Episodes

Craig Venter describes his latest synthetic lifeform, JCVI-syn3.0. And a look back at the 1990s Crypto Wars in light of the Apple encryption debate today.

Sculptor Tom Sachs is on a mission to Mars, with equipment that’s 100 percent DIY. Plus, bringing warming temperatures and rising seas into the classroom.

In this episode, we dive into the world of cheese, from the microbes that help make it, to the chemistry that gives processed cheese its properties. Plus, two ophthalmologists focus on your eye questions.

NASA’s planetary protection plan against asteroid strikes, and chemists unravel an art history mystery.

We revisit a 1994 SciFri conversation on pandemics and ask: Has anything changed in the era of Ebola and Zika? Plus, Carlo Rovelli’s “Seven Brief Lessons on Physics.”

A look at the global impacts of El Niño, a ransomware attack on a California hospital, and Silicon Valley’s diversity gap.

In this episode, we unpack the significance of directly detecting gravitational waves. And the SciFri Book Club wraps up Oliver Sacks’ “On the Move.”

A pioneering cancer doctor foresees “The Death of Cancer,” examining the evidence for—and against —mind-body medicine. Plus, restoring missing maternal microbes.

In this episode, we venture to Antarctica in search of space rocks. Plus, an update on the Zika virus, and a tale of another search for an unseen planet in our solar system.

In this episode, a look at the possibility of an undiscovered planet somewhere in the outer reaches of our solar system. Plus, how sound affects the taste of your food, a deep drill into the earth’s crust, and evidence for an ancient massacre.