Radio
Listen to Science Friday live on Fridays from 2-4 p.m. ET
November 22, 2024
On the 50th anniversary of Lucy’s discovery, paleoanthropologists reflect on what she means to science, and what she taught us about ourselves. Plus, divers have recovered seeds of a long-lost rye variety from a 146-year-old shipwreck in Lake Huron. And, just in time for Thanksgiving, a potato researcher explains potato varieties, potato nutrition, and some tubular tuber facts.
6:19
In a Mountain of Data, Signs of a New Class of Particles
Scientists working on CERN’s LHCb experiment report that they’ve found evidence of a so-called pentaquark particle.
11:40
iBubble Wrap, Fossilized Owl Vomit, and Deadly Temperature Swings
Brandon Keim, a freelance science reporter, shares this week’s top science news.
17:19
New Horizons Reveals Unexpected Worlds
Ice mountains and gaping canyons are just a few of the surprising features the New Horizons spacecraft beamed back this week.
16:37
Redefining the Kilogram
All the scales in the world are calibrated against a 125-year-old chunk of metal in a vault on the outskirts of Paris. Now scientists are looking to redefine the standard of what “kilogram” really means.
11:52
Can Video Games Be Used As Teaching Tools?
Are Minecraft’s digital building blocks the teaching tools of the future?
17:26
A Sci-Fi Writer Keeps His Eye on ‘Spaceship Earth’
In his new novel, “Aurora,” sci-fi writer Kim Stanley Robinson puts the dream of interstellar colonization under the microscope.
8:20
Total Meltdown: The Rate of Ice Cream Collapse
A food scientist explores how the microstructure of ice cream controls the rate at which it melts.
8:23
Why Do Screams Make You Shudder?
Human screams have a unique audio quality not found in other types of speech.
12:22
‘Biological Aging,’ Debunking Signs of Cometary Life, Triceratops Kin
Rachel Feltman of “The Washington Post” joins us for a roundup of the top science stories this week.
17:43
New Horizons Prepares for Pluto Close-Up
The New Horizons probe is about to capture its prize: a close-up of Pluto.