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Updated twice weekly
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Updated 09/08/2017
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Updated 13/10/2023
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4 DAYS AGO

How China Is Driving Down Electricity Costs With Renewables

In a speech last week in a speech at the World Economic Forum, President Trump said China was making a lot of wind turbines, but not using much wind power in their own country. Is that right? China studies professor Jeremy Wallace joins Host Ira Flatow to talk about the renewable energy landscape in China. They’ll dig into how China is flooding the world with affordable solar technology, making it the cheapest form of electricity in history. Plus, what energy tech China is manufacturing, what it's using domestically, and what it's exporting. Guest: Dr. Jeremy Wallace is the A. Doak Barnett Professor of China Studies at Johns Hopkins University 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.

4 days ago

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13 min
1 JAN

Your Cells Are Always Building A Whole New You

In the last year, you’ve basically replaced your body weight in new cells. So yes, it’s a new year, new you. To ring in 2026, we’re talking about starting anew, and drawing inspiration from tiny worms that embody the ultimate growth mindset—they can regrow a whole body from just a tiny piece of their tail. In this festive episode, Host Flora Lichtman talks with biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, a pioneer in the field of regeneration, about the science of regeneration and the biology lessons we can carry into the new year. Guest: Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is a biologist and president and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri. 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.

1 Jan

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18 min
18/04/2025

Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—Maybe | A Colossal Squid Video

The Webb Space Telescope picked up traces of dimethyl sulfide on planet K2-18b. On Earth, the molecule comes from microbes and phytoplankton. Also, researchers captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid swimming in its natural habitat—almost 2,000 feet deep. Possible Signature Of Life Detected On Exoplanet—MaybeIn major galactic news, scientists may have detected possible signs of life on a planet right here in our galaxy. Is this one of the best hints we’ve gotten that alien life exists? Host Flora Lichtman gets into it with Anil Oza, the Sharon Begley Science Reporting Fellow at STAT and MIT. They discuss the latest in alien life, the Trump’s administration cuts to the “indirect costs” of science funding, the largest map of a brain yet, and how salmon on anti-anxiety meds make bolder choices. A Colossal Squid Video? That’s A Big DealThis week, scientists announced that they had captured the first confirmed video of a colossal squid in its natural habitat, recorded some 1,968 feet (600 m) below the ocean surface near the South Sandwich Islands. While there have been sightings of the colossal squid before, they have mainly been of individuals entangled with fishing equipment—and much of what is known about the elusive creatures comes from dead specimens. The video was captured by scientists on board the R/V Falkor (too) during an Ocean Census expedition searching for new marine life. As the remotely operated vehicle SuBastian descended towards the ocean floor, its cameras caught sight of a juvenile squid roughly one foot long (30 cm), and captured over a minute of high resolution video. The footage was later analyzed by experts and determined to be a colossal squid. Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to 23 feet (7 m) in length and can weigh as much as 1,100 pounds (500 kg), making them the heaviest invertebrate on the planet. They are not the same as the giant squid, an entirely different species, which can grow to be longer but are lighter and slimmer. Dr. Kat Bolstad, one of the squid experts the researchers sent their videos to for identification, joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the sighting. 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.

18/04/2025

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24 min
09/11/2024

Author Colm Toibin on James Baldwin’s Interiority

Award-winning Irish writer Colm Toibin has long admired James Baldwin, ever since he read “Go Tell It on the Mountain" as a teenager, and has now written a book about him called simply “On James Baldwin.” When he picked “Go Tell It on the Mountain" from a shelf years ago, Toibin hadn’t heard or read anything about the novel, one of Baldwin’s most famous works. And without any pretense, he found himself immersed in the book’s words and characters. Reading it later in life as an accomplished author and professor, Toibin’s respect grew for Baldwin’s skill at depicting the human experience defined by interiority rather than external events. Toibin shares his insights with host Razia Iqbal, and describes how Baldwin managed to satisfy so many different kinds of readers — giving them a diversity of ideas and perspectives to take away from the pages. Toibin is the author of 11 novels, including “The Master,” “Brooklyn” and “Nora Webster.” He's also written essays, journalism and a book of poetry. His work's been shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times and he has won the Costa Novel Award and the Impact Award. He writes regularly for the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the New York Times and many other publications. He is the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman Professor of the Humanities at Columbia University in New York, where we sat with him in his office, teeming with books, papers, and as you’ll hear, a love for Baldwin. 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.

09/11/2024

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30 min
12/03/2025

How Narwhals Use Their Tusks To Hunt And Play | This Week's ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse

An international team of researchers used drones to study narwhals and learn more about their behavior. And, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across most of North and South America in the early morning hours of March 14. New Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And PlayWe’re taking a polar plunge into the science of sea unicorns, also known as narwhals! Narwhals are mysterious arctic whales with long, twirly tusks protruding from their foreheads, like a creature out of a fairy tale. And it turns out that we don’t know too much about them, partly because they live so far north in the remote Arctic. An international team of researchers used drones to observe narwhals in the wild and learned new things about their behavior, including how they use their tusks to hunt and play. Host Flora Lichtman gets on the horn with Dr. Gregory O’Corry-Crowe, research professor and biologist at Florida Atlantic University, who was an author on the new narwhal study, published last month in Frontiers in Marine Science. How To See The ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse This WeekEarly on Friday, March 14 (or super late on Thursday, March 13, depending on your time zone) people across the U.S. will be able to watch a total lunar eclipse, if skies are clear. The partial eclipse will begin at 1:09 a.m. Eastern time on Friday the 14th, with totality lasting from 2:26 to 3:31 a.m. Eastern. Astronomer Dean Regas joins Host Flora Lichtman to tell us what to expect, and share some tips for comfortable lunar eclipse viewing. 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.

12/03/2025

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17 min
13/03/2025

How Plants Powered Prehistoric Giants Millions Of Years Ago

When you imagine prehistoric life, it’s likely that the first thing that comes to mind are dinosaurs: long-necked Apatosauruses, flying Pterosaurs, big toothy Tyrannosaurs. But what don’t get as much attention are the prehistoric plants that lived alongside them. Plants, shrubs, and trees played a key part in the food chains of dinosaurs, and many dinosaurs evolved to match the plant life available to them. The Apatosaurus’ long neck, for example, developed to reach leaves high up in prehistoric trees. Joining Host Flora Lichtman to defend the importance of prehistoric plants is Riley Black, author of the new book When the Earth Was Green: Plants, Animals and Evolution’s Greatest Romance. She’s based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Read an excerpt from When the Earth Was Green at sciencefriday.com. 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.

13/03/2025

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19 min
11/03/2025

Where Have All The Butterflies Gone?

A sweeping new study on one of the most beloved insects, maybe the only truly beloved insect—the butterfly—details its rapid population decline in the United States. The new research, published in the journal Science widens the butterfly net and looks at how more than 500 species have fared over the past 20 years. Researchers found that many populations are taking a nosedive. What’s causing the downswing, and is there anything we can do? Host Flora Lichtman talks with two of the study authors, Dr. Elise Zipkin, Red Cedar distinguished professor of quantitative ecology and director of the ecology, evolution and behavior program at Michigan State University; and Dr. Nick Haddad, professor of integrative biology also at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. 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.

11/03/2025

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18 min
14/03/2025

Pi, Anyone? A Celebration Of Math And What’s New

It’s March 14, or Pi Day, that day of the year where we celebrate the ratio that makes a circle a circle. The Greek letter that represents it is such a part of our culture that it merits our irrational attention. Joining Host Ira Flatow to help slice into our pi’s is Dr. Steven Strogatz, professor of math at Cornell University and co-host of Quanta Magazine’s podcast “The Joy Of Why.” They talk about how pi was “discovered,” the ways it’s figuring into recent science, and how AI is changing the field of mathematics. 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.

14/03/2025

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18 min
12/09/2025

The Human Obsession With Aliens Goes Way, Way Back

A video shown on Capitol Hill on September 9 reportedly shows an American hellfire missile attacking and simply bouncing off a UAP (the military term for a UFO). When videos like this come out, speculation about aliens often follows. But our obsession with aliens isn’t new—and it didn’t begin with 1950s alien invasion movies like “The Day The Earth Stood Still,” or even with Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” mock news bulletins of the 1930s. As science reporter Becky Ferreira writes in her upcoming book, First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens, humans have been fascinated with the potential for alien life for about as long we’ve been around. She joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss how our views of beings from other worlds changed throughout the millennia, and where we’re at now with scientific exploration of life beyond Earth. Plus, science journalist Umair Irfan joins Ira to share other stories from the week in science, including what’s going on in a decision-making brain, the trouble with vector-borne illnesses, and the unusual tale of an ant queen that breeds ants of another species. Read an excerpt of First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens. Guests: Becky Ferreira is a science reporter at 404 Media and author of First Contact: The Story Of Our Obsession With Aliens. Umair Irfan is a senior correspondent at Vox, based in Washington, D.C. 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.

12/09/2025

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25 min
22/01/2025

This January, See A ‘Planet Parade’ In The Night Sky

Rejoice, amateur and professional astronomers: This January is a fantastic time for looking up at the sky. The flashiest event of the season is also one of the easiest to see without binoculars or a telescope. A “parade of planets”—Venus, Saturn, Jupiter, and Mars—will be visible, and recognizable by their incredible brightness against the night sky. Uranus and Neptune will also be visible, but with a telescope. This string of planets will be visible for all of January. Additionally, the ATLAS comet, discovered last year by NASA’s Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System, has come close enough to the sun—8.3 million miles away—to be visible with binoculars or a telescope. Be careful, though: looking at sunrise or sunset could hurt your eyes. Astronomer Dean Regas, host of the podcast “Looking Up with Dean Regas,” joins Ira from Cincinnati, Ohio, to discuss the best things the winter night sky has to offer this year, with or without a telescope. 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.

22/01/2025

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18 min

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