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.
Science of Good Dancing
Evolutionary psychologist Nick Neave filmed men dancing, converted the videos into dancing avatars and asked women to rate the avatars’ dancing ability.
Poop and Paddle
This toilet floats. It’s an outhouse and sewage-treatment plant in one.
Martian Lab Made in Manhattan
What’s it like to build tools for Curiosity? Intense.
SciFri Book Club Talks ‘Monkey Mind’
Peer into the anxious mind of writer Daniel Smith with the SciFri Book Club.
Making Movies That Zoom into Foreign Worlds
The stars of these films usually have only one cell.
Microscopic Movie Stars
In the 1950s-1970s, Roman Vishniac made educational science films, featuring footage he shot through his microscope.
Getting a Leg Up: High Jump Explained
Jesus Dapena studies how humans reach great heights, biomechanically.
Manhattanhenge: Watch a Star Align
Twice a year, the sunset lines up with New York City’s street grid—making for spectacular views.
Meet the Energy-Saving Gadgets of the Future
Floors that generate electricity from footsteps. A GPS that outsmarts traffic jams. Innovations like these could be the next big thing–and we have student inventors to thank.
Field Trip! Can You Stomach It?
Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum has a lot of heart, and other organs too.