Science Friday

4,789
Science #9Astronomy #1

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.

Recent Episodes
  • Forecasting Cuts Spark Worries About Hurricane Season | Soothing Babies With Music
    Apr 3, 2025 – 00:17:16
  • Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below
    Apr 2, 2025 – 00:17:55
  • TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD
    Apr 1, 2025 – 00:18:09
  • Engineering Lessons One Year After The Baltimore Bridge Collapse
    Mar 31, 2025 – 00:18:34
  • 23andMe Bankruptcy | A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll
    Mar 28, 2025 – 00:24:28
  • AI Word Choice | When Dwarf Lemurs Hibernate, Their Chromosomes Do Something Odd
    Mar 27, 2025 – 00:24:27
  • Developing Faster, Simpler Tools To Treat Tuberculosis
    Mar 26, 2025 – 00:18:27
  • Author John Green On The Many Ways Tuberculosis Shaped Human Life
    Mar 25, 2025 – 00:19:00
  • DESI Data Strengthens Evidence Of Change In Dark Energy
    Mar 24, 2025 – 00:18:20
  • NASA Astronauts Return To Earth After Extended Stay On The ISS | Bottle "Pop" Physics
    Mar 21, 2025 – 00:19:02
  • The Evolving Science Of How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adults | Butterfly Memories
    Mar 20, 2025 – 00:18:48
  • How NIH Cuts Could Affect U.S. Biomedical Research
    Mar 19, 2025 – 00:18:30
  • Fungi Create Complex Supply Chains | A Rookie Robot Umpire Takes The Field
    Mar 18, 2025 – 00:18:58
  • 10% Of NOAA Staff Laid Off | Frozen Funds Leave Farmers In Limbo
    Mar 17, 2025 – 00:25:06
  • Pi, Anyone? A Celebration Of Math And What’s New
    Mar 14, 2025 – 00:18:22
  • How Plants Powered Prehistoric Giants Millions Of Years Ago
    Mar 13, 2025 – 00:18:40
  • How Narwhals Use Their Tusks To Hunt And Play | This Week's ‘Blood Moon’ Lunar Eclipse
    Mar 12, 2025 – 00:16:54
  • Where Have All The Butterflies Gone?
    Mar 11, 2025 – 00:17:33
  • What Does Dismantling USAID Mean For Global Health?
    Mar 10, 2025 – 00:18:25
  • Protesters ‘Stand Up For Science’ At Rallies Nationwide | Blue Ghost Lunar Lander
    Mar 7, 2025 – 00:27:55
  • The Effort To Save Thousands Of Donor Kidneys | Ocean Liner Will Become An Artificial Reef
    Mar 6, 2025 – 00:18:36
  • Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away?
    Mar 5, 2025 – 00:18:29
  • An Animal’s Size And Its Cancer Risk | Bastetodon, A 30 Million-Year-Old Apex Predator
    Mar 4, 2025 – 00:17:41
  • How Trump’s DEI Ban Will Affect Medical Research
    Mar 3, 2025 – 00:18:36
  • Conflicting Directives Sow Confusion For NIH Workers | The Mycobiome
    Feb 28, 2025 – 00:25:02
  • The Best Tail For Balance | Bindi Irwin Wants Kids To Become ‘Wildlife Warriors’
    Feb 27, 2025 – 00:22:37
  • A Vaccine For Pancreatic Cancer Continues To Show Promise
    Feb 26, 2025 – 00:17:50
  • Why Are Flu And Other Viral Infection Rates So High This Year?
    Feb 25, 2025 – 00:18:09
  • Making Sense Of Federal Cuts To Science—And What Comes Next
    Feb 24, 2025 – 00:17:49
  • Tomb Of Egyptian King Unearthed | Why The Internet Was Captivated By A Hideous Fish
    Feb 21, 2025 – 00:20:25
  • What Happens To Your Body When You’re Grieving
    Feb 20, 2025 – 00:18:14
  • Can Men and Women (Baboons) Really Just Be Friends? | The Best Bear Deterrent May Be Drones
    Feb 19, 2025 – 00:19:05
  • Adventures In Science At The Icy ‘Ends Of The Earth’
    Feb 18, 2025 – 00:18:14
  • FDA Approves A New, Non-Opioid Painkiller | Deep, Multi-Layer Oceans On Uranus And Neptune?
    Feb 17, 2025 – 00:24:18
  • Most Powerful Neutrino Ever Is Detected In the Mediterranean | Nerdy Valentines
    Feb 14, 2025 – 00:17:01
  • ‘Common Side Effects’ And An All-Healing Mushroom | The Unique Smell Of Snow
    Feb 13, 2025 – 00:18:27
  • Investigating Fraud At The Heart Of Alzheimer’s Research
    Feb 12, 2025 – 00:18:30
  • Managing Wildfires Using A Centuries-Old Indigenous Practice
    Feb 11, 2025 – 00:17:12
  • Can Vaping Help You Quit Cigarettes? What Are The Risks?
    Feb 10, 2025 – 00:18:32
  • How Lucy Runs On A Virtual Treadmill | Comparing DeepSeek’s AI To Other Models
    Feb 7, 2025 – 00:26:09
  • Scientists Create Glowing ‘RNA Lanterns’ With Bioluminescence
    Feb 6, 2025 – 00:18:21
  • What’s Next For Quantum Computing In 2025?
    Feb 5, 2025 – 00:18:22
  • Building Blocks Of Life Found On Asteroid Bennu
    Feb 4, 2025 – 00:18:33
  • The Toxic Aftermath Of An Urban Fire
    Feb 3, 2025 – 00:18:32
  • Strain Of Bird Flu Discovered In California | Understanding Bipolar Disorder Through The Genome
    Jan 31, 2025 – 00:24:21
  • The Science Of Thriving In Winter—By Embracing It
    Jan 30, 2025 – 00:18:32
  • The Factors That Make Bird Sounds So Diverse Across The World
    Jan 29, 2025 – 00:16:46
  • Can Paxlovid Relieve Long COVID Symptoms? For Some, Yes
    Jan 28, 2025 – 00:18:16
  • AI Is Coming Up With Brand New Molecules, Fueling Drug Discovery
    Jan 27, 2025 – 00:19:00
  • Trump Administration Cancels Meetings, Freezes Hiring At NIH | What Is A Meme Coin?
    Jan 24, 2025 – 00:23:58
Recent Reviews
  • JohnTheAthiest
    One of my favs
    I really love this show and learn something new every week. Unfortunately I can’t catch it live, so it’s wonderful to have somewhere to go to catch it
  • ScottieEric
    Bye Bye
    They didn’t get the message? Trying to justify DEI, abortion, and criminal behavior. It’s all been canceled ladies. Unsubscribing after about 25 years. You will be looking for a new job soon.
  • alikoz
    Always fun and interesting
    I learn something new every time I listen. This is a fun show that makes me think. I love injecting a little science into my week with Science Friday.
  • Random Nickname 27376467
    Excessive Amount of Ads
    I used to enjoy this podcast every Friday when it was two one hour episodes. I would relax and listen to each. Now it's broken into a bunch of short segments that are overloaded with ads. For a show that wouldn't even exist without funding from NPR this is, quite frankly, outrageously greedy. I stopped listening when this happened. It is unpleasant now.
  • Nick of Chicago
    If i had 30mins to listen to any podcast …
    Concise, fun, informative. Nice balance of stories to remain up to date.
  • Amy V Chicago
    Indispensable
    Keep up on your science news from every discipline there is with this decades old staple!
  • BCguy94
    Staple podcast
    Sci Fri is a staple for me. It’s an excellent way to keep up with scientific developments and information in bite-size episodes.
  • One thankful mommy
    Just started and can’t stop
    I recently started listening to podcasts and have been scrolling through many. However, Science Friday with Ira Flatow stands out as a reliable and educational source of news. I listened to one episode and was instantly hooked. Now, I can’t stop. Thank you!
  • wiator
    Politically Woke
    I followed this show because science is fun and fascinating. On a semi-regular basis I ended up getting a science themed woke political lecture instead of science, and that was disappointing. This show has a definite ideological bent, which I believe has no place in real science.
  • ✨Juniper ✨
    The best
    The host is very kind and funny I think they should make 2 podcasts a day
  • sciencepyar
    Annoying guest host
    Sophie Bushwick sounds like she is 5 years old and starts laughing annoyingly for no reason. I can’t stand to listen to any show she hosts
  • DeveshHari
    Love the show
    It’s a great show I listen to when I’m driving to the gym. However, I would love to listen to more in-depth interviews going deeper into the science
  • Bmesnard
    Loved the show until…
    It was dissected. Don’t listen much anymore. (Sigh)
  • Kdn666
    Enjoy the daily segment model.
    I would like to express support for the daily segments of SCI FRI. I find that it fits well with my podcast listening habits. Of course, if I want the whole week in one lump, I can wait and listen to multiple segments at one time. But most often it works better to listen to one or two per day.
  • Mamanerdala
    Love the show
    Please revert back to having all of the segments packaged into one playlist published on n Friday. So much easier to listen to via podcast app while driving.
  • F prize pool
    Used to be great
    Used to love listening to this show. Then they broke it up into segments for the podcast, and half the time their website player doesn’t work. So, now i rarely listen anymore. 😒
  • Sky Pond
    Lacking depth
    The short format interviews lack the depth and knowledge they use to have when Ira had a conversation with the guest. I listened to a topic on energy the other day and it was very shallow and ten years behind its development. I was embarrassed for the show.
  • I do mountains
    Downhill fast
    Sadly this show is not what it once was. This short daily format lacks any real substance and usually just hits a few of the big headline grabbing topics. Ira may be a fossil, but the few times he does show up are the decent episodes. It’s sad that all of the episodes with all the other hosts are so hard to listen too - it’s all scripted with poor puns and bad voice acting - no real conversations.
  • Chainspell
    Too many ads now
    This used to be a fantastic show and still has some good content, but the ads have really taken over. Half the episode seems to be ads. If this continues I’ll be unsubscribing soon.
  • nmnow
    Scienceless Friday
    After many, many years as a dedicated listener I am cancelling my subscription. Episodes are becoming shorter and shorter, the science “lighter”, and Ira is usually MIA and replaced by a cast of incompetent interviewers. Show has gone downhill to the point it is now a waste of time. Now they want me to throw money towards them in addition to listening to ads, no thanks.
  • Allisondan
    Now mostly ads
    I used to love Science Friday, but every episode has more and more ads, coming to dominate. Worse, it is the same obnoxious ads day after day after day. Apparently the advertisers don’t care enough to vary their content. So long!
  • =SWAT=
    Fantastic Show
    Best science on the radio Ira is fantastic and there’s always something interesting. 😍
  • Xobbin
    I miss the full episodes long format
    I’ve been listening for years, it was a highlight to my Friday evening & then it fell off my local radio station. Thankfully the podcast allowed me to continue listening & I wasn’t missing the show. Now with the short format I seem to miss more often then catch it & I have no regularity listening anymore & I really miss Science Friday. It would be great to have a second podcast that’s the full radio format, that releases every Friday & also keep the cut up segments but it would need to be 2 separate podcasts to subscribe. I’d imagine the audience prefers either a short format or long format but possibly not both.
  • Betsy & Ari
    I love this show
    I learn something, my kids can listen and learn something, I love it! I love Ira and all of the fill-in hosts. Even if I’m not an avid every week listener, it makes me so happy knowing that it exists, and I always love it every time I listen. Thank you for making this delightful, helpful, intelligent, and informative show!
  • Happy in Monrovia, CA
    New format
    I really enjoy the new format with individual topics. It allows me to “digest” the fascinating material within a reasonable timeframe. I understand that some listeners would prefer the original long program, but I don’t see that as being an issue. It is easy to set it up in the queue to listen to one episode after an episode after an episode if that is what some listeners are desiring.
  • mkh1234567
    Long time listener missing full episodes
    Long time listener missing the full length episodes that guided me through a mix of stories that I might not listen to if I had to select each individually. Don’t mind the commercials, but please go back to the full format!!!!
  • John in Bryant
    Science Friday
    Love the new format. I understand the commercials…matches most other podcasts
  • Layla Eller
    Five star content, one star listening experience
    Please just bring back the full episodes on Friday.
  • Dr. Dr. Anne
    A gem
    Science Friday has been a "go to" for me for years. Often while cleaning up at the lab, we'd play it on NPR and it was a good intro for my undergrad students, to the nerdy, funny, gee-whiz aspects of science. Thanks for a real gem of a program!
  • Noonette58
    Still enjoying
    I preferred the longer format but I understand the reasoning…it is not the only long podcast I listen to that went to shorter segments because it seemed more likely audiences would listen. I enjoy the variety of topics and views. I see a lot of negativity but if I am Not interested in a topic I just skip it myself. The people interviewed that I listen to always seems knowledgeable and I always learn something.
  • HankItUp
    Agenda Over Science
    Science Friday used to be an interesting listen of science discovery, with information that could occasionally challenge beliefs. Now a large proportion of topics and segments are unbalanced expositions of scientific studies designed simply to confirm an agenda. The good news is the segmented episode set up that many complain about actually serves to sift through some of this for the few gems of scientific discovery that aren’t obfuscated by their social agenda.
  • Blorik
    Sigh
    I don’t like the blurb format at all. Please return to long episodes.
  • moving on-missu
    program isn’t what it once was
    So much science to discuss and the program inserts political issues and trans issues into every story. They began a story saying we don’t talk enough about women and women’s bodies- and then they take away half the time to bring trans issues up not once but four times! I guess still no time for women in science
  • anon 73882
    Used to like it, but they have gone woke
    Maybe get back to actual science, leave politics and ideology out of it
  • Jack M Hoffman
    Somebody on the production team must have a drag fetish
    This show has tried to wedge drag queens into several topics over the past couple years. Enough, we get it, you have a weird fetish. We don’t want to hear about it.
  • Kapowie641
    New format forces too many decisions
    I very much miss the old full length format, because, as someone with ADHD, it’s hard for me to choose between the multiple short formats so I end up going to another podcast with a full length format. also, in general, it’s nice to have things I normally wouldn’t listen to just come up within the longer format podcast. Then I learn things I wouldn’t have chosen to listen to. Seriously, the new short length podcast set up is a terrible choice.
  • vetmike92
    My favorite science podcast.
    Science Friday has been a staple for me for years. As a podcast, I never miss it.
  • : @
    Bring back full episodes!
    What’s the point of these short snippets spread out over the week?
  • Dennydean1
    Breaking the pod into tiny segments is terrible
    so I hardly ever listen anymore. Return to the full broadcast, pls. Still hating the format - pls return to an hour at a time. Due to these chopped up portions, I only come once in a while - used to listen every week. 😑
  • Pregood
    I am not listening at all anymore
    I’m not sure that I believe people asked for this format, and if they did, it cannot have been very many. I don’t know why, but I can’t even listen to it in this format. Podcasts are already weird enough with the order they play in— it’s like YouTube auto play where I always have to manually push stop and go back and find something I want to listen to. It’s nice to have one show where you know what you are listening to for the next hour. Why don’t you just do a whole new show or cancel Science Friday altogether? I guess I’ll look for something to fill the loss.
  • fourtwentykb
    Why the change?
    I (like many other listens) am disappointed in the podcast format change. After all this years why would you change what was working best. Did you do it to appease the algorithm god? So disappointed. At this point if I don’t catch it live on my local news station I probably will listen less and less till I don’t come here anymore.
  • Karl49
    New Format
    Luv the new format. Same great content, same great presenters. Same great production values, but now in an eminently more listenable length. My sweet spot for podcast length is 30-60 mins. The 2hr weekly segments are great on the radio, but I like my podcasts in more bite size segments. Thanks Science Friday!
  • ChopperHawk
    New format stinks
    I thoroughly enjoy Sci-Fri listening every week on the old fashioned terrestrial radio. And now that this new format is all that is available I will probably only listen to the terrestrial broadcast. Very sad
  • A triplex
    Not the same
    Up with full length science friday on Fridays! Please give me the whole episode- this is like 5 minute yoga or something. This was part of my identity every Friday. You’ve destroyed my Fridays, cry cry cry.
  • dehmigaahd
    Syphilis cases in homosexual men. Root cause..?
    Yes, of course, it’s access to care, disproportionate impact to people of color! … a monomyth so pervasive that even a putative science show can’t avoid wasting time on it. The issue is not systemic; it is rather general homosexual behavior, including indiscriminate, unprotected partnering coupled with drug use as well as a belief that we have conquered disease. There’s nothing new here and the ‘systemic’ refrain is not only superfluous, but is also anti-scientific to the point of obscurantism.
  • ponypower8776
    New Format
    Although I don’t mind the shorter segments, so many of them have the listener questions which is my least favorite part of the show. In the old format it was usually just 1 section of an hour long show I could skip through easily but now every time I go to listen to an episode I usually end up stopping it as soon as the listener questions start. Also more Flora would be amazing! Her segments are always my favorite.
  • Kat456
    What’s with the numbering
    Like many, I prefer the old format; but I can deal with queuing up multiple segments. What I don’t understand is why the numbering is rarely in the order they come out. If it’s a production number or order the order they aired on the radio, then publish them in that order or renumber them. I realize your journalists, not scientists; but counting is neither rocket science nor brain surgery. The content is generally good. There has been a little more headline-chasing, squishy science in recent years. Or maybe Ira is just better at finding the real science in topics. Some segments with other hosts sound a little too much like advocacy and too little like reporting.
  • kpjk9
    Please bring back the old format
    I’ve lost interest in the show since the segments have been broken up and shortened. I miss the full episodes, when everything was organized. I used to look forward to catching all of the science updates and then diving a little deeper on certain topics with curiosity. I feel like the program is now multiple low quality programs with less genuine enthusiasm for science.
  • chai tiger
    Please change the format back.
    I really enjoyed having everything together, please change it back.
  • Mjzare a
    Missed the long weekly episodes
    I prefer the weekly long episodes, more solid and less chaotic.
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