Science Friday And WNYC Studios Podcasts

Can a honey badger beat a short-faced bear? Now’s your chance to compete with the wildest bracket.By SciFri

The Axial Seamount is a natural laboratory, helping scientists improve long-term eruption forecasts.By SciFri

NASA’s Sonification Project aims to turn astrophysics data into sound, enabling visually impaired people to engage with outer space.By SciFri

Farming fungi in forests could be a great source of low-carbon protein—and help sequester more carbon.By SciFri

Dr. Nicola Fox, previously the director of NASA’s heliophysics division, will shape the agency’s priorities.By SciFri

Whiskey fungus isn’t as fun as it sounds. Just ask Lincoln County, Tennessee.By SciFri

Can a honey badger beat a short-faced bear? Now’s your chance to compete with the wildest bracket.By SciFri

Can Medicine Move To Animal-Free Testing? Before a new drug can begin clinical trials in humans, it gets tested on animals. But things are changing. Late last year, Congress passed the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, which cleared the way for new drugs to skip animal testing. Can we expect to phase out animal testing altogether? Is it safe? And what tec…

The Latest IPCC Report Is Full Of Warnings—And Hope It’s that time of year: another IPCC report has hit the presses. These reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are like a check up—to let us know how we’re doing on the climate front and what Earth’s future is projected to look like. And to no one’s surprise, this year’s report …

How AI Is Changing The Pharmaceutical Research Pipeline by SciFriBy SciFri

A new, soft robotics material could usher in self-repairing prosthetics.By SciFri

Smart toilets are powered by AI to give users more insight into their health.By SciFri

The state will receive $2 billion dollars to reconnect the Mississippi River to its nearby marshes, but local shrimpers and oyster harvesters aren’t convinced.By SciFri

CITES, the pioneering international treaty ratified 50 years ago, aimed to regulate trade in wildlife species—and it’s still expanding.By SciFri

This critical element has been crucial to farming—and is also responsible for causing massive toxic algae blooms.By SciFri

Understanding how naked mole-rats are fertile for their whole lives may help answer questions about human reproduction.By SciFri

Stop Flushing Your Health Data Down The Toilet You could be flushing important information about your health right down the toilet—quite literally. Pee and poop can tell you a lot about your health, so what if your waste…didn’t go to waste? What if, instead, it could tell you more about your health? Like number one, it can catch a condition like di…

At Long Last, More Regulations For Forever Chemicals This week, the EPA proposed the first national standards for drinking water that would set limits on the amount of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) chemicals that would be allowed in water systems. There are thousands of different PFAS chemicals, which are often used industrially for pr…

Tips And Tricks To Grow Your Garden In A Changing Climate For many of us, spring is right around the corner—or already here—which means it’s time to start thinking about what is going into your garden this year. But largely thanks to climate change, our seasons are getting wonkier every year. Gardens are feeling the heat as climate change affects t…

Horticulturists weigh in on how you can best adapt your garden to new extremes.By SciFri

Despite Superconductor Breakthrough, Some Scientists Remain Skeptical This week, researchers unveiled a new superconductor which they say works at room temperature. Scientists have been working on identifying new superconductors for decades—materials that can transmit electricity without friction-like resistance. However, previously discovered supe…

The lake’s water level has significantly declined since the 1980s. But local scientists and politicians are optimistic they can save it before it’s too late.By SciFri

The new superconductor has exciting potential uses, but the team behind the breakthrough recently had another superconductor study retracted.By SciFri

Astrophysicists are divided over a new theory suggesting dark energy comes from supermassive black holes.By SciFri

Eli Lilly Finally Caps Cost Of Insulin by SciFriBy SciFri

A project aims to make large-scale solar plants more efficient and reliable.By SciFri

Scientists recruited the help of the emerald ash borers’ natural predator to keep their population in check.By SciFri

A new study shows the creaky voice effect some people love to hate is important for echolocation in the deep ocean.By SciFri

From multiverses to volcanoes, this year’s Academy Award nominees include many pictures where science drives the plot.By SciFri

Author Max Fisher takes a deep dive into how big tech has accumulated so much unchecked power.By SciFri

The maritime archeologist who found the storied wreck discusses the mission and his new book.By SciFri

Tiny red dots observed by the Webb telescope have some astronomers pondering theories of galactic formation.By SciFri

Insulin Maker Eli Lilly Finally Caps The Drug’s Cost In 1923, drug manufacturer Eli Lilly became the first company to commercialize insulin. Since then, its cost has skyrocketed. But this week, the company announced that it is capping the cost of insulin at $35. This comes as a huge relief to many Americans, since insulin has become the face of pha…

Inside The ‘Chaos Machine’ Of Social Media Despite social media’s early promises to build a more just and democratic society, over the past several years, we’ve seen its propensity to easily spread hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. Online platforms have even played a role in organizing violent acts in the real world, like genocide aga…

The three voice registers of a bottlenose dolphin in sequence. First a few echolocation clicks (M0 register), followed by “bursts” in the M1 register and finally a “whistle” in the M2 register. Credit: Coen Elemans, University of Southern Denmark & Peter Madsen, Aarhus UniversityBy SciFri

Calls by a killer whale (Orcinus orca) consistent with three voice registers. First a few echolocation clicks (M0 register), followed by a call and a “whistle” that are probably in the M1 and M2 register, respectively. Credit: Olga Filatova, University of Southern DenmarkBy SciFri

Eyes On A Court Case Over Medication Abortion by SciFriBy SciFri

An engineered wooden wrapper helps seeds bury themselves in damp soil.By SciFri

From the stars to cicadas, this self-taught Black scientist left a long legacy.By SciFri

A conversation with rapper and academic Sammus about what the intersections between hip-hop and AI mean for music.By SciFri

The Oscar-nominated documentary follows two brothers on their mission to save black kites.By SciFri

A groundbreaking policy passed three decades ago ordered institutions to return Native American remains. Many have failed to do so.By SciFri