The Oldest Bird, a Distant Galaxy, and the Beard Microbiome
12:15 minutes
In this week’s news roundup, Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post tells us about the oldest-known specimen in the modern bird lineage, a seagull-like creature called Archaeornithura meemannae that lived some 130 million years ago in what is today northeastern China. Plus, the most distant galaxy known to astronomers. And a critical look at a fearmongering study on the beard microbiome.
After the news roundup, it’s “Good Thing, Bad Thing.” You’ve heard the term “filter bubble”—the idea that website algorithms customize the online experience to weed out viewpoints we disagree with. But just how “filtered” is your Facebook news feed? Mashable.com science editor Andrew Freedman weighs in on a new study that attempts to answer that question.
Segment Guests
Rachel Feltman
Rachel Feltman is a freelance science communicator who hosts “The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week” for Popular Science, where she served as Executive Editor until 2022. She’s also the host of Scientific American’s show “Science Quickly.” Her debut book Been There, Done That: A Rousing History of Sex is on sale now.
Andrew Freedman
Andrew Freedman is science editor at Mashable.com in New York, New York.
Meet the Producer
About Christopher Intagliata
@cintagliataChristopher Intagliata was Science Friday’s senior producer. He once served as a prop in an optical illusion and speaks passable Ira Flatowese.