Science Friday

You may have heard that a little dirt is good for kids. It helps them build up their immune systems, and sets them on a path to future health. But what kind of filth does the trick?  Producer Kathleen Davis digs into the latest science on the benefits of exposing kids to the outdoors with microbiologist Jack Gilbert and pediatric epidemiologist Amber Fyfe-Johnson. Guests: Dr. Jack Gilbert is a mic...

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

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

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

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

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

The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC), the largest particle collider in the United States, collided its last particles in early February. RHIC is a massive accelerator ring and set of instruments based at New York’s Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was designed to accelerate gold ions to near-light speed before collision. It was the second most powerful accelerator on the planet, second on...

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

As ICE cracks down in Minneapolis and across the country, reporters and privacy advocates have drawn attention to how the agency is using technology : scanning people’s faces without consent, using private health records to make arrests, tracking people’s location in real time with phone data. So how does all this work? How does the United States’ data ecosystem make it possible for not just ICE,...

The new dietary guidelines from the USDA call for Americans to “eat real food” and consume less “highly processed” food. But how? By some estimates, ultraprocessed foods make up nearly 60% of the average American adult diet, and they’re all over school lunch menus. Health policy expert Laura Schmidt and nutrition policy researcher Alyssa Moran join Host Flora Lichtman to talk about ultraprocessed...

In an effort to make their farms more environmentally and economically sustainable, some farmers are experimenting with agrivoltaics: growing crops underneath solar panels. This dual harvest is working for some, but what will it take for agrivoltaics to work on a larger, more industrial scale?  Joining Host Ira Flatow are journalist Jana Rose Schleis and environmental economics expert Madhu Khanna...

Point systems are everywhere. Ready for movie night? Consult Rotten Tomatoes. Vetting a new pediatrician? See how many stars they have. At work, it can be even more pervasive: There’s KPIs and ROIs because success has to be measurable.   But what happens when we boil something down to one nice number ? What do we lose? Philosopher C. Thi Nguyen, author of the new book The Score , joins Host Flora...

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

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

We keep hearing that these are unprecedented times for science: scientific skeptics running federal agencies, growing mistrust of vaccines, and messaging from the highest levels of government that scientists are in the pocket of industry.  To understand how unique this time really is, we’re talking to Naomi Oreskes, a science historian who has spent her career studying skepticism in science. She j...

In a speech last week in a speech at the World Economic Forum, President Trump said China was making a lot of wind turbines, but not using much wind power in their own country. Is that right?  China studies professor Jeremy Wallace joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the renewable energy landscape in China. They’ll dig into how China is flooding the world with affordable solar technology , making...

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

A rogue strain of flu, subclade K, has sickened more than 19 million people in the US so far this season. And the flu shot hasn’t offered that much protection. What’s going on with this superflustorm? Joining Host Flora Lichtman with some answers is Jennifer Duchon, a pediatric infectious disease specialist. Guest: Dr. Jennifer Duchon is a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Mount Sinai Hos...

This time last year, Los Angeles was on fire, and more than 16,000 homes and buildings burned to the ground. Cars, batteries, solar panels, insulation, and cleaning supplies went up in flames, releasing chemicals like lead, benzene, and asbestos into giant smoke plumes that wafted across the city. A year later, scientists are trying to understand the fallout of this urban wildfire —what chemicals...

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

When it comes to “bad” cholesterol, most cardiologists say lower is better. But what’s the best way to get that number down? Can diet and exercise alone do the job? Cardiologists Kiran Musunuru and Neha Pagidipati join Host Ira Flatow for a look at the latest in cholesterol-lowering treatments , including CRISPR technology that could turn off cholesterol-making genes for life. How does it work, an...

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

It’s a wintertime question that you may have had as you struggled down a frozen sidewalk, or strapped on some ice skates: Just why is ice slippery, anyway? It turns out the answer is somewhat complicated. Mechanical engineer Robert Carpick studies tribology, the science of surface interactions, from friction to wear to lubrication. He joins Host Ira Flatow to wrangle some new ideas about the slipp...

Each year, around 90,000 people in the U.S. are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, a neurodegenerative disease that can cause tremors and affect cognition. Scientists are working to identify some of the earliest signs of the disease , and to figure out how we might test for—and treat—Parkinson’s in the future. Neurologists Emily Tamadonfar and Michael Okun join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss what we know...

As we age, our vision gets blurrier, we form cataracts, and we have a higher risk of glaucoma. But Greenland sharks live for hundreds of years and still maintain healthy, functional eyeballs. So what gives? Host Ira Flatow talks with molecular biologist Dorota Skowronska-Krawczyk, who studies the mechanisms of aging, about what we can learn from these fishy eyeballs and how it could help us. Plus,...