Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Pollen Origami
Pollen starts to dry out when it leaves the flower, which can destroy the genetic material the grain is carrying. To combat dehydration, pollen grains have evolved a way of folding up to prevent water from leaking out. Eleni Katifori and...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Dead Bat Mystery
Science, technology, and other cool stuff from the folks behind public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Read My Brain
A visit to a lab to see how a brain gets scanned in an MRI and how to read the scan. Aired May 12, 2008. [4:28]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Bon Appetit, From the Backyard
Some New Yorkers are taking "locavore" to the next level -- eating snails from the yard, foraging mushrooms in the parks. Super foragers Anya Pozdeeva and Christopher Toole share tips.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Ant Rafts and Caterpillar Robots
The latest on the bug beat: To survive floods, fire ants band together to form a raft. They can sail for weeks. But how does the raft stay afloat? Researchers report the answer in PNAS this week. Plus, engineers at Tufts are looking to...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: A Little Airplane That Flies Itself
This small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) takes off like a helicopter but flies like an airplane. The vehicle, named V-Bat, can fly at over 100 mph for more than five hours. Stephen Morris, the president of the company that designed the...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: This Field Rocks
A trip to Hickory Run State Park which has a 16-acre field of sandstone boulders. Megan Taylor, an environmental education specialist, explains how these boulders came to be there. Aired May 13, 2010. [2:39]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Bug a Boo!
Why do we find cockroaches disgusting and spiders scary? Fear of snakes and spiders are two of the most common phobias in the world and researchers say evolution likely plays a role. But what explains our aversion to harmless insects--it...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Health Care Reform
Listen as experts discuss the realities around President Obama's health care reform agenda. Aired June 19, 2009 [47:56]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Birders Fan Out to Count Feathered Friends
A serious birder shares some identification tips before the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: A Connection Between Bacteria and Meteorology?
There's a good chance that pile of snow in your yard contains bacteria, but not because it's dirty. The bacteria may have played an important role in helping those snow crystals form.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Home Run Physics
A discussion of the design of the new Yankee Stadium and whether there is any engineering reason that there seem to be more home-runs being hit there than there ought to be. A wind engineer, for example, explains how winds might be a...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Is Thorium a Magic Bullet for Our Energy Problems?
Reactors that use thorium as fuel are being explored as a potentially safe, clean, and cheap alternative energy source. But there are still significant safety and waste problems. Aired May 4, 2012 [19:35]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Geek Dad on Father's Day
Listen to this discussion of a Video Pick of the Week, which presents one of the projects from the book 'Geek Dad: Awesomely Geeky Projects and Activities for Dads and Kids to Share.' This project involves launching a a videocamera into...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Hackers, 25 Years On
An interview with Stephen Levy, who wrote a book called Hackers twenty-five years previously, to look at changes that have since taken place in the world of computers. Aired Jul. 16, 2010 [17:24 min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: 4 H Science Project
The organization holds its third annual 4-H National Youth Science Day, in which kids around the country studied carbon dioxide.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: H1 N1 'Swine Flu' Update
Discusses the latest information on the Swine Flu outbreak in 2009, and the work being done to prepare a vaccine for distribution. Aired Jul. 31, 2009 [13:35]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Cave Science
Ready to go spelunking? Live from Missouri, the cave state, get an inside look at the biology, geology, and history of the underground attractions that gave the state its name.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: How Old Is the Grand Canyon?
Scientists discuss their research that suggests the Grand Canyon first began to form 17 million years ago. Other scientists take issue with this research. Aired Mar. 07, 2008 [15:17]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: How Large Ships Use Navigation Systems
After the Costa Concordia cruise ship disaster off the coast of Italy, questions were raised about how this could happen, and whether the ship had the best available electronic navigation system. The International Maritime Organization...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Gulf Oil Spill: Engineering Approaches
As the oil continued to spew from the leak in the Deepwater Horizon platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the public weighed in with their ideas on possible solutions for stopping the flow. These ideas and the challenges of plugging the leak...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Chemistry Roundup
The environmental impact of eating less meat, BPA in seawater, and an update on cold fusion research, Science Friday goes behind the scenes at this week's American Chemical Society meeting.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Gene Therapy and Blindness
A followup interview a year later on the status of research into the use of gene therapy to treat a type of congenital blindness. Researchers found that younger subjects have improved the most. Includes a link to a video from the...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: A Conversation With Ocean Explorer Bob Ballard
In this segment, Ira talks with undersea explorer Robert Ballard about his life and work, both in exploration and education.