November 22, 2024
On the 50th anniversary of Lucy’s discovery, paleoanthropologists reflect on 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, a potato researcher explains potato varieties, potato nutrition, and some tubular tuber facts.
10:00
What’s Going On Underground With Gophers?
How do these burrowing rodents get enough food while staying underground? Plus the case for appreciation, not extermination.
7:18
How This Chemist Is Turning Agricultural Waste Into Water Filters
This chemist has been turning corn husks and orange peels into activated carbon filters to remove pollutants from water.
10:12
The Nose Knows When It’s Cold—And It May Get You Sick
Researchers finally discover why upper respiratory infections are so common in winter.
6:52
By Hiding Their Blood, These Frogs Pull Off The Ultimate Disappearing Act
Stashing their red blood cells away allows these frogs to stay nearly invisible while they snooze.
34:40
Knock Knock. Who’s There? Science!
How do you integrate science into standup comedy? Comedians Chuck Nice, Kasha Patel, and Kyle Marian Viterbo tell us how.
17:05
What Was It Like To Witness The End Of The Dinosaurs?
How fossil records are helping scientists paint a picture of what happened shortly after a massive asteroid hit Earth.
16:31
‘I Will Not Be Vole Girl’—A Biologist Warms Up To Rodents
From land-mine sniffing rats to to the mice in your backyard, biologist Danielle Lee is asking big questions about how ecology shapes behavior.
12:14
How To Feed The International Space Station
NASA’s team of food scientists must make food delicious, nutritious, and fit for spaceflight.
17:13
This Soundscape Artist Has Been Archiving The Sounds Of Science
Jim Metzner, a pioneer of science radio, looks back on his lifetime of recordings, now heading for the Library of Congress.
16:57
When ‘Nope’ Needed Aliens, Director Jordan Peele Looked To The Ocean
(Spoilers abound!) Jordan Peele’s film ‘Nope” used inspiration from the oceans to make its new creature.
11:50
Keeping The Bubbly In Your Holidays, With Fizzical Science
We pour over the science of the effervescent bubbles of champagne.
5:07
In A New Hampshire Town, It’s Snowmobilers Vs. Beavers
Some residents want to leave a pond to beavers; others want it drained for snowmobile trails.
16:28
How Science Can Keep Your Christmas Tree Merry And Bright
Science Friday is coming in hot with tips to help keep your holidays stress- and needle-free.
11:51
Glitter Gets An Eco-Friendly Glimmer
Chemists have developed a new way to make eco-friendly glitter from plant fibers.
12:05
The Resurrection Of The American Chestnut
A once-common food staple, this giant tree has essentially disappeared from American forests. Can we bring it back—and should we?
17:13
A DNA Map You Can Touch—Or Walk Through
What started as an inside joke has turned into a fantastical collaboration between an artist and a physicist studying DNA.
12:03
A Look Back At The Top Science Stories of 2022
Tim Revell of New Scientist recaps the year in science, from the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope to the spread of Mpox.
5:16
The Secret Life Of Mistletoe (When It’s Not Christmas)
This parasitic plant grows in deserts and forests around the world and steals trees’ nutrients.
12:24
How The Humble Beaver Shaped A Continent
European settlers nearly wiped out the North American beaver. Bringing them back may soften future floods and fires.
Read ‘Beaverland’ By Leila Philip With The SciFri Book Club
This book gives space to all walks of life touched by beavers—with a lot of science tucked into every page.