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.
10:05
Birds To Spot In Your Yard This Fall
Autumn is a good time to observe birds changing their plumage and behavior, and an opportunity to spot birds commuting south from their Arctic summer homes.
11:57
Can Rooftop Solar and Utilities Get Along?
Rooftop solar is booming. But as more homegrown energy comes online, utilities foresee an economic squeeze—which is leading to nasty fights over the future of utilities and the grid.
24:26
Employee or Datapoint?
The data employers are gathering on their employees aren’t always a fair measure of efficiency or success, and in some cases, it’s an invasion of privacy.
11:58
El Niño Vs. the Blob, Yeast Painkillers, and a Butter Bummer
This week’s news roundup takes us to San Francisco, where Ira is joined by KQED science and environment reporter Lauren Sommer.
17:26
How Big Blazes Shape Landscapes
Scientists are closely monitoring how forest vegetation shifts after catastrophic fires, and discovering a few surprises.
17:32
A Candidate’s Voice Might Sway Your Vote
Voters tend to prefer politicians with deeper voices—a sign of strength and competence, says political scientist Casey Klofstad.
11:43
Rats on the Job
The average rat sleeps all day and eats garbage all night…but some of them have jobs to get to.
17:20
Keeping Cool (Without Making Global Warming Worse)
The global demand for air conditioning isn’t sustainable, so what other options do we have?
20:18
Wearable Technology Goes Way Back
Google Glass, Fitbits, and the Apple Watch are just the latest products in a long evolution of wearable technology.