Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: New Frontiers in Wireless Energy Transfer
A talk with a researcher who lit up a 60-watt bulb from seven feet away with no wires thinks he can make laptops and cell phones recharge themselves.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: What's a Planet, Anyway?
Even after astronomers voted to remove Pluto from the list of planets in our solar system in 2006, the controversy over what should be called a planet continues. Listen to this episode to find out why this is still an issue.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Mars Rovers Battle Storms on the Red Planet
In this segment, guest host Joe Palca checks in on the Mars rovers, and gets a preview of the Mars Phoenix mission.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Monarch Migration Molecular Mechanism
What drives monarch butterflies to undertake a mass migration, traveling thousands of miles to pine groves in Mexico? New research takes a look at a complex circadian clock mechanism in the butterfly brain, a molecular tool that allows...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: New Fcc Rules Give Consumers More Choice
Science Friday looks at the decision to require a certain amount of open access to one part of the radio spectrum, and what it could mean for wireless technology.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: New Research Sheds Light on Placebo Effect
What happens in the brain when you take a placebo? In this segment, Ira talks with a researcher using brain imaging studies to try to track down the root of the placebo effect.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Small and Unsafe? Concerns About Nanotechnology
A former EPA administrator talks with Ira about why he thinks the agency is not prepared to protect the environment from any hazards that nanotechnology might produce.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Investigating Katrina Hospital Deaths
Paul Raeburn talks with Dr. Sheri Fink about what happened at Memorial Medical Center after Katrina.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: New u.s. Climate Change Goals?
President Bush announced a set of national goals related to climate change and called for a stop to growth in greenhouse gas emissions by 2025. This episode talks about the goals proposed by the White House, and why some say they don't...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Funny Side of Global Warming?
Joe Palca talks with science cartoonist Sidney Harris to see how funny can serious science like climate change be.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Michael Pollan in Defense of Food
Science Friday talks with author Michael Pollan about his latest book, "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto." He suggests that people can improve their eating by following this simple rule: Don't eat anything that your...
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: A Return to Mercury After 33 Years
In this audio lecture, scientists are reviewing data from a flyby of the planet Mercury earlier this week. Learn how the MESSENGER spacecraft is collecting images and other data about the planet. [24:23]
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Science of Polling
What makes a poll reliable, and how should political and current issue polls be conducted? Find out with this episode of Science Friday.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Your Feedback: Science Election Issues
What issues should Presidential campaigns address? Science Friday solicits thoughts on the most important science-related issues in election campaigns.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Conflicts of Interest
How deep are the ties between on-campus research and private companies? By creating public/private partnerships involving academic research, are we risking scientific integrity?
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Tornado Outbreak
Science Friday discusses a tornado outbreak that killed more than fifty people in southern United States, and illustrates the conditions needed for tornado formation.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: The Zookeeper's Wife
Ira Flato talks with Diane Ackerman, author of The Zookeeper's Wife, a new book about the Holocaust, World War II, and the Warsaw Zoo.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Kepler Telescope Narrows Hunt for Earth's Twin
NASA's Kepler telescope has discovered the first Earth-sized exoplanets, and another which orbits its star in the "Goldilocks zone," where liquid water could exist.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Searching for a Ghost Bird
Tim Gallagher, editor of Cornell Lab of Ornithology's Living Bird magazine, describes an expedition to try to save the woodpecker, and talks about his own survival during the experience.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: What Grosses You Out?
Rachel Herz discusses her book That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion, and shares the origins of this general feeling of disgust as well as human attitudes toward gross things.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Nasa Probes Set to Orbit the Moon Over New Year's
During a NASA mission when twin probes were near the moon, the mission's chief scientist talked about its objective, to study lunar gravity.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Sizing Up Americans in the Weight of the Nation
Can a new documentary series help shrink America's growing weight problem?
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: Massive "Phoenix Cluster" Supersizes Star Creation
Astronomers have found a massive galaxy cluster that's making stars at a record pace.
Science Friday Initiative
Science Friday: What Would You Do for Science?
In this segment, we'll talk about some of the most bizarre science experiments of all time and check in with some of the people who participated in them.