Christopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer, which means he was chief cheerleader for all the radio and podcast projects. He helped to select and shape stories, or put them to a gentle death if necessary. He was also the coordinating producer for Science Friday’s live stage events around the nation, and has skated Olympic ice and served as a prop in an optical illusion for SciFri.
Christopher started at Science Friday as an intern in summer 2008, until the day Ira Flatow called him at home, triggering enormous anxiety about the latest script he’d written, to ask if he wanted to be a producer. His favorite stories usually involve microbes or food or both, but anything can pique his interest—other than ocean chemistry. Sorry.
He also reports regularly for Scientific American‘s “60-Second Science” podcast, and was a 2015 Woods Hole Ocean Science Journalism fellow. Prior to becoming a science journalist, he taught English to soldiers and bankers in Verona, Italy, and traversed the Sierra Nevada mountains as a field biologist, on the lookout for mountain yellow-legged frogs. He speaks fluent Italian, awkward Japanese, and passable Ira Flatowese.
He is now an editor for All Things Considered.
15:54
To Stave Off Extinction, Protect ‘Half-Earth’
In his new book, “Half-Earth,” Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson argues that we must set aside half the planet for nature.
24:11
The Perfect Cheese Pairing? Science
Cheese is the subject of a special SciFri investigation this week and next, including tales of the “maestro of mozzarella” and the aging tricks of a Wisconsin cheddarmaker.
27:22
A Brief, Poetic Tour of Modern Physics
Theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli explains the fundamentals of modern physics in just 80 pages, in his Seven Brief Lessons On Physics.
12:03
Storytelling Teaches Robots Right and Wrong
How do you teach robots to behave ethically? One way is to feed robots human stories, and train them to model their behavior after the tales’ protagonists.
11:45
When Hospitals Get Hacked
A Hollywood hospital’s computer systems were invaded by malware, encrypted, and taken for ransom. The price? Forty bitcoins, or $17,000 dollars.
26:37
What El Niño Means for Other Parts of the Planet
El Niño’s atmospheric influence is global, affecting fish stocks off Peru and potentially driving up malaria deaths in East Africa.
16:48
Could Genetically Engineered Insects Squash Mosquito-Borne Disease?
Scientists have been able to genetically engineer malaria-resistant mosquitoes. But is it ethical to release them into the wild?
12:04
Human Embryo Gene Editing Gets Go-Ahead in U.K.
Scientists will not be using the method for any direct therapeutic purpose, but instead will investigate the genes that guide human development.
26:44
Pioneering Cancer Doc Foresees ‘The Death of Cancer’
When President Nixon signed the National Cancer Act of 1971, he waged the War on Cancer. Forty-five years and over $100 billion later, are we winning?
12:10
Will a ‘Godzilla El Niño’ Put a Dent in the Drought?
Despite the big splash recent precipitation has made with residents of the West, current snowfall numbers are just about average, says JPL snow hydrologist Tom Painter.