Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: What Your Brain Looks Like When You Lose Self Control
Neuroscientists are using fMRI technology to study what happens in the brain when a someone is no longer able to resist temptation, such as to have dessert, and loses their self-control. Aired June 22, 2012 [15:06 min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: How the Morning After Pill Works
It has been a commonly held belief that the morning-after pill interrupted the implantation of a fertilized egg and is akin to abortion. But doctors now say this is not the case. Instead it delays or inhibits ovulation. Aired Jun. 15,...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Starfish Blamed for Great Barrier Reef Coral Loss
The Great Barrier Reef has been losing its live coral at a disturbingly rapid rate. The crown-of-thorns starfish has played a big part in this, as you will learn in this podcast and video. Aired Oct. 5, 2012. [Audio: 8:23; Video: 1:30]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Tour a Bat Cave
Listen to this discussion of a Video Pick of the Week, which is a visit by a biologist to the interior of a bat cave, using innovative equipment to record the bats. Includes a link to the video. Aired Sept. 7, 2012. [5:44]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Tall Buildings a Cut Above the Rest
Architect Antony Wood discusses what makes a skyscraper great. Innovations include features that adapt to the environment, enrich the lives of their inhabitants, are sustainable, and are beautiful to look at. Aired June 22, 2012 [8:49min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Remembering a Son in Immortal Bird
An interview with Doron Weber, author of Immortal Bird: A Family Memoir. His son Damon had a heart transplant at the age of sixteen and later died. Weber talks about the family's anguishing experience and the failings of the medical...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Myths and Tips on Keeping Your Cool This Summer
It is possible to drink too much water in hot weather. A discussion with Douglas Casa, of the Korey Stringer Institute, about how to stay hydrated in a healthy way when being physically active on a hot day. He also talks about the move...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Importance of Strange Science
An interview with Marc Abrahams, author of This is Improbable: Cheese String Theory, Magnetic Chickens, and other WTF Research. He is an expert in strange science, and talks about what we can learn from unusual and weird experiments....
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Why Online Maps Sometimes Lose Their Way
A discussion with Rakesh Agrawal, principal analyst of reDesign mobile, about how map apps are designed and how they can be made better. This interview followed on the heels of Apple's release of its own map app, which was a huge...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Mars Rover May Be Contaminated With Earth Microbes
A discussion with Catharine Conley, NASA's planetary protection officer, over a misstep prior to the launch of the Mars Curiosity Rover, where a drill might have been contaminated with Earth microbes. She explains that it was resolved...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Steven Strogatz: The Joy of X
A discussion with Steven Strogatz, author of The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity. Strogatz makes concepts such as infinity understandable in an entertaining way. Aired Oct. 5, 2012 [28:53 min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Silk Stretches Drugs' Shelf Life to New Lengths
David Kaplan, a biomedical engineer, discusses his lab's research into how to store vaccines and antibiotics without refrigeration. Their method involves wrapping them in silk. It holds great promise for making these medicines more...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: What Your Genes Can Tell You About Your Memory
Scientists have identified molecules that assist the formation of long-term memories. Epigenetic markers respond to stimuli and change gene expression, so the memories can be reactivated at a later time. Aired Oct. 5, 2012 [21:33 min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Forty Years of the Endangered Species Act
The Endangered Species Act was passed in 1973, nearly unopposed. Conservation biologist Joe Roman and environmental historian Peter Alagona discuss how effective the Act has been in the last forty years and what steps could be taken for...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Look of Love
News you can use for Valentine's Day: When you gaze into your sweetheart's eyes, look for enlarged pupils. Psychologist Bruno Laeng, of the University of Oslo, says our pupils don't just respond to light, but to thoughts too. Studies...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Happy Birthday, Buckyballs!
A look back at the discovery of buckminsterfullerenes in 1985, and what that discovery led to later. Robert Curl, Richard Smalley, and Harold Kroto won the Nobel Prize for their work. Aired Sep. 10, 2010 [12:50 min]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: A Chronicle of a Whale's Life, Captured in Earwax
Researchers say earwax can provide data about pesticide exposures, hormone levels, and even stress levels of the endangered blue whale. [5 min, 31 sec]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: World"s Largest Volcano Discovered on Pacific Seafloor
A 145-million-year-old volcano covers an area the size of New Mexico. [5 min, 35 sec]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Fungi Fans 'Felt' the Love
At the Northeast Mycological Federation's 36th Annual Foray, some 15 crafty people learned how to use wool roving to create a mushroom-themed felt pillow. Cornelia Cho, a pediatrician and the president of the Mushroom Club of Georgia led...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Medical Oddities From the Bowels of the Mutter
Robert Hicks describes Philadelphia's Matter Museum including such items of interest include a gangrenous hand, wax models of extinct diseases, deformed bones and body parts. [3:45]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Mushroom Madness
Find out what takes place at a mushroom conference where enthusiasts and scientists don't just talk about mushrooms. They eat them, make crafts, and go searching for them, too. Aired Sept. 14, 2012. [4:17]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Spinning Eggs in Space
NASA astronaut Don Pettit spent over five months on the International Space Station. That's a long time to be stuck in the office. To relax, he did science experiments that interested him--like testing whether raw and hard-boiled eggs...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Weeding Out and Dining In: Foraging With Tama Matsuoka Wong
Guided by professional forager and author, Tama Matsuoka Wong, Science Friday toured western New Jersey's meadows and forested trails to discover the native plants and invasive weeds that are used as culinary delicacies. [4:48]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Idea Factory: How Bell Labs Created the Future
Jon Gertner, author of The Idea Factory: Bell Labs and the Great Age of American Innovation, talks about the many revolutionary innovations that were developed at AT&T's Bell Labs, and how it came about that new ideas flourished...