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Science Friday is your trusted source for news and entertaining stories about science.
The Origin Of The Word ‘Quarantine’
‘Trentino’ just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
The Biology Behind Our Emotions
In his new book “The Disordered Mind,” neuroscientist Eric Kandel explores how we control our emotions.
The Origin Of The Word ‘Cocaine’
It’s a tale of a leaf, a graduate student, and alkaloid science.
Presenting The ‘Brief History Of Time’ Artist Challenge Winners
We challenged artists to interpret Hawking’s classic book. They did not disappoint.
The Roots Of The Tangled Genetic Tree
In this excerpt from David Quammen’s “The Tangled Tree,” meet the people who saw that evolution is more complex than you’d think.
The Invisible Forest Under The Sea
Half of the planet’s oxygen comes from tiny plant-like organisms under the ocean’s surface.
The Man Who Builds Beaches
In this excerpt from “The World in a Grain,” beach sand is gold. Illegal sand mining and rising seas are shrinking beaches, but this man is working to replenish them.
The Alluring Beauty Of Supersymmetry
In this excerpt from “Lost in Math,” Sabine Hossenfelder explains how the idea of supersymmetry is just too beautiful for scientists to ignore.
What You Said: Your Physics Questions, Explained
You told us which physics concept has always stumped you. Two physicists weighed in.
Shakespeare’s Starlings And The City
Introduced to North America by a Shakespeare enthusiast, starlings become a test case of urban evolution in this excerpt of “Darwin Comes To Town.”
The Origin Of The Word ‘Quark’
It’s a tale of particle physics, Aristotle, and James Joyce.
‘A Brief History Of Time’: Artist Challenge
The Science Friday Book Club invites you to submit your artistic imaginings of Stephen Hawking’s visions of the universe.
If You Smelt It, The Corpse Flower Dealt It
A corpse flower bloomed at the New York Botanical Garden. Its smell lives up to its name.
The Map That Changed How We View The West
John Wesley Powell’s map of the American West sectioned off by watersheds offered a bold new vision of the region.