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.
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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 tr...
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 lurk...
Despite advances in understanding mental health, no definitive blood test or brain scan exists for psychiatric illnesses. This episode explores the immense challenge of finding biological markers for conditions like depression and PTSD, highlighting the complexity of the brain and the heterogeneity of disorders. It discusses the promise of post-mortem brain analysis, genetic studies, and advanced imaging, while also addressing the aspirational role of biomarkers in the upcoming DSM.
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...
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...
This episode explores the severe snow drought gripping the western US, detailing its profound impact on water supplies for 40 million people in the Colorado River Basin. Experts discuss how unusually high temperatures linked to climate change are driving long-term aridification, not just temporary drought. The dire situation is intensifying urgent, yet unresolved, negotiations for significant water use cutbacks, primarily affecting agriculture, while highlighting the need for immediate adaptation strategies.
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 a...
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 supe...
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 pediatr...
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...
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 changi...
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 Neu...
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 b...
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.co...
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 stu...
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 abou...
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 happ...
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...
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, “Th...
Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen discusses the pervasive influence of metrics, explaining how they can "capture" our values, reducing complex motivations to quantifiable scores. He argues that metrics, while powerful for bureaucracy, are inherently limited and often fail to capture nuanced human experiences. In contrast, Nguyen celebrates the liberating power of games, where voluntary scoring systems allow for creativity, risk-taking, and a deeper engagement with life's processes rather than just outcomes.
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. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instag...
This episode delves into the history of dog domestication, questioning the popular belief that dog diversity is a Victorian phenomenon. Bioarchaeologist Carly Ameen discusses her research on ancient dog skulls, revealing significant breed variation predating the 1800s and exploring the elusive "when and where" of domestication. Evolutionary biologist Erin Hecht then shares insights from the long-running silver fox experiment, demonstrating how selective breeding for tameness rapidly alters behavior and brain structure, even touching upon the fascinating concept of human self-domestication.
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 ...
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 i...
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 ...
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. ...
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 wit...
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...
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 Card...
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 pr...
