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 sinc...
Feb 07, 2025•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 inform...
Feb 06, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 fa...
Feb 05, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Feb 04, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. ...
Feb 03, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 befo...
Jan 31, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. 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 t...
Jan 30, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 rec...
Jan 29, 2025•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 28, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 27, 2025•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Scientist...
Jan 24, 2025•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 23, 2025•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 22, 2025•18 min•Ep 950•Transcript available on Metacast 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 Pr...
Jan 21, 2025•22 min•Ep 949•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 20, 2025•18 min•Ep 948•Transcript available on Metacast 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 compan...
Jan 17, 2025•25 min•Ep 947•Transcript available on Metacast 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 so...
Jan 16, 2025•18 min•Ep 946•Transcript available on Metacast 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—unt...
Jan 15, 2025•17 min•Ep 943•Transcript available on Metacast 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 conne...
Jan 14, 2025•19 min•Ep 944•Transcript available on Metacast 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 her...
Jan 13, 2025•20 min•Ep 945•Transcript available on Metacast 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 bo...
Jan 10, 2025•24 min•Ep 942•Transcript available on Metacast 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 stri...
Jan 09, 2025•31 min•Ep 941•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Jan 08, 2025•18 min•Ep 940•Transcript available on Metacast 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 counterpart...
Jan 07, 2025•18 min•Ep 939•Transcript available on Metacast 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 thos...
Jan 06, 2025•18 min•Ep 938•Transcript available on Metacast 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 anc...
Jan 03, 2025•13 min•Ep 937•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Dec 31, 2024•30 min•Ep 936•Transcript available on Metacast 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. Subscribe...
Dec 30, 2024•19 min•Ep 935•Transcript available on Metacast 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...
Dec 27, 2024•49 min•Ep 934•Transcript available on Metacast 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 ...
Dec 26, 2024•18 min•Ep 933•Transcript available on Metacast 
