Science Friday
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Science Friday
Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff.
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Can Animal Super-Agers Teach Us Their Secrets?
Some animals have a very different relationship to aging than we do: They don’t get cancer, they never go through menopause, and they live absurdly lo...
How Alphafold Has Changed Biology Research, 5 Years On
Proteins are crucial for life. They're made of amino acids that “fold” into millions of different shapes. And depending on their structure, they do ra...
How A Woodpecker Pecks Wood, And How Ants Crown A Queen
If you’ve heard the hammering of a woodpecker in the woods, you might have wondered how the birds can be so forceful. What does it take to whack your...
Memories Change. But Can We Change Them On Purpose?
Our memories make us who we are—just ask Barbra Streisand. But despite the lyrics in many popular songs, memories aren’t frozen in time. When we call...
Bearded Vulture Nests Hold Trove Of Centuries-Old Artifacts
Bearded vultures build giant, elaborate nests that are passed down from generation to generation. And according to a new study, some of these scavenge...
Why The Bassist From Phish Is Funding Research Into ‘Flow State’
The band Phish has toured for over 40 years. One of the draws of their legendary live shows—which can go on for 8 hours—is finding moments of “flow,”...
Even Nobel Prize Winners Deal With Imposter Syndrome
Around 25 years ago, Ardem Patapoutian set out to investigate the fundamental biology behind our sense of touch. Through a long process of gene elimin...
Study Finds COVID mRNA Vaccines Boost Cancer Treatment
Over the last five years, billions of people have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. New research has found an unanticipated resul...
Were Dinos On Their Way Out Before The Asteroid Hit? Maybe Not
One of the biggest debates in the dinosaur world is what was happening right before they went extinct. Were they already declining, or would they have...
Is There Such A Thing As Too Much Resolution On A TV?
As Black Friday approaches, you’re probably being inundated with ads for bigger, better televisions. But just how good is good enough? Are there limit...
Can A Billion-Dollar Barricade Keep Carp Out Of The Great Lakes?
Decades ago, non-native carp were brought onto fish farms on the Mississippi River to control algae and parasites. They escaped, thrived, and eventual...
Inside The Race To Save Wild Axolotls
Axolotls are one of the most charismatic and beloved amphibians out there. But did you know that there’s only one place in the whole world where you c...
Endometriosis Is Common. Why Is Getting Diagnosed So Hard?
Endometriosis is a painful disease that occurs when endometrium-like tissue grows outside of the uterus. It’s extremely common—if you have a uterus, y...
Why Hasn’t Wave Energy Gotten Its Sea Legs Yet?
We've figured out how to harness renewable energy from many natural systems, like solar, wind, and geothermal power. But what about the ocean’s waves?...
A Halloween Monster Mashup, And A Spooky Lakes Tour
For Halloween, we bring you an ode to three quintessentially creepy creatures: bats, arachnids, and snakes. First, bat researcher Elena Tena joins Hos...
What Happens To Your Digital Presence After You Die?
There’s an established playbook for getting one’s affairs in order before death—create a will, name legal guardians, and so on. But there’s also a new...
Why Morbid Curiosity Is So Common—And So Fun
At first blush, the plots of many horror movies don’t seem particularly appealing. Take “The Shining”: A murderous psychopath tries to kill his family...
Peanut Allergies In Kids Are Finally On The Decline
For decades, peanut allergies were on the rise in the US. But a study released on October 20 found that peanut allergies in babies and young children...
How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other?
Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have the...
A Lab-Grown Salmon Taste Test And More Foodie Innovations
After years of development, lab-grown fish is taste-test ready for the public. Four restaurants in the US are serving up cultivated salmon made by the...
What Did It Feel Like To Be An Early Human?
Do science documentaries need a refresh? What if the goal wasn’t just teaching you something, but making you feel something? A new series from the BBC...
TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD
TikTok and other social media sites are full of mental health content—often short, grabby, first-person videos detailing symptoms for conditions like...
Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And Play
We’re taking a polar plunge into the science of sea unicorns, also known as narwhals!
Narwhals are mysterious arctic whales with long, twirly tu...
Have Astrophysicists Spotted Evidence For ‘Dark Stars’?
Astrophysicists may have spotted evidence for “dark stars,” an unusual type of star that could possibly have existed in the earliest days of the unive...
AI Was Supposed To Discover New Drugs. Where Are They?
AI is everywhere these days, and though there’s debate about how useful it is, one area where experts think it could be game-changing is scientific re...
How Math Helps Us Map The World
It’s easy to take maps for granted. After all, most of us have a pretty good map in our pockets at all times, ready to show us how to get anywhere on...
The Science Of Replacing Body Parts, From Hair To Hearts
It seems like every week, there’s a new headline about some kind of sci-fi-esque organ transplant. Think eyeballs, 3D-printed kidneys, pig hearts.
It’s Not Just You—Bad Food Habits Are Hard To Shake
Remember “The Biggest Loser”—the show where people tried to lose as much weight as quickly as possible for a big cash prize? The premise of the show w...
100 Years Later, Quantum Science Is Still Weird
In July 1925, physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter to Wolfgang Pauli sharing his new ideas about what would eventually become known as quantum t...
An Off-The-Grid Nobel Win, And Antibiotics In Ancient Microbes
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three people whose combined discoveries outlined the role of the peripheral immune system—ho...
World Space Week And Promising Climate Tech Companies
It’s World Space Week, and we’re fueling up the rocket for a tour of some missions and projects that could provide insights into major space mysteries...
The Story Behind The Largest Dam Removal In U.S. History
The Klamath River, which runs from southern Oregon to California, used to be a top salmon run. But after a series of hydroelectric dams was installed...
How Archaeologists Try To Smell, Hear, And Taste The Past
Archeologists in movies have a reputation for being hands-on, like Indiana Jones unearthing hidden treasure, or Lara Croft running through a temple. A...
Moth Survival Strategies And A Rodent Thumbnail Mystery
If you’re a moth trying to stay uneaten, there are competing strategies. Some moths rely on camouflage, trying to blend in. Other moths take the oppos...
As The CDC Falters, How Do We Fill Public Health Gaps?
Our country’s public health system is ailing. With layoffs and leadership changes at the CDC, changing vaccine guidelines, a government shutdown, and...
Anthropologists Have A Bone To Pick With New Skull Finding
There’s fresh drama in the field of human origins! A new analysis of an ancient hominid skull from China challenges what we thought we knew about our...
Remembering Primatologist Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall, renowned primatologist, conservationist, and humanitarian, died on October 1 at the age of 91. Goodall was born in London in 1934, and h...
What Do We Know About SSRI Antidepressant Withdrawal?
Roughly 1 in 10 Americans take antidepressants. The most common type is SSRIs, or selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, like Prozac, Lexapro, and...
Asha de Vos’ Journey From Deck Hand To Marine Science Leader
The 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, w...
Why Painters Are Obsessed With The Duck Stamp Art Contest
In mid-September, artists from around the country convened in Laurel, Maryland, for one of the splashiest events in the wildlife art world: the Federa...