Flora Lichtman
Host
Flora has produced science media for 20 years across many formats. She got her start right here at Science Friday, working her way up from intern to fill-in host, and resident videographer. From there, she worked as a video producer for The New York Times, co-creating an Emmy-nominated film series that dramatized scientific discoveries using… paper puppets. She also was nominated for an Emmy for her writing on Bill Nye’s Netflix show “Bill Nye Saves the World.” She has created and launched a number of podcasts in various roles, including hosting Gimlet’s beloved “Every Little Thing,” which connected listeners to experts who could answer their burning questions. The show ran for five years and published over 200 episodes.
Making science accessible, relatable, and human has been a focus of Flora’s career. Some of her inspiration comes from her own experience in science: Long, long ago, she worked at a NATO oceanographic lab in Italy. For the lab’s research expeditions, she lived on a ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.
You can find her @flichtman on social media platforms.
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6:03
Coffee’s Natural Creamer
What’s that frothy stuff that sits on top of an espresso?
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4:21
Rolling Out Bamboo Bicycles
Valid Cycles makes handcrafted bamboo bikes in Woodinville, Washington.
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Bamboo Bicycles Roll Out
To be bike-ready, the bamboo must be cooked in an oven, stripped, and sealed. We visited the workshop of Valid Cycles in Woodinville, Washington, to see how the bikes are made.
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4:51
Comet Shines Light on Sun Dynamics
Comet Lovejoy grazed the sun’s corona and lived to tell the tale. Its tail movements were the most telling.
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Comet’s Tail Shines Light on Sun
In 2011, comet Lovejoy traveled through the sun’s corona and lived to tell the tale. But its tail was the most telling.
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3:19
Teacher Feature: Ethnobotanist Tom Carlson
A student tells his former professor how much a class meant to him.
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34:45
The SciFri Book Club Takes a Hike
Bill Bryson’s “A Walk in the Woods” is this month’s book club read.
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Teacher Feature: Ethnobotanist Tom Carlson
Science Friday pays tribute to a great science teacher. “Office hours are some of my favorite hours of the week,” says Tom Carlson, a medical doctor, ethnobotanist, and instructor of 1700 students annually at the University of California, Berkeley.
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6:02
Desktop Diaries: Daniel Kahneman
A visit with psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who won the Nobel Prize in economic sciences in 2002.
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Desktop Diaries: Daniel Kahneman
“I have always emphasized the willingness to discard,” says psychologist and Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman. That philosophy works on two levels—forget desk trinkets, Kahneman doesn’t have a desk—and he doesn’t hoard ideas either he says.