Podcasts · Science

Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

300 episodes

Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. What was life like for Tyranossaurus rex?

    · 18 min · Episode 1425

    While Tyrannasaurus rex has reached celebrity status in pop culture thanks to movies like “Jurassic Park” and famous fossils, it can be difficult to imagine what everyday life was like for this charismatic prehistoric…

  2. Isabella Rossellini on how acting connects to animal cognition

    · 20 min · Episode 1424

    Pass the cocktail napkins and refill your glass because we’re having a dinner party. You’ll be between Isabella Rossellini, the Italian model, movie star, and director; and ecologist Carl Safina, author of many books,…

  3. Why are we changing the way we keep time?

    · 14 min · Episode 1423

    The time we see on our phones and clocks is based on the Earth’s rotation. But that rotation speed varies, so if it speeds up or slows down, our time measurements get thrown off. To solve this problem, timekeeping…

  4. Kazuo Ishiguro on emotional truth in sci-fi and in our AI reality

    · 25 min · Episode 1422

    The movie “Klara and the Sun,” in theaters now, is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. The story is set in the future and is narrated by Klara, a robotic “Artificial Friend,” whose job is to be…

  5. Is that garbage can bear resistant? These bears will find out

    · 19 min · Episode 1421

    Have you ever wondered what it means for something to be bear resistant? How do manufacturers know that the cooler you take camping or the compost bin in your backyard will keep hungry bears out? Wonder no more!…

  6. Jennifer Doudna on what it takes to be a good scientist

    · 30 min · Episode 1420

    In 2020, Jennifer Doudna shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of the gene-editing technique CRISPR. Along with related techniques, it has become an essential tool in genetics, allowing specific…

  7. Getting the billion-dollar PRIMA space telescope off the ground

    · 16 min · Episode 1419

    In late September 2026, NASA announced that a new telescope called PRIMA was getting a green light and advancing to something called Phase B of the development process. But what does that mean exactly? How does a…

  8. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson on making climate action cool

    · 12 min · Episode 1418

    Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is one of the most prominent voices in the climate movement. She’s a marine biologist by training, but as she saw the effects of the climate crisis intensify, she took on more public-facing…

  9. Could a whale swallow a human, 'Whalefall' style?

    · 18 min · Episode 1417

    In the new movie “Whalefall,” a scuba diver (Austin Abrams) gets accidentally swallowed by a sperm whale. What follows is a tense battle against time and the whale’s digestive system, to escape before his air supply…

  10. Why do politicians talk like that?

    · 18 min · Episode 1416

    With the midterms approaching, politicians are out in full force to convince voters to elect them. And that means that we’re hearing a lot of “politician speak.” You know it when you hear it: those folksy turns of…

  11. Sargassum superblooms are choking coastlines around the Atlantic

    · 13 min · Episode 1415

    An unwelcome visitor is arriving on beaches from West Africa to the Caribbean, and Brazil to Florida. It’s brown, it’s stinky, and it’s more abundant than ever: sargassum. This free-floating seaweed has become a major…

  12. Celebrating Ada Lovelace Day and the women who made the internet

    · 18 min · Episode 1414

    This year, October 13 marks Ada Lovelace Day, an observance that calls attention to the role of women in computing and technology. In this conversation from 2018, Ira talks with Claire Evans, author of “Broad Band: The…

  13. Are attachment styles more than a social media trend?

    · 18 min · Episode 1413

    In the past few years, the idea of attachment styles has taken off, both online and in therapy offices. It’s gone from a niche psychological concept to a shorthand to describe how we show up in relationships. Here’s a…

  14. The science and politics of the new mRNA flu vaccine

    · 12 min · Episode 1412

    A new mRNA flu vaccine made by Moderna was approved by the FDA in August, and is currently available for people aged 50 and over. The promise of an mRNA vaccine for flu is that it can be spun up more quickly than a…

  15. What is the Kelvin wave on the West Coast?

    · 13 min · Episode 1411

    A Kelvin wave has reached California and is creeping up the West Coast, raising both sea levels and concerns from government officials. This kind of massive internal wave begins in the western Pacific Ocean and then…

  16. The punk rock life of cephalopods

    · 18 min · Episode 1410

    Cephalopods have a reputation for being smart and majestic. And while that may be true, the life of a cephalopod can also be dark and gritty. Have you heard of octopus death spirals? How about cephalopod cannibalism?…

  17. The Nobel winner searching for deep-space neutrinos in Antarctica

    · 13 min · Episode 1409

    It’s Nobel Prize week, and this year's prize in physics went to Francis Halzen “for decisive contributions to the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the discovery of high-energy neutrinos of astrophysical origin.” The…

  18. How important ideas get reawakened, with David Byrne

    · 16 min · Episode 1408

    On Science Friday, we love to talk about ideas, especially ideas that have the power to shape the future. But there are plenty of groundbreaking ideas that almost don’t make it out of the lab or the art studio: ideas…

  19. 'The History of Concrete' with John Wilson

    · 15 min · Episode 1407

    John Wilson’s new documentary, “The History of Concrete,” has a subject matter that to most people may seem gray, drab, and boring. The film is anything but. Alongside facts about concrete’s reliance on dwindling sand…

  20. The tilcayo is the new wild cat on the block

    · 13 min · Episode 1406

    Big news for tiny cats: an itty-bitty three-pound spotted cat from Bolivia—called the tilcayo—is the first new wild cat species described in more than a hundred years. Tilcayo pics have been all over the news and…

  21. Are natural history museums going extinct?

    · 18 min · Episode 1405

    Leaders of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University say they can’t afford to keep the museum open to visitors. And there are rumors that another natural history museum, in Hays, Kansas, may be closing its…

  22. Examining a new lunar crater + searching for signs of alien technology

    · 18 min · Episode 1404

    In 2024, scientists using instruments on board the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft spotted a new large impact crater on the surface of the moon. Tyler Powell joins host Flora Lichtman to describe what they…

  23. Did the COVID pandemic stunt kids’ development?

    · 22 min · Episode 1404

    It’s a conversation at playgrounds and in classrooms: parents and teachers worry that kids who spent formative years at home during the COVID-19 pandemic are set back, emotionally, socially or academically. But what…

  24. How do concussions affect the brain?

    · 18 min · Episode 1403

    Football season is upon us and a new study is making headlines. Researchers found that roughly 1 in 4 NFL players will develop CTE, a neurodegenerative disease, in their lifetime. While most of us are not professional…

  25. Are new treatments for celiac disease on the horizon?

    · 12 min · Episode 1402

    For celiac disease sufferers, avoiding gluten is the only way to avoid symptoms. But that’s not always easy to do. Researchers are working on new treatments, including one that targets interleukin-15, a chemical that…

  26. Everyone is calling for safer AI. So what does that mean?

    · 23 min · Episode 1401

    AI safety has dominated the news cycle for weeks, precipitated in part by an AI attack where a bunch of OpenAI’s agents teamed up and hacked another AI platform, Hugging Face, without humans knowing. Since then,…

  27. Underwater archeology reveals clues about Ice Age humans

    · 18 min · Episode 1400

    During the last ice age, America’s coastlines and waterways looked much different than they do today. When glaciers melted, coasts and shorelines were inundated, burying early human settlements underwater. This is…

  28. Climate change is increasing hurricane risk for Hawaiʻi

    · 13 min · Episode 1399

    The Hawaiian Islands tend to be insulated from the worst effects of hurricanes, but this summer has been different. In mid-August, Hurricane Lala pummeled the Big Island, damaging homes and roads and causing flooding…

  29. Bringing hard electronics into soft and squishy bodies

    · 18 min · Episode 1398

    A lot of things in life are squishy, including your skin, your organs, and all the goo inside you. But technology tends to be rigid and hard. Figuring out how to get those two worlds to work together can be…

  30. What is lymphatic drainage, anyway?

    · 18 min · Episode 1397

    There’s a new wellness trend focused on an obscure capillary system that moves fluid around the body. Things like lymphatic walking, vibration plates, and compression boots have been touted as ways to stimulate the…

  31. Hot flashes, hormone therapy, and the science of perimenopause

    · 19 min · Episode 1396

    Perimenopause affects more than 4 billion people, but has historically been neglected by medicine. It’s the time before menopause when hormones start fluctuating wildly, leaving women with brain fog, hot flashes,…

  32. Telling the tale of human origins, one fossil tooth at a time

    · 26 min · Episode 1395

    Where did we come from? How did humanity, with our complicated civilizations and all our human quirks and foibles, come to be? Much of what we know about those questions traces back to important fossil finds in…

  33. Did the fire at the Library of Alexandria set humanity back?

    · 14 min · Episode 1394

    In 48 B.C.E., a massive fire ripped through the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, one of the largest and most significant ancient libraries. An estimated 100,000 works of literature were lost. Throughout history, there…

  34. Black bears are moving into the neighborhood. How do we coexist?

    · 18 min · Episode 1393

    Living with black bears is complicated. They’re huge, hungry, and they really don’t care about your hostas. After a long period of being overhunted, black bears are on the rebound. And as they begin returning to parts…

  35. Is a shorter course of antibiotics OK? + Genetic risk of fibromyalgia

    · 18 min · Episode 1392

    You’ve probably been warned that if you don’t finish that course of antibiotics, you could wind up battling antibiotic-resistant bacteria. But a growing body of research suggests that the opposite might be true. What…

  36. Why cannabis’s health effects are so hard to study

    · 18 min · Episode 1391

    When states began legalizing recreational cannabis a couple decades ago, 25 million Americans said they used the drug. That number nearly tripled to 70 million by 2023. There are a lot of open questions about how it…

  37. Did scientists just find a dark matter particle? Maybe

    · 13 min · Episode 1390

    There’s a flashy new find in the hunt for dark matter—the stuff that makes up 85% of all matter in the universe, but we have no clue what it is. A mile under Lead, South Dakota, is a giant cauldron filled with 7 tons…

  38. Why physics and philosophy need each other

    · 18 min · Episode 1389

    Once upon a time, much of what we call “science” was performed by people called “natural philosophers,” delving into mysteries of nature, physics, chemistry, and more. Physicist and author Carlo Rovelli argues that…

  39. Recall rodeo: A food safety update + Why cars are catching fire

    · 18 min · Episode 1388

    Between E. coli in blueberries, glass in popsicles, and that dreaded cyclospora, this summer was all about keeping a wary eye on the groceries in the fridge. But how does the recall data stack up against previous…

  40. Is there science behind the ‘nervous system reset’?

    · 18 min · Episode 1387

    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…

  41. For Jennifer Chayes, math is a 'native tongue'

    · 31 min · Episode 1386

    Much of the code that describes the inner workings of social networks, helps apps predict your musical interests, and underlies innovations in AI traces back to advances in mathematical theory and data science that…

  42. What an mRNA melanoma vaccine may mean for cancer treatment

    · 12 min · Episode 1385

    A new mRNA vaccine for melanoma is making headlines. Moderna and Merck recently announced results from their clinical trial suggesting that this new vaccine, in combination with the cancer drug Keytruda, reduced…

  43. Why it's so hard to tell the age of a fungus

    · 9:59 · Episode 1384

    When you see a mushroom popping up from the forest floor, that mushroom is just the tip of the fungal iceberg for a vast world beneath the surface. But the nature of fungal life makes it hard to answer some basic…

  44. The power of the stories we tell about the ocean

    · 18 min · Episode 1383

    There’s been wave after wave of bad news about the ocean: warming temperatures, overfishing, acidification, coral bleaching. But in the last few years, there have also been some big wins for the big blue—as well as a…

  45. What should astronauts do first when they reach Mars?

    · 18 min · Episode 1382

    When humans finally land on Mars, what should they do? A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lays out the science objectives for a crewed Mars mission. In January, planetary…

  46. AI is everywhere in healthcare now. Doctors are conflicted

    · 18 min · Episode 1381

    AI is popping up in many corners of society, but how are doctors using it in their practice? We asked our physician listeners to call in, and many of you did. What we heard mirrored broad trends: that more and more…

  47. How much worse was that storm because of climate change?

    · 12 min · Episode 1380

    We’ve been hearing for years that climate change makes weather more extreme, and extreme weather more frequent. But what’s been more difficult to measure is exactly how climate change influences a particular weather…

  48. How GPS shaped our world

    · 18 min · Episode 1379

    GPS is such an essential part of our lives that it’s easy to forget there was once a world without it. But, like many tech advancements of the 20th century, GPS was originally created by the U.S. military. So how did…

  49. The ancient Roman doctrine guiding modern environmental fights

    · 15 min · Episode 1378

    A controversial pipeline project in Michigan has been stuck in legal limbo for years. But this month, the Michigan Supreme Court sided with environmentalists and leaned on an ancient legal framework: the public trust…

  50. What are the mysterious ‘little red dots’ in images of space?

    · 13 min · Episode 1374

    When the James Webb Space Telescope started sending back images in 2022, something mysterious appeared: little red dots, speckled across the sky. They didn’t look like any known celestial objects, and astronomers began…

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them. Explicit shows are for adult profiles only, and children’s profiles hear only children’s shows. More about this list.