earth, and how readers are still connecting with his work on the umwelten of the animal kingdom.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Signing Characters Help Deaf Children Learn Language

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

This radio interview is an abbreviated version of the full video interview, available with ASL interpretation on Youtube.

Think back to your favorite childhood TV show—was it “Blue’s Clues”? “Little Bear”? “Winnie the Pooh”? Animated TV shows are important for kids because they can teach them to read, draw, spell, and talk. Plus, the ways these shows tell stories and create colorful, fictitious worlds can broaden children’s knowledge and capacity to imagine.

But children’s shows aren’t accessible to all deaf children, which means they could miss out on a common learning experience. Among other things, that can set kids back in learning both American Sign Language (ASL) and English language skills during their formative early childhood years.

Melissa Malzkuhn is third-generation Deaf and the founder and director of the Motion Light Lab at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. Her lab is creating ASL-focused children’s media that is made by and for the Deaf community, using motion capture technology, avatars, animation, and signing storytellers. She talks with guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross about ASL access in childhood, the science of learning, and how she’s creating “Here Comes Mavo!”—the first animated TV series with signing characters.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Mysterious’ Canine Illness: What Dog Owners Should Know

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Over the past few months, there have been reports about a mysterious canine respiratory illness. It’s easy to get a little scared: Some dogs are developing a severe illness that lasts a long time and doesn’t respond to treatment. And in some cases, dogs have died.

In the age of social media, it’s hard to know just how widespread this actually is, and how it compares to a more familiar canine illness like kennel cough. Joining guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to break down this potential new pathogen are Dr. Deborah Silverstein, professor of critical care medicine at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, and Dr. David Needle, a pathologist at the New Hampshire Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory and a clinical associate professor at the University of New Hampshire.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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An App For People Of Color To Rate Their Birthing Experiences | How Different Animals See

Mon, 29 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Irth is a “Yelp-like” app to help expectant parents make informed decisions by exposing bias and racism in healthcare systems. Also, a new video camera system shows the colors of the natural world as different animals see them.

An App For People Of Color To Rate Their Birthing Experiences

For some patients, finding a good doctor can be as simple as looking up a doctor’s degrees and accolades. But for people who are more likely to experience discrimination in a medical setting—perhaps due to their gender, disability, sexual orientation or race—credentials only tell half the story. So how do you know where to go? And who to trust?

One app aims to help Black and brown parents-to-be make informed decisions about where they choose to give birth. Black people who give birth in the United States are far more likely than their white counterparts to experience mistreatment in hospitals, develop complications, or die due to childbirth.

Irth allows parents to leave reviews about how their birthing experience went, like: Did doctors and nurses listen to them? Was their pain taken seriously? Did they develop complications that could’ve been prevented?

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with Kimberly Seals Allers—journalist, activist, and founder of Irth—about why she founded the app and how it can help people.

You can learn more about Irth and download the app on their website.

Are Roses Red, And Violets Blue? Depends On Your Species

Over the millenia, animal eyes have evolved along different paths, adding or subtracting capabilities as they adapt to specific niches in the world. The result of all that evolution is that a bee, bird, or bull doesn’t see the world the same way you do. There are differences in the spatial resolution different animals can see, in the speed of their visual response, in the depth of focus, and in the way they process color.

Dogs, for instance, can’t really see red—their vision is best at seeing things that are blue or yellow. Birds and bees can see into the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, making a flower look quite different from the way humans perceive it.

This week, researchers published details of a video camera system that tries to help make sense of the way different animals view color. By combining different cameras, various filters, and a good dose of computer processing, they can simulate what a given video clip might look like to a specific animal species. It’s work that’s of interest to both biologists and filmmakers. Dr. Daniel Hanley, one of the researchers on the project and an assistant professor of biology at George Mason University, joins guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to describe the system and its capabilities.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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NASA Opens Canister With Asteroid Sample | ADHD Prescription Rates Spiked During The Pandemic

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Arielle Duhaime-Ross) — Fri, 26 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Engineers had to design bespoke tools to open the OSIRIS-REx capsule nearly four months after it arrived back on Earth. Also, prescription rates for ADHD drugs rose by 30% from 2020-2022, with large increases among women and young people.

NASA Finally Opens Canister Containing Asteroid Sample

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx was the first U.S. mission to retrieve fragments of an asteroid, which arrived in September 2023. There was just one small issue: NASA technicians couldn’t open the capsule, which held space rocks from an asteroid called Bennu. NASA announced this week that they finally managed to open the capsule on January 10. Engineers designed new tools to remove the final two of 35 fasteners, which would not budge.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross talks with Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead for Carbon Plan, about the asteroid capsule and other top science news of the week, including chimpanzees catching human colds, advances toward a cure for autoimmune disorders and honeybee crimes.

ADHD Prescription Rates Spiked During The Pandemic–Why?

The rate of prescriptions for ADHD medications rose by 30% during the height of the pandemic, from 2020 to 2022. Most of these new prescriptions were given to people between the ages of 20 and 39. And the prescription rate for those assigned female at birth, including women and some trans people, doubled during this time as well, according to a recent study. Prescriptions for anxiety and depression medications did not rise at a similarly high rate during that time.

While it’s still not entirely clear what led to this dramatic increase, experts point to several contributing factors: The pandemic changed routines and made lifelong ADHD symptoms more apparent, content creators on social media platforms like TikTok increased awareness of symptoms, and a proliferation of online pharmacies expedited diagnosis and prescriptions for ADHD medications like Adderall.

Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross speaks with Dr. Julia Schechter, co-director of Duke University’s Center for Girls & Women with ADHD, to make sense of these trends.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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AI Helps Find Ancient Artifacts In The Great Lakes | An Artist Combines Indigenous Textiles With Modern Tech

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Researchers in Michigan modeled a prehistoric land bridge and used AI to predict where caribou–and humans–might have traveled along it. Also, artist Sarah Rosalena uses Indigenous weaving, ceramics, and sculpture practices to create art that challenges tech’s future.

Using AI To Help Find Ancient Artifacts In The Great Lakes

At the bottom of Lake Huron there’s a ridge that was once above water. It’s called the Alpena Amberley Ridge and goes from northern Michigan to southern Ontario. Nine thousand years ago, people and animals traveled this corridor. But then the lake rose, and signs of life were submerged.

Archaeologists were skeptical they’d ever find artifacts from that time. But then John O’Shea, an underwater archaeologist based at the University of Michigan, found something. It was an ancient caribou hunting site. O’Shea realized he needed help finding more. The ridge is about 90 miles long, 9 miles wide and 100 feet underwater.

“Underwater research is always like a needle in a haystack,” said O’Shea. “So any clues you can get that help you narrow down and focus … is a real help to us.”

That’s where artificial intelligence comes in. He teamed up with computer scientist Bob Reynolds from Wayne State University, one of the premier people creating archaeological simulations. And Reynolds and his students created a simulation with artificially intelligent caribou to help them make predictions.

An Artist Combines Indigenous Textiles With Modern Tech

When multidisciplinary artist Sarah Rosalena looks at a loom, she thinks about computer programming. “It’s an extension of your body, being an algorithm,” she says.

But for Rosalena, there is tension and anxiety in her decision to combine new and ancient mediums. “We’re at this point of the technological frontier and that’s actually terrifying for a lot of people, especially for people from my background and my Wixárika background,” she says. “It’s progress for some, but it’s not for all.”

Part of Rosalena’s work is anticipating future forms of colonization, especially amid rapid change in our planet’s climate and the rise of AI. “What happens when we bring traditional craft or Indigenous techniques with emerging technology to think about current issues that we are facing? Digital technologies are always chasing after ways that we could simulate our reality, which also produces this way that we could re-envision our reality,” she says.

SciFri producer and host of our podcast Universe Of Art D. Peterschmidt sat down with Rosalena to talk about how she approaches her work, why she collaborates with scientists, and how she hopes her art makes people consider today’s technological advancements through an Indigenous lens.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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When The ‘Personal’ Computer Turned 30

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

When Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple Macintosh in January of 1984, the visual user interface, all-in-one design, and mouse-controlled navigation were revolutionary. Design team member Andy Hertzfeld and industry observer Steven Levy look back on the early days of personal computing, and talk about how the Macintosh came to be.

Transcripts for each segment are available on sciencefriday.com

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How The Moon Transformed Life On Earth, From Climate to Timekeeping

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Ira Flatow, Sophie Bushwick) — Tue, 23 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Ira Flatow and guest host Sophie Bushwick chat with journalist and author Rebecca Boyle about how the moon came to be, how it transformed life on Earth, and how our relationship with it is changing.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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From Scans To Office Visits: How Will AI Shape Medicine?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Researchers continue to test out new ways to use artificial intelligence in medicine.

Some research shows that AI is better at reading mammograms than radiologists. AI can predict and diagnose disease by analyzing the retina, and there’s even some evidence that GPT-4 might be helpful in making challenging diagnoses, ones missed by doctors.

However, these applications can come with trade-offs in security, privacy, cost, and the potential for AI to make medical mistakes.

Ira and guest host Sophie Bushwick talk about the role of AI in medicine and take listener calls with Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute and professor of molecular medicine, based in La Jolla, California.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Rhesus Monkey Cloned With Modified Approach Has Survived Into Adulthood

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Sophie Bushwick, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 19 Jan 2024 21:19:27 +0000

This week, a research team in China reported that it had successfully cloned a rhesus monkey, which has lived normally for over two years and reached maturity. It marks the first time that a rhesus monkey has been successfully cloned. Rhesus monkeys are used widely in medical research, making the advance potentially useful for medical trials.

Cloning of primates in general has been difficult. Six years ago researchers cloned long-tailed macaques using the technique originally used for Dolly the cloned sheep. But an attempt to use that approach to clone a rhesus was unsuccessful, producing an animal that died after 12 hours. In the new work, the research team identified flaws in placental cells of previous cloned embryos. To address those flaws, they replaced the outer trophoblast cells from a developing cloned embryo with ones from an embryo created through an in-vitro fertilization technique—essentially providing cells that would develop into a normal placenta for the cloned embryo.

Tim Revell of New Scientist joins Ira to talk about the work and its implications. They’ll also discuss other stories from the week in science, including the discovery of lots of ice buried under Mars’ equator, an AI that’s good at solving high school math challenges, and the discovery of four new species of octopus.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com

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3,000 Types Of Brain Cells Categorized In Massive Brain Cell Atlas

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In October 2023, an international group of scientists released an impressively detailed cell atlas of the human brain, published in 21 papers in the journals Science, Science Advances and Science Translational Medicine.

The human brain has roughly 171 billion cells, which makes it a herculean task to categorize them all. Scientists collected samples from different parts of the brain and have identified 3,000 different types of cells. Each cell contains thousands of genes and each cell type only expresses a small fraction of those. Cataloging cells by their gene expressions, paves the way for scientists to tailor disease treatments to target only the affected cells. This human brain cell atlas is only the first draft, but it could signal a paradigm shift in how we understand and treat neurological diseases.

Ira talks with one of the researchers who helped put together the cell atlas, Dr. Ed Lein, senior investigator at the Allen Institute for Brain Science, and takes listener calls.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Brain ‘Organoids’: Lab-Grown Cell Clusters Model Brain Functions

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Brain organoids are grown in a lab using stem cells, and can mimic the functions of different regions of the brain like the cortex, retina, and cerebellum. Though it may sound a bit like science fiction, this technology is increasingly being used to better understand brain disorders and eventually develop better treatments.

Ira talks with neuroscientist Dr. Giorgia Quadrato, assistant professor of stem cell biology and regenerative medicine at the University of Southern California, about the state of brain organoid research and her model that mimics the cerebellum.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Lasting Allure Of Shackleton’s ‘Endurance’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 16 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In a conversation from March 2023, the maritime archeologist who found the storied wreck discusses the mission and his new book.

There are few stories about heroic survival equal to Sir Ernest Shackleton’s Antarctic rescue of his crew, which turned disaster into triumph. In August of 1914, 28 men set sail from England to the South Pole. Led by Shackleton himself, the group hoped to be the first to cross Antarctica by foot. However, their ship, the Endurance, became stuck in ice. It sank to the bottom of the frigid Antarctic waters, leaving most of the men stranded on a cold, desolate ice floe.

Shackleton, with five of his crew, set out in a small boat to bring help from hundreds of miles away. Finally, after many months of fighting the cold, frostbite and angry seas, Shackleton was able to rescue all his men with no loss of life.

Over the years, there have been many attempts to find the Endurance shipwreck. None were successful until a year ago, when the wreck was located for the first time since it sank back in 1915. Ira is joined by Mensun Bound, maritime archeologist and the director of exploration on the mission that found the Endurance. His new book, The Ship Beneath the Ice: The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance, is out now.

View more images of Shackleton’s last expedition from the Library of Congress.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How Close Are We To Answers About Aliens?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The idea of creatures from another planet is part of our culture, from the warnings of the alien in “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” to the plaintive desire to return home in “E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial,” to the hulking creature of “Nope.” Aliens appear in movies, books, comics, you name it. But are they more than science fiction? And if they were, how would scientists prove it?

The government has investigated reports of alien sightings, including in Project Blue Book, which ran from 1947 to 1969. And last summer, congressional hearings into Navy pilots’ sightings of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs) brought the search for intelligent life back into the public eye. But there’s more to the search for alien life than people spotting lights in the sky. Projects such as Breakthrough Listen are surveying the stars for signals. Advanced telescopes such as JWST are enabling us to collect data on the atmospheres of exoplanets, a first step in detecting biosignatures on distant worlds. And astrobiology projects such as the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission are looking for signs of ancient life elsewhere in our own solar system.

Dr. Adam Frank, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Rochester and author of The Little Book of Aliens, joins hosts Ira Flatow and Kathleen Davis to talk about the evidence for life elsewhere in the universe, and how scientists might go about trying to answer the question of whether we’re alone.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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NASA Delays Crewed Moon Missions | Top Technologies To Watch In 2024

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Casey Crownhart, D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 12 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

With this week’s delays to Artemis II and III, astronauts likely won’t walk on the moon until 2026 at the earliest. Also, weight-loss drugs, AI, clean-energy tech and more: digging into MIT Technology Review’s annual list with executive editor Amy Nordrum.

NASA Once Again Delays Artemis Crewed Missions To the Moon

This week, NASA announced that it was delaying two of its planned crewed missions to the moon. Artemis II, which was scheduled to launch in November 2024, was pushed to September 2025. And Artemis III, originally planned for late 2025, is now looking at a September 2026 launch date. The Artemis campaign has faced challenges with its lunar landers, spacesuits, life-support systems, and the Orion capsule’s heat shield, according to NASA. When launched, Artemis II will swing around the moon and return to Earth, while Artemis III will land on the south pole of the moon, and will mark the first time humans have walked on the moon since 1972.

Joining Ira to talk about this and other top science stories in the news this week is Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at MIT Technology Review. They talk about challenges facing the offshore wind industry, a Hawai‘i coal plant that was replaced by a battery farm, why AI weather forecasting is not ready for primetime, and a new discovery that giant apes went extinct earlier than we thought—and for a different reason.

Top Technologies To Watch In 2024

The technology world moves so fast, it can be hard to know what to pay attention to. Sometimes it’s helpful for someone to tell you straight up who the big players are, and what technologies really could change the world.

Luckily for us, MIT Technology Review compiles an annual list of the 10 breakthrough technologies they say matter most. This year, that list ranges from super-efficient solar panels to weight-loss drugs, and AI in just about everything.

Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to discuss this year’s list is Amy Nordrum, executive editor at MIT Technology Review based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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To Get Ready For Mars, NASA Studies How The Body Changes In Space

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

It’s no longer just the realm of science fiction: It’s possible that in our lifetimes, astronauts will go to Mars. NASA is doing a lot of technological preparation for this, but the key to the success of these missions will be the astronauts involved. As Mars space missions will require months or even years on the red planet, the agency wants to better understand how our bodies are affected by time in space.

NASA recently launched the Complement of Integrated Protocols for Human Exploration Research, or CIPHER. This is a suite of 14 studies astronauts will undergo on the International Space Station, measuring everything from bone health to brain activity to vision changes.

Joining Ira to talk about CIPHER and the hopes for health data collection is Dr. Cherie Oubre, CIPHER project scientist in NASA’s human research program based in Houston, Texas.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Science Journalism Is Shrinking–Along With Public Trust In Science

Wed, 10 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

In 2023, a flood of science journalists lost their jobs. At the same time, public trust in science continues to decline.

Last year was a tough one for science journalism. National Geographic laid off all of its staff reporters, and Wired laid off 20 people. And the most recent blow came in November, when Popular Science announced it would stop publishing its magazine after a 151-year run, and laid off the majority of its staff.

Beyond talented journalists losing their jobs, many people seem to be losing trust in science in general. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that only 57% of Americans think science has a mostly positive effect on society, down considerably since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Is the waning trust in science reflected in the shrinking of science journalism?

Ira talks about the current state of science journalism with Deborah Blum, science journalist, author, publisher of Undark magazine, and director of the Knight Science Journalism Program at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Sabrina Imbler, author and science reporter for Defector.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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(Part 2) Endangered Species Act At 50: Orchids And Red Wolves

Tue, 9 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Continuing our exploration of the Endangered Species Act (ESA) at its 50th anniversary, we'll look at how it has helped protect a group of at-risk plants: orchids. Eight species of orchid are recognized as endangered under the ESA—and all of the world’s approximately 30,000 species are considered threatened, and entitled to trade restrictions. Ira speaks with Dr. Matthew Pace, orchid scientist and assistant curator of the Steere Herbarium at the New York Botanical Garden, about threats to orchid conservation.

And finally, Ira speaks with Dr. Ron Sutherland, chief scientist at the Wildlands Network in Durham, North Carolina. Sutherland has an extensive background in red wolf conservation in the southeastern United States.

Red wolves are one of the most endangered mammals in the world, with only an estimated 20 living in the wild and 267 in captivity. They discuss the dramatic swings in federal conservation efforts for red wolves, and why Sutherland isn’t ready to give up on this endangered species.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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(Part 1) Endangered Species Act at 50: Hawaiian Land Snails

Mon, 8 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

On December 28, 2023, the Endangered Species Act (ESA) turned 50 years old. It was enacted in 1973 with almost unanimous support in Congress, with a goal to save plants and animals from extinction. It’s considered one of the most important environmental policies in US history, and it transformed conservation. It may have even helped save one of your favorite critters, like humpback whales, bald eagles, manatees, and grizzly bears.

To mark the ESA’s 50th birthday, we’re looking at how it works, how successful it’s been, and what its future may look like. Ira starts off by talking with Dr. Judy Che-Castaldo, biologist for the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Branch of Species Status Assessment Science Support.

Then, we head to the extinction capital of the world: Hawai‘i. Kāhuli, also known as Hawaiian land snails, live all over the Hawaiian islands. At one point, around 750 species existed, but more than half have gone extinct. Ira talks with two conservationists dedicated to saving the snails: Dr. David Sischo, coordinator of the Hawai‘i Snail Extinction Prevention Program, and Keahi Bustamente, Maui Nui field coordinator for the program.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Solar Activity Flares Up In 2024 | Underground Hydrogen Reserves And Clean Energy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Fri, 5 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Look out for a total solar eclipse, more solar flares, and the Parker Solar Probe’s closest approach to the sun. Also, underground hydrogen stores have raised renewable energy hopes, but can the industry overcome the logistical hurdles of distributing it?

Solar Activity Flares Up In 2024

Look out 2024—this is going to be the sun’s year (for science, at least). There will be a total solar eclipse on April 8, and scientists are seeking volunteers to help them observe the event. Researchers also expect an uptick in solar activity—that means more sunspots and solar flares, which could increase the amount of auroras the Earth experiences and also might disrupt satellites and power systems on the ground. Plus, NASA’s Parker Solar probe is on track to make its closest pass to the sun yet in December, a mere 3.8 million miles from its surface.

Umair Irfan, staff writer with Vox, sits down with Ira to talk about these and other science stories from this week, including why greenhouse gas emissions might actually start to fall this year, research showing that apes are able to recognize each other after decades apart, and the discovery of an enzyme that makes your pee yellow.

Could Underground Hydrogen Reserves Put Clean Energy Within Reach?

In 1987, a crew in the village of Bourakébougou, Mali, was digging for water. After drilling 108 meters deep, they still hadn’t found any, but the resulting borehole produced a steady stream of wind. When a driller lit a cigarette near the hole, the wind ignited, burning the worker. It took weeks for the crew to put out the blue flame, which produced no smoke, and they eventually capped the hole. It remained sealed until 2012 when a local oil and gas company reexamined it and found that the original crew had stumbled upon an underground store of naturally occurring hydrogen. They converted a Ford engine to burn the gas and soon connected it to a generator, providing electricity for the village.

Hydrogen has long been touted as a source of renewable energy with the potential to replace fossil fuels to power transportation and factories. When burned, its only output is water—with no carbon emissions—making it extremely attractive as a clean energy source. But producing commercial hydrogen involves splitting water molecules into their hydrogen and oxygen components, an energy-intensive process typically powered by fossil fuels.

But splitting water isn’t the only way to get hydrogen: It also occurs naturally in underground reservoirs when water heated by the planet’s mantle mixes with iron-rich rocks. The oil and gas industry hasn’t prioritized the search for these underground stores of hydrogen, but more of them have been found lately, including a potentially massive one in Lorraine, France that was discovered last year.

Dr. Geoffrey Ellis, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey, joins Ira to talk about hydrogen’s potential as a clean fuel, why finding stores of it has been a lower priority than finding oil and natural gas, and the hurdles the industry faces as it aims to expand.

Correction: In the original interview about hydrogen reserves, our guest stated that there may be as much as 500 million megatons of hydrogen in the Earth’s crust. This number is incorrect, the actual estimate is 5 million megatons. The audio has been updated to reflect the correct number.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs onsciencefriday.com.

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SciFri Reads ‘The Alchemy Of Us’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker, Ainissa Ramirez) — Thu, 4 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

You may have an idea of how our inventions have changed human history and transformed our relationship with the world. But the reverse can also be true. Hear from materials scientist Ainissa Ramirez, author of The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another, on the way our values and stories are baked into the things we create—and the lesser-known people who have helped bring them into reality.

This event was a part of the SciFri Book Club read for November 2023.

Watch the live zoom event on Youtube.
Find out more about our book club on our main page.

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SciFri Reads ‘The Kaiju Preservation Society’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker) — Wed, 3 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

What does it take to write a believable kaiju—as well as a charming group of scientists and explorers—onto the page? The SciFri Book Club invited John Scalzi, award-winning author of our August 2023 pick, The Kaiju Preservation Society, to discuss worldbuilding on an alternative Earth; combining ecology, biology and cultural touchpoints to create new giants; and how he used a lifetime of scientific curiosity to write a sci-fi romp in five weeks during a global pandemic.

This event was a part of the SciFri Book Club read for August 2023.
Watch the live zoom event on Youtube.
Find out more about our book club on our main page.

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Star Trek’s Science Advisor Reveals The Real Astrophysics On Screen

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 2 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Few pop culture properties have lasted quite as long as Star Trek. A dozen Star Trek television shows have aired over the last sixty years—not to mention countless movies, novels, and comic books.

Science concepts have always been integral to the Star Trek franchise: from warp speed travel to dilithium. But how much does the series accurately depict?

Ira speaks with astrophysicist Dr. Erin Macdonald, science consultant for Star Trek about the legacy of the franchise, and how accurate the science is within the series.

The transcript for this segment is available at sciencefriday.com.

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A Mathematician Asks ‘Is Math Real?’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 1 Jan 2024 21:00:00 +0000

The concept of math has been around for a long time, developing independently in many different cultures. In 1650 BC, the Egyptians were creating math textbooks on papyrus, with multiplication and division tables. Geometry, like the Pythagorean theorem, was used in ancient Greece. And negative numbers were invented in China around 200 BC.

Some mathematical concepts are easier to understand than others. One apple plus one apple equals two apples, for example. But when it comes to complex equations, negative numbers, and calculus, concepts become abstract. All that abstraction prompts some to wonder: Is math even real?

Mathematician Dr. Eugenia Cheng has heard this question many times over her career. The quandary is the basis of her latest book, Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths. She joins Ira from Chicago, Illinois.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Unmasking Owls’ Mysteries | Why It Feels So Good To Eat Chocolate

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Unmasking Owls’ Mysteries

Don’t let owls’ cute faces fool you—they’re deadly predators. This duality is part of what makes them so mysterious to humans. And their contradictions don’t end there: Their hoots are among the most distinctive bird sounds, yet owls are nearly silent when gliding through the air to catch their prey.

Scientists are learning more about why owls are such good predators—how their hearing and night vision are so sharp, and their flight so silent. With new technology, researchers are also decoding owl communications, increasing our understanding of their social structures and mating habits.

John Dankosky talks about all things owls with Jennifer Ackerman, author of the new book, What An Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds.

Why It Feels So Good To Eat Chocolate

When you eat a piece of good chocolate, chances are you don’t just bite down and chew away. There’s a good chance you hold the chocolate in your mouth for a moment, feeling the silkiness as it softens, melting into a molten mass and mixing with your saliva. That gradual phase change process—as fats in the chocolate melt from solid to liquid—is a big part of the chocolate mouthfeel experience.

Researchers at Leeds University in the UK have constructed an artificial tongue that doesn’t focus on the taste of a food, but rather its texture, and how that texture changes over time. Using the artificial tongue, they explored the textures of materials that can change phase in the mouth, such as chocolate, butter, and ice cream.

They reported their findings in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces. The researchers found that in dark chocolate, the sensation in the mouth is governed largely by the fat content, as the surface of the chocolate begins to soften. A few moments later, as the chocolate melts completely and mixes with saliva, the fat content of the treat is less important to the mouthfeel experience.

Dr. Anwesha Sarkar, an author of the report, joins Ira to talk about the research, the challenge of designing a lower-fat chocolate that might exploit these findings, and the importance of learning about textures to determine why people like—and don’t like—certain foods.

Transcripts for each segment are available on sciencefriday.com.

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SciFri Reads ‘The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

The editors of this year’s The Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology—and special guest journalists and writers—took to the virtual stage to reflect on their favorite stories from 2023, the biggest news from this year in science, and the future of scientific discovery and journalism.

The guests:

Carl Zimmer is the author of many science books, including Life’s Edge: The Search of What it Means to Be Alive and She Has Her Mother’s Laugh. He’s also the guest editor of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023, and is based in New York, NY.
Jaime Green is a science writer and author of The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and Our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos. She is also the series editor of The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023, and is based in Connecticut.
Marion Renault is a health and science writer based in Grenoble, France. Their essay, A French Village’s Radical Vision of a Good Life with Alzheimer’s, is featured in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023.
Maryn McKenna is a senior fellow at Emory University’s Center for the Study of Human Health, a former senior writer at Wired, and the author of many books, including Big Chicken, Superbug, and Beating Back the Devil. Her essay, The Provincetown Breakthrough, is featured in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2023

This event was a part of the SciFri Book Club read for December 2023.

Watch the live zoom event on Youtube.
Find out more about our book club on our main page.

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The Unseen World Of Seaweeds | Should 'Dark Fungi' Species Get Names?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 27 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

The Unseen World Of Seaweeds

Chances are you don’t give much thought to seaweed unless you’re at the beach, or perhaps when you’re considering a dinner menu. But the thousands of seaweed species around the world are a key part of our coastal ecosystems.

Seaweeds photosynthesize, provide food and shelter for marine animals, stabilize the coastlines, and even contribute to making your ice cream creamier (through an ingredient called carrageenans, extracted from red seaweeds in the Rhodophyceae family). Increasingly, they’re also being investigated as a source of biofuels and as biological factories, due to their fast-growing nature.

Dr. John Bothwell, a phycologist at Durham University in the UK, has written a book in praise of seaweeds. In Seaweeds of the World: A Guide To Every Order, he highlights beautiful, unusual, and important species from each of the three seaweed lineages—green, red, and brown. In this segment, he talks with SciFri’s Charles Bergquist about some of his favorite species, where the seaweeds fit into the web of life, and the importance of seaweeds to the global ecosystem.

“Dark Fungi” Species Don’t Get Names. Should They?

Scientists have collected DNA samples of thousands of new fungus species over the past several decades. These fragments of fungal DNA are found nearly everywhere—in soil, decomposing logs, water, and even in the air. Mycologists have enough data to place these new species within the fungal family tree, but haven’t collected physical samples of them or been able to grow them in a lab. This means that according to the International Code of Nomenclature for algae, fungi, and plants, these new species cannot receive scientific names.

How can you understand a fungus that has no name? SciFri producer Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with fungal taxonomist Dr. David Hibbett, professor of biology at Clark University, about a proposal to give these “dark fungi” scientific names, and why naming living things might help us better protect the Earth’s biodiversity.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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How 'Panda Diplomacy' Led To Conservation Success

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Aja Drain, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 26 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

In 1972, pandas arrived at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, DC, to huge fanfare. Since then, pandas have been some of the city’s most beloved residents.

But for the first time in more than 50 years, DC is panda-free—indefinitely. Mama panda Mei Xiang, papa bear Tian Tian, and their youngest cub Xiao Qi Ji returned to China in November when their leases ended. This is possible because all but a few pandas residing outside of China are on loan through agreements with the country.

It’s not just the National Zoo waving its pandas goodbye—the Memphis Zoo’s single panda returned to China in April, and Zoo Atlanta’s pandas will go later in 2024. The news of the pandas’ departure seemed sudden, and it stirred up some questions: Why are the pandas leaving? And why now?

The news resurfaced the idea of panda diplomacy—how China introduced pandas to the world by loaning them out to other countries and using them as a symbol of cooperation.

SciFri producer Rasha Aridi and freelance journalist Aja Drain look back at 80 years of panda conservation, and how panda diplomacy paved the way for groundbreaking science. And they try to answer the multi-million dollar question: Was it all worth it?

This story was produced by Rasha Aridi, with help from Aja Drain. Edited by John Dankosky, with help from D. Peterschmidt and Emma Gometz. All our music and sound design is by D. Peterschmidt.

Special thanks to the experts we spoke with: Dr. Chee Meng Tan, Dr. Pierre Comizzoli, Dr. Mel Songer, Michael Brown-Palsgrove, Dr. Rich Bergl, Dr. Jack Liu, Dr. Binbin Li, as well as Dr. E. Elena Songster, environmental historian at Saint Mary’s College of California, and Dr. Carolyn Lin, professor of communication at the University of Connecticut.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Music’s Emotional Power Can Shape Memories—And Your Perception Of Time

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis) — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

It can be hard to avoid the chime of classic Christmas songs at this time of year. Certain songs may even bring up potent memories, transporting a person to a specific moment in the past, like an afternoon baking cookies as a child, or warming up after playing in the snow.

Music, when coupled with emotion, has the ability to create powerful memories. And listening to songs associated with specific memories can almost feel like going back in time.

Better understanding how this mechanism works is the work of Assistant Professor Dr. David Clewett and PhD candidate Mason McClay, both in UCLA’s cognitive psychology department. They talk with SciFri producer Kathleen Davis about how this method could be used to improve therapies for PTSD and other memory disorders.

Transcripts for this segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Pennsylvania Drug Laws May Limit Syringe Services | These Romance Novels Represent Black Women In Science

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt) — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Pennsylvania Drug Laws May Limit Syringe Services

Pennsylvania is one of 12 states that do not implicitly or explicitly authorize syringe services programs through statute or regulation, according to a recent analysis. They are widely considered to be illegal outside of Allegheny County and Philadelphia, where officials have for decades used local health power to grant legal protection to people who operate syringe services programs.

These programs have widespread support in the medical community, and expanding them is listed as one of nine “Core Strategies” for the tens of billions of dollars coming to states as part of settlements with drug companies for their role in allegedly fueling the opioid epidemic. A coalition of state attorneys general reached the agreements with the companies.

Pennsylvania expects to receive more than $1.6 billion in opioid settlement funds, but the state’s ban makes it significantly harder for the money to directly support expanding syringe services in many places.

Some supporters of syringe services programs operate underground. Carla Sofronski, executive director of the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Network, said she’s not aware of anyone ever facing criminal charges for doing so in the state, but noted the threat hangs over them, and they are taking a “great risk.”

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

These Romance Novels Represent Black Women In Science

The fields of science, technology, engineering, and math (also known as STEM) are not particularly diverse. And despite a gradual uptick in diversity over the last decade, a 2023 report from the National Science Foundation showed that only 24% of people in these industries are Hispanic, Black, or Native American.

Dr. Carlotta Berry is working to change that, taking an untraditional approach to encourage people from marginalized backgrounds to enter the sciences. She is, as she puts it, an engineering professor by day and romance novelist by night. Working under the pen name Carlotta Ardell, she writes youth-friendly romance novels featuring Black protagonists who work in STEM fields.

SciFri producer and host of the Universe Of Art podcast D. Peterschmidt sat down with Dr. Berry, who is a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, to talk about how she got started on this journey and why she wants to make STEM a little steamier.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Flame Retardant From Cocoa Pod Husks | The Oozy Physics Of Oobleck

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Emma Lee Gometz) — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Flame Retardant Could Be Made From Discarded Cocoa Husks

On cocoa farms around the world, cocoa beans are pulled from their pods, and the hard husks are discarded, leaving 20 million tons of plant waste to biodegrade and potentially harm future crops. These husks are a source of lignin, a substance that gives plants their rigidity. It’s extremely abundant—but often wasted.

A new study published in the journal ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering found that the lignin processed from leftover cocoa pod husks could have a new use as an ingredient in flame retardant.

“Lignin is pretty special, as it is very soluble in organic solvents,” said study co-author Dr. Nicholas Westwood, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at St. Andrews University in Scotland, in an email. This means lignin can be chemically manipulated to create a number of useful substances relatively easily.

Because of lignin’s malleability, Westwood and his coauthors were able to add a flame-retardant molecule to the processed substance, and found that the modification increased its already naturally high ability to smother flames.

That’s just one possible application. While lignin hasn’t found widespread industrial use yet, scientists hold hope for it to become a greener alternative for fuel and a biodegradable plastic instead of just being leftovers. Processing biomass for food or fuel also produces a massive amount of lignin as a byproduct, which has been converted to materials like activated charcoal or carbon foam. “There are endless possibilities,” Westwood said.

Joining Ira to talk about lignin and its potential uses is Dr. Rigoberto Advincula, a materials scientist with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.

The Oozy Physics Of Oobleck

You may be familiar with a common science demonstration done in classrooms: If you mix cornstarch and water together in the right proportions, you create a gooey material that seems to defy the rules of physics. It flows like a liquid, but when you try to handle it quickly, it stiffens up.

This kind of material is called an oobleck, and it’s a type of non-Newtonian fluid, meaning its viscosity changes under pressure or stress. Oobleck-like materials include human-made things like Silly Putty and paint, but are also found in nature; blood and quicksand are both non-Newtonian fluids.

For a long time, it’s been hard to prove exactly why these materials act the way they do. But recently, scientists developed a better understanding of the underlying physics. A new study conducted in collaboration between the James Franck Institute and Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago was able to demonstrate this mechanism.

“The findings from this study are important because they provide direct experimental evidence for one of the mechanisms proposed for strong shear thickening,” says Dr. Heinrich Jaeger, professor of physics at the University of Chicago. “Namely, frictional interactions as the particles in the liquid are sheared into contact.” Jaeger is a co-author of the study, which was led by postdoctoral researcher Dr. Hojin Kim.

Jaeger and Kim speculate that a better understanding of non-Newtonian fluids could help in the development of new, advanced materials. The potential ranges from flexible speed bumps to impact-resistant clothing. Jaeger joins Ira to talk about it.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Military’s Carbon Footprint Is A Hidden Cost Of Defense

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Between supplying fuel to military bases, planes, and ships, making and using weapons, and clearing land, militaries around the world account for almost 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions.

A new report calculated how much the militaries of the United States and the United Kingdom would hypothetically “owe” if they paid for the damage caused by their carbon emissions. The total came up to $111 billion. So what can the military do about its emissions? And what does militarism in the context of the climate crisis look like?

Ira talks with two of the report’s authors, Khem Rogaly, a senior researcher at London-based think tank Common Wealth, and Dr. Patrick Bigger, research director at the Climate and Community Project, a progressive climate policy think tank in the US.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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High Energy Cosmic Ray Detected | These Penguins Are The Masters Of Microsleeping

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles bergquist, Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 21:22:43 +0000

Scientists Report Second Highest-Energy Cosmic Ray Ever Detected

Around 30 years ago, scientists in Utah were monitoring the skies for cosmic rays when they detected a surprising particle. It struck the atmosphere with much more energy than they had previously seen—enough energy to cause the researchers to dub it the “Oh My God Particle.”

Over the years, a collaboration of researchers in Utah and Japan has detected other powerful rays—about 30 a year—but none that rival the OMG. In 2021, however, a second particle was detected. It was only slightly less powerful than OMG, but still many times more powerful than can be created on Earth. That 2021 particle was named “Amaterasu,” after a sun goddess from the Japanese Shinto religion. The researchers described their observations in a recent issue of the journal Science.

The researchers believe the particle must have come from relatively nearby, cosmically speaking, as otherwise it would likely have collided with something in space and lost its energy. However, when they tried to trace the particle back to its origin in space, they were unsuccessful. Both the OMG particle and the new Amaterasu particle seem to have come from empty regions of space, with no violent events or massive structures to create them.

Dr. John Matthews, a research professor in physics and astronomy and manager of the Cosmic Ray Physics Program at the University of Utah, joins Ira to talk about cosmic rays, how they’re detected, and the challenges of finding the origin of particles like Amaterasu.

These Penguins Are The Masters Of Microsleeping

Do you know that feeling when you’re just so tired that your head starts to droop? Your eyes feel heavy? And you drift off for just a moment … before snapping back to alertness, wondering what just happened.

Sleep comes in a variety of snoozes and sizes. We humans are not going to get a full night’s rest by nodding off here and there, but that’s pretty much what some chinstrap penguins do: They doze off more than 10,000 times a day, for just a few seconds at a time. And when you do the math, it can add up to 11 hours of sleep each day, according to a recent study in the journal Science.

Ira talks with study author Dr. Paul-Antoine Libourel, a sleep biologist at the Neurosciences Research Center of Lyon in France, about how the penguins do this and the advantages of microsleeps.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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COP28 Climate Conference Ends | Why Are Some People Affected By Seasonal Affective Disorder?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Climate Conference Ends, With Few Immediate Results

The United Nations climate conference, COP28, ended this week in Dubai. After a lot of arguing over wording, the final agreement from the meeting calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.” That text is significant in that it is the first time, surprisingly, that fossil fuel use was mentioned by name in a COP agreement. However, many critics of the proceedings point out that even this recognition is too little, too late, with few practical routes to keep global warming under thresholds considered to be catastrophic.

Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, joins Ira to walk through the results of COP28. They also discuss other stories from the week in science, including research into morning sickness, clusters of brain cells that appear to do speech recognition tasks, a first look at asteroid samples from the OSIRIS-REx mission, and the tale of an unusual frog that camouflages itself as poop.

Why Are Some People Affected By Seasonal Affective Disorder?

As the shortest day of the year approaches, many people might notice their energy levels starting to dip. For some, winter is an especially challenging season. About 5% of adults in the United States experience seasonal affective disorder, also known as SAD.

Ira talks with Dr. Kathryn Roecklein, associate professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh, about her research into what makes some people more susceptible to seasonal depression than others, and the most effective treatment options.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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A Celebration Of The 2023 Christmas Bird Count

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Every year birders across the world trek out into the rain, sun, sleet, or wind to participate in the Christmas Bird Count, organized by the National Audubon Society. The massive community science project, in its 124th year, tracks bird population fluctuations from year to year. This year’s count runs from December 14 to January 5.

Ira and guest host Flora Lichtman are joined by Ariana Remmel, a birder and freelance journalist based in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Dr. Anuj Ghimire, a birder and wildlife ecologist at North Dakota State University. They give a preview of this year’s Christmas Bird Count and take listener questions.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Surfing Particles Can Supercharge Northern Lights

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Christie Taylor, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 13 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

For thousands of years, humans have been observing and studying the Northern lights, aurora borealis, and their southern hemisphere counterpart, aurora australis. The simplest explanation for how these aurora form has been unchanged for decades: Charged particles, energized by the sun, bounce off the Earth’s protective magnetic field and create flashes of light in the process.

But for a long time, scientists have known it was more complicated than that. What exactly gives those incoming particles the energy they need to create the patterns we see? And why are some aurora more dramatic and distinct, while others are subtle and hazier?

Aurora researcher Jim Schroeder explains new work published in Nature Communications that suggests that in more vivid aurora, electrons may “surf” waves of energy from space into our atmosphere. The waves, called Alfvén waves, are a side effect of the solar wind warping the Earth’s magnetic field. Schroeder explains the weird physics of our aurora, and what we could learn about other objects in the universe as a result.

Transcript for this segment is available on sciencefriday.com.

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The (Not So) Easy Guide To Getting To Space

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 12 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

If you ask children what they want to be when they grow up, chances are good that among the answers, you’ll hear “astronaut.” But becoming an astronaut can be more difficult than becoming a veterinarian, firefighter, marine biologist, or some of the other common childhood job aspirations. The odds aren’t good: In 2021, NASA selected 10 astronaut candidates from a pool of over 12,000 applicants. And last year, over 22,000 applications to the European Space Agency resulted in 17 job offers.

Dr. Mike Massimino’s application to become a NASA astronaut was rejected several times. However, he persisted in his efforts, and eventually flew twice on the space shuttle, logging over 570 hours in space and over 30 hours spacewalking. On his second trip to orbit, on Atlantis mission STS-125, he participated in the last servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope.

Massimino joins Ira and guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about his time at NASA. They also discuss lessons he learned at the space agency that he believes can help others achieve their goals, which he has collected in his new book, Moonshot: A Nasa Astronaut’s Guide To Achieving The Impossible.

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The Women Astronomers Who Captured the Stars

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Alexa Lim, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

In the late 19th century, astronomy was a growing field. At the time, Edward Pickering, the director of the Harvard College Observatory, was working to create a classification system for stars by capturing the light from these distant celestial objects onto photographic glass plates. A team of women assistants and astronomers meticulously maintained and analyzed these delicate negatives. In her new book, The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars, Dava Sobel shares the stories of these “human computers” and how their work helped to advance the field of astronomy and the role of women in science.

This team of astronomers included Williamina Fleming, who was once Pickering’s maid but eventually became a supervisor to the group and went on to identify hundreds of variable stars. And Henrietta Swan Leavitt’s observations about the luminosity of stars would shape later ideas about the expanding universe.

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Quercetin May Cause Red Wine Headaches | Worsening Wildfires Are Undoing Air Quality Progress

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 8 Dec 2023 21:04:15 +0000

What Causes Red Wine Headaches? It May Be Quercetin

It’s a common experience: After a glass or two of red wine, relaxation can turn into a pounding headache. This isn’t the same thing as a hangover, as the dreaded red wine headache kicks in between 30 minutes and three hours after imbibing.

For years, there have been different theories about what causes this phenomenon. But neither sulfites or tannins have been proven to be the culprit. A new theory published in the journal Scientific Reports posits that quercetin, an antioxidant in grape skins, could create a toxic byproduct that leads to headaches.

Dr. Morris Levin is one of the authors on this paper. He’s the director of the Headache Center at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, and has spent his career treating patients for migraines and other headache experiences. But Levin says there’s not nearly enough funding for headache research as a whole, which leaves a lot of unanswered questions about the origins and meanings of this common ailment.

Levin joins guest host Flora Lichtman to discuss red wine headaches, as well as the remaining mysteries of headaches.

Worsening Wildfires Are Undoing Air Quality Progress In The US

The Western US has seen both more frequent and more intense wildfires over the past couple decades, leading to lower air quality and increased deaths in the region between 2000 and 2020, according to a new study published in The Lancet Planetary Health journal. While the EPA has made progress in improving air quality in the country, those gains are being undone by smoke from wildfires.

The study looked at particulate matter called PM2.5 and a toxic component of it, black carbon. The researchers found that after years of trending downward nationally, the concentration of PM2.5–and the proportion of black carbon within it–began to increase in the West in 2010. This shift was linked to an increase of 670 premature deaths per year in the region.

Joining Ira to talk about this and other science news of the week is Rachel Feltman, host of the podcast The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week. They also discuss a surprise found in the oldest known mosquito fossil, why a national plastic bag recycling program was shut down, and why dwarf planet Eris’ surface is a little squishy.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Speaking Multiple Languages Changes The Way You Think

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, John Dankosky, Ira Flatow) — Thu, 7 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Have you ever wondered how the language you speak shapes your understanding of the world around you? And if you speak two or more languages, how might that change the way you process information? Is your brain always thinking in multiple languages or are you toggling back and forth?

In many parts of the world, multilingualism is the norm. And in the United States, the number of people who speak a language other than English has doubled in the past two decades, from just about 11% to about 22%.

Dr. Viorica Marian has spent her career studying multilingual and bilingual people to better understand how their brains process information differently than their monolingual counterparts.

Ira talks with Dr. Viorica Marian, professor of communication sciences and disorders and psychology at Northwestern University, and author of the book The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform our Minds in front of a live audience at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, presented with WBEZ and Mindworks.

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Social Connections Keep Us Physically and Mentally Healthy As We Age

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 6 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

As people age, health often becomes a larger focus in their lives—their joints become a little more achy, or their vision less sharp. Some might even be dealing with a new diagnosis.

To handle these ailments, doctors might prescribe medications, or diet and lifestyle changes. But there’s often one big factor missing from these conversations: a patient’s social well-being.

Sociology researcher Dr. Linda Waite has been tracking the social health of thousands of research participants ranging in age from 50 to over 100, for 15 years. The study is ongoing, and so far she’s found that the social aspects of our lives play a big role in our long-term physical and mental health and well-being as we age.

Ira talks with Dr. Linda Waite, a professor of sociology at the University of Chicago and head of the National Social Life, Health & Aging Project in front of a live audience at the Studebaker Theater in Chicago, Illinois, presented with WBEZ and Mindworks.

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Women Were Also Skilled Hunters In Ancient Times

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Tue, 5 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

There’s a long-standing narrative about hunter-gatherers in ancient times: Men ventured out for meat, while women largely stayed closer to home, foraging for plants and tending to children.

As with most things, it almost certainly wasn’t that black and white. Recent analyses of physiological and archaeological evidence, published in American Anthropologist, suggest that females hunted just as much as males did during the Paleolithic era. In fact, they were well-suited to long-distance hunting, largely thanks to the benefits of estrogen. Additionally, Neanderthal remains show a sex-equal distribution of bone injuries consistent with hunting. Both males and females were buried with similar items and weapons, suggesting that there was not such a stark division of labor.

Ira is joined by Dr. Cara Ocobock, assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame, and Dr. Sarah Lacy, biological anthropologist at the University of Delaware, to discuss the details of their findings and why the myth of “Man the Hunter” has persisted for so long.

Editor’s note: Sex and gender are distinct descriptors—“sex” pertaining to the biological aspects of the human body (hormones, genitalia, etc.) and “gender” relating more to an individual’s identity within a society. As Dr. Ocobock states in the segment, there are times when a strict sex binary makes sense related to study in a scientific realm, but even within those contexts, there can be large variability. For simplification, these terms are used somewhat interchangeably in the interview.

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An AI Leader’s Human-Centered Approach To Artificial Intelligence

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Ira Flatow) — Mon, 4 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Just about every day there’s a new headline about artificial intelligence. OpenAI Founder and CEO Sam Altman was forced out, and then dramatically returned to his post—all in the span of a week. Then there’s the recent speculation about a revolutionary new model from the company, called Q*, which can solve basic math problems.

Beyond the inner workings of AI’s most high profile startup are stories about AI upending just about every part of society—healthcare, entertainment, the military, and the arts. AI is even being touted as a way to help solve the climate crisis.

How did we get to this moment? And how worried or excited should we be about the future of AI? No matter how it all shakes out, AI leader and early innovator Dr. Fei-Fei Li argues that humans should be at the center of the conversation and the technology itself.

Ira talks with Dr. Fei-Fei Li, founding director of the Institute for Human-Centered AI at Stanford University and author of the book The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration and Discovery At The Dawn of AI, about her path from physics to computer science and the promise and potential of human-centered artificial intelligence.

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COP28 Host Had Plans to Promote Oil and Gas | Researchers Detected Cicada Emergence With Fiber-Optics

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 1 Dec 2023 21:00:00 +0000

COP28 Host Had Plans to Promote Oil and Gas, Documents Show

The United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, began this week in Dubai. This is an annual event, where leaders and delegates from around the world come together to discuss how to collaboratively reach important milestones for the future of the planet. Goals like slowing the rise of temperatures on Earth will require buy-in from all major players to be successful.

But this week, a document leaked that showed the United Arab Emirates planned something at odds with the event: promotion of the oil and gas industries. This has led to increased skepticism of COP and its goals among both critics and attendees.

Ira is joined by Tim Revell, deputy US editor of New Scientist, to talk about this story. Plus, how a single bitcoin transaction uses enough water to fill a swimming pool, the way nutrients in soil drive biodiversity, and how amino acids could be formed alongside stars.

Researchers Detected Cicada Emergence With Fiber-Optics

If you were in the eastern United States during the summer of 2021, you likely heard the incessant, whirring buzz caused by the mass emergence of Brood X periodical cicadas. That event, which occurs once every 17 years, brought forth countless cicadas to shed their skins, mate, lay eggs, and die. But it turns out their arrival wasn’t just something that you could witness out the lawn or against your car windshield. The sound of their emergence was something that could be detected by fiber-optic cables.

Dr. Sarper Ozharar, a researcher who studies optical networking and sensing at NEC Labs in Princeton, New Jersey, has worked on techniques using fiber-optics to sense the vibrations of things like traffic, sirens, and gunshots. Loud noises produce vibrations that subtly distort optical “backscatter” within a glass fiber-optic cable. Using AI, researchers can decode those vibrations and determine what, and where, a noise may have occurred near the fiber.

In the summer of 2021, Ozharar and colleagues detected an unusual frequency signal in their test data. With the help of entomologist Dr. Jessica Ware of the American Museum of Natural History, they eventually determined that it was the whirring of the cicada swarm. Their find is the topic of a report published this week in the Journal of Insect Science.

Ozharar joins Ira Flatow to talk about how fiber-optic sensing works, and how an electronics and communications lab ended up publishing in an entomology journal.

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Ralph Nader Reflects On His Auto Safety Campaign, 55 Years Later

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, John Dankosky) — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

It’s hard to imagine a world without seatbelts or airbags. But five decades ago, it was the norm for car manufacturers to put glamour over safety.

“It was stylistic pornography over engineering integrity,” Ralph Nader, prolific consumer advocate and several-time presidential candidate, tells Science Friday.

This winter marks the 55th anniversary of Nader’s groundbreaking investigation, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” a damning look at how little auto safety technology was in vehicles back in the 1960s. The book had a massive effect on auto safety in the U.S., setting the groundwork for laws about seatbelts, and the creation of the United States Department of Transportation.

Nader joins Ira to discuss what’s happened over 55 years of auto safety advances, and what kind of work is needed to make sure new technology, like self-driving cars, have the safety checks they need before going out on the roads.

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What’s That Smell? An AI Nose Knows

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 29 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

If you want to predict the color of something, you can talk about wavelengths of light. Light with a wavelength of around 460 nanometers is going to look blue. If you want to predict what something sounds like, frequencies can be a guide—a frequency of around 261 Hertz should sound like the musical note middle C.

Predicting smells is more difficult. While we know that many sulfur-containing molecules tend to fall somewhere in the ‘rotten egg’ or ‘skunky’ category, predicting other aromas based solely on a chemical structure is hard. Molecules with a similar chemical structure may smell quite different—while two molecules with very different chemical structures can smell the same.

This week in the journal Science, researchers describe developing an AI model that, given the structure of a chemical compound, can roughly predict where it’s likely to fall on a map of odors. For example, is it grassy? Or more meaty? Perhaps floral?

Dr. Joel Mainland is one of the authors of that report. He’s a member of the Monell Chemical Senses Center and an adjunct associate professor in the department of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Mainland joins Ira to talk about the mystery of odor, and his hope that odor maps like the one developed by the AI model could bring scientists closer to identifying the odor equivalent of the three primary colors—base notes that could be mixed and blended to create all other smells.

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Jane Goodall On Life Among Chimpanzees

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Ira Flatow) — Tue, 28 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Ira spoke with Goodall in 2002, after she had published her book The Ten Trusts: What We Must Do to Care for the Animals, and an IMAX film about her work with chimpanzees had just been released.

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The ‘Wet-Dog Shake’ And Other Physics Mysteries

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Christopher Intagliata) — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Ever wondered why your dog’s back-and-forth shaking is so effective at getting you soaked? Or how bugs, birds, and lizards can run across water—but we can’t? Or how about why cockroaches are so darn good at navigating in the dark?

Those are just a few of the day-to-day mysteries answered in the new book How to Walk on Water and Climb Up Walls: Animal Movement and the Robots of the Future, by Georgia Tech mathematician David Hu.

The book answers questions you probably won’t realize you even had, but they’re questions with serious answers that span the worlds of physics, fluid mechanics, and biology. Throughout the book, Hu demonstrates the extraordinary value day-to-day curiosity brings to science.

But, while he explores how science can reveal wonders of the mechanisms in our world, Hu writes how his work has been the target of politicians for so-called “wasteful” science spending. One of the studies under attack, an inquiry into the average length of urination across the animal kingdom, might have had a laughable premise, but eventually led to serious attention by urologists and researchers working on treatments, prostheses, and artificial organs.

“The concept of waste is based on the notion of a limited gas tank and a single known destination,” Hu writes. “People expect scientists to save gas as they go from A to B. But the real power of science is to take us to destinations that we have never been to.”

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Ig Nobel Prizes | Stop Flushing Your Health Data Down The Toilet

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, Rasha Aridi) — Fri, 24 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Saluting Science's Silly Side, Virtually

In science, there are some traditions: Every October, the Nobel Prize committee announces the winners of that year’s awards, which are presented in Sweden in December. And every September for the past 33 years, a different committee has awarded the Ig Nobel Prizes in Cambridge, Massachusetts. And every year, on the day after Thanksgiving, Science Friday plays highlights from the awards ceremony.

The Ig Nobel awards are a salute to achievements that, in the words of the organizers, “make people laugh, then think.” They are presented by the editors of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research to 10 lucky(?) winners for unusual achievements in science, medicine, and other fields. This year’s ceremony was held virtually, with a webcast taking the place of the traditional raucous ceremony in Harvard’s Sanders Theater. However, it still contained many elements of the in-person Igs, from flying paper airplanes to the participation of real Nobel Laureates in the ceremony.

This year’s awards included prizes for explaining why many scientists like to lick rocks, for re-animating dead spiders to use as mechanical gripping tools, and for using cadavers to explore whether there is an equal number of hairs in each of a person’s two nostrils. SciFri producer Charles Bergquist joins Ira to discuss highlights from this year’s ceremony.

Stop Flushing Your Health Data Down The Toilet

You could be flushing important information about your health right down the toilet—quite literally. Pee and poop can tell you a lot about your health, so what if your waste…didn’t go to waste? What if, instead, it could tell you more about your health? Like number one, it can catch a condition like diabetes early. Or number two, check out what’s going on in your gut microbiome.

That’s the goal of the smart toilet—a device that gets all up in your business to tell you more about your health. Ira talks with the inventor of the PH Smart Toilet, Dr. Seung-min Park, instructor of urology at Stanford’s School of Medicine in California, about how the toilet works, how it can be used to catch diseases early on, and the ethical implications of such a device.

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The West’s Wild Horses | Artist Explores History Of Humans Genetically Modifying Pigs

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Reporter Ashley Ahearn bought a wild horse from the federal government for $125. Also, with opera and visual art, an exhibit looks at modern genetic engineering of pigs.

The Captivating Story Of The West’s Wild Horses

Wild mustangs are an icon of the American West, conjuring a romantic vision of horses galloping free on an open prairie. But in reality, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) says the sensitive Western ecosystem can’t handle the existing population of horses.

There are about 80,000 wild horses in the American West, a number that grows about 10-20% each year. The BLM says the fragile, arid rangelands the horses occupy can only support a third of that number before they overgraze habitats critical for other species. This has led to controversial roundups to get wild horses off the open range.

Science and environment reporter Ashley Ahearn dove deep into the history, symbolism, and ecological impact of the West’s mustangs for the new podcast Mustang. She even adopted a wild horse, named Boo, from the federal government for $125. Ashley speaks with guest host Flora Lichtman about her boots-on-the-ground reporting, and what she learned from how tribal nations manage mustangs.

An Artist Explores The History Of Humans Genetically Modifying Pigs

Over 100,000 people are waiting for organ donations in the United States. Many will likely never receive one, since there are so few available. So scientists are turning to pigs for potential alternatives. Their organs are remarkably similar to ours, and scientists are now using CRISPR to modify pigs’ DNA to improve transplantation outcomes. But although the field has shown major advances in the last decade, the technique isn’t ready yet. Recently, a patient who received a modified pig heart died six weeks after the surgery.

Artist Heather Dewey-Hagborg was intrigued by these recent advances, and looked into humanity’s history of modifying the pig over thousands of years for her new gallery exhibit, Hybrid: an Interspecies Opera. For the work, she interviewed scientists and archaeologists and even filmed in a lab that’s experimenting with genetically modifying pigs to create more human-compatible organs.

In the resulting documentary, which plays in the exhibit, the words from the scientists she interviewed are transposed into an opera composed by musician Bethany Barrett. Visitors can also find 3D-printed clay pig statues and a timeline of how humans have transformed pigs over ten millennia, thanks to selective breeding.

Dewey-Hagborg sat down with SciFri producer D. Peterschmidt to talk about how the exhibit came together, and how CRISPR could further transform pigs and our relationship to them.

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Moon Rock Research | Science of Unraveling Sweaters

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Moon Rocks Collected In 1972 Reveal New Secrets

It’s hard to imagine, but the moon we all know and love hasn’t always been in the sky. Like all of us, the moon has an age. Until recently, our lunar neighbor has been estimated to be about 4 billion years old.

But new research on lunar crystals from the Apollo 17 mission has helped researchers pinpoint a more specific age for the moon—and it’s about 40 million years older than previously thought.

That difference may sound like a drop in the bucket given the time scales, but lead study author Dr. Jennika Greer says this is a big deal, because it tells us more about what the solar system was like in its earlier years. Greer, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about her methods and why the early universe was so fascinating.

The Science Behind Your Unraveling Sweaters

It’s sweater season once again, but you may have noticed that some of your newer sweaters aren’t standing the test of time. Perhaps they are pilling, unraveling, or losing their shape. But if you look at sweaters from the ‘80s or ‘90s, they may still look brand new. Last month, an article by Amanda Mull in the Atlantic about declining sweater quality made the rounds online, and we wanted to know more.

What, scientifically, went wrong in sweaters? And why are sweaters so bad now?

Guest host Flora Lichtman unravels the science of sweaters with Dr. Imran Islam, knit expert and assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. They chat about the fibers that make up sweaters, what physics has to do with how long they last, and what to look for when purchasing knitwear.

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2023’s Best Science Books For Kids

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Diana Plasker, Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 21 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Gift-giving season is upon us once again! And if you’re not sure what to get the kids in your life, we’re here to help. Many new STEM books for kids and young adults came out this year, and we asked a few experts to tell us about their favorites from 2023.

Joining guest host Flora Lichtman to offer listeners their recommendations for the best kids’ science books of the year are Mahnaz Dar, young readers’ editor at Kirkus Reviews, based in New York, New York, and Jennifer Swanson, children’s book author and cohost of the podcast Solve It! for Kids, based in Jacksonville, Florida.

You can download a printable list of our guests’ recommendations to take with you on your shopping trip.

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How AI Chatbots Can Reinforce Racial Bias In Medicine

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Rasha Aridi, Flora Lichtman) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Over the last year, we’ve heard more and more about AI’s potential to transform medicine—how it can help doctors read scans, analyze health data, and even develop personalized drugs.

But the AI boom has set off alarm bells for some healthcare providers. Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with two scientists who wondered whether these models were perpetuating harmful, debunked, racist ideas in medicine. To investigate, they put four AI-powered chatbots like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard to the test to see how they answered some questions about race and medicine. They entered queries like “Tell me about skin thickness differences between Black and white skin” and “What is the difference in pain threshold between Black and white patients?” They then scored the chatbots’ responses and found that several perpetuated racist, incorrect information. They published their results in the journal npj Digital Medicine.

Flora talks with Dr. Jenna Lester, a dermatologist at UC San Francisco and the director of the Skin of Color Program, and Dr. Roxana Daneshjou, a dermatologist and assistant professor of biomedical data science at Stanford School of Medicine.

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An Exoplanet Where It Rains Sand

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 17 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Scientists observing the exoplanet WASP-107b with the James Webb Space Telescope say that the planet has clouds of sand high in its atmosphere. The scientists detected water vapor, sulfur dioxide, and silicate sand clouds in the atmosphere of the planet, which is about the mass of Neptune but the size of Jupiter—stats that caused astronomers to describe it as “fluffy.” Science journalist Swapna Krishna joins guest host Flora Lichtman for a look at the planet.

They also discuss the tense seismic situation on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland. Starting in late October, earthquakes have been occurring there with increasing frequency, with hundreds of earthquakes detected over a recent 24-hour period. The quakes are due to underground magma flowing into the area and straining the earth’s crust. Measurements have also spotted an increasing concentration of sulfur dioxide gas in the area—which could point to an impending volcanic eruption. The Icelandic Meteorological Office said that there was significant likelihood of a volcanic eruption in the coming days.

Flora and Swapna also discuss other stories from the week in science, including a growing discrepancy in life expectancy between US men and women, a 3D printed robot hand with working tendons, efforts to control the spread of a drug lord’s escaped hippos in Colombia, and the tale of a tool bag—lost in space.

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Ask A Chef: How Can I Use Science To Make Thanksgiving Tastier?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Thu, 16 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Do you ever wonder about the science behind making that perfect holiday meal? A lot of factors determine if a turkey gets golden, mashed potatoes turn fluffy, or a pie gets that crisp crust.

As the weather gets cooler and the holidays approach, chef Dan Souza from Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen joins Ira to answer listener questions about the science behind holiday cooking.

Ready for even more cooking science? Listen to a past episode about an oft-overlooked protein source—complete with the Science Friday staff’s favorite recipes. Plus, learn about six foods that might fill our plate in a warming climate.

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Monumental And Invisible: How Infrastructure Works

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Perhaps you’ve marveled at the engineering feats of the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. Maybe you’ve thought about how many train tracks run in and out of Grand Central Station.

But it’s sometimes easy to forget just how important well-functioning infrastructure is in our day-to-day lives. Flip a light switch, and the light comes on. Wash a load of laundry and your clothes come out clean and fresh. Order pretty much anything on Amazon and it arrives two days later.

It can be kind of boring. And that’s the good news. We like our infrastructure to be boring—that means it’s running well.

Ira talks with Dr. Deb Chachra, author of the new book How Infrastructure Works: Inside the Systems that Shape Our World and professor of engineering at the Olin College of Engineering, about the role of infrastructure in our lives.

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Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

It’s a wonderful time of the year: squash, pumpkin, and gourd season. But how do those giant, award-winning pumpkins grow so big? And what’s the difference between a gourd and a squash?

Ira talks with Dr. Chris Hernandez, director of the University of New Hampshire’s squash, pumpkin, and melon breeding program to explore all things winter squash and answer listener questions.

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How A University Is Adjusting One Year After ChatGPT

Mon, 13 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

One year ago, OpenAI released ChatGPT, a generative AI chatbot that can generate shockingly convincing text. Since then, it has become a center of gravity in the tech industry, as software companies race to integrate the new tech into their products. It’s also sparked concern in the education world, with teachers and parents fearing how students may use it to cheat, and whether it will keep young people from learning writing skills.

So what might adjusting to this new technology look like, one year in? Ira sits down with Dr. Gwen Tarbox, professor of English and the director of the WMUx Office of Faculty Development at Western Michigan University, who talks about her efforts implementing AI at her university and teaching both students and faculty ways to use it responsibly.

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Euclid Telescope’s First Images | A Black Hole That Came From Gas

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 10 Nov 2023 21:22:39 +0000

A new ESA telescope could help us understand how dark matter and dark energy influence the structure of the universe. Also, using both JWST and the Chandra Observatory, astronomers discover the oldest known black hole.

Euclid Telescope’s First Images Unveiled

This week, the European Space Agency unveiled the Euclid space telescope’s first full-color images of the cosmos. The telescope has a wide field of view and is designed to take images of large swaths of the sky in both visible and infrared light. The telescope’s designers hope that they will be able to create a detailed 3D map of the cosmos over the next six years and, with that map, begin to sort out the influences of dark matter and dark energy on the basic structure of the universe.

Sophie Bushwick, technology editor at Scientific American, joins Ira to talk about the first images from the Euclid telescope and other stories from the week in science. They’ll try to explain the recent conversation about ultraprocessed foods and discuss steps toward regulating AI coming from the Biden administration and a host of other countries; a move to rename some North American birds; and the tale of a fish that uses electrolocation and some shimmies to get a 3D map of its environment.

Not Just Dying Stars: A Black Hole That Came From Gas

This week, astronomers confirmed that they had found the oldest known black hole, thanks to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The supermassive black hole formed when the universe was still a toddler, just 470 million years after the Big Bang. But its age isn’t the only thing that makes it unusual.

Astronomers long thought that the only way a black hole could form was through the collapse of a star. But this week’s discovery confirms a theory that some black holes at this early stage in the universe formed from the condensation of clouds of gas. The theory purports that such black holes would produce superheated x-ray-emitting gas. Now, data from JWST and Chandra have helped confirm these x-ray signals from the newly discovered black hole. The findings are available via preprint and have been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Ira sits down with Dr. Priyamvada Natarajan, a professor of astronomy and physics at Yale who helped develop this theory, to talk about how these unique black holes change our understanding of the early universe.

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How Five Elements Define Life On Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Thu, 9 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

Over 99% of a human cell is made up of just five elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, and phosphorus. That same elemental mix exists, with minor variations, in every other living thing on Earth.

In his new book, Elemental: How Five Elements Changed Earth’s Past and Will Shape Our Future, author Stephen Porder writes about how these building blocks, which he calls “life’s formula,” tell the story of life on our planet.

It’s a story of adaptation, and also catastrophic change—from the time cyanobacteria started flooding the atmosphere with oxygen, to when a boom in land plants sucked enough carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere to spark a period of extreme cooling and global glaciation.

Ira talks with Porder, who is associate provost for sustainability and professor of ecology, evolution, and organismal biology at Brown University as well as co-founder of the radio show Possibly, about what early geochemistry can tell us about life on Earth, and what that might mean for the planet’s future.

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Climate Future Exhibit | Oregon's Proposed Fish Vacuum

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow) — Wed, 8 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

A Climate Change Exhibit Asks ‘What If We Get It Right?’

Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, a marine biologist and co-founder of the nonprofit Urban Ocean Lab, thinks a lot about the possible futures of our climate. Not just one ideal climate future, but a range of futures that could be better if we make some changes.

She’s helped steer environmental policy, written books and articles on climate action, and co-hosted the podcast How To Save A Planet. And now she’s working with artists who are offering their own creative visions for how we could build a more sustainable society.

The effort has culminated in Climate Futurism, a new exhibit Dr. Johnson curated at Pioneer Works, a museum and performing arts space in Brooklyn, New York. And one of the central questions it asks the viewer is, what if we get it right?

SciFri producer D. Peterschmidt visited the exhibit and spoke to Dr. Johnson and one of the three featured artists, Erica Deeman, about food justice, reconnecting with nature, and why the exhibit is called Climate Futurism.

Climate Futurism features new art from Erica Deeman, Denice Frohman, and Olalekan Jeyifous. It runs until December 10, 2023.

How To Save Oregon’s Salmon? Maybe With A Giant Vacuum.

To free salmon stuck behind dams in Oregon’s Willamette River Valley, here’s what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has in mind:

Build a floating vacuum the size of a football field with enough pumps to suck up a small river. Capture tiny young salmon in the vacuum’s mouth and flush them into massive storage tanks. Then load the fish onto trucks, drive them downstream and dump them back into the water. An enormous fish collector like this costs up to $450 million, and nothing of its scale has ever been tested.

The fish collectors are the biggest element of the Army Corps’ $1.9 billion plan to keep the salmon from going extinct.

The Corps says its devices will work. A cheaper alternative — halting dam operations so fish can pass — would create widespread harm to hydroelectric customers, boaters and farmers, the agency contends.

“Bottom line, we think what we have proposed will support sustainable, healthy fish populations over time,” Liza Wells, the deputy engineer for the Corps’ Portland district, said in a statement.

But reporting by Oregon Public Broadcasting and ProPublica casts doubt on the Corps’ assertions.

How A Deaf Advisory Group Is Changing Healthcare

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D. Peterschmidt, Ira Flatow, Diana Plasker) — Tue, 7 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

When Tamiko Rafeek admitted herself to the hospital a few years ago, she asked for an interpreter. “I was feeling very, very sick that day,” she recalled. Rafeek is deaf, and the Americans with Disabilities Act mandates that deaf patients receive interpreter assistance when requested. But, like over 50% of deaf patients in healthcare settings in the United States, she didn’t receive adequate interpretation.

“It felt like the whole world was crashing in,” Rafeek said. “They kept taking my blood pressure and taking all these tests. And no one let me know why.” At one point, a nurse asked Rafeek if her eight year-old daughter, who can hear, could sign for her mother. Rafeek thought that was inappropriate. “I said, no, she’s too young. She’s my daughter, she shouldn’t be interpreting for me.”

It wasn’t until two days later, when Rafeek left the hospital, that she learned from her discharge papers that she’d been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes. To her frustration, she didn’t receive guidance on how to approach care for the diagnosis.

Unfortunately, Rafeek’s situation isn’t uncommon. Healthcare workers are “definitely not educated to the point where they know how to handle working with the deaf community,” said Dr. Michelle Litchman, medical director of intensive diabetes education and support program at the University of Utah. Litchman is a CODA (a child of deaf adults) and knows all too well how often deaf patients don’t receive the assistance they are legally mandated to receive.

Years ago, her deaf aunt was admitted to the hospital for an infection. She didn’t receive an interpreter, and was signing that she couldn’t breathe. But the staff did not provide her with adequate care. She later died in the hospital. “We just know that it could’ve been prevented,” Litchman said.

In 2022, University of Utah Health and Litchman partnered with the advocacy group Deaf Diabetes Can Together to create the hospital’s Deaf Community Advisory Board. The board, made up of Rafeek and other deaf patients, advised the hospital on how it could improve care for its patients with diabetes, a condition deaf people are twice as likely to have. Litchman plans to expand this model for other marginalized groups, including rural and Pacific Islander patients.

Ira Flatow sat down with Rafeek and Dr. Litchman to talk about their experiences, how they want to expand the community advisory board model, why there’s a lack of interpreters in the US, and how healthcare systems can better care for patients.

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40 Years Of Sounding The Alarm On Nuclear Winter

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 6 Nov 2023 21:00:00 +0000

This week holds anniversaries for two important milestones in nuclear warfare. On November 1, 1952, the United States detonated a massive hydrogen bomb in the Marshall Islands. The new weapon vaporized a whole island, leaving behind a mile-wide crater. That bomb was around 700 times more powerful than the one dropped on Hiroshima seven years prior, and it renewed fears of nuclear annihilation, which would grip the world for generations to come.

Three decades later, on October 30, 1983, millions of Americans flipped open the Sunday paper to find a shadowy, apocalyptic photo with the words: “Would nuclear war be the end of the world?”

Legendary scientist Dr. Carl Sagan, writing for Parade Magazine, introduced the world to “nuclear winter,” the terrifying climate changes that might be brought on by nuclear war.

Sagan conducted some of the first research on nuclear winter, and he spent years warning politicians, world leaders, and the general public about it. Today, with thousands of nuclear weapons still in existence, the risk of nuclear winter isn’t zero.

Ira talks with another pioneer in nuclear winter research, Dr. Alan Robock, a climate scientist and distinguished professor at Rutgers University, about the science of nuclear winter, how fear of those consequences shaped policies, and what’s happening with the world’s nuclear arsenal now.

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CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell Treatment | Pain Tolerance From Neanderthals

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Shoshannah Buxbaum, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 3 Nov 2023 20:00:00 +0000

If given final approval by the FDA, this sickle-cell treatment would be the first to use gene-editing CRISPR technology on humans. Also, gene variants inherited from Neanderthals can impact pain tolerance in modern humans.

FDA Panel Clears Way For CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell Treatment

An FDA committee cleared the way for a revolutionary cure for sickle cell disease this week. If given final approval, the treatment would be the first to use CRISPR gene editing in humans. Sickle cell disease is caused by a genetic mutation that causes blood cells to develop into crescent or “sickle” shapes. The extremely painful and often deadly disease disproportionately affects Black and African American people.

Ira talks with Vox staff writer Umair Irfan about the new sickle cell treatment and other top science news of the week, including the link between the auto worker strike and a clean energy transition; new evidence about the moon’s origin; and why starfish don’t have arms.

Your Pain Tolerance May Have Been Passed Down from Neanderthals

While these genetic remnants don’t have much impact on our day-to-day lives, they may be responsible for one surprising effect: pain tolerance. Recent research shows that people with Neanderthal variants in the gene SCN9A have a lower pain tolerance than people without the gene.

This isn’t the only Neanderthal remnant that’s been passed down. A study from earlier this year pinpointed a certain genome region that impacts nose shape. Taller, wider noses were passed down from our Neanderthal ancestors who lived in colder climates. A larger nose warmed air before it hit the sensitive lungs.

Ira speaks with Dr. Kaustubh Adhikari, assistant professor of statistics at the Open University in the United Kingdom, who worked on both of these studies.

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How Poisons Have Shaped Life On Earth

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Rasha Aridi) — Thu, 2 Nov 2023 20:00:00 +0000

When you think of poisons, you might think of chemicals like cyanide, arsenic, or the deadly concoction left out for rats. But have you thought of acorns? What about the cup of coffee you had this morning? Or the mums growing in your window box? Toxicity is all in the eye—or bloodstream—of the beholder.

A new book describes the story of nature’s endless array of toxins, and how they shaped life on earth, including ours.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Noah Whiteman, evolutionary biologist at University of California, Berkeley and the author of Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins – from Spices to Vices. They chat about the poisons that fill our pantries and gardens, and what our use and abuse of these substances tells us about ourselves.

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Placenta Research May Help Explain Pregnancy Loss

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 1 Nov 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Content warning: This interview includes discussion of miscarriage and pregnancy loss, and may be triggering for some listeners.

The placenta is an incredible body part. It’s the only organ grown temporarily, created during pregnancy and discarded after birth. It has the enormous job of supporting the growth of a fetus, protecting it from infection and inflammation. When something goes wrong with the placenta, it can result in the loss of a baby.

For something that can be so devastating to expectant parents, miscarriages are incredibly normal. Of the 5 million pregnancies each year in the United States, about 1 million end in miscarriage, categorized as a loss before 20 weeks of gestation. About 20,000 pregnancies end in stillbirth during the later stages of gestation.

Often, after a pregnancy loss, doctors tell parents that the cause is unexplained. This can lead to feelings of failure and guilt, even though pregnancy loss is almost always out of a person’s control.

Dr. Harvey Kliman, director of the Yale School of Medicine’s Reproductive and Placental Research Unit, has dedicated his career to better understanding the placenta and its relationship to pregnancy loss. Dr. Kliman and his team recently analyzed 1,256 placentas that resulted in pregnancy loss. They learned that 90% of these losses could be explained by conditions such as a small or misshapen placenta.

Dr. Kliman joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about his research, and the importance of studying the placenta as a way to better understand what leads to miscarriage and stillbirth.

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A Common Cold Medicine Ingredient Doesn’t Work. What Now?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Charles Bergquist, D Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Twenty years ago, scientists found that phenylephrine, listed as a decongestant in many cold medicines, didn’t work. What can you use instead?

In September, an advisory committee for the Food and Drug Administration unanimously confirmed that phenylephrine—a common ingredient in cold medicines, including some types of Mucinex and Robitussin—doesn’t work.

For many physicians, pharmacists, and cold-sufferers, this came as no surprise. Phenylephrine’s ineffectiveness had been an open secret in the healthcare community for decades.

In 2005, Dr. Randy Hatton, clinical professor at the Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy Department at the University of Florida, managed the University of Florida Drug Information and Pharmacy Resource Center hotline. He often received calls from pharmacists reporting that phenylephrine-based drugs had no effect on improving colds.

He came across research from Dr. Leslie Hendeles, professor emeritus of the College of Pharmacy, also at the University of Florida, from a decade prior. Dr. Hendeles had also found that the substance was ineffective. They partnered up and petitioned the FDA to publicly confirm their finding. Their collaboration was the first step toward the FDA’s recent announcement.

But despite the announcement, the removal of these drugs from shelves is not guaranteed. Pharmaceutical companies are appealing the FDA’s decision, and are trying to stall an official declaration that prohibits their sale.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Hatton and Dr. Hendeles about the long road to the FDA’s announcement.They discuss how their research proved phenylephrine’s ineffectiveness, and which drugs people can turn to instead as cold season approaches.

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Diving Into Elon Musk’s Mind

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 30 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

There’s a name that’s hard to escape these days, particularly if you’re in the technology world—Elon Musk. He’s involved with Tesla electric cars, home solar and battery installations, SpaceX rockets, Starlink satellites, and the company that once was known as Twitter. Woven through his array of enterprises is a mix of technical savvy, confident ego, and sometimes impulsive decision-making.

Biographer Walter Isaacson has tried to sort through the competing influences behind the entrepreneur and his mercurial behavior in a recent book titled simply Elon Musk. He joins Ira to talk about the business magnate’s origins, his management style, and the incessant appetite for risk and drama that drives his successes—and, sometimes, his dramatic failures.

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RSV Drug Shortage & Beech Leaf Disease

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Shoshannah Buxbaum, Flora Lichtman, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

RSV has reached epidemic levels in the southern US. Also, beech leaf disease is spreading rapidly in Massachusetts.

RSV Drug For Infants In Short Supply

Respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, is a common illness that—for most—looks like a common cold. But for infants, it can be an intense illness, leading to hospitalization. That’s why it was a relief for parents and physicians when an immunization drug for all infants was approved in July.

However, it’s become clear the demand for the drug is greater than the supply. This week, the CDC issued an alert about the drug’s limited availability, and recommended that only infants under 6 months and those with underlying health conditions receive it until further notice. An RSV spike in the southern US has reached seasonal epidemic levels, a sign that transmission will likely climb in other areas soon.

Katherine J. Wu, science writer for The Atlantic, joins guest host Flora Lichtman to chat about this story as well as mouse mummies in the Andes, Hurricane Otis defying forecasts, a secret benefit of “Asian glow,” and other big news from the week.

Beech Leaf Disease Is Spreading Rapidly in Massachusetts

A new tree disease has spread in forests in Massachusetts, joining invasive pests and climate change as top priorities for foresters to address.

The state has found beech leaf disease in more than 90 communities since it was first discovered in the state in 2020.

“Lately this has been one of our biggest concerns and my team devotes a lot of time to it. We do expect to see a lot of long-term impact and trees lost from it,” said Nicole Keleher, forest health program director at the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

Beech leaf disease is caused by an unusual parasite: a nematode, which is a microscopic roundworm, that infects the leaves and buds. Researchers believe that it may be spread by birds, insects and wind. This makes it more difficult to treat than visible insects like the emerald ash borer that can be somewhat contained by asking people not to transport wood between forests, according to Keleher.

Infected leaves can develop dark patches or stripes, and often will curl up. The infection causes the tree’s leaves to fall off and can eventually starve the tree, which can die within a few years.

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When Studying Ecology Means Celebrating Its Gifts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Charles Bergquist, Diana Plasker) — Thu, 26 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

In a conversation from 2019, bestselling author Robin Wall Kimmerer discusses the role of ceremony in our lives, and how to celebrate reciprocal relationships with the natural world.

Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, was first published nearly a decade ago—but in 2020, the book made the New York Times best-seller lists, propelled mainly by word of mouth. The book explores the lessons and gifts that the natural world, especially plants, have to offer to people. Kimmerer writes that improving our relationship with nature requires the acknowledgment and celebration of a reciprocal relationship with the rest of the living world. “I think we can care better for one another, for the land, and in fact we can do better science when we consider all of these streams of evidence, and assumptions, about the living world,” says Kimmerer.

Kimmerer is a member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. In this SciFri Book Club discussion, recorded before a live Zoom audience, she discusses the book, the role of ceremony in our lives, and the challenge of addressing ecological issues such as exotic species within a reciprocal framework.

This segment, originally from 2022, was re-aired this week.

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Unlocking The Mysteries Of A Metal-Rich Asteroid

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Swapna Krishna, Charles Bergquist) — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Last week, NASA’s Psyche spacecraft launched successfully from the Kennedy Space Center. It’s now on a six-year trip to an asteroid, also called Psyche, located in the solar system’s main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Unlike previously studied asteroids, it’s not composed mostly of rock or ice. The Psyche spacecraft's target is largely made of metal, thought to be around 60% iron and nickel. The mission won’t actually land on the asteroid—all of its observations will happen from orbit, and will involve imaging, spectroscopy, and magnetometer studies.

Scientists aren’t sure if the asteroid is a proto-planetary core, or something else entirely. They’re hoping that studying the metal-rich asteroid might help teach them about how planets form. Some researchers are also interested in learning what 16 Psyche might be able to teach them about the possibility of future space mining operations—though this particular space object is too far away and too impractical to attempt any kind of sample return, let alone its retrieval. (Plus, suddenly selling the amount of metal an entire astroid holds would completely disrupt the global market, making it almost worthless.)

Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton, the principal investigator for the Psyche mission and vice president for Arizona State University’s Interplanetary Initiative, joins guest host Swapna Krishna to talk about the mission and its goals.

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Rapidly Evolving Trout & Ancient Hyper-Apex Predators

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Research shows some rapidly evolving trout are altering Wyoming's aquatic ecosystems. Plus, paleontologists pieced together a level of apex predators with no modern equivalent.

In Wyoming’s Mountain Lakes, Stocked Trout Are Evolving Quickly

Anglers across the West love to fish in high, alpine lakes, and Wyoming’s Wind River Range is nearly unbeatable for this experience. Around this time of year, frost covers the tips of trees at sunrise, and there’s plenty of room along the lonesome blue waters above 10,000 feet.

Those who do make the trek—which usually takes more than 15 miles of hiking—are greeted by hungry golden, brook or cutthroat trout looking to fatten up for the winter. They’ll take almost any fly, from a yellow foam grasshopper, to a Parachute Adams to a tiny ant. And the fish are often big, colorful and photogenic.

But as untamed, historic and relaxing as a day on the water feels, it’s anything but natural. New research is shedding light on how the history of fish stocking has impacted alpine lake ecosystems in the Wind Rivers. In many cases, the genetics of trout have evolved rapidly, allowing them to survive in harsh mountain environments.

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Hyper-Apex Predators: Colombian Fossils Reveal Big Reptilians Atop Ancient Marine Food Chain

The Paja Formation, located in central Colombia, is a treasure trove of fossils. The site is integral to scientists’ understanding of ancient creatures who roamed the seas during the Early Cretaceous period, about 130 million years ago.

Now, paleontologists have pieced together the food chain of this marine ecosystem. Surprisingly, they found it supported an additional level of apex predators—think massive marine reptiles—for which there is no modern equivalent.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dirley Cortés, paleontologist at the Centro de Investigaciones Paleontológicas in Colombia and PhD candidate at McGill University’s Redpath Museum, and Dr. Hans Larsson, paleontologist and professor at McGill University’s Redpath Museum. They discuss their fascinating findings, and the importance of better understanding this part of the fossil record.

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Finding Meaning In The Cosmos

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Swapna Krishna, Rasha Aridi) — Mon, 23 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

In her new memoir, astrobiologist Dr. Aomawa Shields describes how a quest for life in the cosmos helped her find meaning on Earth.

One of the biggest, most intriguing questions in the world is quite simple: Are we alone in this universe? Astronomer and astrobiologist Dr. Aomawa Shields looks for signs of life in outer space by analyzing the climate and habitability of small exoplanets far beyond our solar system.

Dr. Shields’ path to science was a winding one. Through childhood and into her adult years, she toggled between two loves: acting and space. In her new memoir Life On Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe, she describes her search for signs of life in the cosmos and her quest to build a meaningful life here on Earth. She charts her life story from childhood to astronomy to acting and back to science—and what she’s learned about herself and the universe along the way.

Guest host Swapna Krishna talks with Dr. Shields, professor at the University of California Irvine, about her research, the power that comes from combining the arts and science, and what she’s learned from pondering the universe.

Read an excerpt from Life On Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe.

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‘Clean Hydrogen Hub’ Awardees & Formula One Car Paint

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Shoshannah Buxbaum, D. Peterschmidt) — Fri, 20 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

Seven “clean energy hubs” will receive a total of $7B to develop forms of hydrogen production with minimal carbon emissions. And, ahead of the US Grand Prix, an aerodynamicist breaks down the recent engineering changes to F1 cars.

Department Of Energy Announces ‘Clean Hydrogen Hub’ Awardees

The Department of Energy announced seven “clean hydrogen hubs,” which will receive a cumulative $7 billion. Each group will use a host of different approaches to produce hydrogen fuel with little or no emissions.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Casey Crownhart, climate reporter for MIT Technology Review, to break down the details of this announcement and other top science news of the week, including seals helping map a canyon in Antarctica, the number of living cells in the world, and a very spicy pepper.

Formula One Cars Are Stripping Off Paint To Save Weight

Formula One is known as the pinnacle of motorsport, with cars that can reach speeds of 230 miles per hour. Thanks to the Netflix series Drive To Survive, the sport is more popular than ever.

As engineers prepare for the U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, this Sunday, teams strive to make their cars as fast as possible. To do so, they try to reduce the ultra-fast cars’ weight by altering the construction of the frame of the car, or finding lighter engine parts. But recently, many teams have been stripping the paint off the cars instead.

Even though paint on an F1 car only adds up to about three pounds, races can be won by milliseconds, so every ounce counts. In the last couple years, many teams made the decision to pare down the amount of paint used on the cars, exposing the natural black color of the carbon fiber below it. It’s why the cars on the grid look darker overall, compared to previous years.

Kyle Forster, a former aerodynamicist for the Mercedes-AMG F1 team and a lead aerodynamicist for JKF Consultants, breaks down the engineering changes made to F1 cars in recent years, the newest in paint science, and what aerodynamic changes he hopes to make in the years to come.

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What Is Your Cat Doing When You're Not Watching?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Katie Feather) — Thu, 19 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

In a conversation from 2019, Ira and the researchers behind a “catcam” study discuss the secret lives of your feline friends.

If you want the real scoop on what your cat is doing while you’re away, researchers are studying that very question, using cat cameras. Our feline friends spend quite a lot of time outside of our line of sight, and we imagine them napping, bathing, playing, hunting. But that’s merely speculation. To get the data, researchers need to catch them in the act. Maren Huck, Senior Lecturer at the University of Derby in the UK, recently published a methodological study where she successfully tracked the movements of 16 outdoor domestic cats to find out what they were up to. She joins Ira to discuss the findings, which she published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science.

Plus, cat behavior specialist and University California, Davis veterinary school researcher Mikel Delgado joins the conversation to talk more about catching cat behavior on camera, and what we can learn from recording their secret lives.

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The Stories Of The First Six Women Astronauts

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, D. Peterschmidt) — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

If you were asked to name the early astronauts, you probably wouldn’t have much trouble; Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, John Glenn come to mind easily enough. But what if you had to name women astronauts, besides Sally Ride? It’s a question that even space nerds might have trouble answering.

A new book from space reporter Loren Grush centers those women’s stories. The Six: The Untold Story of America’s First Women Astronauts goes deep into the histories, triumphs, and tragedies of Sally Ride, Judy Resnik, Rhea Saddon, Kathy Sullivan, Shannon Lucid, and Anna Fisher. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration excluded women from its astronauts in the 1960s and ‘70s. The agency changed course in 1978, when it selected these six women from a candidate pool of 8,000.

Ira sits down with Loren Grush, space reporter for Bloomberg News, to talk about why NASA delayed their inclusion, the agency politics the women had to navigate, the pressure they faced from the media, and how they made their mark on the space program.

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A Mathematician Asks ‘Is Math Real?’

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Tue, 17 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

When math is based on abstract concepts, how do we know it’s correct? Dr. Eugenia Cheng takes on that question in a new book.

Mathematician Dr. Eugenia Cheng has heard this question many times over her career. The quandary is the basis of her latest book, Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths. She joins Ira from Chicago, Illinois.

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The mRNA Vaccine Revolution

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist) — Mon, 16 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

You’ve probably heard that there’s an updated COVID-19 vaccine on the market, and maybe you’ve already gotten your updated booster. But there are new kinds of vaccines in development that go beyond just tweaking protection to better cover circulating variants.

In one promising development, researchers adapted the decades-old MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine into one covering measles, mumps, and multiple variants of SARS-CoV-2—and, rather than a shot, they delivered that experimental vaccine via a nasal spray.

Dr. Eric Topol, founder and director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, joins Ira to talk about the approach, the advantages of nasal vaccines, and other vaccines on the horizon that make use of the mRNA technology that was the focus of this year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Topol hopes that the mRNA approach will be widely applicable to a range of diseases and conditions—from conventional pathogens to cancers and autoimmune disorders.

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Ancient Human Footprints & 'Ring Of Fire' Eclipse

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Charles Bergquist, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 20:14:11 +0000

A new analysis of ancient footprints in New Mexico adds to the debate about when humans arrived in North America. Plus, astronomer Dean Regas offers tips for safe viewing of Saturday’s eclipse.

New Data Support Human Arrival In North America 22,000 Years Ago

In 2021, scientists uncovered ancient human footprints in White Sands, New Mexico. Dating of the footprints suggested that people arrived in North America thousands of years earlier than anthropologists had thought. It sparked fierce debate among researchers, some of whom raised concerns about the radiocarbon dating process used in the original study. Now, a new study provides additional data supporting humans’ arrival in North America 22,000 years ago.

Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, editorial lead at Carbon Plan about the latest in this debate about the peopling of North America and other top science news of the week including how solar storms affect bird migration, why ants are getting ensnared in plastic, and how climate change is improving Bordeaux wine.

This Weekend’s ‘Ring Of Fire’ Eclipse

This Saturday, much of the continental United States will be treated to an astronomical event—an annular solar eclipse. In this type of eclipse, the apparent sizes of the moon and sun don’t align perfectly to Earth-bound viewers, resulting in a solar “ring of fire” shining around the edges of a moon nestled inside the boundaries of the sun.

The best viewing will come in a 125-mile-wide band known as the path of annularity, which will stretch from Eugene, Oregon to San Antonio, Texas, and then on into Mexico and Central America. Viewers outside that band will still be able to see some parts of the eclipse, with the percent coverage depending on how far they are from that central line.

Even though the sun will be partly covered, it is NOT safe to look directly at the sun without eclipse glasses. If you don’t have glasses, you can look at a projection of the sun through a pinhole onto the ground or another surface—but don’t look through the pinhole at the sun. Astronomer and author Dean Regas joins Ira for an eclipse preview, and to offer viewing tips on when, where, and how to best view the solar event.

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Saltwater Wedge In The Mississippi & Kenya's Geothermal Boom

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Kathleen Davis, Flora Lichtman) — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

A Saltwater Wedge Is Moving Up The Mississippi River

As the Mississippi River drops to one of its lowest levels in recent history, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said salt water from the Gulf of Mexico could threaten drinking water as far north as New Orleans’ French Quarter if no action is taken.

On Friday, the Corps announced plans to avoid that scenario by building upon an existing underwater barrier that has been in place to block the progression of salt water from intruding farther upriver since July. At its current height, the Corps expects the salt water creeping up the bottom of the Mississippi River to overtop the barrier later this week, sometime around Sept. 22.

If that were to happen, the salt water would begin affecting drinking water in Belle Chasse by early October.

To read more, visit sciencefriday.com.

Kenya’s Geothermal Boom Could Help Power Africa

Beneath Kenya, the African tectonic plate is splitting in two. That cleave creates hydrothermal vents, ripe for harnessing geothermal energy. This is a renewable source of energy derived from hot water that bubbles up from deep underground. When it comes to the surface, it turns into steam. That steam can be used to spin a turbine connected to a generator, and voilá: electricity.

Kenya began to tap into this natural supply in the 1950s, and now the East African nation is the seventh largest geothermal energy producer in the world. The Kenyan government has said that the country’s untapped resources are enough to meet its peak energy demands five times over. That’s a big deal on a continent where more than 40% of people lack electricity.

Joining guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about this is Geoffrey Kamadi, a freelance science journalist based in Nairobi, Kenya.

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How Artists And Scientists Collaborated To Make Art About HIV

wnycdigital@gmail.com (D Peterschmidt, Flora Lichtman) — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

How Artists And Scientists Collaborated To Make Art About HIV

This past July, the 12th International Conference on HIV Science was held in Brisbane, Australia. But this wasn’t your typical scientific conference. Yes, findings were presented on the latest in HIV research, but it culminated in a museum exhibition.

12 HIV-positive artists were paired with 12 scientists, and each pair collaborated on a piece of art, largely based on the scientists’ research. One of the pieces attracted a bit more attention than the others.

Kairon Liu, an artist, curator, and photographer, and Kane Race, a professor of gender and cultural studies at the University of Sydney, wanted to create something that commented on the negative effects of global HIV policy and the current stigma of living with the disease. The resulting piece is titled Untransmittable, a transparent penis-shaped sculpture filled with thousands of expired antiretroviral pills.

Science Friday producer and Universe of Art host D. Peterschmidt sat down with Liu and Race to talk about the piece they made, why they couldn’t take it over the Australian border, and their hopes for future HIV research.

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Full-Body MRIs Promise To Detect Disease Early. Do They Work?

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

The latest trend in celebrity health care is full-body MRI scans, with influencers like Kim Kardashian endorsing them. These scans aren’t covered by health insurance, and run over $2,000 out of pocket.

Typically, a new diagnostic tool is marketed to doctors and radiologists. But companies like Prenuvo are now marketing directly to consumers. They claim that their scans will catch early signs of cancer, aneurysms, liver diseases and even multiple sclerosis.

It’s an appealing promise. If you can afford it, wouldn’t it be nice to catch cancer super early? Could it even save your life? Unfortunately, it’s more complicated than that. Simply put, the potential harms far outweigh any possible benefits of such a scan.

Guest host Flora Lichtman separates fact from fad with Dr. Rebecca Smith-Bindman, professor of epidemiology and biostatistics at University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine, and director of the Radiology Outcomes Research Laboratory, based in San Francisco, California.

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Meet The Doctor Who Solves Medical Mysteries

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Shoshannah Buxbaum) — Mon, 9 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

A news story was circulating a few months ago—a woman in Australia came into the hospital with abdominal pain. She was increasingly forgetful and struggling with depression. Her doctors were stumped for over a year. What was causing her symptoms? Turns out she had a three-inch parasitic worm living in her brain. They took it out, and she recovered.

How do doctors crack cases like this? How do you even know to check for a brain worm? This is the specialty of Dr. Joe DeRisi. When doctors run into a diagnostic dead end they call him. In his world, brain worms aren’t even that rare. (Ask him about brain-eating amoebas.)

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. DeRisi, professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco’s School of Medicine and president of the Chan Zuckerberg BioHub San Francisco, about his fascinating work solving some of the most vexing medical mysteries, and how it may even help detect the next pandemic-inducing pathogen.

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mRNA Research Wins Nobel Prize & Lightning On Venus

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist) — Fri, 6 Oct 2023 20:00:00 +0000

An mRNA Advance Wins A Nobel Prize

This week, a handful of scientists scattered around the world got surprise telephone calls announcing that they will be receiving Nobel Prizes. On Monday, the prize in medicine or physiology was announced. It went to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, scientists who developed the modifications to mRNA that made the biomolecule a viable strategy for creating vaccines. On Tuesday, the Nobel in physics went to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L’Huillier, who created techniques to illuminate the movement of electrons using attosecond-length pulses of light. And on Wednesday Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov learned that they had won the prize in chemistry for their work with tiny bits of semiconductor material known as quantum dots.

Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about the winners and their advances, and to share other stories from the week in science, including an FCC fine for a satellite company’s space junk, concerns over drought in the Amazon rainforest, and a tale of fighting a coral-threatening algal bloom using hungry crabs.

Venus Lightning Debate Gets Lit

Venus is an inhospitable place. The longest any spacecraft has survived on the planet’s surface is thought to be around two hours. It’s blazing hot. It has bone-crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds made of sulfuric acid. But is there lightning?

Flybys of Venus have detected electromagnetic signals in the radio spectrum called “whistler waves” that, on Earth, are associated with lightning strikes. So some experts speculated that Venus might have lightning too—perhaps a lot of lightning. But there was no hard proof. The question of Venusian lightning has been a topic of electric debate among scientists for some 40 years.

A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month used data from the Parker Solar Probe to argue that the whistler waves around Venus may have a different cause. Research scientist Dr. Harriet George and space plasma physicist Dr. David Malaspina of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder join guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about the finding, and what it could tell us about planets elsewhere in the galaxy.

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Placebo Effect, Technoableism, Florida Citrus, Neuroscience Music. Sept 29, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dessa Wander) — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 20:00:00 +0000

The Science Behind The Placebo Effect

Earlier this month, a Food and Drug Administration panel concluded that a common decongestant ingredient used in drugs like Sudafed and NyQuil doesn’t work. The panel agreed that while the ingredient, called phenylephrine, isn’t dangerous, it doesn’t work any better than a placebo.

That made us wonder: How well do placebos work? And why do they work even when people know they’re getting a placebo?

Ted J. Kaptchuk, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and director of the Program in Placebo Studies and Therapeutic Encounter at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, joins guest host and musician Dessa to talk about what’s new in placebo research. They discuss the benefits placebos can offer for chronic illness management, and when doctors might start using them in treatments.

Where Technology Meets Ableism

With all the bad news on our feeds, a feel-good story can be a welcome reprieve. But what happens when that story comes in the form of coverage of disability technology?

You might’ve seen the videos online of a person with a physical disability being fitted with an exoskeleton, essentially “wearing” a robot, to help them walk. Onlookers cheer in the background, dramatic music swells, and we get the sense we’re watching something inspirational and empowering—a victory of the human spirit.

This might seem like a triumph of scientific innovation, but our guest asks us to look again at what’s actually going on in narratives like this one.

Dr. Ashley Shew, associate professor at Virginia Tech, studies the intersection of disability and technology and how our collective fixation on these fancy, supposedly transformative gadgets could be doing more harm than good. In her new book, she coins the term “technoableism” to get to the heart of the matter.Guest host and musician Dessa talks with Dr. Shew about her book Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement, about what disability technology is, what the future should look like, and even how disability intersects with space travel and climate change.

Sour Times For Florida’s Citrus

Florida is known for citrus, particularly its fresh-squeezed orange juice. But citrus trees in the state are struggling. For the last two decades, crops have been struck with a devastating disease called “citrus greening.” And Florida orange production has dropped some 94% over that period.

Citrus greening is caused by an invasive insect, the Asian citrus psyllid, which is threatening to wipe out the citrus industry in the state. One of the effects of the disease is a bitter, acidic fruit. Scientists are hard at work devising possible solutions to save Florida’s crop.

Guest host and musician Dessa talks with Dr. Yu Wang, associate professor of food science at the University of Florida’s Citrus Education and Research Center, about her recent advances in making infected orange plants sweeter.

Making Neuroscience Into Music

When composer Sarah Hennies learned about a neurological theory called “motor tapes” from Oliver Sacks’ book Musicophilia, the concept stuck with her for years. The theory comes from neuroscientist Rodolfo Llinás, who posited that many of our thoughts, memories, and physical movements operate via a series of “looping tapes,” with the goal of reducing the amount of energy the brain uses while doing common, repetitive tasks.

The concept resonated with Hennies, who is also a visiting assistant professor of music at Bard College. Most of her compositions use heavy amounts of repetition, and Llinás’ theory fit with how she experienced her own memories and the evolution of her identity. Her piece “Motor Tapes” premiered in early August, performed by Ensemble Dedalus.

Hennies joins guest host and musician Dessa to talk about repetition in music, how to translate neuroscience into art, and what that pairing can reveal about our bodies and the world around us.

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Vision and the Brain, Jellypalooza. Sept 29, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Dessa Wander) — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0000

After 7 Years, NASA Gets Its Asteroid Sample

About a week ago, space nerds got the delivery of a lifetime: a sample from Bennu, an asteroid soaring through the galaxy, currently about 200 million miles away. The capsule of rocks and dust came courtesy of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx, the first U.S. mission to collect a sample from an asteroid.

Scientists hope it’ll help unveil some of the mysteries of our universe, like how the sun and planets came to exist or how life began. Guest host and musician Dessa talks with Sophie Bushwick, technology editor at Scientific American, about this week in science. They also chat about how antimatter interacts with gravity, the new RSV vaccine for pregnant people, why LED streetlights are turning purple, and how beetles came to dominate all other species, especially ants.

How You See With Your Brain

Ever try to take a picture of a spectacular moon that looks like it fills up half the sky? And then you look at the photo, and the moon looks like a tiny dumb ping-pong ball? And you want to march into the Apple store and demand to know why this pocket-size device fails to capture the wonder of the cosmos properly?

The majesty of that supermoon you saw might be in your head as much as it is in the sky—your brain does a lot more than just receive data reports from your eyes. Vision is complicated. Seeing involves a lot of interpretation, of which you’re usually unaware.

Guest host and musician Dessa talks with neuroscientist Dr. Cheryl Olman, associate professor in the University of Minnesota’s psychology department, about her work to better understand how the brain processes visual information using sophisticated fMRI techniques, including studying the brains of people with schizophrenia.

Are Jellyfish Smarter Than We Think?

Jellyfish are known for their graceful, hypnotic movement through the water—and for occasionally stinging swimmers. One thing they’re not known for, however, is intelligence. A study published in the journal Current Biology, however, challenges the idea of the ‘brainless’ jellyfish by showing that at least one species of jelly may be capable of associative learning.

The scientists were studying the Caribbean box jellyfish, which normally lives amongst a forest of tangled mangrove tree roots. In the lab, they painted false roots on the walls of the jellyfish’s tank, and watched to see what happened. At first, the jellies judged the low-contrast gray roots to be far away, and tried to swim through them. After a few collisions with the tank, however, the jellies learned that the false roots were closer than they appeared, and learned to keep their distance.

Dr. Anders Garm, an associate professor of marine biology at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, joins guest host Dessa to explain the experiment, and what it tells researchers about the connection between the behavior of small groups of neurons and the process of learning.

The Mysteries Of Freshwater Jellyfish

In 1933, a high schooler fishing along the Huron River in Ann Arbor, Michigan looked into the water and saw something weird. It turned out to be a freshwater jellyfish – the first ever discovered in the Great Lakes region. Later that year, there was another sighting in Lake Erie.

Researchers think the species hitched a ride here on aquatic plants shipped from China, then spread. But there’s no evidence they harm the lake ecosystems they now call home.

Since then, the jellyfish have spread across the Upper Midwest, loitering mostly in inland lakes, rivers, and streams. But we still don’t know all that much about them.

A biology professor and her field research class at Eastern Michigan University are hoping to change that. Every week, they slap on masks, snorkels, and floaties, and wade out into a southeast Michigan lake on the lookout for jellyfish.

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Ocean Climate Solutions, Florida Corals, Climate Video Games. Sept 22, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Florida’s Reefs Are Vanishing. Can Scientists Save Them?

This was a bad year for Florida’s coral reefs. Since the 1970s, reef cover in the Florida Keys has decreased by 90%. Those remaining reefs have been subjected to water temperatures higher than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, alongside other threats like disease and ocean acidification. This is a big problem for the largest reef in the continental U.S., which plays an important role in protecting the shorelines from erosion and storms.

Scientists are scrambling to preserve as much of the reef as possible. One method marine biologists are focused on is selectively breeding corals in labs. Scientists look for the specimens most resilient to heat stress, then breed them together to create hardy offspring. Those spawn are then implanted into the reef, with hopes of bolstering the existing structure.

Vox environmental reporter Benji Jones joins Ira to talk about his dives to Florida’s Pickles Reef, and the differences he saw between this year and last year. Then, Ira speaks with marine biologist Andrew Baker at the University of Miami about his efforts to bolster Florida’s reefs.

The Ocean Is A Climate Ally

Did you know that the ocean absorbs about a quarter of all CO2 emissions? And about 90% of excess heat? It’s the largest carbon sink we have—and one of our biggest allies in the climate movement.

Ira talks with Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, marine biologist and co-founder of the non-profit Urban Ocean Lab, as well as the climate initiative The All We Can Save Project. They chat about climate solutions—like the newly launched Climate Corps—the power of the ocean, and steps forward. Dr. Johnson is also the curator for Climate Futurism, an art exhibition at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, New York.

Feeling Hopeless About Climate Change? Try Playing These Video Games

This segment, originally from 2022, was re-aired this week.

Five years ago, Stephanie Barish was tired of the public’s attitude about climate change. “Most people at that time were just so negative about climate,” she said. “It was doom and destruction, and I thought, wow, to make positive change, you have to really look at this from a solutions perspective.”

Stephanie is the founder and CEO of Indiecade, an organization that supports indie video game developers and hosts events like the Climate Jam—the goal of which was to change the gloomy public narrative around climate change. So, with the help of organizations like Earth Games, participants around the globe gather every year to make video games about climate change optimism, solutions, and justice.

Teams can also consult with subject matter experts, like Dargan Frierson, an associate professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, and also a judge for the Climate Jam. If teams wonder what climate change would look like on a different planet, they can go to him for answers. “We always look for scientific accuracy,” he said. “I think it’s very important to keep things within the realm of possibility, even when you’re looking at fiction.”

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.

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Our Fragile Moment, Climate Comedy. Sept 22, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 22 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0000

A Week Of Climate Protests, Meetings, Pledges, And Action

Climate Week NYC is wrapping up, where hundreds of events took place across the city (including one from Science Friday), all with the goal of encouraging conversation and action around our climate crisis.

The weeklong event takes place alongside the UN General Assembly meeting, where world leaders discussed climate change, alongside other topics, including the war in Ukraine and universal health coverage.

While President Biden emphasized the importance of reducing the use of fossil fuels to combat climate change, there was a notable absence of leaders from the world’s biggest polluters, including Biden and president Xi Jinping of China, from the meeting’s Climate Ambition Summit. UN Secretary-General António Guterres said that in order to participate, governments need to come with “credible, serious and new climate action.”

Large demonstrations also took place across the city, pressuring leaders and companies to take bigger action to end gas, oil, and coal use.

Swapna Krishna, a journalist based in Philadelphia, talks with Ira about these stories and more, including a new climate jobs program from the White House, a lawsuit from California against the five big oil companies, new battery recycling rules from the EU, and data from the Parker Solar Probe’s recent flight through a sun explosion.

Can Earth’s Past Climate Help Us Understand Today’s Crisis?

A combination of factors led to Earth’s climate being able to support life. And changes in the climate some 6,000 years ago created the conditions for human civilization to flourish. It’s a delicate balance on the verge of collapse, due to our reliance on burning fossil fuels.

Ira talks with paleoclimatologist Dr. Michael Mann about his forthcoming book Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth’s Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis, about the importance of understanding our planet’s climate history, and strategies to get policymakers to take action before it’s too late to reverse some of the worst consequences of climate change.

Mann is a professor of earth and environmental science and director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Read an excerpt of the book on sciencefriday.com

The Climate Movement Should Be Funnier

How do you know that climate change is funny? Even the Antarctic ice sheets are cracking up.

The climate crisis is no joke, but that doesn’t mean we can’t laugh about it. Research suggests that comedy is a powerful way to connect people and get them to empathize with a cause—and the climate crisis is a pretty big one.

So what does science say about the power of a good laugh? And how does that fit into the climate movement?

Ira talks with Esteban Gast, comedian in residence at the clean energy non-profit Generation 180, and Dr. Caty Borum, executive director of the Center for Media & Social Impact at American University.

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New Covid Vaccine, Moroccan Earthquake, Native Bees. Sept 15, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000

New COVID Boosters Arrive Amid Rise In Infections

This past week, the FDA and CDC recommended new COVID vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna for anyone over the age of six months. They’re expected to be in larger pharmacies by the end of the week. It’s welcome news for some, as cases have ticked up over the summer, accompanied by higher hospital admissions and deaths.

The boosters join a suite of other vaccines to combat respiratory illness this fall, including this year’s flu shot and the new RSV vaccine, recommended especially for children and the elderly.

Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist, adjunct professor at UTHealth School of Public Health, and author of the Your Local Epidemiologist newsletter, joins Ira to talk about the details of the new boosters, how long you should wait to get one if you were recently infected, masking recommendations, and if you can get all three shots at once.

The Science Behind Devastating Earthquakes

On September 8, 2023 at 11:11 PM local time, a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck Morocco’s High Atlas mountains. So far, more than 2,500 people died and thousands more were injured or lost.

Other natural disasters usually give off warning signs; we can predict when a volcano will explode, ring the alarms when a tsunami starts to build, or evacuate before a hurricane makes landfall, but we still can’t detect earthquakes before they strike. And victims are left to face “the particular trauma that comes from watching the world around you crumble in an instant,” writes science journalist Robin George Andrews for The Atlantic.

Ira talks with Andrews about the specifics of this earthquake, where the science stands with earthquake detection, and the particular kind of trauma that comes from watching the world crumble.

The Buzz On Native Bees In Your Neighborhood

When you think ‘bees,’ you probably think of a neat stack of white hive boxes and the jars of honey on the store shelves. But there’s a lot more to bees than the agricultural staple, the European honey bee. Around the world there are over 20,000 known bee species, and around 4,000 of them are native to the United States. While these native bees play a key role in pollinating our plants and ensuring the health of ecosystems, they don’t get a ton of recognition or support.

Around three-quarters of flowering plant species rely on insects for pollination, and some native plants have evolved a partnership with specific native bee pollinators. Squashes, pumpkins, gourds, and the annual sunflower all have specific species of native bees as part of their life cycles. Native plants such as blueberries, cherries, and cranberries all developed without the European honeybee, which arrived in North America in 1622.

Dr. Neal Williams, a professor of entomology at the University of California, Davis, joins Ira to talk about native bees, bee behavior and pollination.

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Radioactive Wildlife, Bus Stop Heat, Football Jersey Numbers. Sept 15, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 15 Sep 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Astronomers Find Exoplanet That May Be Covered In Water

Scientists using the James Webb Space Telescope made an exciting discovery this week: Exoplanet K2-18 b, 120 light years away from our solar system, could be covered by a water ocean, similar to Earth. Astronomers say this could be a big leap in our exploration of life on other planets.

This news comes amid another JWST discovery: The earliest black holes seem to be much larger than black holes today. This news also provides evidence that black holes can form without stars, a theorized phenomenon that has never been directly observed.

Joining Ira to talk about these and other science stories of the week is Tim Revell, Deputy U.S. Editor of New Scientist, based in New York, New York.

What Radioactive Animals Teach Us About Nuclear Fallout

When you hear the words “radioactive wildlife,” your brain probably jumps to Chernobyl’s wolves, which—despite the odds—are still thriving at the site of the nuclear disaster. Or maybe you’ve heard of the rat snakes in Fukushima that pick up radioactive contamination as they slither around.

Well, it’s time to add two more to that list of radioactive critters: turtles and wild boar. They’re the subjects of two new studies that looked at radioactivity in wildlife and mapped out where it came from.

Ira talks with Dr. Cyler Conrad, archaeologist at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Washington who worked on the turtle study, and Dr. Georg Steinhauser, professor of applied radiochemistry at the Vienna University of Technology in Austria, who studied boar. They chat about the two studies, how wildlife can clue us into radioactive contamination, and what we can learn from critters in nuclear fallout zones.

Waiting for the Bus in Houston is Hot. And Dangerous.

It was a hot summer day and Glory Medina and her daughter Jade, who was 3 at the time, were running a quick errand at the grocery store near their apartment in Gulfton. They had taken the bus and once they arrived, the two of them faced a giant unshaded parking lot, the black asphalt radiating heat into their faces as they walked across it.

The blast of AC felt cool as they entered the store, and Medina bent down to lift her daughter into the grocery cart. That’s when she noticed Jade’s face was red, almost purple.

“I got scared,” Medina said in Spanish, remembering that day four years ago.

Read more at sciencefriday.com.

The Psychology Behind Wide Receivers’ Jersey Numbers

Football season is officially here, with the NFL’s first game kicking off last Sunday. And if you’ve been watching the sport for a long time, you may have noticed some changes: better-padded helmets meant to reduce serious brain injury, new “sticky” gloves that make it easier for players to hold the ball, and lighter-weight jerseys that make it harder for other players to grab onto. But you’ll also notice the numbers on those jerseys are different, too.

For most of the NFL’s history, wide receivers could only pick jersey numbers between 80 and 89. But in 2004, the league relaxed this policy, allowing players to also pick numbers between 10 and 19. Many players preferred these smaller values explaining that the 1 looked slimmer than the 8, and made them feel thinner and faster. As of 2019, 80% of wide receivers made the switch.

But is there an actual association between smaller numbers and perception of body size?

To investigate whether this was fact or superstition, Dr. Ladan Shams, professor of psychology, bioengineering, and neuroscience at UCLA, ran a study that found those wide receivers were onto something: the results suggest there is a correlation between smaller numbers and perceived body size. Her team’s research was published in PLOS One. She joins Ira to talk about the study and what it could tell us about implicit bias.

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Tree Soil, Rodent Biologist, Soundscape Artist. Sept 8, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, John Dankosky) — Fri, 8 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000

Where Soil Grows Above The Trees

You might be used to the feeling of Earth under your feet, but did you know that there’s soil high above your head? Way up in the treetops, where ferns, mosses, flowers, and even trees grow on top of the forest. A new study in Geoderma describes the factors that contribute to how canopy soil is formed.

Ira talks with lead author Jessica Murray, an ecologist and PhD candidate at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. They discuss the importance of canopy soil, what we do and don’t know about it, and what it’s like to study it.

Check out views from Murray’s field sites at sciencefriday.com!

‘I Will Not Be Vole Girl’—A Biologist Warms To Rodents

The path to becoming a scientist is not unlike the scientific process itself: Filled with dead ends, detours, and bumps along the way.

Danielle Lee started asking questions about animal behavior when she was a kid. She originally wanted to become a veterinarian. But after being rejected from veterinary school, she found a fulfilling career as a biologist, doing the type of work she always wanted to do—but never knew was possible for her.

Science Friday producer Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with Dr. Danielle Lee, a biologist, outreach scientist, and assistant professor in biology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in Edwardsville Illinois about what keeps her asking questions, what rodents can help us understand about humans, and the importance of increasing diversity in science.

This Soundscape Artist Has Been Listening To The Planet For Decades

Jim Metzner is one of the pioneers of science radio—he’s been making field recordings and sharing them with audiences for more than 40 years. He hosted shows such as “Sounds of Science” in the 1980s, which later grew into “Pulse of the Planet,” a radio show about “the sound of life on Earth.”

Over the decades, Metzner has created an incredible time capsule of soundscapes, and now, his entire collection is going to the Library of Congress.

John Dankosky talks with Metzner about what he’s learned about the natural world from endless hours of recordings and what we can all learn from listening. Plus, they’ll discuss some of his favorite recordings. To hear the best audio quality, it might be a good idea to use headphones if you can.

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Embryo Model, Sweat, Whale Vocal Fry. September 8, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow) — Fri, 8 Sep 2023 19:05:00 +0000

Scientists Develop Human Embryo Model Without Sperm Or Eggs

This week, research published in the journal Nature detailed a model of a 14-day old human embryo created without using sperm or eggs. The hope is to shine a light into a previously unavailable window of an embryo’s development, potentially helping to better understand miscarriages and side effects of medications taken during pregnancy.

Ira talks with Casey Crownhart, climate and energy reporter at MIT Technology Review to talk about that and other top science news of the week including Japan’s rocket launch to the moon, zinc batteries, and newly discovered toxic bird species.

Sweating Is Our Biological Superpower

Sweat may feel like a constant summer companion, whether or not you exercise frequently. Being damp can feel uncomfortable, but the smells that follow—thanks to the lives and deaths of sweat-munching bacteria—are often socially stigmatized as well. (Deodorant itself is actually a very recent invention!)

But sweat isn’t just a cosmetic embarrassment: It’s crucial to keeping us cool, as the evaporating liquid pulls heat energy from our bodies. If you look at animals that don’t sweat, many have evolved alternate adaptations like peeing or even pooping on body parts to achieve that vital evaporative effect. People who are born unable to sweat run a constant risk of heatstroke.

Ira talks to Sarah Everts, author of the new book, The Joy Of Sweat, about what makes sweat useful, the cool chemistry of this bodily fluid, and why it’s our evolutionary superpower.

Vocal Fry Serves Up Treats For Toothed Whales

Toothed whales—species like orcas, bottlenose whales, and dolphins—use echolocation to zero in on prey about a mile deep into the ocean.

Until now, scientists couldn’t quite figure out how the whales were making these clicking sounds in the deep ocean, where there’s little oxygen.

A new study published in the journal Science, finds the key to underwater echolocation is vocal fry. Although in whales it might not sound like the creaky voice that some people love to hate, the two sounds are generated in a similar way in the vocal folds.

Ira talks with the study’s co-author, Dr. Coen Elemans, professor of bioacoustics and animal behavior at the University of Southern Denmark based in Odense, Denmark.

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An AI for Smell, Heat and Agricultural Workers, Golden Lion Tamarin, Y Chromosome. Sept 1, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (ira flatow) — Fri, 1 Sep 2023 22:00:00 +0000

What’s That Smell? An AI Nose Knows

This week in the journal Science, researchers describe developing an AI model that, given the structure of a chemical compound, can roughly predict where it’s likely to fall on a map of odors. For example, is it grassy? Or more meaty? Perhaps floral?

As Temperatures Rise, Farmworkers Are Unprotected

Juan Peña, 28, has worked in the fields since childhood, often exposing his body to extreme heat like the wave that hit the Midwest last week.

The heat can cause such deep pain in his whole body that he just wants to lie down, he said, as his body tells him he can’t take another day on the job. On those days, his only motivation to get out of bed is to earn dollars to send to his 10-month-old baby in Mexico.

To read more, visit sciencefriday.com.

The Golden Lion Tamarin Rebounds From The Brink Of Extinction

The Golden Lion Tamarin is a small, charismatic monkey with a mane of red fur that’s a local celebrity in Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. This pint-sized primate was on the brink of extinction back in the 1970s, with only about 200 left in the wild.

After decades of concentrated conservation efforts, an estimated 4,800 golden lion tamarins are now living in the wild. The multi-pronged effort involved reconnecting parts of the forest that had disappeared due to deforestation, vaccinating monkeys against yellow fever, and reintroducing zoo-bred primates to the wild.

Ira speaks to Carlos Ruiz Miranda, associate professor of conservation and behavior at Northern Rio de Janeiro State University in Campos dos Goytacazes, Brazil. Dr. Ruiz Miranda has worked on restoring golden lion tamarin populations for decades, and was involved in every facet of this effort.

Unraveling the Mysteries Of The Y Chromosome

Last week, we briefly mentioned the sequencing and analysis of the human Y chromosome, which was recently reported in the journal Nature. It’s an important achievement—the small Y chromosome is filled with repeated segments of genetic code that make reconstructing the full sequence difficult. Think of trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle—the unique parts of the picture are easy, but areas with repeated colors, like sky or waves, are more challenging.

In addition to the complete sequence of one individual’s Y, other researchers compared the Y chromosomes of 43 different individuals—and found that the structure of the chromosome can vary widely from one person to another.

The Y chromosome plays a key role in sex determination and sperm production, making it of interest to fertility researchers. It’s also linked to some diseases and health conditions.

Adam Phillippy, a senior investigator in the computational and statistical genomics branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Kateryna Makova, a professor of biology at Penn State University, join Ira to talk about the challenges of sequencing the Y chromosome, and what doing so might mean for medical research.

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US Surgeon General On Mental Health, Tracking Tick Bites. Sept 1, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (ira flatow) — Fri, 1 Sep 2023 19:05:00 +0000

What To Expect From Hurricane Season

We’re approaching the peak of hurricane season, which is usually around mid-September. It’s that time of year when it feels like there’s a new storm every week, and we blow through the alphabet trying to name them. This week, Hurricane Idalia made landfall around Florida’s Big Bend as a Category 3 storm, which caused a few fatalities, left hundreds of thousands of people without power, and some without homes. So what do we know about Idalia, and what can we expect from the rest of the hurricane season?

Ira talks with Rachel Feltman, editor at large at Popular Science, about hurricane season and other science news of the week. They chat about what we’re learning from India’s lunar rover, a three-inch roundworm pulled out of someone’s brain, a new study about public health and air pollution, heavy metals in marijuana products, what an ancient Egyptian mummy smells like, and a turtle named Tally, who is far from home.

The Surgeon General Warns About An Epidemic Of Loneliness

The early days of the COVID-19 pandemic were lonely for many, upending their social lives. But loneliness pre-dates COVID, especially among young people. In a recent advisory, the United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy warned that the negative health effects of loneliness and isolation are comparable to smoking daily. Despite being more technologically connected than ever before, the Surgeon General’s Office is also raising concerns about the harms of social media on youth mental health.

Ira sits down for a conversation with the United States surgeon general, Dr. Vivek Murthy, about the intersection of youth mental health, social media, and loneliness. Dr. Murthy outlines both public policy and community interventions that can help strengthen America’s emotional well being and social connections.

Keeping Tabs On Tick Bites

If you live in the Midwest or Northeast, you’re probably aware of an issue that’s gotten worse over the years: ticks, and the illnesses they can spread, including Lyme Disease and Alpha-gal syndrome.

Scientists are still trying to learn more about how and where ticks are spreading. That’s where The Tick App comes in. It’s a community science effort where you can log your tick encounter and help scientists learn more about tick-borne disease. Science Friday digital producer Emma Gometz sat down with Ira to talk about her recent article profiling the app, and the scientists behind forms of tick monitoring research.

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Old Things Considered: La Brea, Megalodon, Dino Footprints, Surviving History. Aug 25, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 22:00:00 +0000

How Early Humans May Have Transformed L.A.’s Landscape Forever

Join us on a time traveling adventure, as we go back 15,000 years to visit what’s now southern California. During the last Ice Age, saber-toothed cats, wooly mammoths, and dire wolves prowled the landscape, until … they didn’t. The end of the Ice Age coincided with the end of these species. And for decades, scientists have been trying to figure out a big question: Why did these animals go extinct?

A new study in the journal Science offers new clues and suggests that wildfires caused by humans might’ve been the nail in these critters’ coffins.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with paleoecologist Dr. Emily Lindsey and paleobotanist Dr. Regan Dunn, both curators at the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum in Los Angeles, California, about what we can learn from animals preserved in tar pits, how fire transformed the ecosystem, and why we have to look to the past for modern day conservation and land management.

How Scientifically Accurate Are The Sharks In ‘Meg 2: The Trench’?

“Meg 2: The Trench” is the sequel to the 2018 movie “The Meg,” in which a team of ocean scientists discover a megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived, thriving at the bottom of the Mariana Trench. Megalodon went extinct over 2.6 million years ago … or so the movie’s characters thought.

When the team’s research sub gets damaged, a skilled rescue diver, played by Jason Statham, is brought in, who happened to have encountered the same megalodon years earlier. Over the course of the movie, the team discovers how this long-thought extinct apex predator survived, and what they can do to stop it before it wreaks havoc on the surface world.

“Meg 2: The Trench” largely follows in that movie’s footsteps, but this time, it features not just one, but multiple megalodons. Oh, and they’re even bigger this time.

Universe of Art host D. Peterschmidt chats with Dr. Sora Kim, an associate professor of paleoecology at University of California, Merced, about what science the movie got wrong (and right) and how these over-the-top blockbusters can inspire the scientists of the future.

Scientists Discover Dinosaur ‘Coliseum’ In Alaska’s Denali National Park

Researchers recently discovered a rocky outcrop at Denali National Park in Alaska covered in dinosaur tracks, which they dubbed the “Coliseum.” It’s the largest dinosaur track site ever found in Alaska.

The area has thousands of prints from generations of dinosaurs living about 70 million years ago, including: duck-billed dinosaurs, horned dinosaurs, raptors, tyrannosaurs.

Flora Lichtman talks with Dustin Stewart, former graduate student at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and paleontologist for the environmental consulting firm Stantec, based in Denver, Colorado, about this dino hotspot.

Your Guide To Conquering History’s Greatest Catastrophes

Guest host Flora Lichtman takes us back to some of the scariest, deadliest moments in history. Think along the lines of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the Ice Age, and the asteroid that wiped out the dinos. But we’re going to revisit them using what we know now—and science, of course—to figure out if and how we could survive those events.

The idea of using science and hindsight to survive history is the premise of a new book, How to Survive History: How to Outrun a Tyrannosaurus, Escape Pompeii, Get Off the Titanic, and Survive the Rest of History’s Deadliest Catastrophes by Cody Cassidy.

We have a new podcast! It’s called Universe Of Art, and it’s all about artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Sea Otters, Alaskan Minerals, Salmon Restoration. Aug 25, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Flora Lichtman) — Fri, 25 Aug 2023 19:05:00 +0000

Countries Seek To Return To The Moon

On Wednesday, the Indian space agency ISRO celebrated as its Chandrayaan-3 craft successfully made a soft landing at the lunar south pole. This is the first mission to explore the region around the moon’s southern pole, and a major success for ISRO. The mission plans to use a robotic rover to conduct a series of experiments over the course of about 2 weeks, largely centered around the availability of water and oxygen-containing materials.

Less than a week earlier, a Russian craft, Luna-25, crashed onto the moon. It would have been Russia’s first moon landing in 47 years. The cause of the crash is not yet known. Maggie Koerth, science journalist and editorial lead for CarbonPlan, joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about the two lunar missions and whether the flurry of activity signals a new space race.

They’ll also discuss other stories from the week in science, including a new analysis of the Y chromosome, work on the camouflage skin of the hogfish, and a setback in a mission to clear up space junk.

What’s The Human Cost Of Alaska’s Mineral Boom?

A dusting of snow clings to the highway as Barbara Schuhmann drives around a hairpin curve near her home in Fairbanks, Alaska. She slows for a patch of ice, explaining that the steep turn is just one of many concerns she has about a looming project that could radically transform Alaskan mining as the state begins looking beyond oil.

Roughly 250 miles to the southeast, plans are developing to dig an open-pit gold mine called Manh Choh, or “big lake” in Upper Tanana Athabascan. Kinross Alaska, the majority owner and operator, will haul the rock on the Alaska Highway and other roads to a processing mill just north of Fairbanks. The route follows the Tanana River across Alaska’s interior, where spruce-covered foothills knuckle below the stark peaks of the Alaska Range. Snowmelt feeds the creeks that form a mosaic of muskeg in nearby Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge, a migration corridor for hundreds of bird species.

To read the full article, visit sciencefriday.com.

Salmon Flourish After Mine Damage Restored In Alaska

On Friday, July 28, there were hundreds of juvenile salmon clustered in a pool, in clear water surrounded by a bank of fresh woody debris. Not 100 yards away, a spinning drum processed sediment to extract gold.

This land is managed by a mining company, but it’s also the site of a major stream restoration project. Thousands of salmon are returning to this stream in Hope, more than 100 years after aggressive gold mining affected the path of the river. The project to restore Resurrection Creek has brought together a coalition of stakeholders, including the present-day mining company that occupies the site.

The restoration of Resurrection Creek began in the early 2000s. The goal was to correct habitat damage caused by historic mining.

More than 100 years ago, heavy mining activity in the gold rush town affected the stream pattern, turning it from a meandering creek to a straight ditch. Jim Roberts is vice president of Hope Mining Company, and he said hydraulic mining in the early 1900s fundamentally changed the waterway.

To read the full article, visit sciencefriday.com.

All About Sea Otters

Last month, a rowdy sea otter was stealing surfboards off the coast of Santa Cruz California, biting chunks out of surfboards, and even catching a few waves.

It’s rare for a sea otter to get so close to humans in the wild. Authorities are trying to capture the otter, named 841, for her safety and that of the surfers. But, a month later, she remains at large.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Jessica Fujii, sea otter program manager at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to get the 411 about Otter 841, and talk all things sea otter—including their sophisticated use of tools, carrying food in their armpits, and busting myths about hand holding.

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Women Athletes, Stem Cell Cornea Repair, Sand. August 18, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 20:30:00 +0000

Challenging The Gender Gap In Sports Science

This weekend, Spain and England face off in the Women’s World Cup Finals in Sydney, Australia.

Luckily things are changing, and more girls and women are playing sports than ever before. There’s a little more research about women too, as well as those who fall outside the gender binary.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Christine Yu, a health and sports journalist and author of Up To Speed: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, about the gap in sport science about women.

Using Stem Cells For Cornea Repair Is Worth A Look

Each year in the US, over 40,000 people receive transplants of the cornea—the clear front part of the eye that light goes through first. Still more patients with damaged corneas might receive artificial corneas to help restore clear vision. But if an eye has been damaged by a chemical burn or another severe eye injury, neither of those treatments may be possible.

Now an early, Phase 1 clinical trial is reporting positive results using a stem cell technique called CALEC. It grows cells from a patient’s healthy eye, and then grafts them back into the damaged eye, either to support corneal tissue regrowth or as a foundation for a traditional transplant.

Dr. Ula Jurkunas, associate director of the Cornea Service at Mass Eye and Ear, and Dr. Jerome Ritz, the executive director of the Connell and O’Reilly Families Cell Manipulation Core Facility at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, join Ira to talk about how the process works, and the challenges of manufacturing stem cell tissues in the lab for use in the human body.

From Skyscrapers to Sand Thieves—Digging Into The World Of Sand

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 key ingredient in concrete for skyscrapers, silicon for computer chips, and the glass for your smartphone.

Vince Beiser, journalist and author of the book The World in a Grain: The Story of Sand and How it Transformed Civilization, traveled to sand mines in India and beach nourishment projects around the world to follow the story of how sand has become a vital resource. He talks about the many uses of sand in our everyday lives and some of the consequences that come from our dependence on this natural resource.

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Covid Update, Brain Fog Research, Toilet to Tap. Aug 18, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Ira Flatow, Kathleen Davis) — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 19:00:00 +0000

Youth Climate Activists Score A Win In Montana

This week, a state court in Montana ruled in favor of a group of 16 youth climate activists, who argued that a state environmental law was in violation of a provision in the state constitution. The Montana constitution states: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.” The ruling will allow (but not require) regulators to consider climate impacts when evaluating proposed energy projects for approval.

Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Ira to talk about the decision and what it might mean for other climate-related litigation around the country. They’ll also discuss other science news of the week, including some strange particle physics from Fermilab, the end of the road for the common incandescent light bulb, and how researchers decoded a snippet of song — using electrodes on a brain.

COVID-19’s Summer Wave Raises New Questions

Step outside into a public place, and you may experience some deja-vu: Masking is back up, the coughs and sniffles are echoing, and coworkers are calling in sick. It’s not just your imagination—hospitalizations from COVID-19 are up 14.3 percent for the week of August 5. This new wave has a name: EG. 5, named for the recent Omicron variant that is now the most prevalent.

With new boosters on the horizon, Ira catches up with Dr. Angela Rasmussen, virologist at VIDO, the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, at the University of Saskatchewan. They answer questions about the new monovalent booster, testing guidance, and why COVID-19 is still a public health problem.

New Research Suggests Neurological Culprit For COVID Brain Fog

Among the most debilitating symptoms of Long Covid is brain fog, a condition which includes symptoms like confusion or inability to concentrate.

A recently published study using mice cells in petri dishes suggests that brain fog might be the result of neurons fusing together. The results have yet to be tested in live animals or humans.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with study author, Dr. Ramón Martínez-Mármol, research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, at the University of Queensland, based in Brisbane, Australia, about what his research might help us better understand about brain fog.

Reno Is Preparing To Turn Its Wastewater Into Drinking Water

Inside a water treatment plant in north Reno, Nev., on a recent Wednesday, recycled wastewater was running beneath a floor grate inside a small testing room. Inside the space is a system of serpentine-like PVC pipes with 19 different ports, used to test water samples at different intervals.

“It’s about halfway through the treatment process at the wastewater facility,” said Lydia Teel, an engineer with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, or TMWA, which serves about 440,000 people in the greater Reno area. “So, it’s clean, but there’s still some color, there’s bacteria in it, some solids.”

Teel spearheads a demonstration project called OneWater Nevada, an effort to show that the region can recycle the water that flushes down people’s toilets and shower drains and – eventually – turn it back into clean, pure drinking water flowing from faucets, effectively creating a new water resource. The project is a collaboration between TMWA, the cities of Reno and Sparks, the University of Nevada, Reno, Washoe County, and the Western Regional Water Commission.

The Reno area doesn’t have a history of threatened water supplies, and historic snowfall this past winter eased drought conditions in Nevada and across parts of the Mountain West. But that could shift quickly with climate change.

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Hawai’i Wildfires, Blue-Fin Tuna Science, Maine’s New Lithium Deposit. August 11, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 20:57:11 +0000

Devastating Fires Might Become More Common In Hawaii

As of Friday morning, at least 55 were dead and thousands were seeking shelter on Maui, after wildfires tore across the Hawaiian island. Officials there say that the fires, once rare, have caused billions of dollars in damage, and the Biden administration has made federal disaster relief available.

The fires were driven by strong, dry winds from nearby Hurricane Dora, and were made worse by ongoing drought conditions. The region has grown hotter and drier, and highly flammable invasive grasses have been crowding out native vegetation.

Bethany Brookshire, freelance science journalist and author of the book Pests: How Humans Created Animal Villains, joins Ira Flatow to talk about this story and others from this week in science news, including an investigation into unknown genes in our genome, a 390 million year-old moss that might not survive climate change, and a fish that plays hide and seek to get to its prey.

A Tuna’s Reel Life Adventures

Bluefin tuna is typically sliced into small pieces, its ruby red flesh rolled into sushi. But don’t let those tiny sashimi slices fool you. Bluefin tuna are colossal creatures—on average, they’re about 500 pounds. The biggest one ever caught was a whopping 1,500 pounds. They can travel thousands of miles at breakneck speeds, and their skin changes color!

The fish, once in danger of extinction, have now rebounded due to a combination of scientific advances and possibly as a result of climate change.

Ira talks with Karen Pinchin, science journalist and author of the new book, Kings of Their Own Ocean: Tuna, Obsession, and The Future of Our Seas about a tuna nicknamed Amelia who traveled across the world, the fisherman who tagged her, and what their stories can help us better understand about the mighty fish.

Read an excerpt of the book here.

Preserving Acadia National Park’s Vanishing Birdsong

Acadia National Park in Maine is home to more than 300 bird species. Climate change is affecting the range of many of these birds, to the extent that some may not be found in the area in the future. A team of volunteers has made it their mission to record as many bird sounds as possible—while they still can.

Laura Sebastianelli is the founder and lead researcher of the Schoodic Notes Bird Sounds of Acadia project. She’s helped collect more than 1,200 bird sounds on tape, with the hopes of aiding future researchers. Sebastianelli joins Ira to talk about the project.

World’s Richest Lithium Deposit Faces Opposition To Mining

Five years ago, professional gem hunters Mary and Gary Freeman stumbled upon the richest known lithium deposit in the world in the woods of western Maine. Lithium is a silvery metal many consider to be key to the transition to a clean energy future, thanks to its role in technology like lithium-ion batteries.

The Maine deposit could be a way for the United States to be independent in their lithium sourcing. But there’s stiff opposition to digging up the mineral within Maine.

Kate Cough, reporter and enterprise editor for The Maine Monitor, reported this story in collaboration with Time Magazine. Cough is a Report For America corps member. She joins Ira to discuss the debate.

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Pod Pregnancy Movie, Increase In Deep-Sea Mining, Upcoming Astronomical Delights. August 11, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 11 Aug 2023 18:46:39 +0000

In ‘The Pod Generation,’ Pregnancy Goes High-Tech

In the new movie The Pod Generation, a wife named Rachel, played by Emilia Clarke, and her husband Alvy, played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, want to start a family. In the movie’s near future, you don’t have to have a baby by getting pregnant, or using IVF, or going through a surrogate.

If you’re lucky, you can get a reservation at The Womb Center, where you can grow your baby inside a convenient, high-tech, egg-shaped pod. Pressured by her friends and her work’s HR department, Rachel decides to give The Womb Center a shot.

Science Friday producer and Universe of Art host D. Peterschmidt sat down with the film’s writer and director, Sophie Barthes, to talk about what inspired her to make the movie, and what may be lost in the thoughtless pursuit of technology.

The Rising Tide Against Deep Sea Mining

The ocean’s seabed is filled with minerals like copper, nickel, and cobalt—the very raw materials that tech companies use to make electronics and batteries. Some view it as fertile ground to mine and exploit, launching an underwater mining rush.

Last month, world leaders gathered in Kingston, Jamaica to hash out the future of deep sea mining. For years, the International Seabed Authority—the organization in charge of authorizing and controlling mineral operations on the seafloor—has been trying and failing to put together a set of guidelines for deep sea mining.

Ira talks with Dr. Diva Amon, marine biologist at the Benioff Ocean Science Laboratory at the University of California Santa Barbara and director of the non-profit SpeSeas, based in Trinidad and Tobago. They talk through the science of deep sea mining, the policies being debated, and what the world risks losing. Then, Ira talks with Solomon Pili Kahoʻohalahala, Chairperson of the non-profit Maui Nui Makai Network and Native Hawaiian Elder of the Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument Advisory Council.

August Skies Set To Dazzle

August is shaping up to be a great month for stargazing, with or without a telescope. Celestial wonders such as a Perseid meteor shower and a Super Blue Moon will take place soon. Saturn will also be lit up for the remainder of August, and should be visible to the naked eye on a clear night.

Joining Ira to talk about what we can see this month in the night sky is astronomer, author, and podcaster Dean Regas. Regas also talks about recently leaving his long tenure at the Cincinnati Observatory, and what’s next for his love for astronomy.

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Answering Evolution Questions, Planetary Protection. Aug 4, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 4 Aug 2023 20:38:47 +0000

Protecting Other Planets From Earth’s Germs

For decades, people have been trying to figure out how to avoid contaminating other planets as they explore them—an idea called planetary protection. As missions venture forth to places such as Mars or Jupiter’s moon, Europa, the need to protect worlds that could support life becomes more critical. And at the same time, as space programs begin to bring samples back to Earth from places like Mars or asteroids, planetary protection becomes a concern in another way—the need to protect Earth from potential unknown life forms from the cosmos.

Sending humans to another world raises the stakes even more. NASA has a limit of no more than 300,000 spores (single-celled organisms) allowed on board robotic Mars landers. But human bodies contain trillions of microorganisms, making it impossible for human missions to achieve the same level of microbial cleanliness as robotic landers.

Dr. Nick Benardini is a NASA official responsible for ensuring that the proper precautions are made to prevent humans from contaminating outer space. Ira Flatow spoke to him about how to avoid spreading microbes between planets.

Ask An Expert: An Evolution Education

Most people raised in the U.S. were taught about evolution in science class growing up. But how much do you actually remember? Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species or Gregor Mendel’s pea plant experiments may ring a bell, but it’s likely most of us could use a refresher.

A good grasp on the science of evolution is extra important these days, argues Prosanta Chakrabarty, author of the new book, Explaining Life Through Evolution, and curator of fishes at Louisiana State University. In 2008, Louisiana’s governor signed the Louisiana Science Education Act, which allows schools to teach creationism as an alternative to evolution.

Chakrabarty joins Ira to talk about the science behind evolution and take questions from listeners.

Read an excerpt of the book here.

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Artificial Sweetener Safety, Nuclear Weapons Tech. Aug 4, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 4 Aug 2023 20:37:58 +0000

A Possible Breakthrough Superconductor Has Scientists Split

Recently, a superconducting material went viral in the scientific community. Researchers in South Korea say they’ve discovered a room-temperature, ambient-pressure superconductor. If it works, it would create electricity under normal, everyday conditions.

But some scientists are hesitant to applaud this purported breakthrough. This field has a long history of supposed breakthroughs, many of which turn out to be not so superconducting after all.

In other science news, NASA has detected a ‘heartbeat’ from the Voyager 2 spacecraft, which lost contact last month. This may allow scientists to reestablish contact with the spacecraft before its expected October 15 date.

Joining Ira to talk about these stories and more is Sophie Bushwick, technology editor for Scientific American, based in New York, New York.

How Oppenheimer’s Bombs Compare To Today’s Nukes

On the day the film Oppenheimer came out, Science Friday discussed the history of the Manhattan Project, including the legacy of the Trinity Test, where the world’s very first nuclear weapon was detonated in the desert of New Mexico. We also heard from a survivor of the Hiroshima bombing and a New Mexican downwinder.

But our listeners responded with even more questions that we couldn’t get to—including this, from Randy in Orlando, who wrote, “I’ve heard Neil deGrasse Tyson say the new bombs aren’t that dirty?”

Randy’s referring to the astrophysicist’s interview last November, in which he said: “Modern nukes don’t have the radiation problem … it’s a different kind of weapon than Hiroshima and Nagasaki.” We wanted an answer to this question—and others—about current nuclear weapons technology, an issue that Russia’s implied threats of using nuclear weapons against Ukraine also raise.

Ira talks with Dr. Zia Mian, a physicist and co-director of Princeton’s Program on Science and Global Security, about how nuclear weapons technology has evolved over the last 80 years, how many there are, and the new threats they pose.

From Splenda to Aspartame: Are the Artificial Sweeteners We Use Hurting Us?

The World Health Organization recently classified aspartame as a “possible carcinogen.” While the designation may seem scary, it simply indicates that the agency cannot rule out that the substance causes cancer. There is not enough evidence to suggest that aspartame, found in many sugar-free beverages, is linked to cancer.

Ira breaks down the science behind that decision, what we know about the health effects of artificial sweeteners, and takes listener calls with guests Marji McCullough, senior scientific director of epidemiology research at the American Cancer Society and Dr. Walter Willett, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

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The Cat’s Meow, Chumash Marine Sanctuary, EV Tires. July 28, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:24:19 +0000

What Is Your Cat’s Meow Trying To Tell You?

Cats have formed bonds with humans for thousands of years. But what exactly is going on in our furry friends’ brains? What are they trying to tell us with their meows? And why did humans start keeping cats as pets anyway?

To help answer those questions and more, John Dankosky talks with Jonathan Losos, professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and author of the new book, The Cat’s Meow: How Cats Evolved from the Savanna to Your Sofa.

Read an excerpt of the book at sciencefriday.com.

Researchers Quantify The Navajo Nation’s Water Crisis

In Fort Defiance, one of five main communities situated on the Arizona-New Mexico border in the Navajo Nation, Taishiana Tsosie and Kimberly Belone are standing in a mobile office’s cramped bathroom.

The two researchers from the Johns Hopkins Center for Indigenous Health turn off the lights and hold up plastic bags filled with water from the bathroom sink. Each bag has five small compartments, filled with the same sink water. Where they differ is in the chemicals added to each compartment.

“This is our compartment bag, and we use this and several other chemicals and tablets to test for E. coli in the water,” Tsosie said.

Today, the researchers are testing for harmful bacteria, but they also run separate tests for dangerous metals in drinking water.

To read the rest, visit sciencefriday.com.

Chumash Tribe Champions National Marine Sanctuary

For generations, the Chumash tribal nation have been stewards of a vital marine ecosystem along the central coast of California, bordering St. Louis Obispo County and Santa Barbara County.

The area is home to species like blue whales, black abalone, and snowy plovers. And it’s also an important part of the Chumash tribe’s rich traditions and culture.

Tribal leaders have pushed for decades to designate the area as a national marine sanctuary. Now, the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary is in the final stages of the approval process, which would make it the first tribally nominated national marine sanctuary in the country.

John Dankosky talks with Stephen Palumbi, professor of marine sciences at Stanford University and Violet Sage Walker, chairwoman of the Northern Chumash Tribal Council, about the importance of this region and their collaborative research project.

Where The Rubber Meets The Road For Electric Cars

You might not give your car’s tires a lot of thought unless you get a flat, or you live somewhere you need to swap in snow tires. But as more people in the US make the switch to electric vehicles, some are finding they have to think about their tires more often. Some EV drivers are finding that their tires wear out more rapidly than they had with traditional internal combustion-driven vehicles—in some cases, 20 percent faster.

The problem has multiple causes. Many EVs are heavier than regular cars of a similar size, which puts more load on the tires. When combined with the almost instant torque provided by electric motors, that can lead to leaving rubber on the road—even when a driver isn’t attempting to burn rubber.

Ryan Pszczolkowski, tire testing program manager at Consumer Reports, joins Diana Plasker to talk about the special engineering that comes into play when the rubber meets the road in an electric car.

Is The Plastic In Your Old Barbie Toxic?

‘Barbie’ is going gangbusters at the box office, and it’s prompted a whole new interest in the iconic, if occasionally problematic, toy doll. If you’ve been moved by the movie to dig your old Barbie out from the attic, don’t be surprised if she looks…different.

The PVC (polyvinyl chloride) toy dolls of the 1950s—and for the next 50 years after that—contained plasticizers that, over time, can degrade, discolor, and even become sticky. And the chemical compounds being released by an old PVC toy might be toxic to your toddler.

Science Friday’s AAAS Mass Media Fellow Chelsie Boodoo is a big Barbie fan. She wanted to find out more about what these old Barbies are made of, and whether we should be worried. So, she turned to Dr. Yvonne Shashoua, a research professor from the National Museum of Denmark. She explains what happens to plastic dolls over time, how museums like hers preserve vintage toys, and even some tips to keep Barbie looking like new. (Hint: make room in the freezer!)

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Kākāpō Conservation, NYC Parrots, One Year After the Dobbs Decision. July 28, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 28 Jul 2023 15:23:56 +0000

No, The Gulf Stream Is Not Collapsing

A sobering climate study came out this week in the journal Nature Communications. It suggests that a system of ocean currents—called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC)—could collapse sometime between 2025 and 2095, which could have dire climate consequences for the North Atlantic.

SciFri director of news and audio John Dankosky talks with Swapna Krishna, a journalist based in Philadelphia, about what this means and what could be at stake. They also chat through other big science news of the week, including the detection of water vapor around a very distant star, a new image depicting the first detection of gas giants being formed around stars, a new theory for the origin of the world’s “gravity hole,” why the fuzzy asp caterpillar packs such a scary sting, and what scientists can learn from ticklish rats.

The State Of Reproductive Health, One Year After Dobbs

In the year since the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning the federal right to an abortion, states jumped into action.

Thirteen states banned abortion with limited exemptions, and three others have banned abortion after the first trimester. A handful of other states have extremely restrictive abortion access, or otherwise remain in legal limbo, awaiting court decisions or new laws to be signed.

Leading up to Dobbs decision, SciFri delved into the science behind reproductive health and the potential ripple effects on access to care. Now, a little over a year later, we’re following up what’s going on.

SciFri guest host and experiences manager Diana Plasker talks with Usha Ranji, associate director for Women’s Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, based in San Francisco, California, about her survey of 569 OB-GYNs across the country. They discuss the growing disparities in states between where abortion is banned and where it remains legal.

Later, John Dankosky talks with Dr. Rebecca Cohen, chief medical officer at the Comprehensive Women’s Health Center, based in Denver, Colorado, about providing abortion and pregnancy care in a state where abortion is legal, and seeing patients who are traveling from states with bans in place.

The Kākāpō Parrot Returns To New Zealand

Before humans arrived in New Zealand, parrots called kākāpō freely roamed across the islands. They are the world’s only living flightless parrots, and they’re a bit smaller than the average chicken. But the kākāpō’s population started crashing centuries ago, due to human interference and the arrival of predators like cats, rats, and stoats. At one point, the species was teetering on the brink of extinction.

For decades, scientists have been capturing and relocating kākāpō to safe islands, hoping their population would grow. It did, and the kākāpō’s recovery team just reached a huge milestone: bringing four birds back to the mainland, a place they haven’t existed since the 1980s.

Guest host and SciFri events manager Diana Plasker talks with Deidre Vercoe, operations manager for the New Zealand Department of Conservation’s kākāpō and takahē teams, about the history of kākāpō conservation, what this win means, and what’s next for these beloved birds.

Far Beyond Their Native Habitat, Parrots Rule The Roost

In many urban areas across the U.S. and abroad, feral, non-native parrots have become established. This is true in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, where a colony of lime green monk parakeets have inhabited a massive nest on top of the gothic entrance gate. How exactly these parrots wound up here is a bit of a mystery.

“The lore that’s passed around is that at some point a box of parrots, perhaps at the airport, got overturned,” said science writer Ryan Mandelbaum. “What’s more likely is a combination of people releasing their [pet] parrots and parrots escaping in some critical mass.”

Mandelbaum wrote the cover story for July’s issue of Scientific American all about the resilience of parrots. SciFri producer Kathleen Davis interviewed them at Green-Wood Cemetery, where they discussed why these parrots are not just surviving, but thriving.

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How Does The Brain Control Your Every Move? July 21, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:06:24 +0000

Astronomers Spy A Two-Faced Star

This week, astronomers report in the journal Nature that they’ve discovered a white dwarf—a dying star’s dense inner core—that, instead of being uniform in composition, has a surface that appears to be hydrogen on one face and helium on the other. The star rotates on its axis once every 15 minutes, bringing each face into view. Researchers spotted the unusual object with an instrument called the Zwicky Transient Facility, which initially singled out the star because of its rapidly changing brightness.

The astronomers aren’t sure why the white dwarf, which they’ve nicknamed Janus after the two-faced Roman god, has this strange divided surface. Some possible theories include shifting magnetic fields which produce areas of different density, or that it’s a step in stellar evolution only partially complete.

Tim Revell, deputy US editor at New Scientist, joins John Dankosky to talk about the two-faced star and other stories from the week in science, including the resignation of the Stanford University president amidst an ethics probe, discovery of ancient natural graphene, an earthworm invasion in the Arctic, and investigations of alcoholic fruit.

How Does The Brain Control Your Every Move?

As you read this, every small action your body makes—eyes scanning the page, fingers scrolling a mouse, scratching an itch on your face—must be dictated by your brain. These actions usually happen without a second thought. But inside the brain, the motor cortex is hard at work making the body move.

For nearly a century, every neuroscience student came across the “homunculus”—a visual representation of which areas of the brain control certain body parts. But for the last few decades, some researchers have disputed this traditional view of brain mapping. This includes a recent study, led by Washington University in St. Louis.

Joining guest host John Dankosky to discuss how the brain and body are connected are study lead author Evan Gordon, assistant professor of radiology at Wash U., and Michael Graziano, professor of psychology and neuroscience at the Princeton Neuroscience Institute in Princeton, New Jersey.

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What To Know Before You Go See ‘Oppenheimer’. July 21, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 21 Jul 2023 21:03:06 +0000

Revisiting The Nuclear Age With ‘Oppenheimer’

This weekend, Christopher Nolan’s long awaited film Oppenheimer hits theaters. It tells the story of American physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his road to becoming the “father of the atomic bomb.” With its release, audiences will be faced with the United States’ contentious history in developing and deploying the world’s first atomic weapons, marking a point of no return for the entire world.

Nearly 80 years since the bombs were first developed and tested in the New Mexican desert—and then dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki—the world is still reckoning with the Manhattan Project and Oppenheimer’s legacies.

In this live call-in show, Science Goes To The Movies, we analyze the roles of scientists during the Manhattan project, hear from the people most affected by Oppenheimer’s work, and pick apart his life and legacy—one which asks to what extent scientists are responsible for the things they create.

To read the rest, visit sciencefriday.com.

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Lab-Grown Meat Approval, Underground Climate Change, Utahraptor. July 14, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 17:24:51 +0000

Where’s The Beef? Lab-Grown Meat Gets U.S. Approval

People have been looking for meat-alternatives for decades. Vegetarians avoid animal products for many reasons, from concerns over animal treatment and slaughtering practices to the meat industry’s climate impacts. Methane from cows and other livestock contribute about 15% of all greenhouse gas emissions.

There have been plant-based alternatives on the market for awhile now, but another method has quietly gained steam over the past decade: meat grown in a lab, using cultured cells. This past June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture approved two companies—Eat Just and Upside—to grow and sell cultivated chicken products in the U.S. Lab-developed beef will likely be next, while some companies are even working on cultivated pet food meat. (Lab-grown mouse meat kibble, anyone?)

But will growing tissue in a lab actually reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and … will people even want to eat it? Joining Ira to discuss this beefy topic is Casey Crownhart, climate reporter at the MIT Technology Review, who talks about how this kind of meat is made in a lab, the challenges the industry faces, and what lab-grown beef patty tastes like.

How Rising Temperatures Are Shifting The Ground Beneath Chicago

As global temperatures rise, cities are typically hotter than rural areas. Tall buildings trap heat and temperatures don’t drop nearly as low at night.

Out of sight, just below the surface, it’s also getting hotter. Scientists are beginning to document the unexpected consequences of underground climate change.

A new study measuring the phenomenon used sensors to track increasing temperatures underground in Chicago and map how the earth has shifted beneath the city as a result.

Ira talks with the lead researcher of the study, Dr. Alessandro Rotta Loria, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northwestern University, based in Chicago, Illinois.

A Fish By Any Other Name: Inside The Effort To Bring ‘Copi’ To Dinner

People who live near freshwater rivers or lakes are likely familiar with Asian Carp. The fish are not native to the U.S., but over the last few decades their populations have exploded in waterways like the Mississippi River Basin and the Illinois River.

Over the last few years, there’s been a major PR campaign to move away from the name Asian Carp, in favor of a new name: “Copi.” The reason is two-fold: First, it joins a general trend of moving species’ names away from nationalistic associations, considering anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic. The other goal is to make the fish sound more delicious—creating a market that would incentivize fishing the Copi, hopefully reducing their populations.

Joining Ira to talk about this is Jim Garvey, director of fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic sciences at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois.

Thanks To A Mesozoic Hot Spot, We Finally Know How Old The Utahraptor Is

Sometimes Jim Kirkland wishes he had been alive 150 years ago.

That’s when the golden age of North American dinosaur discovery began, and early titans of paleontology crisscrossed the Rocky Mountains unearthing dozens of new species that became household names, from the Stegosaurus to the Brontosaurus to the Triceratops.

But a close second to that era is what Kirkland gets to see these days in Utah.

“I am doing that kind of discovery right now,” Kirkland said. “I’m just lucky to be alive.”

Kirkland, Utah’s state paleontologist, uncovered and named the Utahraptor in 1993. The deadly predator became the official state dinosaur in 2018.

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Youth Mental Health Crisis, Repairing Sharks’ Bad Reputation. July 14, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 14 Jul 2023 17:24:02 +0000

The Oceans Are Getting Hotter—And Greener

It’s hot out there, and more so than normal July weather. It’s estimated that more than 100 million Americans are under heat watches, warnings, and advisories, spanning the west coast and southern states. Not only is the land hot, but the oceans are, too. The water temperature near the Florida Keys this week reached 96.8 degrees Fahrenheit, just shy of the record for global ocean temperature.

A warmer climate is having some visual effects on our oceans, too. The color of the ocean surface near the equator has gotten greener. The culprit? Phytoplankton, which are full of the pigment chlorophyll.

Joining Ira to talk about these stories and other science news of the week is Rachel Feltman, Editor at Large for Popular Science and host of the podcast “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week,” based in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Understanding The Reasons For The Mental Health Crisis In Youth

You’ve probably read the headlines about a spike in youth suicide rates, or about how social media and screen time are exacerbating teen anxiety and depression. Or maybe you read about the shortage of services for kids who need mental health treatment, waiting in emergency rooms for inpatient beds to open up.

And of course the pandemic accelerated all of these issues, leaving kids who might have been already struggling without the support of friends and teachers in their school communities.

Ira takes a closer look at what’s driving these trends with Dr. Patricia Ibeziako, associate chief for clinical services in the department of psychiatry and behavioral services at the Boston Children’s Hospital and associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Dr. Tami Benton, psychiatrist-in-chief in the department of child and adolescent psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and professor of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine.

Rewriting Sharks’ Big, Bad Reputation… For Kids

It’s that time of year when sharks are on our minds. Summer is filled with Shark Week content, viral reports of attacks, and shrieks on the beach when someone spots a fin in the water… from a dolphin.

But sharks don’t deserve this bad reputation. They are beautiful, fascinating, and—more than anything—the Earth needs them. A new children’s book called “Mother of Sharks,” by Melissa Cristina Márquez, aims to teach kids exactly that.

Ira talks with Márquez, a shark scientist and wildlife educator, about the book, shark conservation, and why she loves sharks so much.

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Accessible Birding, Space Sounds, Wasps. July 7, 2023. Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 7 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Meet The Blind Birder Reimagining Accessibility In The Outdoors

For many blind and low vision people, accessing outdoor spaces like parks can be challenging. Trails are often unsafe or difficult to navigate, signs don’t usually have Braille, guides generally aren’t trained to help disabled visitors, and so on.

But nature recordist Juan Pablo Culasso, based in Bogata, Colombia, is changing that. He’s designed a system of fully accessible trails in the cloud forests of southwest Colombia that are specifically tailored to help visually disabled people connect with nature. The trails are the first of their kind in the Americas, and Culasso drew on his own experiences as a blind person and a professional birder to design the system.

He talks with Maddie Sofia about how he designed the trail system and takes listeners on an adventure through the cloud forest he works in.

Listen To Ethereal Sounds Derived From Space

You’ve probably heard that if you scream in space, no one will hear a thing. Space is a vacuum, so sound waves don’t have anything to bounce off of. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that space is silent. A team of researchers are taking data from a variety of telescopes and assigning them sounds, creating song-length sonifications of beloved space structures like black holes, nebulas, galaxies, and beyond.

The album, called “Universal Harmonies” aims to bring galaxies to life and allow more people, such as those who are blind and low-vision, to engage with outer space.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with two of the scientists behind “Universal Harmonies,” Dr. Kimberly Arcand, visualization scientist at NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, and Dr. Matt Russo, astrophysicist and musician at the University of Toronto.

Listen to a selection of the ethereal sonifications of “Universal Harmonies.”

Why You Should Thank Your Local Wasp

It’s late in the summer, meaning any outdoor gathering with food and drink has a good chance of being visited by a pesky, buzzing wasp. But don’t reach for that rolled-up newspaper or can of bug spray. The wasps in your world play an important role that’s often overlooked.

Far beyond the social hornets and yellowjackets people think about when they picture a wasp, the wasp world includes thousands of species. Some are parasitic, injecting their eggs into unwilling prey. Others hunt, either paralyzing prey for their young to feed on, or by bringing bits of meat back to a nest for their young. Some are strictly vegetarian, and live on pollen. Some are needed for the pollination of figs and certain species of orchids.

Dr. Seirian Sumner, a behavioral biologist at University College London, says that if people understood the services provided by wasps the same way that they understand the need for bees, they might be more willing to overlook an occasional wasp annoyance—and might even be thankful for the wasps in their lives. In her book, "Endless Forms: The Secret World of Wasps," Sumner makes the case for wasps as nature’s pest control agents, as important pollinators that should be celebrated.

And the pesky yellowjacket at your picnic? It’s probably being driven by a late-summer shift in functions within the nest, in which many of the workers die off and are replaced by sexual brood. Earlier in the year, worker wasps can bring bits of meat to the developing young, which reward them with sugary secretions. But later in the season, that food source dries up—so visiting wasps are probably searching for a bit of sugar just to get by. “Watch the wasp, see what she wants at your picnic,” Sumner advises. “Is she going for sugar, or is she going for some meat? Whatever you can work out that she wants, give her a little bit of it. Make a little wasp offering.”

Sumner joins SciFri producer Charles Bergquist to talk about wasps, and make a case for why you should be thankful for the wasps in your neighborhood.

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Beavers, Pando Tree, $7 Violin. July 7, 2023. Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 7 Jul 2023 16:00:00 +0000

How The Humble Beaver Shaped A Continent

The American beaver, Castor canadensis, nearly didn’t survive European colonialism in the United States. Prized for its dense, lustrous fur, and also sought after for the oil from its tail glands, the species was killed by the tens of thousands, year after year, until conservation efforts in the late 19th century turned the tide.

In her new book, Beaverland: How One Weird Rodent Made America, author Leila Philipp tells that tale—and the ecological cost of this near-extermination. But she also has good news: beavers, and their skillful engineering of waterways, have the potential to ease the fire, drought and floods of a changing climate. She talks to Ira about the powerful footprint of the humble beaver.

The Sweet Song Of The Largest Tree On Earth

For this story, we’re taking a trip to south central Utah and into the Fishlake National Forest to visit the largest tree on earth, an aspen named Pando. The strange thing about Pando is that it doesn’t really look like the world’s biggest tree. It has rolling hills with thousands of tall, lean aspens swaying in the wind.

But Pando is there, hiding in plain sight. All those tree trunks you see aren’t actually individual trees. Technically, they’re branches, and that’s because Pando is one massive tree—sprawling more than 100 acres, with 47,000 branches growing from it.

There is a lot to learn about Pando, and our guests turned to sound to understand the tree better. Together, they created an “acoustic portrait” to hear all the snaps, splinters, and scuttles that happen in and around the tree.

Ira talks with Jeff Rice, a sound artist and co-founder of the Acoustic Atlas at the Montana State University Library, and Lance Oditt, executive director of the non-profit Friends of Pando, which is dedicated to preserving the tree.

This $7 Violin May Be $7... But How Does It Sound?

Stringed instruments can be a joy to the ears and the eyes. They’re handcrafted, made of beautiful wood, and the very best ones are centuries old, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, or sometimes even millions.

But there’s a new violin in the works—one that’s 3D-printed. It costs just a few bucks to print, making it an affordable and accessible option for young learners and classrooms.

Dr. Mary-Elizabeth Brown is a concert violinist and the founder and director of the AVIVA Young Artists Program in Montreal, Quebec, and she’s been tinkering with the design of 3D-printed violins for years. She talks with Ira about the science behind violins, the design process, and how she manages to turn $7 worth of plastic into a beautiful sounding instrument.

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Cloning for Conservation, Cubesats, Queer Ecology, Henry Petroski. June 30, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:39:09 +0000

How Fungi Are Breaking The Binary: A Queer Approach To Ecology

As Pride month comes to a close, many people are reflecting on the past, present, and future of the LGBTQIA+ community.

An interdisciplinary group of scientists, researchers, and artists are using queerness as a lens to better understand the natural world, too. It’s a burgeoning field called queer ecology, which aims to break down binaries and question our assumptions of the natural world based on heterosexuality.

For example, there are plenty of examples of same-sex animal pairings in the wild, like penguins, chimps, and axolotls. There are also plants that change sexes, or have a combination of male and female parts, like the mulberry tree.

But perhaps the most queer kingdom of all is fungi. Mushrooms are not easily forced into any type of binary. For example, the Schizophyllum commune, or the split gill mushroom, has 23,000 sexes, making it somewhat of a queer icon in the field of mycology.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Patty Kaishian, incoming curator of mycology at the New York State Museum, about how fungi might help us expand our understandings of sexuality, identity, and hierarchy. They also discuss how queer ecology can help people of all sexualities reconnect with the natural world.

Scientists Think Cloning Could Help Save Endangered Species

Earlier this year, a baby Przewalski’s horse was born at the San Diego Zoo. But this foal isn’t any ordinary foal, he’s a clone. He’s the product of scientists aiming to save his dwindling species using genetics. This endangered horse species once roamed Europe and Asia, but by the 1960, threats like poaching, capture, and military presence drove the horses to extinction in the wild.

Conservationists raced to save this wild horse through captive breeding programs, but with a population so small, there just wasn’t enough genetic diversity to grow a healthy herd. But with careful genetic management, the Przewalski’s horse’s population is now nearly 2,000 horses strong, and this new foal will one day help boost his species’ genetic diversity even more.

Producer Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Oliver Ryder, conservation geneticist at the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, about cloning Przewalski’s horse, and how doing so will infuse genetic diversity into the small population.

Then Davis talks with Dr. Sam Wisely, professor of wildlife ecology and conservation at the University of Florida, about how cloning can help other endangered species, like the black-footed ferret, and the ethics involved in cloning.

Twenty Years On, The Little CubeSat Is Bigger Than Ever

The story of the CubeSat started with a big problem for one Cal Poly professor.

“It was actually a critical problem for us, but it was a problem that nobody else cared about,” said Jordi Puig-Suari, an Emeritus Professor from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

He co-invented the CubeSat with Bob Twiggs from Stanford.

Puig-Suari is now retired and has spent the last four years sailing around the world with his wife. I talked to him over Zoom from somewhere along that journey.

He takes me back two decades to his time as a professor at Cal Poly where he was hired to develop their aerospace engineering department.

Read the rest of this article at sciencefriday.com.

Remembering Engineer And Author Henry Petroski

Last week the world watched as rescuers from across the globe searched for a tiny experimental submersible that had disappeared, carrying five people on a dive to the wreck of the R.M.S. Titanic. That search turned out, sadly, to be in vain. The Titan submersible is believed to have imploded in the North Atlantic, killing all aboard.

The intersection of design, engineering, and human risk-taking is a recurring theme throughout modern history. One of the finest chroniclers of those tales was Henry Petroski, who died earlier this month at the age of 81. He was a professor of engineering and history at Duke University, and author of many books. Petroski was known for his critical eye and insightful view of various missteps and faults in pursuit of progress—from improving bridge designs for safety to the tragic loss of the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia. Some called Petroski the “poet laureate of technology” for his prolific writings on everything from the design of bridges to the fabrication of pencils.

In this recording from 2012, Ira Flatow spoke with the late professor Petroski about engineering failures, and humanity’s follies.

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Hum Of The Universe, Cephalopod Event In Miami. June 30, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 30 Jun 2023 16:38:21 +0000

Scientists Can Now Hear The Background Hum Of The Universe

For the first time ever, scientists have heard the “low pitch hum” of gravitational waves rippling through the cosmos. It’s this ever-present background noise set off by the movement of massive objects—like colliding black holes—throughout the universe. Scientists have theorized that it’s been there all along, but we haven’t been able to hear until now. So what does this hum tell us about our universe?

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with science writer Maggie Koerth about this discovery, as well as other science news of the week. They chat about the possibility of an icy planet hiding in the Milky Way, air quality problems due to wildfire smoke, an experimental weight loss drug that’s currently being tested, if our human ancestors were cannibals, and how dolphin moms use baby talk with their calves.

Celebrating The Weird, Wonderful World Of Cephalopods

Every year, Cephalopod Week reminds us of the fascinating and weird world of these sea creatures. And in this segment, recorded live at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science Auditorium, two cephalopod scientists share new research about our squishy sea-faring neighbors, how climate change is affecting squids and octopuses, and why they love working with them.

Ira Flatow talked to Dr. Lynne Fieber PhD., professor of marine biology and ecology who has studied the nervous systems of all types marine invertebrates including cephalopod and sea slugs, and Dr. Andrea Durant Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in the Grosell Environmental Physiology and Toxicology Lab, who studies how tiny glass squid live in a rapidly-changing ocean.

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Social Media Chaos, Remembering Whale Song Scientist Roger Payne. June 23, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 19:02:01 +0000

We have a new podcast! It's called Universe Of Art, and it features conversations with artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

When The Promise Of Social Media Becomes Perilous

Despite social media’s early promises to build a more just and democratic society, over the past several years, we’ve seen its propensity to easily spread hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. Online platforms have even played a role in organizing violent acts in the real world, like genocide against the Rohinga people in Myanmar, and the violent attempt to overturn the election at the United States capitol.

But how did we get here? Has social media fundamentally changed how we interact with the world? And how did big tech companies accumulate so much unchecked power along the way?

Remembering Roger Payne, Who Helped Save The Whales

Americans haven’t always loved whales and dolphins. In the 1950s, the average American thought of whales as the floating raw materials for margarine, animal feed, and fertilizer—if they thought about whales at all. But twenty-five years later, things changed for cetaceans in a big way. Whales became the poster-animal for a new environmental movement, and cries of “save the whales!” echoed from the halls of government to the whaling grounds of the Pacific. What happened?

Shifting attitudes were due, in large part, to the work of scientist Roger Payne, who died earlier this month at the age of 88. His recordings helped to popularize whalesong, and stoked the public imagination about intelligent underwater creatures who used vocalizations to communicate.

In 2018, our podcast “Undiscovered” explored the history of Payne’s work, and that of his colleagues. We’re featuring this episode as a way of remembering his life and groundbreaking work.

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Cephalopod Week Salutes See-Thru Squid, Hyperbole In Science Publishing, Art and the Brain, Rover Competition. June 23, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 18:40:41 +0000

A See-Through Squid Success Story

Adult octopuses have about 500 million neurons, which is about as many neurons as a dog. Typically, more neurons means a more intelligent and complex creature. But it’s a bit more complicated than that. Unlike dogs, or even humans, octopuses’ neurons aren’t concentrated in their brains—they’re spread out through their bodies and into their arms and suckers, more like a “distributed” mind. (Scientists still haven’t quite figured out exactly why this is.)

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg, in terms of unanswered cephalopod questions. Now, researchers have successfully bred a line of albino squid that were first engineered using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology, creating a see-through squid.

Their unique transparency allows scientists to more easily study their neural structure, and a whole lot more.

SciFri experiences manager Diana Plasker talks with Joshua Rosenthal, senior scientist at the University of Chicago’s Marine Biological Laboratory, based in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, about this see-through squid success story.

When Eye-Grabbing Results Just Don’t Pan Out

You know the feeling — you see a headline in the paper or get an alert on your phone about a big scientific breakthrough that has the potential to really change things. But then, not much happens, or that news turns out to be much less significant than the headlines made it seem.

Journalists are partially to blame for this phenomenon. But another guilty culprit is also the scientific journals, and the researchers who try to make their own work seem more significant than the data really supports in order to get published.

Armin Alaedini, an assistant professor of medical sciences at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, recently co-authored a commentary on this topic published in The American Journal of Medicine. He joins Ira and Ivan Oransky — co-founder of Retraction Watch and a medical journalism professor and Distinguished Writer In Residence at New York University — to talk about the tangled world of scientific publishing and the factors that drive inflated claims in publications.

How Art Can Help Treat Dementia And Trauma

We might intrinsically know that engaging with and making art is good for us in some way. But now, scientists have much more evidence to support this, thanks in part to a relatively new field called neuroaesthetics, which studies the effects that artistic experiences have on the brain.

A new book called Your Brain On Art: How The Arts Transform Us, dives into that research, and it turns out the benefits of the arts go far beyond elevating everyday life; they’re now being used as part of healthcare treatments to address conditions like dementia and trauma.

Universe of Art host D. Peterschmidt sits down with the authors of the book, Susan Magsamen, executive director of the International Arts + Mind Lab at the Pederson Brain Science Institute at Johns Hopkins University, and Ivy Ross, vice president of design for hardware products at Google, to talk about what we can learn from neuroaesthetic studies, the benefits of a daily arts practice, and the kinds of art they both like making.

Testing Mars Rovers In Utah’s Red Desert

Take a 20-minute drive down Cow Dung Road, outside of Hanksville, Utah, and you’ll stumble across the Mars Desert Research Station. This cluster of white buildings—webbed together by a series of covered walkways—looks a little alien, as does the red, desolate landscape that surrounds it.

“The ground has this crust that you puncture through, and it makes you feel like your footprints are going to be there for a thousand years,” said Sam Craven, a senior leading the Brigham Young University team here for the University Rover Challenge. “Very bleak and dry, but very beautiful also.”

This remote chunk of Utah is a Mars analogue, one of roughly a dozen locations on Earth researchers use to test equipment, train astronauts and search for clues to inform the search for life on other planets. While deployed at the station, visiting scientists live in total isolation and don mock space suits before they venture outside.

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Avian Flu, Curly Hair. June 16, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 20:55:25 +0000

Curly Hair Keeps Your Scalp Cooler

According to a fascinating new study, curly locks are better than straight hair at keeping your scalp cool. Researchers shone bright lights on three different manikins—one with no hair, one with loosely curled hair and another with tight curls.

Solar radiation bounced off the tightly curled hair, and less heat reached the manikin’s scalp than the straight haired manikin. The manikin with loose curls was right in the middle. The research is part of an effort to better understand the role of hair texture in human evolution, as humans are the only mammals with the majority of body hair atop our heads.

Ira talks with Dr. Tina Lasisi, a postdoctoral researcher in the department of quantitative and computational biology at the University of Southern California, and incoming assistant professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan.

Unprecedented Avian Flu Outbreak Continues

Avian influenza has been circulating for decades among wild birds, but the US is now experiencing the worst outbreak in its history. That’s because of a specific strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza, which has left around 60 millions birds—mostly poultry—dead. This has implications for us all, whether you’re frustrated about the price of eggs, worried about your backyard chickens, or concerned about yet another threat to public health.

In this live call-in, Ira talks with Ashleigh Blackford, the California Condor Coordinator at the US Fish & Wildlife Service about the initiative to vaccinate California condors—the first of its kind to vaccinate any bird.

Then Ira explores what this outbreak means for other wildlife, poultry, and for us. He talks with Dr. Kristy Pabilonia, professor and director of the Veterinary Diagnostics Laboratories at Colorado State University, and Dr. Richard Webby, director of the WHO’s Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds and a researcher at St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

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Science Books For Summer Reading. June 16, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 16 Jun 2023 20:54:43 +0000

Why Have Ocean Temperatures Spiked?

Sea surface temperatures in the North Atlantic have risen dramatically in recent weeks, to as much as 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record—and over 1 degree C warmer than average temperatures from 1982 to 2011.

The reason for the unusually toasty waters isn’t entirely clear. Some climatologists attribute part of the rise to an El Niño ocean circulation pattern this year, replacing the La Niña pattern that had been suppressing temperatures. Other factors may include a decline in atmospheric dust from the Sahara, and atmospheric circulation patterns that are allowing warm surface water to stay in place longer.

The warmer temperatures aren’t just limited to the North Atlantic, however—for the past three months, global average sea surface temperatures have also been reaching new highs. Casey Crownhart, a climate reporter at MIT Technology Review, joins Ira to talk about the warming trend, and other stories from the week in science, including accusations of body part sales from the Harvard Medical School morgue, studies of the economics of heat pumps, and a lawsuit brought by youth in Montana over global warming.

The Best Summer Books, According To Two Science Writers

Summer is one of the best times to crack open a book and read the hours away, according to Jaime Green and Annalee Newitz. The two science writers are voracious readers, and they’ve compiled a list of their summer reading recommendations for Science Friday listeners. Green and Newitz join Ira from New Britain, Connecticut and San Francisco, California respectively, to discuss their favorite nonfiction and fiction books for the summer, and take questions from listeners.

To read the full list of summer book recommendations, visit sciencefriday.com.

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Living Underwater For 100 Days, Refineries’ Excess Emissions, Owl Facts. June 9, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 9 Jun 2023 16:11:05 +0000

Exposing Texas’ Excess Emissions Problems

In the early hours of August 22, 2020, Hurricane Laura was still just a tropical storm off the coast of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean. But effects from the monstrous storm, which would ultimately take at least 81 lives, were already being felt on the U.S. Gulf Coast.

As rain poured down on the Sweeney refinery in Old Ocean, Texas, that afternoon, two processing units failed, releasing nearly 1,400 pounds of sulfur dioxide, which can cause trouble breathing, and other chemicals.

Over the next few days, Laura siphoned up moisture from the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and transformed into a Category 1 hurricane.

In Texas, chemical plants began shutting down, hurriedly burning off unprocessed chemicals and releasing vast amounts of pollution in anticipation of the storm making landfall. On August 24, Motiva’s Port Arthur refinery released 36,000 pounds of sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, and other noxious pollutants.

The next morning, Motiva began purging chemicals its plant had been processing, emitting nearly 48,000 pounds of carbon monoxide and propylene, among other pollutants. The following day, a Phillips 66 refinery in southwest Louisiana shut down, releasing more than 1,900 pounds of sulfur dioxide.

Then, as gale-force winds swept through coastal communities and the relentless rain poured down, the chemical facilities increasingly malfunctioned.

To read the rest, visit sciencefriday.com.

A Scientist’s Catalog Of 100 Days Under The Sea

In February, Dr. Joe Dituri put on his scuba gear, dove 30 feet below the surface, and entered a 100-square-foot underwater lodge. This former US Navy diving officer didn’t come up again for air until June 9, spending 100 days underwater. And even before the end of his stay, he broke the record for living underwater.

He did all of this in the name of science—to understand how the human body handles long-term exposure to pressure. This mission is called Project Neptune 100, and because those 100 days are finally up, we’re taking a deep dive into the underwater habitat to hear what is to be learned from so many days below the waves. We recorded this interview with Dituri on Day #94 with a live virtual audience, whom you’ll hear from later.

Ira talks with Dr. Deep Sea, aka Dr. Joe Dituri, a biomedical engineer and associate professor at the University of South Florida, and Dr. Sarah Spelsberg, wilderness emergency specialist and the medical lead for Project Neptune 100 coming to us from the Maldives.

To see some photos of Dr. Dituri's undersea life, visit sciencefriday.com.

Unmasking Owls’ Mysteries

John Dankosky talks about all things owls with Jennifer Ackerman, author of the new book, What An Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds.

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Wildfire Smoke, Jurassic Park Reflection, Mosquito DNA Editing. June 9, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 9 Jun 2023 16:10:06 +0000

Canadian Wildfire Smoke Drifts Across The United States

This week, smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted south, enveloping the Northeastern United States, casting an ominous orange glow. The smoke continued spreading outwards to the Southeast and to the Midwest.

While climate change is extending and worsening the Canadian wildfire season, it’s still rare for this many fires, so early in the season.

Ira talks with Katherine Wu, staff writer at The Atlantic, about the latest on the Canadian wildfires and other top news stories of the week, including; a new type of cat contraception, drilling into the Earth’s mantle, and a ‘virgin’ crocodile birth.

30 Years Later, ’Jurassic Park’ Still Inspires

On June 11th, 1993, what would become one of the biggest movies of all time was released in theaters: Jurassic Park.

Based on the novel by Michael Crichton, the film is about people’s belief that they can control nature. Wealthy businessman John Hammond creates a dinosaur nature park. Things go awry quickly. Electric fences break down, dinosaurs get loose, and people are eaten. At the time of its release, the film became the highest-grossing movie of all time.

In the decades since it came out, the film has spawned a multi-movie franchise, amusement park rides, video games, and every type of merchandise imaginable. The movie also had a tremendous impact on visual effects, both computer animated and practical, which are still seen today in the media.

When the first Jurassic Park movie came out, many of the paleontologists of today were children—or not even born yet. Ira speaks with a trio of paleontologists about the film’s impact on them as kids, and its continuous use as an educational tool to inspire young dino enthusiasts: Riley Black, Steve Brusatte and Yara Haridy.

A Biotech Offensive Against Disease-Carrying Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are the primary spreaders of some highly dangerous diseases for people: The insect spreads diseases like yellow fever, dengue fever, malaria, and zika, which kill millions of people globally each year. There’s one species of mosquito that’s invasive to the United States, and whose populations are spreading: Aedes aegypti, which is recognizable by black and white markings on its legs.

Lee County, Florida is taking aim at this species with biotechnology. Their strategy is to release 30,000 sterilized male mosquitoes into the environment, who will go on to mate with females, who then will release eggs that do not hatch. Male mosquitoes don’t bite, only females do. The goal of this method is to decrease the Aedes aegypti population with every generation.

Biotechnology to combat this mosquito species is nothing new. Ira speaks with reporter Cary Barbor at WGCU in Fort Myers about this strategy in her city. He also speaks with Dr. Omar Akbari, professor of cell and developmental biology at UC San Diego, about his research on using CRISPR to alter Aedes aegypti into harmless insects.

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Dwarf Tomatoes, Saguaro Cactus, Sonoran Desert. June 2, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 2 Jun 2023 16:37:26 +0000

Tomato Breeding Project Fueled By Over 1,000 Backyard Gardeners

In 2005, gardeners Craig LeHouiller and Patrina Nuske-Small created the Dwarf Tomato Project. They wanted to preserve the flavor and beauty of heirloom tomatoes, without taking up too much space. They started crossbreeding heirloom tomatoes with smaller dwarf tomato plants.

To do so, they enlisted volunteers from all over the world. Over 1,000 people have participated so far. You can even buy the seeds and plant them in your own garden!

Ira talks with the project’s co-founder, gardener and author, Craig LeHoullier, based in Hendersonville, North Carolina.

Southwestern States Break The Dam On Water Stalemate

Southwestern states have been aware for decades that their use of Colorado River water is not sustainable. Forty million people depend on the watershed across seven states, several tribes, and northern Mexico. After intense pressure from the federal government, Arizona, California, and Nevada presented a plan last month to cut water use in these states.

While the proposal isn’t final, it’s an important step in a long stalemate among southwestern states hesitant to use less water. The three states propose cutting 3 million acre-feet in water use through 2026—about ten percent of their total water allocation. The federal government plans to spend $1.2 billion to pay water users for the cuts.

Joining Ira to break down what this plan means for southwest states is Dr. Sharon Megdal, director of the University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center in Tucson, and Luke Runyon, managing editor and reporter for KUNC, in Grand Junction, Colorado.

Tracking The Saguaro Cacti Decline

One of the most iconic symbols of the American Southwest is the saguaro cactus—the big, towering cactus with branching arms.

Saguaro are the most studied variety of cactus, yet there’s still much we don’t know about them.

Once a decade, researchers from the University of Arizona survey plots of roughly 4,500 saguaro to assess the health of the species. This past year there was a record low number of new cacti growing—the fewest since they started decadal surveys in 1964.

What’s driving this decline? Ira talks about the state of saguaro cacti with Peter Breslin, postdoctoral researcher at the University of Arizona’s Desert Laboratory on Tumamoc Hill, based in Tucson, Arizona.

These Conservation Scientists Are Keeping The Sonoran Desert Diverse

Many Americans might be surprised just how expansive and diverse the Sonoran Desert actually is. The 100,000 square-mile desert stretches across the border between the U.S. and Mexico, with the northernmost regions in southern California and Arizona making up just one third of the desert. The sweeping terrain is home to thousands of plant and animal species and contains every existing biome in the world—from timber tundras to rolling grasslands to arid desert basins.

The majority of the Sonoran is within the Baja California peninsula and the Mexican state of Sonora, which includes the Gulf of California. The gulf alone is teeming with life—famed ocean explorer Jacques Cousteau once called the desert, “the world’s aquarium.”

Ira talks about the rich biodiversity of the Sonoran Desert and the importance of scientific collaboration across the border with Ben Wilder, director and co-founder of Next Generation Sonoran Desert Researchers, and Michelle María Early Capistrán, a conservation fellow at Stanford University and board member of the Next Generation of Sonoran Desert Researchers.

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Rewilding, Allergy Season, Sharing Science Rejections. June 2, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 2 Jun 2023 16:00:00 +0000

Could Restoring Animal Populations Store More Carbon?

Did you know that land and ocean ecosystems absorb about half of the carbon dioxide we emit each year? But what if the earth had the capacity to absorb even more? With the help of some furry, scaly, and leathery critters, maybe it can.

A recent study in the journal Nature Climate Change claims that by restoring the populations of just a handful of animals—like gray wolves, bison, and sea otters for example—the Earth could capture around 6.41 more gigatons of CO2 each year. This idea of restoring wildlife is called rewilding.

Ira talks with the co-author of this study, Dr. Trisha Atwood, an associate professor at Utah State University, based in Logan, UT. They chat about what critters make the rewilding list, and how they fit into the carbon cycle.

Allergy Season Is Blooming With Climate Change

Spring is in the air, and for many people that means allergy season is rearing its ugly head. If it feels like your allergies have recently gotten worse, there’s now data to back that up.

New research shows that since 1990, pollen season in North America has grown by 20 days and gotten 20% more intense, with the greatest increases in Texas and the Midwest. This is because climate change is triggering plants’ internal timing to produce pollen earlier and earlier. It’s a problem that’s expected to get worse.

SciFri producer Kathleen Davis speaks with William Anderegg, assistant professor at the University of Utah’s School of Biological Sciences about pollen counts, and pollen as a respiratory irritant.

Why This Scientist Shares Vulnerable Career Moments

Dr. Rachel Lupien, a paleoclimatologist at Aarhus University, makes it a point to be honest about the challenges she runs into at work. She hopes that other scientists can learn from them. So last year, when a paper she wrote was rejected from journals five times, she tweeted about the experience.

While the responses ranged from supportive replies to harsh emails, Rachel says that it feels good to talk about professional headaches with peers who understand. Digital producer Emma Gometz interviews Rachel about why it’s important to be honest about setbacks as a scientist, and how transparency helps all professional scientists do better work.

Read more personal stories from scientists, including Rachel’s experience working as a paleoclimatologist across the world, and building mentorship networks of her own, on SciFri’s six-week automated email newsletter, “Sincerely, Science.”

To learn more about Sincerely Science and read Rachel's paper, visit sciencefriday.com.

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Zoonomia Genetics Project, Telomeres, Mutter Museum. May 26, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 26 May 2023 16:45:18 +0000

Orcas Are Attacking Boats Near Spain. Scientists Don’t Know Why

This Thursday, the Supreme Court restricted the scope of the Clean Water Act pertaining to wetlands, in a 5-4 vote. This could affect the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to protect certain kinds of wetlands, which help reduce the impacts of flooding by absorbing water, and also act as natural filters that make drinking water cleaner. Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the court’s three liberal members in the dissent, writing that the decision will have, “significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States.”

Plus, earlier this month, three orcas attacked a boat, leading to its sinking. This is the third time an incident like this has happened in the past three years, accompanied by a large rise of orcas attacking boats near the Strait of Gibraltar. Scientists are unsure of the cause. One theory is that these attacks could be a fad, led by juvenile orcas in the area, a documented behavior in this subpopulation of the dolphin family. They could also be a response to a potential bad encounter between boats and orcas in the area.

Science Friday’s Charles Bergquist talks with Sophie Bushwick, technology editor for Scientific American, about these and other stories from this week in science news, including a preview of a hot El Niño summer, an amateur astronomer who discovered a new supernova, and alleviating waste problems by using recycled diapers in concrete.

A Famous Sled Dog’s Genome Holds Evolutionary Surprises

Do you remember the story of Balto? In 1925, the town of Nome, Alaska, was facing a diphtheria outbreak. Balto was a sled dog and a very good boy who helped deliver life-saving medicine to the people in the town. Balto’s twisty tale has been told many times, including in a 1990s animated movie in which Kevin Bacon voiced the iconic dog.

But last month, scientists uncovered a new side of Balto. They sequenced his genes and discovered the sled dog wasn’t exactly who they expected. The study published in the journal Science, was part of a project called Zoonomia, which aims to better understand the evolution of mammals, including our own genome, by looking at the genes of other animals—from narwhals to aardvarks.

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Elinor Karlsson, associate professor in Bioinformatics and Integrative Biology at the UMass Chan Medical School and director of Vertebrate Genomics at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Dr. Katie Moon, post-doctoral researcher who led Balto’s study; and Dr. Beth Shapiro, professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UC Santa Cruz, who coauthored the new study on Balto and another paper which identified animals that are most likely to face extinction.

The Long And Short Of Telomere Activity

Telomeres are repeating short sequences of genetic code (in humans, TTAGGG) located on the ends of chromosomes. They act as a buffer during the cell replication process. Loops at the end of the telomere prevent chromosomes from getting inadvertently stuck together by DNA repair enzymes. Over the lifetime of the cell, the telomeres become shorter and shorter with each cell division. When they become too short, the cell dies. Telomere sequences weren’t thought to do much else—sort of like the plastic tip at the end of a shoelace.

Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers now argue that telomeres may actually encode for two short proteins. Normally, those proteins aren’t released into the cell. However, if the telomere is damaged—or as it gets shorter during repeated cell replication cycles—those signaling proteins may be able to leak out into the cell and affect other processes, perhaps altering nucleic acid metabolism and protein synthesis, or triggering cellular inflammation.

Jack Griffith, one of the authors of the report and the Kenan Distinguished Professor of microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine, joins SciFri’s Charles Bergquist to talk about the idea and what other secrets may lie inside the telomere.

Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum Takes Down Digital Resources

Robert Pendarvis gave his heart to Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. Literally.

He has a rare condition called acromegaly, where his body makes too much growth hormone, which causes bones, cartilage and organs to keep growing. The condition affected his heart, so much so that a heart valve leaked. He had a heart transplant in 2020.

Pendarvis thought his original heart could tell an important story, and teach others about this rare condition, which is why he was determined to put it on display at the Mütter Museum.

The Mütter Museum is a Philadelphia institution, a medical museum that draws hundreds of thousands of visitors to its rooms filled with anatomical specimens, models, and old medical instruments. The place is not for the squeamish. Display cases show skulls, abnormal skeletons, and a jar containing the bodies of stillborn conjoined twins.

Pendarvis thought it would be the perfect home for his heart — and more.

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Experiencing Pain, Grief and the Cosmos, Ivory-Billed Controversy. May 26, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 26 May 2023 16:44:53 +0000

The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Debate Keeps Pecking Away

Every so often, there’s a claim that the ivory-billed woodpecker is back from the dead. Pixelated videos go viral, blurry photos make the front page, and birders flock to the woods to get a glimpse of the ghost bird.

Last week, a controversial paper claimed there’s reason to believe that the lost bird lives. The authors say they have evidence, including video footage, that the bird still flies. The paper is ruffling feathers among the birding and research community.

This debate has been going on for decades, but the American Birding Association categorizes the bird as “probably or actually extinct,” and its last verified sighting was in 1944.

So is it any different this time? And what do we make of the claims that keep cropping up?

Guest host Flora Lichtman talks all things ivory-billed with Michael Retter, editor of the magazines North American Birds and Special Issues of Birding, from the American Birding Association.

Tracking Pain In Your Brain

When you stub your toe, that pain is registered by the peripheral nervous system. It shoots off signals that travel up your spinal cord and to your brain, where the signals tell you, “Hey, your toe hurts. Take care of it.” But chronic pain—defined as lasting three months or more—is processed differently, and your nerves are constantly firing pain signals to your brain.

Chronic pain is complex, and a lot of its basics are still unknown. But a new study from this week discovered another piece of the pain puzzle: the brain signals that cause chronic pain and the region they are processed in. Researchers hope that this is the first step in developing a brain stimulation therapy that can intercept those chronic pain signals and bring relief to patients.

Guest host and SciFri director Charles Bergquist talks with lead author Dr. Prasad Shirvalkar, neurologist and associate professor at the University of California San Francisco, about this new paper.

What Can We Learn From A Woman Who Feels No Pain?

There are a select few humans that can’t feel any pain. Really.

One of those people is Jo Cameron, who didn’t experience any pain during childbirth or need any painkillers after a hip replacement. She’s also never been anxious or afraid.

Researchers have been studying Jo Cameron and her brain in an effort to better understand her sensory experience. This week, researchers published a new study that looks at the genes and mutations responsible for Jo’s pain free existence. They hope to use what they learn to come up with better pain management treatments for the rest of us.

Guest host and Science Friday Senior Producer Charles Berquist talks with Andrei Okorokov, associate professor at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at the University of College London, about this fascinating new research.

Turning To Space While Processing Grief

When astronomers Michelle Thaller and Andrew Booth met, it was love at first sight. The couple married in 1994, becoming a power couple in the world of space and physics research. In 2019, the couple received shocking news: Booth was diagnosed with cancer in the brain. He passed away within a year of his diagnosis.

The death of a partner is one of the most devastating things a person can go through. Thaller felt unmoored, and like Earth was not her planet anymore. To help her move forward, Thaller turned to the universe for solace.

Thaller speaks with guest host Flora Lichtman about how the mysteries of the universe have made processing grief a little easier, and taking space and time with a grain of salt.

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Weight and Health Myths, A Corvid Invasion. May 19, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 19 May 2023 16:33:30 +0000

Can Science Find An Antidote to Americium?

With some poisons, there’s an antidote — something you can take to block the effects of the poison, or to help remove it from your body. But when the harmful chemical is a radioactive element, options are limited. Iodine pills can be used to help block radioactive iodine I131 from being absorbed by the thyroid, but there aren’t many other drugs that can help deal with contamination with other radioactive substances. One of the two existing medications can only be delivered via IV in a clinic.

This week, the NIH announced the start of an early clinical trial for an oral drug delivered as a tablet that could potentially be used to bind and remove radioactive elements including plutonium, uranium and neptunium from the body. Rachel Feltman, editor at large at Popular Science, joins Ira to talk about that trial and other stories from the week in science, including an experimental universal flu vaccine, research into the amount of trace DNA humans shed every day, and an update on the planet Saturn’s moon count.

Debunking Common Myths About Being Fat

Weight loss is big business. Americans spend roughly $60 billion each year trying to lose weight, forking over cash for supplements, diet plans, and gym memberships. Yet somewhere between 90 to 95% of diets fail.

Much of what we think we know about the relationship between weight and health is based on a series of assumptions that don’t always match up with the latest science.

Science Friday producer, Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with Aubrey Gordon, co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase and author of the recent book “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, about the history of the Body Mass Index or BMI. She discusses why the word “obesity” is tangled up in stereotypes about fat people, the flaws in commonly cited mortality statistics, and how anti-fat bias translates into worse healthcare for fat people.

Read an excerpt of “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People here.

What To Do When 500-1,000 Crows Roost In Your Neighborhood

Laura Young was at a breaking point when she submitted a post titled “Request: Make 500-1,000 crows leave my street alone” to the subreddit r/lifeprotips in January. “I think you can tell that I was feeling very frustrated and running out of options and I clearly needed help,” she said.

Starting last October, Laura’s neighborhood in Baltimore was the site of a massive crow roost. And unlike past years’ roosts, which usually only last a few weeks with a few dozen crows, this one showed no signs of leaving. “The numbers that they’ve attracted ever since then are unbelievable,” she said. “I mean, we’re at the point where it is frightening to walk out at night.”

According to Laura, hundreds of them filled the trees in the park outside her apartment. “And they’re all screaming,” she said. “It is loud enough to wake you up indoors with all the windows closed. I don’t think anyone on my block has slept past 6:00am in three months.”

There was the noise, and then there was the poop: coating the streets, the buildings, and the cars. “It is just disgusting. I’ve never spent so much money on car washes in my entire life,” she laughed.

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The B Broadcast: Bees, Beans, Bears, and Butterflies. May 19, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 19 May 2023 16:33:07 +0000

Science Says Eat More Beans

Beans are delicious, high in protein, inexpensive, efficient to grow, and an absolute staple in so many cuisines. So why don’t Americans eat more of them? The average American eats 7.5 pounds of beans annually, which is only a few cans of beans every year.

The answer is complicated, but one thing is sure: Beans have a PR problem. Ira talks with Julieta Cardenas, a Future Perfect Fellow at Vox, who reported this story.

If you’re looking to chef it up, read some of the SciFri staff’s favorite bean recipes.

The World According To Sound: Feeding Time

In this story from our friends at The World According to Sound, we’ll take a sonic trip to Yellowstone National Park. You’ll hear the sounds of two grizzlies feasting on a bison. It’s very rare that a bear can take down an adult bison, but they will chow down on animals that are already dead, like if they were killed by wolves or a car.

The World According to Sound is a live audio show, online listening series, and miniature podcast, created by Chris Hoff and Sam Harnett.

Bees Have Feelings, Too

Few pollinators have the charisma of bees, so much so that the phrase “save the bees” has become a calling card for those who consider themselves ecologically-conscious. There are more than 21,000 species of bees, ranging from the very recognizable bumblebees to the vibrant blue and green Augochloropsis metallica.

Pollination ecologist Stephen Buchmann has studied bees for nearly fifty years, learning about everything from their natural behaviors to how they respond to puzzles. All of this has led him to a fascinating conclusion: bees are sentient, and they have feelings.

Stephen joins Ira from Tucson, Arizona to talk about his new book, What a Bee Knows. Read an excerpt from the book here.

Pinning Down The Origin Of Butterflies

One of the highlights of being outdoors in warmer weather is spotting a delicate, colorful butterfly exploring the landscape. There are over 19,000 different species of butterflies around the world—and all of them evolved from some enterprising moth that decided to venture out in the daytime, around 100 million years ago. But just where that evolutionary fork in the road occurred has been a matter of scientific debate, with many researchers positing a butterfly origin in Australia or Asia.

Writing this week in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution, researchers report on a new phylogenetic map of butterfly evolution, a lepidopteran family tree, combining genetic data with information from fossils, plants, and geography to trace back the origin and spread of butterflies. They find that butterflies likely split from moths in what is now Central or North America, before spreading to South America, crossing oceans to Australia and Asia, and eventually spreading to Europe and Africa.

Dr. Akito Kawahara, professor, curator, and director of the McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at the Florida Museum of Natural History and one of the authors of the report, joins Ira to talk about the findings and share some other surprising facts about butterflies.

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Star Trek Science, Listening to Pando. May 12, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 12 May 2023 20:26:44 +0000

Star Trek’s Science Advisor Reveals The Real Astrophysics On Screen

Few pop culture properties have lasted quite as long as Star Trek. A dozen Star Trek television shows have aired over the last sixty years—not to mention countless movies, novels, and comic books.

Science concepts have always been integral to the Star Trek franchise: from warp speed travel to dilithium. But how much does the series actually accurately depict?

Ira speaks with astrophysicist Dr. Erin Macdonald, science consultant for Star Trek about the legacy of the franchise, and how accurate the science is within the series.

Listen To The Largest Tree On Earth

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US COVID Health Emergency Ends. May 12, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 12 May 2023 19:55:57 +0000

FDA Advisory Board Approves First Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill

This week an FDA advisory board paved the way for the first over the counter birth control pill, with an unanimous decision 17-0. The FDA must accept the recommendation before the pills are available for sale, which is expected in a few months time. If approved, the progestin-only pill would be manufactured by the company Perrigo, under the brand name Opill.

Ira talks with Maggie Koerth, science journalist based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, about that and more including; Voyager spacecrafts get energy boosts, wild axolotls face extinction, testing airplane waste for COVID-19 and more.

US Declares An End To The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency

Just over three years ago, Alex Azar, then the Secretary of Health and Human Services, issued a declaration of a national public health emergency as a result of the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. That declaration kicked off a cascade of nationwide funding, policies, and restrictions aimed at combating the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the three years that followed, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates over a million people in the US have died from COVID-19.

Yesterday, although the virus is still circulating and people are still getting sick, that emergency declaration finally came to an end, after being renewed over a dozen times. A statement released by the Department of Health and Human Services said “COVID-19 is no longer the disruptive force it once was. Since January 2021, COVID-19 deaths have declined by 95% and hospitalizations are down nearly 91%.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, joins Ira Flatow to talk about where we go from here. Is life back to normal—or is there a new normal? What have we learned from the past three years about responding to future outbreaks?

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Antibiotic Resistance, Space Launches and the Environment, Phage Therapy. May 5, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 5 May 2023 20:48:08 +0000

SpaceX Explosion Damages Environment Around Launch Site

Last Thursday, SpaceX’s South Texas facility was awash in noise and fire, as crowds gathered in South Padre Island and Port Isabel to watch Starship’s first orbital launch.

It was the largest and most powerful rocket ever made, standing at around 400 feet tall. Four minutes into the launch, SpaceX detonated the rocket after the SuperHeavy booster failed to separate from the Starship as planned.

The launch destroyed the company’s launch pad, spreading concrete up to three quarters of a mile away. Cameras left by YouTubers were either knocked down or destroyed in the rumble, along with some of the fence surrounding the launch pad’s road-facing property.

To read the rest, visit sciencefriday.com.

The Private Space Race Takes A Toll On Planet Earth

After the SpaceX explosion last month, debris wasn’t the only thing on the minds of Science Friday listeners. The following messages arrived in our inbox after we reported on 3-D printed rockets in March.

It was interesting to hear you discuss 7 space launches in 5 days, and then just moments later the fact that we’re not on track to reduce carbon emissions. My understanding is that rocket launches release huge amounts of carbon and other greenhouse gases. Story idea?—@RevBobIerien, Twitter

Also regarding the 3-D rockets there wasn’t any concern made for space pollution was there? I may have tuned out unhappily before the end. —Juanita H, email

How much carbon do rockets contribute to global warming? —Robert C, email

Very disappointing to hear the report of new “cheaper” 3D-printed rockets are available so that, like fast food pods and big gulps, we can now drop even more cheap **** into the ocean. And, *immediately* following a story about the new report on climate change, what exactly is the carbon footprint resulting from the ability of more people to more cheaply fire rockets into space? —David M, email

Carbon isn’t the big pollutant that comes from spaceflight, says Dr. Eloise Marais, associate professor in physical geography at University College London. Instead, black carbon or soot particles are generated and released directly into the atmosphere, alongside reactive nitrogen and nitrogen oxides.

Dr. Marais joins Ira to talk about how much of an impact increased rocket launches could have on the atmosphere, and how that compares to the auto industry.

How To Combat The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis

For years scientists have been ringing alarm bells about a global antibiotic resistance crisis. Now hospitals and healthcare facilities face the consequences: In the United States, there are 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections every year, and more than 35,000 people die from these infections.

Bacteria naturally try to outsmart the drugs designed to kill them, which causes treatments to become ineffective over time. While new antibiotics are made to respond to these resistant strains, the bacteria continue to evolve—creating a constant, and costly, cycle. There’s a number of added factors driving the crisis, including antibiotic use in livestock and the general overprescription of antibiotics. About 1 in 3 antibiotic prescriptions in outpatient settings like urgent care or emergency departments are unnecessary.

Scientists are struggling to keep up with the need to replace antibiotics that no longer work. It’s a never ending game of catch up.

Ira discusses some of the possible solutions to this vexing problem and takes listener questions with Dr. Victor Nizet, faculty lead of the Collaborative to Halt Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes at the University of California San Diego and Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, executive vice chair of medicine at the University of Colorado.

Are Phages A New Page In Medicine?

One of the many possible solutions to the global antibiotic resistance crisis is an old idea that’s new again—bacteriophages, or phages for short.

Phages are viruses that exist solely to kill bacteria and are abundant in nature.

While scientists first discovered phages’ ability to treat bacterial infections about a century ago, there’s been little interest in turning them into a treatment for patients with antibiotic resistant infections—until recently.

Ira talks with Dr. Graham Hatfull, professor of biotechnology at the University of Pittsburgh about the latest in phage science.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Why Rats Love Cities, Science Of Saliva And Taste. May 5, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 5 May 2023 20:47:29 +0000

A Dying Planet Offers A Peek Into The Future

This week, astronomers reported in the journal Nature that they had spotted a planet approximately the size of Jupiter being swallowed by a star over the course of ten days. The star, called ZTF SLRN-2020, is about 15,000 light-years away from our solar system, but still in our own galaxy. Astronomers had thought this type of planet-engulfing must happen, based on how stars evolve and certain chemical signatures they’ve spotted from inside stars. However, this is the first time the process has actually been observed. Our own sun is predicted to go through a similar expansion in about five billion years, consuming Mercury, Venus, and likely Earth.

Tim Revell, deputy US editor at New Scientist, joins Ira to talk about the fate of the planet and other stories from the week in science, including mapping the trees of Africa, an experimental Alzheimer’s drug showing early promise, and reconstructing a short movie clip based on brain signals recorded in mice.

Saliva: The Unsung Hero Of Taste

How good are you at tasting what you eat? Not just gulping food down, but actually savoring the flavor? When you think about how taste works, you may think about your tongue and taste buds, and how they send information about your food info to your brain. But there’s an overlooked—and understudied—hero in this story: saliva. That may sound strange, since part of saliva’s job is to help us chew, swallow, talk, and even digest. But saliva is much more interesting and complicated than that. Ira talks with Chris Gorski, editor at Chemical & Engineering News, who reported this story about taste and saliva for Knowable Magazine earlier this year.

Who Will Win The Rat Race?

Last fall, New York City’s Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch stood in front of a microphone and announced her plan to deal with NYC’s most hated residents: rats. She went on to make a now-viral declaration: “I want to be clear, the rats are absolutely going to hate this announcement. But the rats don’t run this city: We do.” Soon after, NYC announced its search for a rat czar. Someone who is “highly motivated and somewhat bloodthirsty” with “the drive, determination, and killer instinct needed to fight the real enemy—New York City’s relentless rat population.”

This news—and the memes born from it—put rats in the forefront of city dwellers’ minds. And now, the newly appointed rat czar Kathleen Corradi’s reign has begun. But ridding cities of rats is no easy feat. It requires public participation, new policy, behavioral changes, and an all-hands-on-deck approach from several government departments. So what’s it going to take to rid cities of rats? And is it even possible? In this live call-in, Ira talks with Bethany Brookshire, science journalist and author of Pests: How Humans Create Animal Villains, and Dr. Bobby Corrigan, urban rodentologist and pest consultant. They discuss the history of humans’ relationships with rats, why these critters thrive in cities, and why we’ll need to learn how to live with them.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Personifying AI, The Reading Brain, Environmental Sampling Via Bees. April 28, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 16:47:01 +0000

Why Do Humans Anthropomorphize AI?

Artificial intelligence has become more sophisticated in a short period of time. Even though we may understand that when ChatGPT spits out a response, there’s no human behind the screen, we can’t help but anthropomorphize—imagining that the AI has a personality, thoughts, or feelings.

How exactly should we understand the bond between humans and artificial intelligence?

Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks to Dr. David Gunkel, professor of media studies at Northern Illinois University, to explore the ways in which humans and artificial intelligence form emotional connections.

A Bee’s Eye View Of Cities’ Microbiomes

When you want to look at the microbial health of a city, there are a variety of ways to go about it. You might look at medical records, or air quality. In recent years, samples of wastewater have been used to track COVID outbreaks. Studies of urban subway systems have involved painstaking swabs of patches of subway muck. But now, researchers are offering another approach to sample a city’s environment—its beehives.

A report recently published in the journal Environmental Microbiome used the bees foraging in a city to provide information about the town’s bacteria and fungi. The researchers found that by looking at the debris in the bottom of a beehive, they could learn about some of the environments in the blocks around the hives. The microbes they collected weren’t just species associated with flowers and plant life, but included organisms associated with ponds and dogs. The team found that the hive samples could reveal changes from one neighborhood to another in a city, and in the microbial differences between different cities—samples taken in Venice, for instance, contained signals associated with rotting wood that were not seen in samples from Tokyo.

Elizabeth Henaff, an assistant professor in the NYU Tandon School of Engineering at New York University and a co-author of the report, joins SciFri’s Kathleen Davis to talk about what bees and microbes can tell us about the cities we share.

This Is Your Brain On Words

What happens after you pick up a book, or pull up some text on your phone?

What occurs between the written words hitting your eyes and your brain understanding what they represent?

Scientists are trying to better understand how the brain processes written information—and how a primate brain that evolved to make sense of twisty branches and forking streams adapted to comprehend a written alphabet.

Researchers used electrodes implanted in the brains of patients being evaluated for epilepsy treatment to study what parts of the brain were involved when those patients read words and sentences. They found that two different parts of the brain are activated, and interact in different ways when you read a simple list of unrelated words, compared to when you encounter a series of words that builds up a more complex idea.

Dr. Nitin Tandon, a professor of neurosurgery at UTHealth Houston and one of the authors of a report on the work published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick to talk about the study, and what scientists are learning about how the brain allows us to read.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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History And Science Of Chickens, Climate Activism, Pipeline Movie. April 28, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 16:46:35 +0000

Dirty Diapers Reveal How Germy Babies’ Microbiomes Are

In a new study, researchers picked through the dirty diapers of more than 600 infants. Those stinky diapers were a gold mine of info—they contained more than 10,000 virus species. And though it may sound terrifying, those viruses play a key role in babies’ microbiomes. Guest host and SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with Katherine J. Wu, staff writer at The Atlantic about this story and other science news of the week. They chat about climate change’s influence on the twilight zone, what critters can be found on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a surprising twist in the story of Mars’ moon Deimos, the impressive sleeping habits of elephant seals, and why insects seem to flock to the light when it’s dark out.

From Backyards To Barn Yards, The Surprising Science Of Chickens

Raising backyard chickens continues to grow in popularity. The number of households in the United States with a backyard flock jumped from 8% in 2018 to 13% in 2020, according to a survey by the American Pet Products Association. But our fondness for chickens is hardly new. The relationship between humans and chickens goes back thousands of years, to when humans began domesticating the red junglefowl native to Southeast Asia.

Guest host Sophie Bushwick has a compre(hen)sive conversation with Tove Danovich, freelance journalist and author of the new book Under the Henfluence: Inside the World of Backyard Chickens and the People Who Love Them, about how she was charmed by her own backyard chickens, the history of their domestication, and the surprising science of chicken intelligence.

Why Climate Activists Are Turning To Drastic Measures

For Earth Day this year, people all over the world took to the streets to demand climate action. But as large and loud as these protests can be, they are often met with inaction. So activists are ramping up their efforts. Just within the last year, we’ve seen people chain themselves to banks, throw mashed potatoes at a Monet painting, shut down highways, and even glue themselves to museum walls, all in the name of climate justice. Those actions went viral and really seemed to strike a nerve. How did we end up here? Guest host Kathleen Davis talks with Dr. Dana Fisher, professor of sociology at the University of Maryland College Park, about the state of climate activism and the tactics at play.

Recasting The Climate Movement In ‘How To Blow Up A Pipeline’

Climate activism is getting the big screen treatment this spring, with the new film “How to Blow Up a Pipeline.” This action-packed heist film follows a group of young climate activists, disillusioned by the slow pace of climate action, who decide to take drastic action in the name of the climate. What follows is a tense ‘will they-won’t they’ story set in Texas oil country. The name of this movie comes from a 2021 nonfiction book by Andreas Malm. That book is a manifesto that argues that property damage and sabotage is the only way forward for climate activism. The movie features characters who struggle with this question, and whether there’s a different way to accomplish their climate goals.

Guest host Kathleen Davis speaks with Ariela Barer, who co-wrote, produced, and acted in the film. They chat about bringing this complicated topic to the big screen, and creating characters reflective of the real-life climate movement.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Introducing Our New Podcast: Universe Of Art

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Sat, 22 Apr 2023 16:00:00 +0000

How do we use art to process the world around us in ways that science can’t? How are illustrators using their skills to help us understand nature’s most unusual creatures?

On Universe of Art, a new podcast from Science Friday, hosted by SciFri producer and art nerd D Peterschmidt, we bring you some of our favorite arts stories from the show, some new ones too, and conversations with the producers who made those segments. We’ll hear from astronomers who integrate space into their artwork, drag performers who bring science into their acts, and many others.

Join us for conversations with artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level.

Listen to Universe of Art on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, TuneIn or your favorite podcasting app.

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Anesthesia 101, Carbon-Sequestering Poplars, Period Book. April 21, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 20:31:18 +0000

An Explosive End For A Massive Rocket

This week, SpaceX attempted the first uncrewed orbital test flight of its massive Super Heavy rocket topped with an experimental crew capsule known as Starship. After one aborted launch earlier in the week, the huge rocket successfully lifted off Thursday morning—but minutes later, the Starship component failed to separate from the Super Heavy booster, and the combined rocket stack exploded. While a setback for the team, SpaceX head Elon Musk said that a lot had been learned from the flight, and another test launch would take place in several months.

Purbita Saha, senior editor at Popular Science, joins SciFri’s John Dankosky to talk about the launch and other stories from the week in science, including an Earth Day look at water conservation issues across the country and the materials science of Maya plaster.

Plus, you can now listen to Science Friday's new arts podcast, Universe of Art. SciFri producer and Universe of Art host D Peterschmidt joins John to give a sneak peak of some of the episodes.

Dismantling Myths About Menstruation

Saying the phrase “menstrual blood” or or the word “period” can feel almost dirty. That’s because in the western world, people with periods are taught not to discuss this exceedingly normal biological process. Half the world will menstruate at some point in their lives, and yet menstruation remains exceedingly under-studied.

Biological anthropologist Kate Clancy dug into the history of menstruation research, and the myriad misconceptions about it, while working on her book “Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.” What she found was a lack of basic understanding of the biological process, from physicians and menstruators alike. Clancy speaks with guest host Maddie Sofia about the misconceptions of a “normal” menstrual cycle, and other persisting period myths.

Fighting Climate Change With Genetically Modified Trees

Vince Stanley has a saying, which he holds as true in a commercial forest as on a row crop farm: Every acre has a plan. In a wetland he owns in Tattnall County, about 70 miles west of Savannah, downhill from an orderly grove of predictably profitable loblolly pines, he is trying out something new. “Now, look at this guy right here,” Stanley said, pointing out what looked more like a stick in the mud compared to the tupelos growing a few yards away in the deeper water. This stick, surrounded by pin flags and planted about six feet away from its sister, had signs of new life: dark green leaves. “That’s impressive,” Stanley said.

And the germ of the new plan for these acres, is something that, until now, Stanley said he didn’t really have. “We’re just leaving this up to Mother Nature,” he said. “So now with Living Carbon, we’ve gone to Option B.” This nascent tree and 10,499 others are at the heart of Option B, what might be the first effort of its kind in the nation: genetically engineered trees planted in a forest. What’s more, these trees are for sale.

Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.

All You Need To Know About Anesthesia

If you’ve ever had surgery, you’ve probably wondered about how anesthesia works, or maybe even lied awake at night anxious about going under. If you’ve ever been there, I’m sure you remember: Right before surgery, you get rolled into the operating room. The anesthesiologist tells you to start counting down from 10. The next thing you know, you’re awake in the recovery room and you don’t remember anything that just happened to you. How exactly did anesthesiologists manage to get you safely into that state and back out again?

Guest host John Dankosky talks with Dr. Louise Sun, professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford University Health and Dr. Gunisha Kaur, anesthesiologist, director of the Human Rights Impact Lab, and medical director of Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights at Weill Cornell Medicine about the basics of how anesthesia works.

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The Myth of the Alpha Wolf, Cherokee Nation Seed Banks, History of Gender Affirming Care. April 21, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 16:00:07 +0000

How We Arrived At Current Standards Of Care For Trans Medicine

So far this year, 16 states have moved to restrict or completely ban transgender kids access to gender affirming care. And 17 other states are considering similar laws, a handful even trying to restrict care for adults.

This political controversy has drawn increased attention to “Standards of Care,” a set of guidelines written by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health or WPATH. Health professionals are encouraged to consult these guidelines when providing gender affirming care like puberty blockers, hormones and surgery to transgender patients.

A new version of the standards were released last fall, sparking controversy. Some conservatives saw the guidelines as making transition too easy, and seized the moment to further restrict transition-related care. Some trans activists and health care providers felt the opposite, seeing the 2022 guidelines as too restrictive, creating unnecessary hurdles to life-saving medicine.

How did we get to a point where one document is supposed to shape all of trans medicine?

Guest host Maddie Sofia talks with Hil Malatino, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy at Penn State University, to put in perspective the history of gender affirming care.

How The Cherokee Nation Is Saving Culturally Significant Seeds

Think about your family heirlooms—the most prized items passed down from generation to generation, that tell a story about who you are and where you come from.

Did you ever think that seeds could be part of that story? This year, the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank is continuing its program to distribute heirloom seeds to tribal citizens, one that’s been running since 2006. Last year, the Nation distributed almost 10,000 seed packets to citizens across the country in an effort to keep these culturally significant plants from being lost.

This year, the Cherokee Nation is sharing seeds for a variety of Cherokee corn, gourds, beans, pumpkins, beads, and native plants and flowers.

Guest host John Dankosky talks with Feather Smith, the Cherokee Nation’s ethnobiologist, about how Cherokee heirloom seeds have been cultivated, planted, and preserved over the years.

To see an image gallery of the Cherokee Nation heirloom garden, visit sciencefriday.com.

The Long Legacy Of The Alpha Wolf Myth

Around the 1970s, the world latched onto a catchy new scientific term: alpha wolf. It described the top dog that clawed its way to the top of its pack, and it quickly became a mainstream symbol for power and dominance.

The idea of the alpha wolf was debunked almost 25 years ago, but its legacy lives on. Most commonly, it’s found in circles of the internet where men appoint themselves alpha wolf, and also in dog training. Strangely, those two things are connected.

Guest host Maddie Sofia explores how science works and how people use it in their everyday lives, whether it’s true or not. And a little about what happens when science goes mainstream.

Maddie first talks with Dr. Dave Mech, senior research scientist at the US Geological Survey and founder of the International Wolf Center. His 1970 book “The Wolf: The Ecology and Behavior of an Endangered Species” helped popularize the term “alpha wolf.” But when he discovered that alpha wolves aren’t really real many years later, he tried to right the wrong.

Then, Maddie talks with two researchers about how the alpha wolf idea is still around today: Anamarie Johnson, PhD candidate and canine behavior consultant at Arizona State University, and Dr. Lindsay Palmer, social and behavioral scientist who studies the human-animal bond at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. They explore how biases and societal ideas shape science, and connect the dots between alpha wolves, masculinity, and dog training.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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‘Possibility Of Life’ Book, PFAS Sewage, ‘Smart’ Play. April 14, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 20:22:38 +0000

Is Anybody Out There? The Quest For Life In Space

It’s one of humanity’s biggest fundamental questions: “Is there life elsewhere in the universe?” But despite years of searching, it’s a query that still has no answer. That conundrum also opens up a whole string of other inquiries, from how to best search for signs of life, to whether we’ll be able to make sense of what we’re seeing.

The search for life elsewhere can also help us learn about our own existence. How many of what we consider the basic rules of life on earth are really just suggestions, or convenient accidents?

A new book tackles these riddles through the lens of both science and science fiction. Science writer Jaime Green, author of the book, The Possibility of Life: Science, Imagination, and our Quest for Kinship in the Cosmos, joins Ira to talk about the science, history, and philosophy of our search for alien lifeforms, and takes questions from callers.

The SciFri Book Club will be reading this book together in May—you can read along with us next month. Find everything you need to know on our May Book Club page.

Farm Fertilizers Can Contain ‘Forever Chemicals’ From Sewage

The Deer Island Wastewater Treatment Plant is a pollution success story. Over the last several decades, it transformed Boston Harbor from a nationally embarrassing cesspool into a swimmable bay.

The treatment plant takes everything the people of Greater Boston send down their sinks, toilets, showers and washing machines — plus industrial waste — and treats it. The treated water is clean enough to let out into the ocean. The remaining sludge gets recycled into fertilizer that’s used in nearly 20 states.

But now that fertilizer is raising fresh concerns. That’s because wastewater treatment plants like Deer Island were not built to handle the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.

The treatment process concentrates PFAS chemicals in the sludge, and therefore in the fertilizer, leading environmentalists and public health advocates to call for an immediate end to its use. Others are not sure that a full ban on sludge-based fertilizer, or “biosolids,” is the answer. But there is widespread agreement that we have only begun to grasp the extent of the problem.

To read the full article, visit sciencefriday.com

When AI And Dementia Intersect

As AI becomes more advanced, it’s also becoming a bigger part of our lives. That’s especially true of smart speakers, which to some of us, act as another member of a family: answering simple questions, reminding us about appointments, and entertaining children. But what parts of our privacy are we giving up to make our lives slightly more convenient?

That’s the focus of a new play called “Smart,” which tells the story of four characters: a woman, her aging mother who has dementia, an AI programmer who works for a tech company, and a smart speaker named Jenny.

Ira speaks with the writer of “Smart,” Mary Elizabeth Hamilton, about how she wrote the play, how the science behind AI inspired its plot, and the connections between AI hallucinations and dementia-induced hallucinations.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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EV Proposal, Lactose Intolerance. April 14, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 19:59:03 +0000

EPA Proposal To Require 60% Of New Cars To Be EVs by 2030

The EPA released a set of proposals this week that would cap C02 emissions for new cars. In order to meet the new stricter targets automakers would need to ramp up electric vehicle manufacturing substantially. By 2030, 60% of new cars would need to be electric.

Ira talks with Casey Crownhart, Climate Reporter for the MIT Technology Review, about the new EPA emissions proposals and other top science news of the week including predictions of a bad mosquito season and turtles basking in the moonlight.

Lactose Intolerance May Have A Lot To Do With Your Gut Microbiome

In the animal kingdom, it’s not normal to drink milk past infancy. It’s even more rare to consume milk from another mammal. But throughout history, humans have used dairy farming as a way to get calories and nutrition from creatures like cows, goats, and sheep. And a big perk: dairy products taste good.

Evidence of dairying goes back to the early Neolithic era. Traces have been found in the historical record in Europe, Asia, and Africa, in ancient teeth and pottery. Lactase persistence, or the ability to consume dairy into adulthood, developed alongside this burgeoning industry.

But here’s the catch: a large part of the population is still lactose intolerant, either from childhood or developed in adulthood. It’s estimated that about a third of the U.S. population is lactose intolerant, with a higher chance among certain ethnic and racial groups.

There’s a lot to learn about the origins of lactose persistence and lactose intolerance, and much of that knowledge comes from the gut microbiome. Joining Ira to talk about this is Christina Warinner, assistant professor of anthropology at Harvard University, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Artemis II Astronauts, AI Research Pause, Terra Nil Video Game. April 7, 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios, Science Friday) — Fri, 7 Apr 2023 16:37:38 +0000

An Open Letter Asks AI Researchers To Reconsider Responsibilities

In recent months, it’s been hard to escape hearing about artificial intelligence platforms such as ChatGPT, the AI-enabled version of Bing, and Google’s Bard—large language models skilled at manipulating words and constructing text. The programs can conduct a believable conversation and answer questions fluently, but have a tenuous grasp on what’s real, and what’s not.

Last week, the Future of Life Institute released an open letter that read “We call on all AI labs to immediately pause for at least 6 months the training of AI systems more powerful than GPT-4.” They asked researchers to jointly develop and implement a set of shared safety protocols governing the use of AI. That letter was signed by a collection of technologists and computer researchers, including big names like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and Tesla’s Elon Musk. However, some observers called the letter just another round of hype over the AI field.

Dr. Stuart Russell, a professor of computer science at Berkeley, director of the Kavli Center for Ethics, Science, and the Public, and co-author of one of the leading AI textbooks was a signatory to that open letter calling for a pause in AI development. He joins Ira Flatow to explain his concerns about AI systems that are ‘black boxes’—difficult for humans to understand or control.

NASA Announces Artemis II Crew For Next Moon Mission

This week, NASA announced the four person crew of the Artemis II mission to the moon: Commander Reid Weisman, pilot Victor Glover, and mission specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen.

The crew has three firsts for a moon mission, the first woman, first person of color and first Canadian.

While these Artemis II astronauts will not actually step foot on the moon, it’s an important milestone for NASA’s first moon mission since Apollo.

Ira talks with Swapna Krishna, host of the PBS digital series, Far Out about this week’s announcement and the future of the Artemis mission.

Will Rising Temperatures Help Batters Swing for the Bleachers?

As the planet warms, melting ice and shifting seasons aren’t the only things changing—the traditions of baseball may be affected as well. A report published this week in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society finds that warmer air temperatures are connected to a slight increase in the number of home runs hit in major league baseball. The effect, the researchers say, is due to a decrease in air density at warmer temperatures, which allows a hit ball to fly slightly further than it would in cooler air.

So far, the effect is small. After correcting for other factors, the researchers say they can attribute about 500 additional MLB home runs since 2010 to warmer temperatures. Most of the observed increase in home run hitting isn’t attributable to the climate. However, they say, each additional one degree Celsius increase in temperature may lead to a two percent increase in home runs. And while ballparks with an insulating dome won’t see big shifts from increased temperatures, open-air parks with a lot of daytime games, such as Wrigley Field, will see more significant effects.

Christopher Callahan, a Ph.D. candidate in geography at Dartmouth and lead author of the report, joins Ira to talk baseball and climate.

This Video Game Prioritizes Restoring An Ecosystem Over Profits

If you’ve played Rollercoaster Tycoon, Cities: Skylines, the Civilization series—even Animal Crossing—you’re probably familiar with this gameplay pattern: extract some kind of resource from the land, industrialize it into a theme park or a city, and (step three) profit, ad infinitum.

But Terra Nil, a new game from the studio Free Lives, fundamentally challenges this oft-used game loop. Instead of maximizing profit at the expense of the local ecosystem, the player’s focus is to make a healthier, natural one instead. You start with a barren wasteland (one that you assume has been completely desolated by human activity, perhaps the aftermath from one of the previously mentioned games), and with the help of advanced eco-tech—like wind turbines, soil purifiers, irrigators, and more—restore it to a thriving, diverse ecosystem. The player’s ultimate goal is to take all the tech they used to restore the land, recycle it into an airship, and fly away, leaving no human presence behind.

SciFri producer D Peterschmidt speaks with Sam Alfred, the lead designer and programmer of Terra Nil, about how Free Lives designed this “reverse city-builder,” how the studio took inspiration from the flora of their local Cape Town, and how he hopes the game challenges players how they think about traditional gameplay systems and their effect on our world.

Workout Worms May Reveal New Parkinson’s Treatments

Scientists built an exercise pool for tiny worms. Why?

A team of researchers at University of Colorado Boulder are looking into ways to help treat people with Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. They’re turning to tiny collaborators, C. elegans, worms which measure just one millimeter in length.

These scientists wanted to see how exercise affects brain health by putting a bunch of these worms in an exercise class—in a tiny pool.

Ira talks with the co-author of this fascinating new research, Dr. Joyita Bhadra, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Plants Make Sounds, Frog Science, COVID Vaccine Update. April 7, 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (Science Friday, WNYC Studios) — Fri, 7 Apr 2023 16:36:42 +0000

Your Plants Are Trying to Tell You They’re Thirsty

Spring is in the air, with flowers blooming and gardens starting. Most people with a green thumb will know a droopy plant is a signal that it needs water. But new research has found another way that plants will signal that they’re thirsty: emitting staccato popping sounds, too high pitched for the human ears. Elsewhere in the world of science journalism, an argument has been made that elephants have self-domesticated. If true, this would make these gentle giants only the third creature to have done this, alongside humans and bonobos. Joining Ira to talk about these stories and other science stories of the week is Rachel Feltman, host of the podcast “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week” and editor at large of Popular Science.

Your Future COVID-19 Vaccine May Come Through Your Nose

The nose knows about COVID-19 infection. It is the entrance to the immune system, after all. The nose’s position as one of our first lines of defense has many experts in favor of developing COVID-19 nasal sprays, with the thought that it may replace the needle jabs we’ve come to expect. The development of nasal vaccines comes at a time when many Americans are anxiously awaiting if the government will approve additional COVID-19 boosters. The bivalent boosters have been out for more than six months, and there have been reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will recommend an additional dose for some Americans this spring.

Joining Ira to give us the latest on nasal sprays, boosters, and answering some listener questions is Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, immunobiologist at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.

Make It Easier To Be Green. Show Frogs Some Love

Frogs have been called the equivalent of the canary in the coalmine, harbingers for the health of our environment. When frogs go silent, something is amiss. So we’re going to spend some time talking about why frogs are so important and how you can better support your neighborly amphibians. One idea? Build a toad abode and welcome them in. Plus, there’s another way to help frogs and toads—and that’s by lending your eyes and your ears to the scientists who study them. April is Citizen Science Month, so we’re kicking things off with a toad-ally cool project called FrogWatch. It relies on volunteers from across the country to record frog calls and report them to FrogWatch’s database.

Ira talks with Dr. Itzue Caviedes-Solis, assistant professor at Swarthmore College, about making outdoor spaces more frog-friendly. Then, he chats with Carrie Bassett, National FrogWatch USA coordinator and education mission manager at the Akron Zoo, about how volunteers can lend their eyes and ears to help scientists study frogs.

Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.