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Channel • 21 Shows

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Life Sciences

Updated twice weekly
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Documentary

Updated weekly
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Weekly series
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Performing Arts

Updated daily
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Visual Arts

Updated 09/08/2017
Comedy Interviews

Comedy Interviews

Updated 23/10/2019
Documentary

Documentary

Updated 28/03/2025

24/01/2025

Trump Administration Cancels Meetings, Freezes Hiring At NIH | What Is A Meme Coin?

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health say the move has sent fear and confusion throughout the agency. Plus, what's the technology behind meme coins? Trump Administration Cancels Meetings, Freezes Hiring At NIHThis was President Trump’s first week back in the Oval Office. Along with issuing a flurry of executive orders, his administration has imposed a range of restrictions on the National Institutes of Health, affecting meetings, travel, hiring, funding, and communications. Scientists expressed alarm about what this could mean for ongoing research, with no clear timeline for if or when the freeze would be lifted. Flora Lichtman is joined by Casey Crownhart, climate editor at the MIT Technology Review, to catch up on this and other big science stories of the week, including what’s coming next this year for nuclear power, why a record amount of snow fell in the Southeast this week, and new research on the surprisingly complex biology of a manta ray tail. What Exactly Is A Meme Coin And How Does It Work?A few days before President Trump’s inauguration, he hosted a “crypto ball” in Washington, D.C. That night, he unveiled his very own meme coin—a kind of digital asset that has gained a reputation for facilitating scams. Soon after, first lady Melania Trump also launched her own meme coin. After its launch, Trump’s coin’s market capitalization reached billions of dollars. This isn’t the first time meme coins have gotten a lot of attention—you might remember Elon Musk joked about another one called Dogecoin on SNL in 2021—but it is the first time that this technology has been used by a sitting president. So what exactly is a meme coin anyway? How does the blockchain play into all this? And how might a president use it differently than an internet celebrity? To find out more, Flora Lichtman talks with Liz Lopatto, a senior writer at The Verge who covers cryptocurrency and business, about how this market started, how Trump could use meme coins, and where the crypto market could go next. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

24/01/2025

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24 min
26/04/2022

EPISODE 1: Meet the Sheridans

On a quiet cul-de-sac, a husband and wife of 47 years are stabbed to death in the stillness of dawn. Honest and unassuming, John Sheridan, famous for never raising his voice, played against type in the rough-and-tumble world of New Jersey politics. Could the Republican lobbyist have killed his wife Joyce—a veteran public school teacher and no-nonsense mother of four sons—then set their bedroom on fire before knifing himself? That’s the version of events authorities say happened in the early morning hours of September 28, 2014. But, in more ways than one, the theory doesn’t add up. Key voices interviewed in episode: Christine Todd Whitman, former Governor Chris Stevens, Joyce Sheridan’s best friend Bob Stevens, husband of Chris’ Stevens Mark Sheridan, eldest of the Sheridans’ four sons, lawyer for Governor Chris Christie's campaign and for the state Republican party for more than a decade Peter Sheridan, John’s younger brother and federal judge in Trenton since 2005 Mary Kay Roberts, hired by John Sheridan at Riker Danzig, a New Jersey law firm. Worked with him closely for a decade in the Trenton office John Farmer, a former state Attorney General and friend of John Sheridan who runs a political research center at Rutgers University

26/04/2022

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30 min
12/05/2023

The Experiment Introduces More Perfect

Host Julia Longoria is back with a new season of More Perfect, from WNYC Studios. We’re taught the Supreme Court was designed to be above the fray of politics. But at a time when partisanship seeps into every pore of American life, are the nine justices living up to that promise? More Perfect is a guide to the current moment on the Court. The show brings the highest court of the land down to earth, telling the human dramas at the Court that shape so many aspects of American life — from our religious freedom to our artistic expression, from our reproductive choices to our voice in democracy. In the season trailer, Julia returns to the place where she first fell in love with SCOTUS: high school. Subscribe to the podcast here. Supreme Court archival audio comes from Oyez®, a free law project by Justia and the Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law School. Support for More Perfect is provided in part by The Smart Family Fund. Follow the show on Instagram and Facebook @moreperfectpodcast, and Twitter @moreperfect.

12/05/2023

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8 min
13/11/2025

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 scavengers have collected bits and bobs of human history over the course of centuries. Scientists picked apart 12 vulture nests preserved in Spain and discovered a museum collection’s worth of objects, including a woven sandal that could be more than 700 years old. Host Flora Lichtman talks with study author Ana Belen Marín-Arroyo, an archaeologist who studies ancient humans, about how the nests are giving us a glimpse into vulture culture as well as the lives of the people they lived beside. Guest: Dr. Ana Belen Marín-Arroyo is an archeologist and professor of prehistory at the University of Cantabria in Spain. Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

13/11/2025

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13 min
03/01/2025

Scientists Predict Loss Of Deep Snow In Most Of U.S.

Researchers have projected that by the end of the century, days where snow covers the ground will virtually disappear in the United States, except for in very high mountains like the Rockies. This would affect entire ecosystems, disrupting animals and plants that live beneath the snow and increasing flooding and runoff. Ira talks with Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, about the latest snow projections and other top science news of the week, including the discovery of an ancient piece of clothing, how blinking can give you a “cognitive break,” and how dolphins could be using their teeth to improve hearing. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

03/01/2025

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13 min
23/10/2019 · BONUS

Introducing Scattered with Chris Garcia

Comedian Chris Garcia returns to WNYC Studios with his new podcast Scattered, which was inspired by his first appearance on 2 Dope Queens. Chris’s dad, Andres, was the centerpiece of his comedy act, and when he died two years ago, he had one dying wish: That his family scatter his ashes off the coast of Cuba -- the country he was born in, and the country that would break him. Chris Garcia’s mom? She doesn’t give a crap about dying wishes. She’s vowed to never go back to Cuba again. So for now, the ashes are sitting on a shelf in Chris’s closet, between a Paul McCartney record and a Gizmo Halloween mask. As Chris tries to do right by his dad, he sets out to uncover the truth about a man he barely knew, who survived Castro’s labor camps only to lose his way all over again in search of the American dream.

23/10/2019 · Bonus

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31 min
17/01/2025

2 Private Lunar Landers | Cervical Cancer Deaths Plummet, Experts Credit HPV Vaccine

The SpaceX rocket carries lunar landers from companies based in Texas and Japan. They could arrive at the moon in the coming months. HPV can cause a variety of cancers, including cervical. New mortality data for women under 25 point to the success of the HPV vaccine. Rocket Launches With Lunar Landers From 2 Private CompaniesOn Wednesday, a SpaceX rocket launched carrying payloads from two separate private companies hoping to achieve lunar landings. The pair of landers—one from Japanese company ispace, and one from Texas-based Firefly Aerospace—will take months to reach the moon. Firefly’s lander is scheduled to arrive first, in March, with ispace’s lander planned for a touchdown in late May or early June. Another SpaceX launch on Thursday, a test flight of the company’s Starship system, had mixed results. The booster returned to earth and was successfully “caught,” but the spacecraft exploded over the Caribbean shortly after launch. That explosion is under investigation. Jason Dinh, climate editor at Atmos in Washington, D.C., joins Ira to talk about the Wednesday launch and plans for private lunar exploration. They also discuss other stories from the week in science, including the ban of Red Dye #3 an AI approach to snake antivenom, and a study predicting a rise in US dementia cases by 2060. As Cervical Cancer Deaths Plummet, Experts Credit HPV VaccineIn 2006, a vaccine for the human papillomavirus (HPV) became widely available to adolescents. HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection, and it can cause cancers of the mouth, throat, and sexual organs. It’s also the cause of nearly every case of cervical cancer. Now, almost 20 years after the HPV vaccine was introduced, a study published in JAMA noted a 62% drop in deaths due to cervical cancer in women under 25 in the US: from 50 or 60 deaths per year to 13. This follows earlier research that noted a decrease in cervical precancer and cancer since the introduction of the vaccine. With HPV vaccine uptake at about 60% for adolescents aged 13-15, a higher uptake could virtually eliminate cervical cancer, experts say. However, childhood vaccination rates have dwindled since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, sparking concerns about the spread of preventable disease. Joining Flora Lichtman to talk about this latest study is lead author Dr. Ashish Deshmukh, professor of public health sciences and co-leader of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, South Carolina. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

17/01/2025

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25 min
29/01/2025

The Factors That Make Bird Sounds So Diverse Across The World

Birds are the master vocalists of the animal kingdom. They can make a remarkable variety of sounds. But why is a barred owl more of a baritone, while a cedar waxwing is a soprano? And what influences a bird’s vocal range, and the kinds of sounds it can make? Beak size? Body size? Geography? To answer some of these questions, researchers analyzed over 140,000 bird vocalizations from all over the world to try to peck out some kernels of knowledge about bird calls and songs. Their research was recently published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Zuzana Burivalova, assistant professor of forest & wildlife ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison about her latest research. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

29/01/2025

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17 min
29/07/2024

A History of the Palestinian Solidarity Movement Through One Activist's Life Story

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu’s July 24th address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress was skipped by roughly half of the Democratic caucus, including the party's new presidential candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. This marks a shift in Democratic Party politics around Israel and Palestine after nearly 10 months of mass protests across the country in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza. For many, it has been a first introduction to the U.S movement for Palestinian rights, but for Arab Americans across the country, it is the latest in a very long story of Arab American political engagement and its connection to U.S. policy in the Middle East. Arab American civil rights lawyer Abdeen Jabara was born in the small town of Mancelona, Michigan in 1940. Over the course of his life, he watched the Arab American community grow into a political group now at the forefront of the 2024 presidential election. In this episode, Jabara joins host Kai Wright and producer Suzanne Gaber to share the history of the community’s political organizing and its complicated relationship with the U.S. government – a history that includes how he discovered the government was illegally surveilling him and more than 150,000 other Arabs in the U.S. Find Notes From America's 2024 Summer Playlist, Your Politics Through Song, here. Tell us what you think. We're @noteswithkai on Instagram and X (Twitter). Email us at notes@wnyc.org. Send us a voice message by recording yourself on your phone and emailing us, or record one here. Notes from America airs live on Sundays at 6 p.m. ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts.

29/07/2024

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52 min
04/12/2018

The Unfinished Amendments with Kevin Devine

In More Perfect's final episode of the season, listen to liner notes for two amendments that contemplate the still-unfinished status of our Constitution. "27" is an album that marks a particular point in our history: this moment when we have 27 Amendments to our Constitution. What will be the 28th? Maybe it will address our nation's capital. The capital has been a bit of a Constitutional anomaly for much of our nation's history — it's at the heart of the democracy, but because it's not a state, people in Washington D.C. have been disenfranchised almost by accident. The 23rd Amendment solved some of the problem — it gave D.C. the right to vote for president. But it left much of D.C.'s representation questions unanswered. D.C. still does not have voting representation in Congress. Instead, D.C. sends a "non-voting delegate" to Congress. For this liner note, More Perfect profiles that delegate, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, and her unique approach to fighting for power in a virtually powerless role. The song for the 23rd Amendment is by The Mellow Tones, a group of students from D.C. high school Duke Ellington School of the Arts, along with their teacher Mark G. Meadows. The chorus, "Why won't you count on me?" reflects on the continued disenfranchisement of our nation's capital. The final amendment of the album, the 27th Amendment, put limits on Senators' ability to give themselves a pay raise, and it has arguably the most unusual path to ratification of all 27. The first draft for the amendment was written by none other than James Madison in 1789, but back then, it didn't get enough votes from the states for ratification. It wasn't until a college student named Gregory Watson awakened the dormant amendment centuries later that it was finally ratified. The 27th Amendment song is by Kevin Devine and tells Watson's story. In Season Three, More Perfect is taking our camera lens off the Supreme Court and zooming in on the words of the people: the 27 amendments that We The People have made to our Constitution. We're taking on these 27 amendments both in song and in story. This episode is best listened to alongside "27: The Most Perfect Album," an entire album (an ALBUM!) and digital experience of original music and art inspired by the 27 Amendments. Think of these episodes as the audio liner notes. You can listen to all of the songs on "27: The Most Perfect Album" on YouTube and watch music videos from the album. Follow us on Instagram, Threads and Facebook @moreperfectpodcast, and X (Twitter) @moreperfect.

04/12/2018

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24 min

WNYC is New York's public radio podcast home, producing award-winning shows like Radiolab, On the Media, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Science Friday, and more. Our podcasts bring groundbreaking journalism, unforgettable storytelling, and essential conversations to millions of listeners across the city and around the world.