NPR: Science Friday Podcast
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Science Friday, as heard on NPR, is a weekly discussion of the latest news in science, technology, health, and the environment hosted by Ira Flatow. Ira interviews scientists, authors, and policymakers, and listeners can call in and ask questions as well. Hear it each week on NPR stations nationwide!
| Title | Podcast Description | Author/Reader | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stem Cell Eye Therapy Trial, Open Science, Dog Domestication | Hour 2: An early trial of stem cell therapy, making scientific research more open, and what an ancient skull find can tell us about our history with domesticated dogs. | National Public Radio | 00:48:29 |
| Magnetic Soap, Space Weather, Mobile Wallet, Ice | Hour 1: Scientists create a soap containing iron, solar flares and their effects, mobile payment options, and the coolness of ice. | National Public Radio | 00:48:48 |
| Synthetic Trachea Transplant, Renewable Energy, Navigating Large Ships, Moon | Hour 2: The surgeon behind a recent synthetic windpipe transplant, a look at new projects in wind power and geothermal energy, the technology behind ship navigation, and the origins of the word moon. | National Public Radio | 00:49:41 |
| Climate, Mindfulness, Martian Meteorites, Speedy Animals | Hour 1: NCSE on teaching about climate, a psychologist discusses meditation and mindfullness, a look at recent meteorites from mars, and a video about speedy critters. | National Public Radio | 00:48:58 |
| Science Tattoos, Surgery, HuffPost Science | Hour 2: Tattoos of the science obsessed, a surgeon takes readers behind the operating room doors, and Arianna Huffington discusses a new science section at The Huffington Post. | National Public Radio | 00:48:29 |
| AAS Meeting, Cosmology, Super-TB, Computing Bubbles | Hour 1: American Astronomical Society meeting, Lawrence Krauss on modern cosmology, a strain of tuberculosis that thwarts all antibiotics, and a video about computing with bubbles. | National Public Radio | 00:48:33 |
| Bee Parasite, Wintertime Science | Hour 2: A parasitic fly may threaten honey bees, and a panel of experts discusses the science of the winter season. | National Public Radio | 00:48:27 |
| Placebo Effect, Flu Research, Levitating Fruit Flies | Hour 1: New research suggests placebos may have the power to heal in certain applications, a microbiologist and a biosecurity expert debate publishing two studies, and a video about flies in zero G. | National Public Radio | 00:47:50 |
| GRAIL lunar mission, Antarctic science, Resolutions | Hour 2: Twin NASA probes ready to enter lunar orbit, how research is done on extreme terrain in Antarctica, and keeping your New Year resolutions. | National Public Radio | 00:48:54 |
| Year in Review: Science Stories of 2011 | Hour 1: Four journalists join Ira Flatow to discuss the top science stories of 2011. | National Public Radio | 00:48:54 |
| Breaking Bad, Woodpecker Search, Bird Count | Hour 2: The science adviser for the chemistry-themed tv series, an expedition to save a woodpecker, and the annual Christmas Bird Count. | National Public Radio | 00:49:52 |
| Planet hunt, War on Cancer, Plastic Bridges | Hour 1: A search for Earth-sized exoplanets, Harold Varmus, and bridge engineering. | National Public Radio | 00:49:11 |
| Higgs Search, Inflight Science, Wings | Hour 2: The search for the elusive Higgs boson, a book on the technology and science of airline travel, and a video about flight physics. | National Public Radio | 00:47:54 |
| Music Therapy, Petri Dish | Hour 1: Neurologists and therapists discuss how music therapy works. Plus, how Julius Petri created his famous dish. | National Public Radio | 00:48:33 |
| Transgenic Salmon, Pythons and Hearts | Hour 2: Food safety and environmental concerns associated with transgenic salmon, and Leslie Leinwand discusses how studying python metabolism could treat heart disease. | National Public Radio | 00:47:52 |
| Rat Empathy, Asian Space Race, Bedbug Breeding, Jump Rope Video | Hour 1: A study suggests primates are not the only mammals with empathy, a look at a space race in Asia, bedbug inbreeding, and two engineers giving the jump rope a spin. | National Public Radio | 00:48:04 |
| Skyscrapers, Hedy Lamarr | Hour 2: Author Kate Ascher dissects the architecture and engineering of a modern skyscraper, and a new book looks at the life of the beautiful and brainy movie star Hedy Lamarr. | National Public Radio | 00:47:54 |
| Antibiotic Research, Spontaneous Happiness, Pigeon Flight | Hour 1: Next-generation antibiotics that target the bacterial DNA, Dr. Andrew Weil discusses antidepressant alternatives, video of how pigeons fly. | National Public Radio | 00:48:58 |
| Big Roads, Giant Pumpkin, Freud and Cocaine, Stethoscope | Hour 2: The evolution of the American superhighway system, a 1000-pound pumpkin, An Anatomy of Addiction, and the origins of the stethoscope. | National Public Radio | 00:47:37 |
| IgNobel Prizes Salute The Silly In Science | Hour 1: An annual awards ceremony salutes dubious and unusual research and inventions. | National Public Radio | 00:50:20 |
| Toilet Technology, Stem Cells | Hour 2: Tomorrow is World Toilet Day, so we look at the state of toilet technology. Plus, biotech firm Greon says it is getting out of the business of stem cell research. | National Public Radio | 00:48:54 |
| Moon and Climate, Solar Update, Oxytocin, Balloon Video | Hour 1: Why a moon may not be necessary for life, a battle over solar panel taxes, detecting a genetic difference through observing empathy, and a look at balloon engineering for a major parade. | National Public Radio | 00:49:08 |
| Informal Science Education, Meet the Mythbusters | Hour 2: How much science do kids learn outside the classroom? Then, Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman talk mythbusting. | National Public Radio | 00:49:27 |
| S.A.D., Walter Isaacson on Steve Jobs, Woodpecker Video | Hour 1: Treatments for the winter blues, Walter Isaacson discusses his biography of the Apple leader, and a hunt for an elusive bird. | National Public Radio | 00:49:05 |
| Anti-Dengue Mosquitoes, Early Antarctic Expeditions | Hour 2: Engineering mosquitoes to crash dengue mosquito populations, and a look back at the Antarctic expeditions of Scott and others. | National Public Radio | 00:49:11 |
| Brain Imaging, Dolphins, Constants, Hawk Moth Video | Hour 1: Tying to determine brain function by studying structure, dolphin communication and cognition, questioning the constancy of basic physical rules, and a video about moth flight. | National Public Radio | 00:49:00 |
| Anthrax Attacks Investigation, Probiotics | Hour 2: New reports question whether scientific evidence against the prime suspect was ready for court. And a study suggests good bacteria in yogurt affect digestion, but not by repopulating the gut flora. | National Public Radio | 00:49:00 |
| Flu Shot Effectiveness, The Fabric Of The Cosmos | Hour 1: A new report says evidence that the flu shot works for seniors is lacking. And a new four-part TV series looks at big questions in cosmology. | National Public Radio | 00:48:30 |
| Space Junk, Fossil Fuels, Bunsen Burners | Hour 2: Predicting The Fall of Space Junk. Amory Lovins advocates a mix of energy efficiency and renewables to get society off fossil fuels. Howard Markel talks about chemist Robert Bunsen and how his burner came to be. | National Public Radio | 00:49:22 |
| Blue Stragglers, Multiple Personalities, Jack-O-Lantern 2.0 | Hour 1: Astronomers have a new theory on how blue straggler stars are formed, a sensational tale of multiple personality disorder, and a video looks at pumpkin carving. | National Public Radio | 00:47:59 |
| Kraken Controversy, Politics Meets Science, Eat Your Fruits and Veggies | Hour 2: Could a stash of ancient bones be the work of a giant cephalopod? Then Sean Otto discusses his idea for an American Science Pledge. And in some people, a fruit and vegetable-filled diet can lower heart attack risk. | National Public Radio | 00:48:54 |
| Nanostructure Crystals, Toaster Project, Space Experiments, Eggs In Space | Hour 1: Chad Mirkin describes using DNA molecules to shape nanoscale crystal structures, Toaster Project author Thomas Thwaites discusses his quest to build a toaster from scratch, and a student competition seeks space experiments. Plus - eggs in space! | National Public Radio | 00:49:42 |
| Steven Pinker on Violence, Prosthetic Advances | Hour 2: In his book "The Better Angels of Our Nature", Steven Pinker argues that violence is decreasing. Plus, a virtual arm tested in monkeys is a step toward artificial limbs that communicate with the brain. | National Public Radio | 00:48:25 |
| Rover Update, Physics Nobel, Remembering Steve Jobs, Mapping Flames | Hour 1: Opportunity reaches Mars crater, Nobel Physics Prize goes to three Americans, Steven Levy remembers life and contributions of Apple co-founder. Video - Mapping Flames. | National Public Radio | 00:48:49 |
| China Lab Launch, Empathy, Science Diction, Contagion | Hour 2: China launches a space laboratory, empathy and cruelty, origins of the word epilepsy, and the virology behind the Contagion movie. | National Public Radio | 00:48:16 |
| Pterosaurs, Cosmology, Dome Home | Hour 1: David Attenborough takes wing with pterosaurs, physicist Lisa Randall on cosmology and the LHC, and living in a geodesic dome home. | National Public Radio | 00:48:47 |
| Arizona Remote: Grand Canyon, Lowell Observatory | Hour 2: Most geologists agree on the approximate age of the canyon, but puzzles remain about its carving. Plus, Lowell Observatory, famous for spotting Pluto, hunts for exoplanets today. | National Public Radio | 00:48:38 |
| Arizona Remote: Wildfires, Science Festival | Hour 1: Scientists discuss how to control the fires that have shaped and scarred the Southwest, and a ten-day event in Flagstaff highlights science in Northern Arizona. | National Public Radio | 00:48:11 |
| In the Plex, Biofuel Prospecting, Video Pick | Hour 2: Steven Levy on Google, bugs found in herbivore guts for use in biofuel production, and a video about using algae to boost water quality. | National Public Radio | 00:49:07 |
| Science Budget, Siblings, Hackerspaces | Hour 1: Rush Holt on science feuding, Jeffrey Kluger on the science of brothers and sisters, and building a d.i.y club workshop. | National Public Radio | 00:48:59 |
| Psychology and 9-11, Video Pick: Stalking the Wild Mushroom | Hour 2: Dealing with psychological trauma, and a video about fungi. | National Public Radio | 00:47:57 |
| Caterpillar Virus, Australopithecus sediba, Move an Asteroid | Hour 1: Virus hypnotizes caterpillars before turning them to goo, an ancient hominid threatens to shake up the family tree, and a contest challenges students to move an asteroid. | National Public Radio | 00:48:11 |
| Anti-Cancer Viruses, Big Roads, Space Station | Hour 2: Studying whether viruses can combat cancer, engineering our highway system, update on the International Space Station. | National Public Radio | 00:48:45 |
| Bacteria and the Brain, Star Formation, Plague DNA | Hour 1: Changes in the gut alter brain chemistry and behavior in mice, star chemistry challenges formation theories, DNA detective work and the Black Death. | National Public Radio | 00:48:17 |
| Higgs, Tomatoes, NOAA Satellites, Science Diction | Hour 2: Update on the Higgs boson hunt, industrial tomato farming, NOAA satellites and forecast ability, and the origins of the word chemistry. | National Public Radio | 00:48:11 |
| I Heard the Sirens Scream, Earthquakes, Video Pick | Hour 1: A Pulitzer Prize winning science writer gives her account of the days after 9/11, a geologist explains why this weeks East Coast earthquake was felt by so many people, and the video pick: water striders. | National Public Radio | 00:48:14 |
| Google+Motorola, Tech and Free Speech, SpaceX | Hour 2: A look at plans for Google to acquire the Motorola mobile division, freee speech issues with cell phones and mobile communications, and plans for a private trip to the International Space Station. | National Public Radio | 00:48:34 |
| Science Challenge, Charlottes Web, Video Pick | Hour 1: Two fourth grade students discuss their award-winning projects, a look at the naturalist behind a classic childrens book, and a voyage to a floating toilet. | National Public Radio | 00:49:54 |
| First Robo Competition, Man of Numbers, Computer Sounds, Flywheel Bike | Hour 2: Dean Kamen and will i am team up to get kids interested in science, the origin of arithmetic, the future of sound effects, and how to give your bike a boost. | National Public Radio | 00:49:23 |
| Electronic Skin, Food Security | Hour 1: A flexible circuit adheres to skin like a temporary tattoo and monitors vital signs and the future of farming in a hotter, drier world. | National Public Radio | 00:49:29 |
| Enviro Bills, 2 Moon Theory, Mars Water, Baseball Injuries | Hour 2: Following Congress and the environment, a theory involving lunar collisions, suggestive streaks on Martian cliffs, and mining the disabled list for insights into baseball injuries. | National Public Radio | 00:48:31 |
| Lifestyles of the Old, Retractions, Camouflage | Hour 1: Study into the lifestyles of the very aged, a look at cases of fraud that have led to retractions of scientific studies, and camouflaged cephalopods. | National Public Radio | 00:49:33 |
| A spaceapalooza | Hour 2: Trojan Asteroid, Juno Mission, Mars Curiosity in this hour. | National Public Radio | 00:50:21 |
| Project Nim, Nature-Inspired Materials, Video Pick | Hour 1: A documentary about a controversial chimp language experiment, trying to learn from how nature assembles materials, and a trip to a green roof. | National Public Radio | 00:49:39 |
| Summer Science Road Trip, Anatomy of Addiction book | Hour 2: Your tips for a sciency summer vacation, the cocaine habits of Freud and Halsted. | National Public Radio | 00:48:50 |
| Stem Cells and Heart Tissue, Wild Life of Our Bodies, Bananas, Video Pick | Hour 1: A trial of stem cells for repairing heart attack damage, how the organisms that share our world have shaped us, a potential bananapocalypse, and a video about cilia. | National Public Radio | 00:49:01 |
| Editing the Genome, Google Plus, Weeds | Hour 2: Search-and-replace on bacterial DNA, a new social network from Google, and the bane of the backyard gardener: weeds. | National Public Radio | 00:48:49 |
| Drug-Resistant Gonorrhea, Webb Telescope, Lighting | Hour 1: Multi-drug resistant strain of gonorrhea, funding for the successor to the Hubble, and a look at efficiency and lighting. | National Public Radio | 00:49:08 |
| San Antonio Energy, Rock Art | Hour 2: Shifting to a more renewable energy economy, looking at prehistoric rock art. | National Public Radio | 00:48:08 |
| Science of Beef, Longhorn DNA, Compost | Hour 1: Using science to raise the perfect porterhouse, the gentics of the iconic longhorn cattle, and a video about a composting king. | National Public Radio | 00:47:44 |
| Plants & Gardening | Hour 2: Founding Gardeners - The origins of American political gardening during the Revolution. Plants on Mars. | National Public Radio | 00:50:12 |
| Recipes & Sex | Hour 1: High-tech recipes for your summer BBQ, a new book about Sex | National Public Radio | 00:49:26 |
| Sleep and Hammocks, Robopocalypse, Pavement, Radio | Hour 2: Your brain on hammocks, preparing for the robot uprising, greener paving options, and the origins of the word radio. | National Public Radio | 00:50:47 |
| Dead Zone, Adventures of the Mind, Student Inventors | Hour 1: Summer forecast for the Gulf of Mexico, a summit for top student thinkers, and student inventors create a better wheelchair. | National Public Radio | 00:50:51 |
| Voyager 1, History of Information | Hour 2: A trip to the outer edge of the solar system, and a look at the history of information and how people interact with it. | National Public Radio | 00:51:00 |
| Black Holes, Untested Stem Cell Therapies, Solar Update | Hour 1: New research into black holes, use of untested therapies by athletes, solar energy business. | National Public Radio | 00:50:12 |
| Disasters, Retooling the Electric Grid | Hour 2: Looking at black swan events, how aging infrastructure and outmoded communications hobble the electrical grid. | National Public Radio | 00:50:45 |
| Antimatter Trapping, Autism Genetics, Tissue Engineering Video | Hour 1: Holding on to antihydrogen for minutes at a time, looking for genetic clues to autism, and building hearts and bones. | National Public Radio | 00:49:46 |
| Map of the Universe, Narrative Medicine, Chris Adrian | Hour 2: A new 3D map of the local universe, using literature to help doctors, and a conversation with pediatric oncologist and novelist Chris Adrian. | National Public Radio | 00:51:04 |
| Social Networks, Cyber Attacks, Mosquito Repellant, Sunspot Video | Hour 1: Moving beyond friending, cyber attacks as an act of war, smells to battle mosquito attacks, and a video about sunspot science. | National Public Radio | 00:51:13 |
| Moon Water, Moon Speech Legacy, Hummingbird Tongues | Hour 2: New research using Apollo soil samples, 50 years since the JFK moon challenge, and how hummingbirds slurp. | National Public Radio | 00:50:31 |
| Microbes and Weather, Math and the Brain, Syphilis | Hour 1: How bacteria can influence hail, dyscalculia and your sense for numbers, Science Diction: syphilis. | National Public Radio | 00:50:15 |
| Dawn Mission, Exoplanets, Superconductivity | Hour 2: A trip to an asteroid, free-floating exoplanets, and 100 years of superconductivity research. | National Public Radio | 00:51:58 |
| Japan Nuclear Update, Summer Book List, Cicada Emergence, Desktop Diary | Hour 1: Nuclear reactor update, suggestions for summer reading, cicada emergence, Michio Kaku and his desk. | National Public Radio | 00:51:35 |
| New Cancer Treatments, Methane in Well Water, Stealth Technology | Hour 2: Possible new approaches to cancer treatment, studying the effects of gas drilling on groundwater, and the unusual helicopter used in the raid on the Bin Laden hideout. | National Public Radio | 00:50:24 |
| Mississippi Flood Control, Schizophrenic Computer, Sun and Lenses | Hour 1: Trying to contain a mighty river, modeling schizophrenia in computers, and a video about light and lenses. | National Public Radio | 00:51:04 |
| Gravity Probe, Fat, Viruses | Hour 2: Space mission provides evidence for Einstein, news about fat and health, and Carl Zimmer on viruses. | National Public Radio | 00:50:34 |
| Thomas Dolby, Gadgets and Privacy, Video Pick | Hour 1: Musician and techie Thomas Dolby, privacy and mobile gadgets, fluorescent rocks. | National Public Radio | 00:51:04 |
| Cape Wind, Electric Cars, Annoying Book | Hour 1: Offshore wind power goes ahead, the Revenge of the Electric Car, and a new book looks at the science of what bugs us. | National Public Radio | 00:47:41 |
| Napping Neurons, Blood Transfusion History, SETI | Hour 2: Napping neurons in the sleepy brain, a book about the history of blood transfusion, and Jill Tarter on SETI funding. | National Public Radio | 00:49:10 |
| 30 Years of Shuttles, Video Pick | Hour 1: Ira and guests look back on the space shuttle program, and talk about what might come next. Plus, astronaut videos. | National Public Radio | 00:49:01 |
| Soundscape Ecology, Solar Update, Alzheimers Diagnosis | Hour 2: Listening to ecosystems, progress on a Mojave solar installation, new diagnosis guidelines for Alzheimers, and the origins of the word robot. | National Public Radio | 00:48:48 |
| Nuclear Safety, Oil Spill Anniversary, Herpes, Video Pick | Hour 1: Nuclear safety standards, Carl Safina on the BP oil spill, herpes virus spread, and balancing bicycles. | National Public Radio | 00:49:39 |
| Note-Taking Invention, Human Origins and Human Language | Hour 2: A winner of a student technology competition. Plus paleoanthropologist Richard Leakey, and tracing the origins of human language. | National Public Radio | 00:49:15 |
| Artificial Leaf, Alzheimers Genetics, Gagarin, Video Pick | Hour 1: Splitting water with solar energy, looking for clues to Alzheimers disease, and observing the 50th anniversary of human space flight. | National Public Radio | 00:49:16 |
| The Intersection of Art and Science | Hour 2: Author Cormac McCarthy, filmmaker Werner Herzog, and physicist Lawrence Krauss discuss art and science. | National Public Radio | 00:49:47 |
| Radiation Vocab, Warmer Planet, Biography of Cancer | Hour 1: Radioactivity basics, a book about preparing for climate change, and a biography of cancer. | National Public Radio | 00:49:27 |
| Science Humor, Video Pick | Hour 2: Looking for the funnier side of science. No fooling. Plus the smaller signs of spring. | National Public Radio | 00:49:55 |
| Building Blocks of Life, Pre-Clovis Americans, Return of Project Mohole | Hour 1: New analysis of an old spark flask biochemistry experiment, hunting for traces of Americas first inhabitants, drilling to the mantle of the Earth. | National Public Radio | 00:49:26 |
| Computers and Emotions, Richard Feynman, Spacesuit Design | Hour 2: Measuring emotions via technology, a biography of physicist Richard Feynman, and a look at Apollo-era space suit design. | National Public Radio | 00:50:44 |
| Japan Nuclear Status, Geologic Earthquake Effects | Hour 1: A look at the ongoing nuclear crisis in Japan. Plus, how the quake affected planetary rotation. | National Public Radio | 00:47:45 |
| Camouflaged Blood, Titan, MESSENGER, Orchids. | Hour 2: Blood and the immune system, a trip around the solar system, and the strange life of orchids. | National Public Radio | 00:48:39 |
| Tsunami, Sweetness, Robot Opera | Hour 1: Joe Palca talks with researchers about seismology, taste sensation, and adding robots to a classic art form. | National Public Radio | 00:46:41 |
| Human Aging, Sleep, Science Diction: Clone | Hour 2: Joe Palca talks with researchers about how primates age, Americans' sleep problems, and the origins of the word 'clone.' | National Public Radio | 00:48:59 |
| HPV and Cancer Risk, Navy and Climate Change, Brian Greene on Multiverses | Hour 1: HPV and Cancer Risk, Navy and Climate Change, Brian Greene on Multiverses | National Public Radio | 00:48:41 |
| Calculating Spaceflight Risks, Data Backup and Storage, Stem Cells and DNA Damage | Hour 2: Calculating Spaceflight Risks, Data Backup and Storage, Stem Cells and DNA Damage | National Public Radio | 00:47:43 |
| Neurons, Cell Phone and the Brain, 3rd Arm Illusion, Visual Attention | Hour 1: Neurons, Cell Phone and the Brain, 3rd Arm Illusion, Visual Attention | National Public Radio | 00:47:54 |
| Bilingual Babies, Turkle on Technology, Transgenic Weeds | Hour 2: Bilingual Babies, Turkle on Technology, Transgenic Weeds | National Public Radio | 00:45:32 |
| Creating The Illusion Of A Different Body | Scientists have used tricks of the brain to change how people see themselves, even getting research subjects to accept a third arm as a "real" part of their bodies. Henrik Ehrsson, author of an article about the work in the journal "PLoS One", discusses why. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Looking At What The Eyes See | We move our eyes three times a second, over 100,000 times each day. Why isn't life blurrier? Reporting in "Nature Neuroscience", psychologist Martin Rolfs and colleagues found that our mind seems to prepare for our eye movements before they occur, helping us keep track of objects in the visual field. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Bilingual Babies More Perceptive To Nonnative Tongues | A study of bilingual infants suggests that a bilingual upbringing outfits infants with more sensitive language perception abilities, even for languages other than the two spoken at home. Psychologist Janet Werker discusses the findings, and whether the trend may hold true through the years. | National Public Radio | 00:09:36 |
| Have We Grown Too Fond Of Technology? | In her book "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other", Sherry Turkle examines our proclivity for robots, smart phones and social networks, and though far from suggesting we ditch technology, she wonders if we aren't losing out on human contact in the process. | National Public Radio | 00:14:30 |
| Debating The Potential Danger Of Transgenic Weeds | If a genetically engineered crop crosses with a wild relative, could a more robust, herbicide-and-insect-resistant weed result? Biologist Nina Fedoroff and ecologist Allison Snow discuss past instances of genetically engineered plants migrating beyond farm borders, and whether that poses a threat to ecosystems. | National Public Radio | 00:14:30 |
| Tracing Signals In The Brain | In the traditional view of how signals travel in the brain, a portion of a neuron known as a dendrite acts as an input for stimuli, while the neuron's axon serves as a signal output. Nelson Spruston, author of an article in the journal "Nature Neuroscience", says that the reality may be more complicated. | National Public Radio | 00:14:30 |
| Cell Phone Radiation Affects Brain, Study Says | Extended use of a cellular telephone causes increased activity in parts of the brain next to the phone's antenna, according to a new study in the "Journal of the American Medical Association". However, Nora Volkow, author of the paper, says it's unclear what the clinical significance of that finding is. | National Public Radio | 00:14:30 |
| Could Gaming Be Good For You? | What if games could help solve, rather than exacerbate, real-world problems? Jane McGonigal, author of the new book, "Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World," thinks they can. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Science Funding And The Budget | What are President Obama's spending priorities when it comes to science and technology? White House Science Advisor John Holdren discusses the President's proposed 2012 budget. Congressman Rush Holt on Congress's plans to cut science spending from this year's budget. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Creature Feature: Jumping Fleas, Burrowing Owls | Science Friday's video pick is a double feature. Scientists in the U.K. used high-speed photography to reveal how fleas leap. Mac Stone, wildlife photographer and field biologist, stuffed a camera in a traffic cone and got some beauty shots of burrowing owls in south Florida. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Can Science Be Used As A Diplomatic Tool? | Some moon craft house instruments from a handful of countries - an example of international scientific collaboration. But how valuable is science in the diplomatic sphere? Biologist Nina Fedoroff, former science adviser talks about her time in Washington. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Rumbling Underground, An Engineering Feat | In 2009, 1.6 billion people used the New York City subway. But how was it built? MTA Capital Construction president Michael Horodniceanu and historian Clifton Hood discuss the engineering techniques used. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Is Preventive Medicine Actually Overtreatment? | In "Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health," Dr. H. Gilbert Welch argues that modern medicine is looking too closely for disease, and that unnecessary screenings, MRIs and CT scans turn healthy people into diseased patients, by revealing often harmless abnormalities. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Science Diction: The Origin Of 'Antibiotic' | Selman Waksman, the microbiologist who discovered streptomycin, first used the word "antibiotic" in the medical sense in 1943. Science historian Howard Markel talks about how it was actually a naval officer who first coined "antibiotic" in 1860, to describe an opposition to the belief in life beyond Earth. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Defining A Data Deluge | From overflowing inboxes to portable players brimming with music, the amounts of data in the world are increasing. Martin Hilbert, co-author of a paper in the journal Science on the tidal wave of information, says that in 2007, humanity was able to store some 295 exabytes of information, a pittance compared with the amounts of data stored in the natural world. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| IBM Computer Faces Off Against 'Jeopardy' Champs | Four years in the works, IBM's supercomputer "Watson" will compete against Jeopardy champions from Feb. 14-16. To win, the computer will have to process often-ambiguous natural language, including irony and wordplay. Stephen Baker, author of "Final Jeopardy," talks about Watson's chances. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The 'Science Of Kissing' | Socializing is found across the animal kingdom, but osculation - or kissing - seems to a human behavior. How did it start and why? "The Science of Kissing" author Sheril Kirshenbaum discusses the history and biology behind kissing. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Cracking The Cool Science Of Ice | With winter storms continuing across the country, much of the nation may not currently have warm feelings toward the solid form of water. Physicist and water researcher Eugene Stanley and Mariana Gosnell discuss the cool, slippery science of ice. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Can Dogs Smell Cancer? | Writing in the journal Gut, researchers in Japan say they've trained a dog to detect bowel cancer in humans. Monell Chemical Senses Center Director, Gary Beauchamp, describes how odor and disease may be related, and why he thinks dogs probably won't be used for diagnosing. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Taking The Politics Out Of Climate Science | According to a 2009 Pew survey, 35 percent of Republicans say they saw no solid evidence of global warming, the lowest number of any political group. Climate scientist and conservative Kerry Emanuel discusses why political views shouldn't sway scientific thinking. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Why The Former Planet Pluto Got Demoted | In 2006 the former ninth planet in the solar system, Pluto, got demoted to a mere Kuiper Belt object. The man who was in large part responsible for that demotion, Caltech planetary scientist Mike Brown, discusses this. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Recipe For Turning Skin Cells Into Heart Cells | Reporting in Nature Cell Biology, researchers say they have turned mouse skin cells directly into beating heart cells - skipping the stem-cell stage that has been required in the past. Leonard Zon, director of the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Growing A Bigger Brain Is A Walk In The Park | A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that adults who walked for 40 minutes three times a week for a year had brain growth in the hippocampus - an area of the brain associated with spatial memory. Study author Arthur Kramer and psychologist Margaret Gatz discuss. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Plumbing The Depths Of Aquarium Science | What happens if you mix fat puffers with sponges? Do clownfish do better alone or in pairs? What's the best way to prune staghorn coral? Joseph Yaiullo, co-founder of Atlantis Marine World in Riverhead, N.Y. shares tank tips. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Two Cold Winters Don't Make A Climate Trend | The polar vortex, a jet stream swirling around the north pole, has weakened the past two winters, allowing plumes of cold air to slip south. To most climatologists, two years don't make a trend. Atmospheric scientist John Wallace talks about why he's cautious about linking weird weather to global warming. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Privacy At Stake As Sites Track Online Preferences | Sites like Bit.ly, which provide a service to users by shortening URLs, also get something in return - users' browsing preferences. Bit.ly's Hilary Mason talks about the services sites hope to provide by collecting such data, and the trade-off of less privacy for a more customized online experience. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Twitter, Facebook As Political Tools In Arab World | Tunisian and Egyptian political activists used Facebook and Twitter to organize protests and publicize breaking news. Harvard's Jillian York discusses the use of social media platforms for digital activism, and cases in which governments have blocked the services or compromised user privacy. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Science Diction: The Origin Of 'Physician' | In the 13th century, Anglo-Normans appropriated the French physique, or remedy, to coin the English physic, or medicine, which is still in dictionaries today. Science historian Howard Markel discusses how physic became physician, and the parallel evolution of the word physics. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| An Earlier Departure Out Of Africa? | A cache of stone tools found in the United Arab Emirates suggests that modern humans may have left Africa earlier, and via a different route, than previously thought. Anthropologist Will Harcourt-Smith describes the finding and how it may change thinking on human origins. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Blood Spotting Made Easier | A new camera may make finding and sampling blood spots easier for crime scene investigators. Chemist Stephen Morgan describes a thermal infrared camera developed by researchers at the University of South Carolina that can spot blood spatter not visible to the naked eye. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Digital Music Sampling: Creativity Or Criminality? | The advent of the sampler in the '80s brought a long tradition of musical borrowing into the digital age. Today, "sampling," or repurposing a snippet of another artist's music, is mainstream. Is sampling theft, or is copyright law making creativity a crime? | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Young Filmmakers Make Litter Scary | In the style of a 1950s horror film, Esteban Valencia, Eduardo Hernandez and Randi Levey, students from Miami Beach Senior High, created a cautionary tale about trashing the beach. The video, "Garbage Monsters," got top honors in the Oceans 2030. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Changing Climate Means Changing Oceans | Scientists who study the oceans say the effects of climate change are already being seen in the world's oceans. From acidification and warming temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice loss, Ira and guests look at how the oceans are changing with changes in climate. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Assessing The Health Of The Gulf, Post-Spill | The Macondo spill was just the latest insult to a Gulf Coast already suffering from decades of oil and gas development, river diversions and Hurricane Katrina. Ira and guests discuss long-term restoration plans for Gulf wetlands and wildlife, and the oil's impact on human health. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Visual Biography Explores Love And Radium | The story of Marie and Pierre Curie is one of love, scientific partnership and one of the most important discoveries of the 20th century. Artist and author Lauren Redniss discusses her new book, "Radioactive." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Following A Wandering North Pole | The location of the magnetic North Pole is moving toward Siberia at about 40 miles per year - and every few hundred thousand years, the North and South poles switch positions entirely. Geophysicist Ronald Merrill explains what's known about the inner workings of the Earth's magnetic field. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Adding Smarts To The Electrical Grid | The nation's electrical distribution system has been getting less reliable over time, according to an article by electrical engineering professor Massoud Amin. How dependable is our electrical infrastructure, and will plans for a more intelligent "smart grid" improve its reliability? | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| New Fossil From The Dawn Of Dinosaurs | Reporting in the journal Science, Paul Sereno, Ricardo Martinez and colleagues describe Eodromaeus murphi. This dinosaur was 4 feet long, weighed 15 pounds and lived 230 million years ago, just a few million years after dinosaurs first evolved. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| What Does '4G' Really Mean, Anyway? | Mobile phone companies are rolling out faster wireless data networks with names like LTE, WiMax and HSPA+, marketing them all under the name "4G." But are they really much faster than 3G? Engadget senior mobile editor Chris Ziegler talks about how the new networks measure up. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Tracking Carbon Through Your Gut And Beyond | In a recent survey, many college students said body fat is "burned off." Few knew that gymgoers actually break down fat molecules into carbon dioxide and water, extracting energy in the process. Ira and guests discuss the basics of energy, matter and the carbon cycle. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| How Many Social Network Identities Is Too Many? | There are social networks for every application, from location-based services like FourSquare to photo-sharing networks like Instagram. Liz Gannes, senior editor at AllThingsDigital, explains the way Internet users are splintering their online identities to exploit the strengths of different platforms. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Apollo-Era Moon Data Get a Fresh Look | By re-examining seismic data collected from Apollo-era moon missions, scientists say they're able to more precisely describe the makeup of the moon's core. Renee Weber explains how the old data were initially interpreted and what the new analysis shows. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Paul Offit On The Anti-Vaccine Movement | In his new book, vaccine researcher Paul Offit contends that some parents' decisions not to vaccinate their kids are harming others. Offit discusses the anti-vaccine movement, and weighs in on a new report calling a 1998 study linking autism and vaccines an "elaborate fraud." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Watching More Than TV On TV | Apple TV, Google TV, Xbox - There's no shortage of accessories to add to that 50-inch plasma. Two technology journalists run down the options for accessing the Web or streaming movies on your television. Plus, the latest from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Weaving Batteries And Solar Cells Into Textiles | Reporting in the journal Science, researchers write of a way to create nanoscale yarns that function as superconductors, batteries or solar cells. Ray Baughman discusses how to twist up these functional yarns, and how they could revolutionize future fabrics. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Doing Real-World Science, But Skipping The Ph.D. | As big science projects generate more and more data, researchers are recruiting citizen scientists to help sift through the information overload. In the case of new astronomical discoveries, these collaborators may get credits on peer-reviewed papers. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Not In Every Living Room, A Homemade 3-D Printer | Jim Smith, a 23-year-old in Wappingers Falls, N.Y., is taking citizen science to another level. He designed and built his own 3-D printer, which sits in the corner of his living room. Science Friday and visited with Smith, got a tour of the machine and did some printing. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Year In Review: Science Stories Of 2010 | From the Gulf oil spill and the earthquake in Haiti to the creation of synthetic life and the Icelandic volcano eruption, a lot of science stories made headlines in 2010. Writers Ron Cowen, Robin Lloyd, Andrew Revkin and Paul Raeburn join Ira to discuss the top stories. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| What Happens When Leaf-Cutters Can't Cut It? | Leaf-cutter ants rely on their razor-sharp mandibles to snip leaves to pieces. But over time, their mandibles dull. Physicist Robert Schofield of the University of Oregon looked at what happens when the aging ants struggle with their snipping. He found they take on a new job. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Amir Aczel Looks At The LHC | In his new book, "Present at the Creation", Amir D. Aczel tells the story of the European Organization for Nuclear Research's Large Hadron Collider. With the multibillion-euro collider, researchers hope to recreate the conditions that existed just after the Big Bang. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| A Visit To Antarctica | In his new book "Fraser's Penguins", writer Fen Montaigne describes the effect climate change is having on Antarctica's penguins. Montaigne, ecologist Bill Fraser and Science Friday blogger Kayla Iacovino (currently in Antarctica) recount their experiences on the continent. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Don't Cork That Champagne | There may be more mythology about pouring, drinking and storing Champagne than there is about any other fermented grape juice. Chemist Richard Zare and food writer Harold McGee set the record straight on the proper protocol for enjoying sparkling wines this New Year's Eve. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Year In Review: Science Stories Of 2010 | From the Gulf oil spill and the earthquake in Haiti to the creation of synthetic life and the Icelandic volcano eruption, a lot of science stories made headlines in 2010. Science writers Ron Cowen, Robin Lloyd, Andrew Revkin and Paul Raeburn join Ira to discuss the year's top stories. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Bee Bonanza: From Hive Politics To Beekeeping | This Christmas marks the 200th birthday of Lorenzo Langstroth, the "Father of American Beekeeping." May Berenbaum discusses Langstroth's life and his beekeeping inventions, and Tom Seeley talks about the collective decision-making of honeybees, the subject of Seeley's new book, "Honeybee Democracy." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Remembering Worry Over Y2K | On New Year's Eve in 1999, many people were celebrating the arrival of the year 2000. Some computer experts, however, were on alert, hoping that work reprogramming computers to deal with a date change bug would pay off. Science Friday opens the archives for a look back at worry over Y2K. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| How Science and Technology Influence Language | Have you ever been Plutoed (demoted)? Is your inbox clogged with "bacn" (spam by personal request)? Are you a lifehacker (master at optimizing everyday routines)? Jonathon Keats, artist and author of "Virtual Words," explains how science and technology influence language, and vice versa. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Tallying America's Tweeters--The Feathered Ones | Every year, volunteers throughout the Americas grab their notepads and binoculars to take an inventory of local birds for the National Audubon Society's Christmas Bird Count. Greg Butcher, Audubon's director of bird conservation, talks about this year's tallies and species to look for. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Searching For The Origins of Creativity | From Darwin's theory of evolution to the invention of YouTube, what factors play a role in innovation? Is there such a thing as an idea whose time has come? Steven Johnson, author of "Where Good Ideas Come From," talks about great conceptual advances and how to foster creativity. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Eggnog: Spike And Let It Sit, For Safety | A perennial holiday dilemma: Will alcohol kill bacteria like salmonella in homemade eggnog? Microbiologists Vincent Fischetti and Raymond Schuch, from The Rockefeller University, ran an experiment in the lab to see whether salmonella can survive in a vat of spiked eggnog. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Who's Tracking You Online? | Many top websites deposit tracking tools on Internet surfers' computers, in order to help online marketers target ads. Ira Flatow and guests discuss Internet tracking, and the Federal Trade Commission's suggestion that browser makers build in a sort of "do not track" button. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Living Without Fear | Doctors at University of Iowa have been studying a female patient they call "SM" for more than 20 years. SM has a damaged amygdala, a part of the brain. As a result, she doesn't experience fear. Daniel Tranel explains what doctors have learned from SM and how that information might be useful. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Science Diction: The Origin Of The Word 'Comet' | Although comets were sighted at least as early as 1000 B.C., Greek natural philosophers named them sometime around 500 B.C., using the Greek word kometes for "a head with long hair." Science historian Howard Markel discusses the word's origins and the study of comets through the centuries. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Lunar Eclipse Is A Winter Sky Highlight | The shadow of the Earth will pass over the moon late Monday, Dec. 20, into Tuesday morning. Meteorologist and sky watcher Joe Rao discusses the lunar eclipse, and other astronomical events to look out for this winter, including an early dawn visit by Venus on Christmas Day. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Visions Of Energy Efficiency Danced In Their Heads | Homeowners hoping to save on utility bills may want to ask Santa for a storm door or insulation. Dec. 31 is the deadline for the energy tax credits that could cut your tax bill by up to $1,500. Science Friday runs down how to save some green this winter. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The Man Who Turned Taxidermy Into An Art Form | In "Kingdom Under Glass", author Jay Kirk tells the life story of Carl Akeley, the pioneering taxidermist and adventurer who once killed a leopard with his bare hands. Taxidermist David Schwendeman runs his family's 90-year-old studio and describes the techniques and hazards of modern taxidermy. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Rossellini's 'Seduce Me' Looks At Animal Courtship | Actress and model Isabella Rossellini's video series, Seduce Me, investigates the strange and fascinating mating behaviors of animals. Rossellini plays a diverse cast of characters from the animal kingdom -- from hermaphroditic earthworms to swinging deer to asexual lizards. | National Public Radio | 1069 |
| Chemistry Keeps Christmas Trees Alive, For Longer | Just as an avocado ripens quickly in a paper bag, bathed in the ethylene gas it releases, Christmas trees may lose their needles because of a similar "ripening" process. Raj Lada, of Nova Scotia's Christmas Tree Research Center, discusses how to block this process. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Celebrating The Royal Society | Britain's premier science institution, the Royal Society, turns 350 this year. A new collection of essays called "Seeing Further," edited by Bill Bryson, looks at the society's history. Writer Richard Holmes and outgoing society President Martin Rees discuss the institution. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Thinking About Eating May Mean Eating Less | Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University say that repeatedly thinking about eating a certain food - M&Ms or cheese - led study participants to eat less of the food once it was presented to them. Researcher Carey Morewedge describes the work and its implications for dieters. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Growing Snowflakes In A Bottle | Are you dreaming of a white Christmas? Try making your own winter wonderland. Ken Libbrecht, Caltech physicist and author of "The Secret Life of a Snowflake," devised an experiment to grow a snow crystal in an old plastic bottle. Dry ice required. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Teaching Computers To Be More Empathetic | High school juniors Matthew Fernandez and Akash Krishnan took the grand prize in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology for designing software that decodes emotions in human speech. They say the software could be used by call centers, to direct angry callers to a human. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Rossellini's 'Seduce Me' Looks At Animal Courtship | Actress and model Isabella Rossellini's video series, "Seduce Me," investigates the strange and fascinating mating behaviors of animals. Rossellini plays a diverse cast of characters from the animal kingdom - from hermaphroditic earthworms to swinging deer to asexual lizards. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Americans Fail The Climate Quiz | A recent survey suggests many Americans mistakenly believe the ozone hole is causing global warming. Yale's Anthony Leiserowitz, leader of that study, discusses America's climate change knowledge, and outgoing Republican Rep. Bob Inglis talks about climate skeptics on Capitol Hill. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Searching For Science In A Glass of Beer | Yeast, hops, grain and water all need to combine with biology, chemistry and physics to make a great glass of beer. Charlie Bamforth, University of California, Davis professor of brewing science and author of the new book Beer Is Proof God Loves Us, offers a toast to honor the beverage. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Oliver Sacks Discusses Vision and 'The Mind's Eye' | Normally the eyes and brain work together in a seamless, intricate system. But what happens when the brain can no longer make sense of visual information? Neurologist Oliver Sacks talks about his new book, The Mind's Eye, and what visual disorders reveal about how the brain processes sight. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Military Goes Green For An Edge On The Battlefield | The Navy is developing biofuel-burning F-18 fighter jets and hybrid-electric warships to increase energy independence. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus discusses those initiatives, and retired Army Gen. Steve Anderson talks about what he learned about energy-efficient camps while in Iraq. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Arsenic-Eating Bacteria Challenge View Of How Life Works | All known life on Earth is made up mainly of six elements -- carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sulfur and phosphorus. Felisa Wolfe-Simon talks about a strain of bacteria described in the journal Science that appears to be able to use arsenic instead of phosphorus in that mix. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| From The Vault: Discovering The Ozone Hole | On Science Friday's first broadcast in 1991, Ira spoke with Michael Oppenheimer and F. Sherwood Rowland about what caused the ozone hole, and what should be done about it. Rowland went on to share a Nobel Prize for the research a few years later. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| A Trip Back To The Future of The Internet | Science Friday made history in 1993, when it became the first national radio show to be broadcast live over the Internet. Traffic on the 'net slowed that day, as listeners from around the world logged on to try to talk to Ira and guests Brewster Kahle and Carl Malamud. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Remembering The Scent Of A Meal | How does the way something smells influence the way it tastes? And why are smell memories more emotional than other types of memories? Brown University professor of psychiatry and human behavior Rachel Herz describes the relationship between the smell of food and its taste. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Silly Science Honored With Ig Nobel Prizes | The winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes include work on the pain-relieving effects of swearing, researchers who studied techniques to collect whale snot, and more. The Igs honor research that "first, makes you laugh, then, makes you think." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Are Airport Scanners Safe? | Some airport body scanning machines use X-rays to generate images. How much radiation is a traveler exposed to? Should frequent fliers opt for a pat down instead? Radiation expert David Brenner explains the possible public health concerns of scanning millions of passengers. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| From Bach To Beer Bottles, The Physics of Music | Why does a saxophone sound different from an oboe? How do tiny flutes produce such loud sounds? Dr. John Powell, author of "How Music Works: The Science and Psychology of Beautiful Sounds" explains musical acoustics. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Locking Up Antimatter | Scientists at CERN, the European nuclear research facility, say they have produced and trapped molecules of antihydrogen, a form of antimatter. Physicist Jeffrey Hangst explains how they were made and captured. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Untangling The Hairy Physics Of Rapunzel | Kelly Ward, senior software engineer for Walt Disney Animation Studios, was tasked with bringing Rapunzel's locks to life in Disney's new movie, "Tangled." The hair had to look realistic, but not too real - otherwise Rapunzel would be towing 80 pounds of hair behind her. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Computers And Babies, Listening Carefully | The speech-recognition algorithms behind Google Voice Search analyze thousands of hours of human speech to pick out patterns. Babies may use the same technique. Google speech recognition guru Mike Cohen and linguist Sheila Blumstein discuss how humans and computers learn language. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| How The X-Box Kinect Tracks Your Moves | Kinect uses depth sensors, cameras and microphones to track the movements of players, and it's surprisingly good at weeding out distractions. Ira and guests discuss the development of the gaming technology - and how movement can influence players' moods. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Science Diction: The Origin Of The Word 'Atom' | The British poet and alchemist Thomas Norton used the word "attoms" in his 1477 poem, "The Ordinal of Alchemy". Historian Howard Markel explains how Norton came to use the word, and points out earlier philosophers who raised the concept of indivisible units of matter. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Quantifying Happiness | Harvard researchers have developed a Web tool for volunteers to record what they're doing and how they feel while doing it. The goal? To measure happiness. Doctoral student Matt Killingsworth describes some early results suggesting many people aren't "living in the moment." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| A Conversation With The New NSF Director | Subra Suresh, former dean of engineering at MIT, was sworn in last month as director of the National Science Foundation, which doles out billions of dollars for basic research each year. Suresh talks about his priorities and how the NSF's budget is likely to fare with the new Congress. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Bye, Bye Ivory Tower. Scientists Pledge To Speak Out | This week, a group of scientists called the "rapid response team" has promised to speak up about climate change and take skeptics head-on, even if that means participating in political debates. But does this verge on advocacy? And is that a problem? Ira and guests discuss. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Flying By A Small, Hyperactive Comet | When it comes to comets, gassy is good, or at least informative, says astronomer Michael A'Hearn. NASA's Deep Impact probe has been snapping pictures of Hartley 2 - a small comet that is spewing a lot of gas and dust for its size. What do researchers hope to learn from the comet? | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| How To Hunt For Lichens | Lichens grow practically everywhere, but they have been neglected by scientists for years, says James Lendemer, a lichenologist with New York Botanical Garden. Lendemer took Science Friday on a trip to the Tannersville Cranberry Bog in Pennsylvania to explore the diversity of lichens living there. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The Spookiness Of Quantum Mechanics | It's been 75 years since Albert Einstein decried the "spooky action at a distance" of quantum entanglement. Tom Siegfried, editor-in-chief of Science News, explains how quantum mechanics is being put to use, even though scientists still don't quite understand how it works. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The Evolving Minds Of Humans | Why do humans have consciousness? In his new book, "Self Comes To Mind," neurologist Antonio Damasio argues that consciousness gave humans an evolutionary advantage. Damasio describes the differences between self and mind, and traces the evolutionary path of the human brain. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Counting Crowds: Results May Vary | How many people attended Jon Stewart's rally last weekend, or Glenn Beck's rally last summer? It depends on who you ask. Two crowd-counting experts explain the "gold standard" for measuring crowd size, and discuss why some rally organizers might disagree with the counts. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| These Babies Can Out-Climb Their Parents | Australian brush turkeys (Alectura lathami) fend for themselves the day they hatch, says Ken Dial of the University of Montana Flight Lab. The birds fly the day they hatch, and hatchlings can climb vertical ledges better than adults, according to Dial's latest research. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Can Science Shape Human Values? And Should It? | Ira talks with scientists and philosophers about the origins of human values, and the influence of modern scientific thought on it. Even if science can shape human morals, should it? Or does science bring its own set of preconceptions and prejudices to moral questions? | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| A Time-Out For Athletes And Concussions | A new position statement from the American Academy of Neurology includes the recommendation that any athlete suspected of having a concussion be removed from play and evaluated. Neurologist Jeffrey Kutcher describes the new recommendations and the reasons for the changes. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Scientist Gets Her Due in "Photograph 51" | In 1952, scientist Rosalind Franklin took a clear X-ray photo of DNA. Nobel Prize winners Watson and Crick used the image, in part, to determine the double helix. But did Franklin get the credit she deserved? Actress Kristen Bush and playwright Anna Ziegler discuss a new play on Franklin. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Taste Receptors In Lungs May Help Asthmatics | Writing in "Nature Medicine," researchers report on discovering bitter taste receptors in human lungs, and that bitter compounds expand airways in asthmatic mice. Stephen Liggett talks about the possibility of treating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with bitter compounds. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Is Genome Sequencing Surpassing Medical Knowledge? | The cost of sequencing a human genome is plummeting, and soon many people may obtain a copy of their own. But how useful is that information to patients, especially if their genes predict untreatable, fatal diseases? Hank Greely discusses the promise and the pitfalls of genetic testing. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The Mysterious Life Of The Cholera Bacterium | Scientists have long known that cholera is caused by a bacterium transmitted through food or water. But where does the bacterium live between epidemics, and what dictates the timing of new outbreaks? CDC cholera expert Eric Mintz discusses the bacterium behind the Haiti outbreak. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| 'Goat Sucker' May Just Be A Mangy Coyote | The legend of the ferocious chupacabra, or goat sucker, has circulated around Central America since the 1990s. But the supernatural chimeric beast - described by some as half dog, half bat - may just be a coyote suffering from mange, says entomologist Barry OConnor of the University of Michigan. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| The Past, Locked In Amber | Scientists excavating an Indian amber deposit say it dates back more than 50 million years, and contains the remains of at least 100 previously undocumented species of insects. American Museum of Natural History curator David Grimaldi describes the amber, and the organisms trapped within it. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Slip Into The Secret Life of Eels | In his new book Eels, writer James Prosek describes the life history and cultural significance of this slimy, snake-like and often misunderstood fish, introducing the reader to an eel fisherman on the Delaware River and to the myths of the Maori of New Zealand along the way. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Taste Receptors In Lungs May Help Asthmatics | Writing in "Nature Medicine," researchers report on discovering bitter taste receptors in human lungs, and that bitter compounds expand airways in asthmatic mice. Stephen Liggett talks about the possibility of treating asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with bitter compounds. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| 'Yellow Dirt': The Legacy of Navajo Uranium Mines | In her book "Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed," former Los Angeles Times reporter Judy Pasternak documents the toxic legacy of uranium mining in the Navajo lands of northeastern Arizona, where radioactive dust wound up in Navajo homes and drinking water. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Puzzling Over A Man And His Cube | Professor Erno Rubik's iconic puzzle, a simple, yet complex multicolored cube, took the world by storm in the 1980s and sold millions of copies. The inventor will receive a Lifetime Science Education Achievement Award from the USA Science & Engineering Festival this weekend. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Decoding Lunar Crash Data | Just over a year ago, the LCROSS mission deliberately crashed into a lunar crater, kicking up a cloud of debris - and signs of water. Michael Wargo, NASA's chief lunar scientist, describes other ingredients scientists have identified in lunar soil, a material called regolith. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Dean Kamen Explores Invention | His personal list of inventions includes everything from an insulin pump to the Segway Transporter. He started the FIRST Robotics engineering challenges for students. Now, inventor Dean Kamen also has his own television show, aimed at spreading the excitement of invention. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Physics Of Giant Pumpkins | Pumpkins of the Atlantic Giant variety can weigh more than 1,800 pounds. For a mechanical engineer with an interest in plus-sized fruit, like Georgia Tech's David Hu, this raises an interesting physics question: How can the pumpkin get so big without breaking? | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Ira Asks: How Are Eyeglasses Made? | After a prescription leaves the optometrist's office, how are eyeglasses actually made to order? Larry Enright, general manager of Perferx Optical, talks about the shaping, sanding, polishing, cutting and beveling behind each lens' journey into a pair of finished frames. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Yellow Dirt: The Legacy of Navajo Uranium Mines | In her book "Yellow Dirt: An American Story of a Poisoned Land and a People Betrayed," former Los Angeles Times reporter Judy Pasternak documents the toxic legacy of uranium mining in the Navajo lands of northeastern Arizona, where radioactive dust wound up in Navajo homes and drinking water. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Geek Out To Freak Out On Halloween | Halloween may be the biggest do-it-yourself holiday in America, where creative types turn their cars into Batmobiles and their jack-o-lanterns into computerized Silly String squirters. Instructables founder and CEO Eric Wilhelm talks about these and other crafty projects for Halloween. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Celebrating The MIT Media Lab's 25th Birthday | In 1985, when high-tech computing meant a Commodore 128, Jerome Wiesner and Nicholas Negroponte formed the MIT Media Lab, the birthplace of innovations such as e-ink for digital readers and the technology behind the game "Guitar Hero." Negroponte talks about the lab's past, present and future. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| How Do Immune Cells Find Wounds? | Reporting in the journal "Science," Paul Kubes and colleagues filmed immune cells called neutrophils finding their way to a mouse's wounded liver. The researchers wanted to understand how neutrophils locate sterile injuries when bacteria aren't around to signal the damage. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Punk Rock Professor Talks Anarchy And Evolution | At the same time Greg Graffin was starting the legendary punk rock band Bad Religion, he was becoming fascinated by evolutionary biology. Both would become lifelong pursuits. He talks about the connection in his new book, "Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science, and Bad Religion in a World Without God." | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Google Isn't The First To Dream Of Robotic Cars | In May 1958, "Popular Science" published an article titled "The Car that Drives Itself: The Car in Your Future Will Be Run By Black Boxes While You Watch." Sound familiar? Harry McCracken, founder and editor of Technologizer.com, discusses Google's self-piloted car, and dreams that came before it. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Carrying Wind Power, Underwater | This week, investors including Google announced a $5 billion plan to build an underwater transmission line off the East Coast. The line will tie power from offshore wind farms to the Eastern power grid. Willett Kempton, of the University of Delaware, explains the project. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| 'Pot Book' Explores History And Science Of Marijuana | Next month, voters in four states will consider whether to change laws regulating marijuana use. But how much is known about marijuana's effects on the body? Ira Flatow talks with psychiatrist Julie Holland, editor of a new collection of essays titled "The Pot Book," about the plant. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Graphene: A Sandbox For Physicists, 1 Atom Thick | Two Russian scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics this week for their work on graphene, a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms. Joseph Stroscio, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, talks about why physicists are so fascinated by the material. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Few Americans Finish Their Vegetables | A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says two-thirds of Americans don't get the recommended two servings of fruit a day; three-quarters miss the target for vegetables. Ira Flatow and guests discuss ways Americans might be persuaded to eat more fresh produce. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Take A Spin In An Electric Car | Ira Flatow took Nissan's new electric-powered Leaf for a drive around New York City. This car runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery - no oil or gas - and with a new battery, the car can go between 60 and 130 miles on a charge. The car is set to go into production in the next few months, with deliveries in December. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Tracking The 'Truthiness' Of Tweets | Computer scientists at Indiana University in Bloomington have developed a tool to track the flow of information in Twitter. The goal is to identify deliberately deceptive tweets, and trace them back to their origins. Researcher Johan Bollen explains how the analysis works. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Does Sleep (Or Lack Of It) Affect Weight Loss? | A new study in the "Annals of Internal Medicine" suggests that dieters' sleep duration affects weight loss. Those who slept less lost more muscle than fat, while dieters who slept more took off more fat. Sleep researcher Michael Lacey explains how sleep relates to weight. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| 4-H Clubs Conduct Nationwide Science Experiments | Add an extra "H" for "hypothesis" to the head, heart, hands, and health that make up the 4-H club motto. This week, 4-H chapters across the country are taking part in science experiments that aim to teach kids in rural and urban areas about water use and carbon footprints. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| A History of Space Science, In Ink | Science Friday listener Josh Scott is on a mission: He wants to get a pictorial history of space exploration tattooed on his arm. What missions or satellites should be included? Apollo? Hubble? Call in with your suggestions and help Scott get sleeved in space science style. | National Public Radio | 00:06:21 |
| 4-H Clubs Conduct Nationwide Science Experiments | Add an extra "H" for "hypothesis" to the head, heart, hands, and health that make up the 4-H club motto. This week, 4-H chapters across the country are taking part in science experiments that aim to teach kids in rural and urban areas about water use and carbon footprints. | National Public Radio | 00:10:44 |
| Does Sleep (Or Lack Of It) Affect Weight Loss? | A new study in the Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that dieters' sleep duration affects weight loss. Those who slept less lost more muscle than fat, while dieters who slept more took off more fat. Sleep researcher Michael Lacey explains how sleep relates to weight. | National Public Radio | 00:17:05 |
| Tracking The 'Truthiness' Of Tweets | Computer scientists at Indiana University in Bloomington have developed a tool to track the flow of information in Twitter. The goal is to identify deliberately deceptive tweets, and trace them back to their origins. Researcher Johan Bollen explains how the analysis works. | National Public Radio | 00:12:06 |
| Take A Spin In An Electric Car | Ira took Nissan's new electric-powered Leaf for a drive around New York City. This car runs on a rechargeable lithium-ion battery - no oil or gas - and with a new battery, the car can go between 60 and 130 miles on a charge. The car is set to go into production in the next few months, with deliveries in December. | National Public Radio | 00:05:36 |
| Few Americans Finish Their Vegetables | A recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says two-thirds of Americans don't get the recommended two servings of fruit a day; three-quarters miss the target for vegetables. Ira and guests discuss ways Americans might be persuaded to eat more fresh produce. | National Public Radio | 00:18:38 |
| Graphene: A Sandbox For Physicists, 1 Atom Thick | Two Russian scientists won the Nobel Prize in physics this week for their work on graphene, a chicken-wire-like lattice of carbon atoms. Joseph Stroscio, of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, talks about why physicists are so fascinated by the material. | National Public Radio | 00:14:54 |
| A Fizzy Ocean May Lie Beneath Enceladus' Icy Crust | The Cassini spacecraft spotted icy plumes jetting from Saturn's moon Enceladus in 2005. Now researchers say a carbonated ocean may fuel the plumes. Science News reporter Ron Cowen talks about this and other news from a meeting of the American Astronomical Society's Division for Planetary Sciences. | National Public Radio | 00:08:01 |
| Mark Twain And Science: It's Complicated | Did you know Mark Twain tried his hand at science fiction? In the book "The Disappearing Spoon," author Sam Kean writes about Twain's prescient story "Sold to Satan." In the story, Satan's problems stem, in part, from the fact that he is made entirely of the newly discovered radioactive element radium. | National Public Radio | 00:04:35 |
| Celebrating Carl Sagan And 'Cosmos' | The television series "Cosmos," which first aired 30 years ago this week, made a celebrity of science communicator Carl Sagan. In this archival 1994 Science Friday interview, Sagan discusses his book "The Pale Blue Dot" and shares his thoughts on manned space exploration. | National Public Radio | 00:06:28 |
| Are 'Stuxnet' Worm Attacks Cyberwarfare? | Computer experts say a sophisticated computer worm dubbed "Stuxnet" exploits vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows to attack industrial control systems, including one at an Iranian nuclear power plant. Computer security experts discuss the worm and its impact on security. | National Public Radio | 00:28:15 |
| New Species Of Extinct Giant Penguin Discovered | Scientists report finding the fossilized remains of a new species of giant penguin in a Peruvian desert. Paleontologist Julia Clarke of the University of Texas, Austin describes what these huge birds looked like and how the new finding can help explain penguin evolution. | National Public Radio | 00:07:55 |
| Smelly Invaders Want To Crawl Into Your Home | The brown marmorated stink bug, which hails from Asia, had a population boom this year - terrorizing farmers and homeowners up and down the Eastern U.S. USDA entomologist Tracy Leskey explains what's known about the bug and how to cope. | National Public Radio | 00:07:17 |
| Newly Discovered Exoplanet Ripe For Life | Gliese 581g, a planet orbiting the dwarf star Gliese in the constellation Libra, is Earth-like in a few key ways. It's not much bigger than Earth, and its temperature seems mild enough for liquid water. Steven Vogt, of the University of California, Santa Cruz, explains how he found the planet. | National Public Radio | 00:09:27 |
| What Are The Challenges Of 'Trailblazing Mars'? | What grows best in Martian soil? How do you get oxygen out of thin air? Pat Duggins, author of "Trailblazing Mars: NASA's Next Giant Leap," talks about the questions NASA will face if it sends astronauts to the Red Planet and how to choose the right people for the job. | National Public Radio | 00:23:02 |
| How Do You Catch An Atom And Pin It Down? | Mikkel Andersen, a physicist at New Zealand's University of Otago, isolated a single atom of rubidium and then used a special astronomical camera to snap its picture. Andersen describes the process of turning lasers into optical tweezers and what catching atoms means for quantum computing. | National Public Radio | 00:07:47 |
| From White Paper To Wanted Sign | Stephen Mancusi worked for the New York Police Department for 27 years as a forensic artist. He specializes in composite sketching - the process of interviewing victims and witnesses to create a drawing of a perpetrator that is released to help police find suspects. | National Public Radio | 00:03:34 |
| Forensic Artists Use Talent To Solve Crimes | Many police departments use forensic artists to help solve crimes. From composite sketches to facial reconstructions, the work of these artists combines creativity, science and detective skills. Artist Karen T. Taylor and anthropologist Mary Manhein discuss the science behind forensic art. | National Public Radio | 00:18:08 |
| Drilling Down To Rescue Miners | Three separate rigs are drilling escape shafts to free the 33 miners trapped half a mile beneath the Atacama desert in Chile. Mine safety advocate Davitt McAteer and drilling engineer Rudy Lyon discuss the technology being used in the rescue and how miners can be kept out of harm's way. | National Public Radio | 00:25:01 |
| Who Decides The Price Of Human Life? | Personalized medicine promises to deliver more tailored health care. But what if a person's genes reveal he won't get much benefit from the only available treatment? Ethicist Leonard Fleck discusses the tough decisions Americans face in deciding whether to pay for others' expensive treatments. | National Public Radio | 00:17:26 |
| Defining Human Uniqueness In 'Almost Chimpanzee' | Humans and chimpanzees share very similar genes - some analyses peg the differences at just 1 percent. But in his book "Almost Chimpanzee," science writer Jon Cohen focuses on our differences, from the way we eat and communicate to our susceptibilities to disease and aging. | National Public Radio | 00:20:36 |
| World's Most Precise Clocks Test Relativity | The world's most precise clocks can reveal tiny time dilations predicted by Einstein's theory of relativity - but that's not all. Tom O'Brian of the National Institute for Standards and Technology talks about using these precise clocks in everything from cell phones to satellites. | National Public Radio | 00:08:55 |
| The Origins Of The Word 'Cell' | In the 1660s, Robert Hooke looked through a primitive microscope at a thinly cut piece of cork. He saw a series of walled boxes that reminded him of the tiny rooms, or cellula, occupied by monks. Medical historian Dr. Howard Markel discusses Hooke's coining of the word "cell." | National Public Radio | 00:04:52 |
| The Calculus Around You | In her new book The Calculus Diaries, writer Jennifer Ouellette describes the development of calculus, from Archimedes to Newton, and shows how calculus is a part of everyday life -- from amusement park rides and Vegas craps tables, to dieting and figuring out gas mileage. | National Public Radio | 00:20:07 |
| Does The Universe Have a 'Dark Flow?' | Using measurements of the cosmic microwave background, researchers say, there's evidence that galaxy clusters are being pulled along by a force outside the visible universe. Theoretical physicist Michael Turner explains this dark flow and other recent cosmology news. | National Public Radio | 00:16:44 |
| White House Says No To Solar Panel | Environmentalist Bill McKibben was hoping the Obama administration would reinstall a solar panel President Jimmy Carter once had on the White House. McKibben took the panel to Washington, D.C., but administration officials declined to put the panel back on the White House roof. | National Public Radio | 00:05:57 |
| Why Are These Crows So Good With Tools? | New Caledonian crows are among only a handful of species that have been shown to use tools. They use twigs to fish out beetle larvae from dead trees. Reporting in Science, Christian Rutz and colleagues explore why the birds evolved this rare trait. | National Public Radio | 00:05:14 |
| To Spur Innovation, Offer Millions In Cash Prizes | Just as Charles Lindbergh was tempted to fly nonstop to Paris in hopes of winning a $25,000 prize, the U.S. government is offering millions of dollars in prize money to lure innovators into building better lightbulbs, cheaper satellite-launching spacecraft and more fuel-efficient cars. | National Public Radio | 00:20:01 |
| How We Pay Attention | Can you remember everything you see when you walk into a room? Why does our memory deceive us, even when we're confident we're paying attention? Psychologists Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons discuss what grabs our focus, and why. | National Public Radio | 00:09:55 |
| Teaching Doctors To Be Better Listeners | If doctors listen more carefully to patients' conversations about work and family life, they can pick up clues that lead to better treatment, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Author Dr. Alan Schwartz talks about training doctors to be better listeners. | National Public Radio | 00:12:03 |
| The Intelligence Of Crowds In "The Perfect Swarm" | In his book "The Perfect Swarm," Len Fisher talks about swarm intelligence - where the collective ideas of a group add up to better solutions than any individual could have dreamed up, including an example of how UPS reorganized its driving routes using the logic of an ant colony. | National Public Radio | 00:17:21 |
| Does The "Energy Star" Label Need An Update? | A review in Consumer Reports says it's good news so many products have become energy efficient but calls for strengthening Energy Star standards to guide consumers to truly efficient products. Ira and guests discuss that report and overlooked ways people can save energy at home. | National Public Radio | 00:23:12 |
| The Cure For Malaria Could Be In A Mosquito's Gut | Reporting in the journal Science, researchers write that mosquitoes can fight off infection by the malaria parasite, and that their immune response is even more efficient the second time. Study author Carolina Barillas-Mury discusses whether mosquitoes themselves could help eradicate malaria. | National Public Radio | 00:06:53 |
| Scientists Study What Makes A Man A Good Dancer | Evolutionary psychologist Nick Neave filmed men dancing, converted the videos into dancing avatars and asked women to rate the avatars' dancing ability. The researchers found that the highly rated male dancers had some moves in common. Some advice: "Shake that right knee." | National Public Radio | 00:04:28 |
| Happy Birthday, Buckyballs! | Twenty-five years ago this month, researchers first identified buckminsterfullerenes - a previously undiscovered form of carbon shaped like a tiny soccer ball. Harry Kroto, who shared the Nobel Prize for the discovery, explains what's been learned about fullerenes since. | National Public Radio | 00:12:50 |
| When To Test For Prostate Cancer? | Ads urge men of a certain age to get screened for prostate cancer. But is "test early, test often" the best approach? Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society and Mark Scholz, author of Invasion Of The Prostate Snatchers, discuss other approaches. | National Public Radio | 00:24:06 |
| Tracking Coastal Erosion From Storms | New data from sensitive airborne altimetry combined with undersea sensors is giving scientists better insight into how major storms can rapidly reshape coastlines. Reporter Sid Perkins discusses his Science News article on the scouring power of major storms. | National Public Radio | 00:06:09 |
| Studying Computers To Learn About Ourselves | Clifford Nass, a communications professor at Stanford University, talks about the ways humans interact with computers to tease out some of the intricacies of how they relate to each other. | National Public Radio | 00:23:03 |
| Is Organically Produced Food More Nutritious? | Reporting in the journal "PLoS ONE", researchers write that organically grown strawberries contain more antioxidants and vitamin C than conventional berries. Ira and guests discuss the findings. | National Public Radio | 00:24:22 |
| Stocky Dinosaur With Menacing Toes Unearthed | Reporting in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers describe a new predatory dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period in Europe. "Balaur bondoc," Romanian for "stocky dragon," is huskier than its relative the Velociraptor. | National Public Radio | 00:05:55 |
| Can Cognitive Exercise Speed Up Dementia? | New research suggests that seniors who did mentally stimulating activities such as crossword puzzles postponed the loss of thinking skills, but had an accelerated rate of decline once dementia set in later in life. Neuropsychologist Robert S. Wilson explains the finding. | National Public Radio | 00:08:35 |
| Insomnia Means More Than A Bad Night's Sleep | A new study says men who reported having insomnia and who slept less than 6 hours a night were four times more likely to die over a 14-year period compared to men who reported sleeping well. Sleep researcher Alexandros Vgontzas explains. | National Public Radio | 00:09:42 |
| Time To Get Tough, Environmentalists Say | With no climate change legislation coming out of the Senate, Sierra Club head Michael Brune says it's time to try a new strategy to fight global warming. Author Bill McKibben says it's time to get angry. They discuss their ideas for curbing climate change. | National Public Radio | 00:23:34 |
| Sniffing Out The Science Of Smell | There are hundreds of receptors in the human nose that can pick up thousands of odors with each sniff. But how do we make sense of the scents? Smell researchers Stuart Firestein and Donald Wilson discuss the complexities of olfaction and how the brain sorts out what the nose picks up. | National Public Radio | 00:17:41 |
| Gulf Spill Reveals New Oil-Eating Bacteria | Researchers reporting in the journal Science say they have discovered a new species of oil-eating bacteria living half a mile down in the Gulf of Mexico. Study author Terry Hazen discusses the finding and what these bacteria might mean for future oil spills. | National Public Radio | 00:07:17 |
| Sci-Fi High Tech Comes To Life | The future as imagined in science fiction sometimes becomes a reality. Michael and Denise Okuda, graphic designers for Star Trek, and John Underkoffler, science adviser on Minority Report, talk about envisioning the future. | National Public Radio | 00:22:26 |
| Conquering Your Fear Of Bedbugs | With daily reports of bedbugs in movie theaters and clothing stores - let alone apartment buildings - bedbug hysteria seems to be reaching new heights. Psychologist Kevin Ochsner studies how people regulate emotion and shares tips for how to get your bedbug fear under control. | National Public Radio | 00:10:30 |
| Regulators Give Green Light To Solar, Wind | Construction is now under way on the world's biggest wind farm in California's Mojave Desert. Federal and state regulators have given the green light to several large solar thermal projects in the Mojave as well. Ira and guests discuss the future of clean energy in the U.S. | National Public Radio | 00:24:24 |
| What Now For Federally Funded Stem Cell Work? | A federal judge has blocked President Obama's 2009 executive order expanding embryonic stem cell research. U.S. Rep. Diana DeGett (D-Colo.) and stem cell researcher Rudolph Jaenisch discuss the ruling's impact on scientists, and whether Congress can pass stem cell legislation. | National Public Radio | 00:12:25 |
| Atwood On Science, Fiction And 'The Flood' | Margaret Atwood's new book "The Year of the Flood" describes a dystopic world full of evil corporations, barbaric criminals and science gone wrong. She talks about the real science in the novel and what can be done to keep her fiction from becoming reality. | National Public Radio | 00:17:48 |
| Going Green At College | It's back-to-school season and college kids have a lot on their minds: can you compost pizza? What's more sustainable: kegs or cans? Can you have a party with low-flush toilets? Ira and guests discuss how students and universities are making the college life greener. | National Public Radio | 00:25:05 |
| Plastics Piling Up In Atlantic Ocean | Tiny pieces of plastic are aggregating hundreds of miles offshore in concentrations equivalent to those in the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch," according to a "Science" study. Oceanographer and study author Kara Lavender Law talks about the new questions the study raises. | National Public Radio | 00:05:12 |
| Meditation For A Stronger Brain | Researchers say a type of meditation called integrative mind-body training can strengthen connections in certain areas of the brain, even when practiced for as little as 11 hours. Psychologist Michael Posner describes the study, and explains the brain changes he documented. | National Public Radio | 00:11:07 |
| Should Science Take Sides In The Gulf? | Some scientists say they're being locked out of research on the oil spill because they refuse to sign confidentiality agreements. Ira and guests discuss the problems of doing scientific research when a lawsuit is pending. Is there a way to keep science independent? | National Public Radio | 00:24:28 |
| Images Show A Shrinking Moon | Scientists say images taken by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been circling the moon for more than a year, show that the moon contracted about a billion years ago, relatively recently in geologic time. Space scientist Thomas Watters describes the lunar images. | National Public Radio | 00:12:29 |
| Science Diction: The Origin Of Evolution | Although Charles Darwin's tome The Origin of Species is associated with the theory of evolution today, Darwin himself preferred terms such as "transmutation by means of natural selection." Science historian Howard Markel discusses how evolution entered the scientific and popular vocabulary. | National Public Radio | 00:05:27 |
| SETI Throws A Party | The Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, SETI, turns 25 this year, and it's celebrating with "SETIcon." Participants, including SETI father Frank Drake and the director of the Center for SETI Research, Jill Tarter, discuss the conference and their work. | National Public Radio | 00:29:54 |
| Study Suggests Earlier Meat-Eating In Hominids | A new study in the journal Nature suggests that the butchering of animals with tools by hominids occurred nearly a million years earlier than thought. Study author Zeresenay Alemseged and anthropologist David DeGusta discuss the finding and what it might mean for human evolution. | National Public Radio | 00:12:20 |
| Discovering The Secret, Speedy Life Of Plants | Plants have a reputation for being sedentary, unmoving, planted. But some plants are moving so quickly, their motion is invisible to human eyes. Biologist Joan Edwards and physicist Dwight Whitaker broke out the high-speed cameras to capture the story of exploding peat moss. | National Public Radio | 00:05:22 |
| Nissan And GM Bet Americans Will Go Electric | By the end of 2010, two mass-market electric cars will be rolling on American highways: the Nissan Leaf and the Chevy Volt. The Volt is a gas-electric hybrid, with an all-electric range of 40 miles, and the Leaf is pure electric, with a range of 100 miles. | National Public Radio | 00:29:55 |
| White Shark Sightings On The Rise On East Coast | Marine biologist Greg Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries says the increase in white shark sightings on the East Coast may be due to booming gray seal populations. | National Public Radio | 00:12:14 |
| New Ruling Says Users Can Hack Their iPhones | A new government ruling issued last month makes it legal for iPhone users to "jailbreak" their phones so they can potentially choose a different carrier. Harvard Law professor Lawrence Lessig discusses that and other recent changes to the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. | National Public Radio | 00:17:38 |
| Actress Danica McKellar Solves For 'X' | In her new book "Hot X: Algebra Exposed", actress and math advocate Danica McKellar shares her secrets for solving algebra problems - and navigating high school social life. McKellar discusses the book, and explains why she tailors her math teaching techniques toward girls. | National Public Radio | 00:17:30 |
| Register Receipts May Be A Source of Bisphenol-A | Three studies point to receipts as a possibly significant source of the chemical bisphenol-A, according to Science News. While bisphenol-A isn't regulated, the government has suggested minimizing exposure to it. Science News senior editor Janet Raloff discusses the finding. | National Public Radio | 00:12:14 |
| New Frontier For Geeks: The Kitchen | In "Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food", software engineer Jeff Potter discusses using the hacker mindset in the kitchen, from cooking salmon in the dishwasher to a warranty-voiding experiment on his oven to get the scorching temperatures necessary for perfect pizza crust. | National Public Radio | 00:35:02 |
| Little Brown Bats Could Disappear In The Northeast | Reporting in Science, researchers write that little brown bats, or Myotis lucifugus, are likely to disappear from the Northeast over the next 16 years. Study author Winifred Frick discusses white-nose syndrome, which is associated with die-offs and caused by a fast-moving fungus. | National Public Radio | 00:12:05 |
| Will Reading The Doc's Notes Improve Your Health? | The Open Notes project connects some 25,000 patients with their doctors' medical notes through secure online portals. Participating doctors Tom Delbanco and Sara Fazio of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discuss the program, and why it has some doctors worried. | National Public Radio | 00:23:06 |
| With Well Capped, How Long Will The Oil Linger? | The Gulf of Mexico has a few ways of cleansing oil from its waters: it hosts legions of microbes adapted to dine on natural oil seepages, and its warm water temperatures favor the evaporation of oil. But scientists say it's still too early to know how long it will take to recover. | National Public Radio | 00:23:44 |
| Vertebrate Genomes Hide Ancient Viruses | Reporting in the journal PLOS Pathogens, researchers write opossums have bits of the Ebola virus mixed into their genetic code and human genomes contain snippets of the Borna virus. Study author Anna Skalka says some of the virus genetic code was inserted 40 million years ago. | National Public Radio | 00:17:14 |
| Spinning Some Silken Science | Spiders and silkworms make silk by the yard. Why can't we copy them? Silk is strong, light and flexible and is being examined for use in everything from medical sutures to advanced electronics. Silk researcher David Kaplan explains the challenges in bioengineering silk. | National Public Radio | 00:17:40 |
| How Scientists Can Police Themselves | How do scientists deal with sloppy or shoddy science? A survey found that researchers were often able to deal with minor misconduct informally. Gerald Koocher, one of the scientists behind the survey and co-author of a handbook for dealing with research misconduct, explains. | National Public Radio | 00:12:09 |
| Goodbye, Dr. Schneider | Influential and outspoken climatologist Stephen Schneider died this week of an apparent heart attack. Schneider's friend and colleague Dan Kammen describes Schneider's contributions to climate change research, and recalls the man he knew as "a wonderful, fearless soul." | National Public Radio | 00:06:25 |
| Exploring The Geology Of Gulf Oil | How much oil is under the Gulf of Mexico and how did it get there? Columbia University geophysicist Roger Anderson, an expert in deepwater exploration and drilling, explains how the oil formed millions of years ago, and how companies go about finding and extracting it. | National Public Radio | 00:17:37 |
| Scientists Say A Gel Can Slow HIV Spread | Researchers meeting at the 18th international AIDS conference this week say a new vaginal gel can cut HIV transmission rates in half, if used properly. AIDS experts Anthony Fauci and Kevin Fenton join Ira to discuss news from the conference. | National Public Radio | 00:23:03 |
| Robots That Swim With The Fishes, Intentionally | Based on mathematical models of the movement of fish, Maurizio Porfiri, engineering professor at Polytechnic Institute of NYU, built a robofish. When Porfiri let the robot go for a dip in the lab pool, the real fish started to mill about the robot and even follow it around. | National Public Radio | 00:04:45 |
| Remembering The Race To The South Pole | In 1911, two groups of explorers set out to be first to reach the South Pole. One claimed victory, and the other perished on the return trip. Ross MacPhee of the American Museum of Natural History and polar explorer John Huston discuss these scientific pioneers. | National Public Radio | 00:18:25 |
| Why Do We Like What We Like? | Why do we enjoy things like bitter foods and horror films? And are we the only species that likes art? Paul Bloom, professor of psychology at Yale University and author of "How Pleasure Works," explains our penchant for art and why we find some unpleasant things so enjoyable. | National Public Radio | 00:24:25 |
| Climate Scientists Move Forward After Scandal | Last December, e-mails written by climate scientists raised suspicion of scientific misconduct and conspiracy. International investigations have since exonerated the scientists. Andrew Revkin explains what happened. | National Public Radio | 00:17:28 |
| Harold Varmus Returns To Politics | The Nobel Prize winner and former NIH director has received another presidential appointment: director of the National Cancer Institute. Ira and Varmus discuss the intersection of politics and science, the genetics of cancer and the process by which basic research becomes medicine. | National Public Radio | 00:22:41 |
| Are Protons Even Smaller Than We Thought? | An international team of physicists re-examined the radius of a proton, and found it to be 4 percent smaller than previously thought. Are they mistaken, or is something missing from the long-held theory of quantum electrodynamics? Physicist Brian Odom of Northwestern University discusses. | National Public Radio | 00:07:03 |
| Beach Season For Horseshoe Crabs | Each summer, horseshoe crabs (Limulus polyphemus) along the Atlantic shore crawl onto beaches to mate and lay eggs - making now a good time for marine scientists like John Tanacredi to monitor population size. | National Public Radio | 00:05:05 |
| Smart Fibers Could Bring Smarter Clothes | We have smart cars and smart phones, why not smart clothes? They might be coming soon. Materials scientist Yoel Fink describes his work developing fibers that take photos, listen and transmit sound. He says a shirt may one day monitor your health by tracking body sounds. | National Public Radio | 00:12:24 |
| Where Are The 'Hackers' Now? | In his 1984 book, "Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution," Steven Levy profiled some of the personalities whose work brought PCs to the people. Levy discusses his book, recently reissued, and hacker ethics in the Internet age. | National Public Radio | 00:17:24 |
| Who Is Tracking Spilled Oil In The Gulf? | A team of ocean scientists has a plan to track the oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill, but so far they have no funding. Team leader Ira Leifer explains the proposed study. | National Public Radio | 00:12:24 |
| Where The Word 'Genome' Came From | In 1920, a botanist named Hans Winkler merged the Greek words "genesis" and "soma" to describe a body of genes. In this episode, Howard Markel discusses the word "genome" and how it became the most popular way of describing all of our genetic material. | National Public Radio | 00:05:30 |
| Spotting Summer Sickness In The Garden | It's summertime but the living isn't easy for everything. Plants are under attack by blight, wilt, rust and newcomer downy mildew, which kills basil. Plant pathologist Margaret McGrath runs through symptoms of plant sickness and shares tips for preserving pesto prospects. | National Public Radio | 00:11:49 |
| Swimming Pool Chemistry ... Not Pretty | With a heat wave scorching the Northeast, a dip in the pool may sound like just what the doctor ordered. But before diving in, consider the chemistry. Engineer Ernest Blatchley reveals many things you didn't want to know about swimming pools and the chemical reactions occurring in them. | National Public Radio | 00:08:34 |
| The Amygdaloids Mix Neuroscience And Rock N' Roll | A group of New York University neuroscientists leads an unlikely double life - as rockers. The songs on their new album, Theory of My Mind, are based on the members' research. The musicians play selections from the album and talk about the science behind the lyrics. | National Public Radio | 00:21:19 |
| A Chemical Nurtures New Brain Cells In Rodents | Scientists screened nearly 1,000 chemicals and found one that nurtures new neurons in rat and mice brains. University of Texas biochemist Steven McKnight describes the work and explains what has to happen before the chemical can be tried in humans. | National Public Radio | 00:16:37 |
| Presidential Panel Scrutinizes Synthetic Biology | Scientists are cutting and pasting genes to create engineered organisms that may yield new vaccines and biofuels, but what are the ethical implications of toying with DNA? Geneticist George Church discusses synthetic biology, and why scientists need to be careful with the technology. | National Public Radio | 00:17:28 |
| More Evidence Of A Wet Past On Mars | Using data collected by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers say they've found evidence that more of Mars than previously thought was once covered by water. Science News astronomy writer Ron Cowen describes the research and other recent news about Mars and its watery past. | National Public Radio | 00:12:18 |
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