Podcast
Science Friday
Hosted by Science Friday · EN
Science Friday, as heard on PRI, is a weekly discussion of the latest news in science, technology, health, and the environment hosted by Ira Flatow. Ira interviews scientists, authors, and policymakers, and listeners can call in and ask questions as well.
47episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
1356: The reality of living with extreme heat in India
Today00:14:52Tap to summarizeAt one point this year, the 50 hottest cities on the planet were all in one country: India. The average peak temperature in those cities was 112 F. India is one of the most climate vulnerable countries in the world, and weather disasters, such as heat waves, have become more extreme and more common in recent years. So how is this extreme heat affecting people in India? And what needs to change to keep people safe? Flora speaks with Gulrez Azhar, a physician and researcher who has spent much of his career studying the health impacts of heat waves in India. Guest:Dr. Gulrez Azhar is a physician and researcher studying the health impacts of heat waves in India. Other episodes you may enjoy:The Alarming Impacts Of Extreme HeatExtreme Heat Is Making Learning—And Teaching—More DifficultTranscripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1355: Tracking shark populations, one shark at a time
Yesterday00:18:44Tap to summarizeAbout 130 days a year, a research vessel leaves Miami and sets out to catch, measure, sample, tag, and release sharks in Florida’s coastal waters. Over the course of a year, they’ll encounter about 600 animals in a process called “fisheries independent monitoring,” an effort to gather data on sea creatures that isn’t skewed by changes in fishing procedures, equipment, or regulations. Marine conservation biologist Catherine Macdonald leads the lab behind that effort. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about shark conservation, share stories from her research, and spread shark joy. Guest:Dr. Catherine Macdonald is a marine conservation biologist and director of the Shark Research and Conservation Program, part of the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami.Other episodes you may enjoy:What Greenland Sharks Are Teaching Us About Aging EyesFishing For—And Saving—Sharks off the Jersey ShoreTranscripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1354: The Black women codebreakers of the Cold War
2d ago00:12:43Tap to summarizeDuring the early Cold War era, the United States Army and later the NSA began recruiting and training codebreakers and intelligence officers to decipher intercepted Soviet messages.Among those recruits were a group of highly skilled Black women who were employed as cryptologists to decode these messages. But their role in Cold War intelligence operations has been largely overlooked, until now.Host Flora Lichtman talks with historian Sarah Valentine about her book, “Decoding the Devil: Black Women Codebreakers and the Secret War Against Stalin’s Bomb.”Read an excerpt of “Decoding the Devil.”Guest:Dr. Sarah Valentine is the author of “Decoding the Devil: Black Women Codebreakers and the Secret War Against Stalin’s Bomb.”Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1353: Asha de Vos’ journey from deck hand to marine science leader
5d ago00:18:39Tap to summarizeThe tropical waters of Sri Lanka, an island off the coast of India, are home to a population of blue whales unlike any other. These whales stay put, while every other known population migrates. That discovery was made by budding scientist Asha de Vos more than 20 years ago—it made a splash, and so did she. She later became the first Sri Lankan to earn a PhD studying marine mammals, charting a new scientific path in her country.De Vos joined Host Flora Lichtman in 2025 to discuss her path into science, what it means to be the first in her field, and how she built a marine biology program from the ground up.Guest:Dr. Asha de Vos is a marine biologist and the founder and executive director of the non-profit Oceanswell. She’s based in Sri Lanka.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1352: Why worry about my data If I have nothing to hide?
6d ago00:16:11Tap to summarizeIn the last couple months, Vermont, Alabama, and Oklahoma have passed data privacy laws. Massachusetts is negotiating its own version. Meanwhile, congressional lawmakers have introduced national privacy bills that would preempt these state laws.In light of all this legislation, we’re revisiting an interview from February about how the United States’ data ecosystem makes it possible for any number of government agencies and businesses to buy our private data, from facial scans to health records to location tracking.Host Flora Lichtman talks with law professor and tech policy expert Laura Moy, who has testified in Congress about privacy laws and how data brokers profit off of personal data.Guest:Laura Moy is an associate professor of law at Georgetown Law, based in Washington, D.C.Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1351: Peering through dust clouds to the center of the galaxy
1w ago00:30:40Tap to summarizeIn 2020, Andrea Ghez shared the Nobel Prize for her observations of a supermassive compact object at the center of the Milky Way galaxy—an object that has all the hallmarks of a supermassive black hole. Ghez had developed techniques that allowed her to peer through galactic dust clouds with the Keck telescopes and observe the movements of stars orbiting the galactic center. Measuring their velocity and orbits provided information about the galactic core. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about this game-changing discovery, what we’ve learned about the galactic center, and her own orbit in science. Guest:Dr. Andrea Ghez is a Nobel Laureate in Physics (2020) and a professor of physics & astronomy at UCLA.Other episodes you may enjoy:The Monster At The Heart Of The Milky WayA Mysterious Gas Is Discovered In The Milky WayTranscripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1350: Why a paper about relocating coastal communities hit a nerve
1w ago00:12:18Tap to summarizeBack in May, a paper published in Nature Sustainability reignited a decades-old debate about coastal Louisiana: Should people leave? Climate researchers wrote that due to rising sea levels, coastal Louisiana has crossed the point of no return and that governments should be making plans now for places like New Orleans to relocate.Jessica Dandridge-Smith, who runs The Water Collaborative in New Orleans, speaks with Flora about why this paper sparked such a strong reaction, and how she thinks about the possibility of relocation. Then, we chat with climate scientist A.R. Siders about how we can plan for the future while taking care of our communities in the present.Guests:Jessica Dandridge-Smith is the executive director of The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans.Dr. A.R. Siders is an associate professor at the University of Delaware studying climate adaptations. Other episodes you may enjoy:In Louisiana, A Chance To Study A Successful, Growing WetlandSave The Wetlands, Save The WorldTranscripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1349: How do you piece together what life was like in Pompeii?
1w ago00:22:14Tap to summarizePompeii is known for its disastrous end with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but for archeologists, what came before is just as interesting. Researchers are using artifacts left behind in the remarkably well-preserved Roman city to piece together what life was like for the thousands of people who lived there 2,000 years ago. A new book and television show analyze some of these clues to tell the stories of the ordinary people who faced this extraordinary event. Flora speaks with archaeobotanist Jess Venner, author of “The Lost Voices of Pompeii,” and actor Tom Hiddleston, host of National Geographic’s “Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston.”Read an excerpt from “The Lost Voices of Pompeii: Life and Death on Pompeii’s Final Day”Guests:Dr. Jess Venner is an archaeobotanist at the University of Oxford and author of “The Lost Voices of Pompeii.”Tom Hiddleston is an actor and producer, and host of National Geographic’s “Pompeii: Out of Time with Tom Hiddleston.”Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1348: Hold the lettuce: Updates on the 'explosive' cyclospora outbreak
2w ago00:12:22Tap to summarizeAn outbreak of the foodborne illness cyclosporiasis has sent thousands of people running to the bathroom this summer. Health officials have linked the outbreak to lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in five states, but there are still a lot of unanswered questions. Food safety expert Byron Chaves joins Flora to talk about the “explosive” nature of the illness and why pinpointing a source of the parasite has been so difficult.Guest:Dr. Byron Chaves is an associate extension specialist and professor in the Department of Food Science at Rutgers University in New Jersey. Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →
1347: A space telescope launch + Alvin submersible check-up
2w ago00:17:55Tap to summarizeThe Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled for an early launch at the end of August. It will rest about a million miles from Earth at Lagrange point 2, where forces of gravity and motion balance out, allowing it to orbit the sun in sync with the Earth. The Roman Telescope is designed to collect masses of data that could inform questions about dark energy, dark matter, and exoplanets. Jackie Townsend, project manager for the mission, joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss the telescope’s backstory, and what scientists hope it will do.Then, turning from deep space to deep oceans, Anthony Tarantino of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution joins Flora to describe the recent maintenance and recertification process for the famous Alvin deep-sea submersible. It’s more than an oil change: The process involves disassembling the vehicle down to the bare frame. Guests:Jackie Townsend is project manager for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope mission. She’s based at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Anthony Tarantino is program manager for the Alvin Group at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.Other episodes you may enjoy:Mars Rover, Move Over: Making A Rover To Explore The Deep SeaListening for the cosmic ‘dark ages,’ from the lunar far sideTranscripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at .Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.99% of people are being fed 'pop-science' garbage.If you want the real intelligence without the digital tracking, you just found the exit. Bypass the system noise now.🔴 INITIALIZE SECURE DOWNLOAD⚪ GET THE UNFILTERED ARCHIVE
Transcribe →