Science Friday
Hosted by Flora Lichtman & Ira Flatow · 45 decoded episodes · newest Oct 7, 2026
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.
Episodes 45
- Oct 7, 2026 · 13 minAntarctic ice turns neutrinos into a deep-space telescopeIceCube uses a vast detector beneath the South Pole to study particles that can reveal both cosmic sources and physics beyond accelerator energies.
- Oct 6, 2026 · 16 minWhy breakthrough ideas disappear—and returnThe episode examines why valuable ideas can be ignored for years, and how persistence, visualization, timing, and champions bring them back.
- Oct 5, 2026 · 15 minConcrete’s hidden costs reach from ancient Rome to New YorkConcrete underpins modern life, but its environmental costs, resource demands, and failing infrastructure expose the limits of building faster and bigger.
- Oct 2, 2026 · 13 minBolivia recognizes a tiny wildcat hidden in plain sightThe tilcayo’s discovery could strengthen protection for the Yungas Forest while exposing how funding and attention bypass small wildcats.
- Oct 1, 2026 · 18 minNatural history museums fight to preserve science and public trustMuseum closures threaten not only public education but also the physical collections researchers need to study environmental and biodiversity change.
- Sep 30, 2026 · 18 minA Fresh Lunar Crater Opens a Window on Alien TechnologyThe episode connects close study of lunar impacts with a broader question: what durable evidence could reveal intelligent life beyond Earth.
- Sep 29, 2026 · 22 minPandemic Disrupted Children’s Executive FunctionThe research points to meaningful developmental disruption while showing that recovery depends on sustained support, not resilience alone.
- Sep 28, 2026 · 18 minConcussion care is moving beyond rest and guessworkThe episode explains why concussion can disrupt brain function without obvious structural damage, while long-term risks and access to care remain uneven.
- Sep 25, 2026 · 12 minCeliac researchers test treatments beyond gluten avoidanceExperimental therapies could eventually give people with celiac disease options beyond lifelong gluten avoidance, while risk research may improve earlier detection.
- Sep 24, 2026 · 23 minAI safety tests cannot guarantee safe behaviorAs AI systems become more capable and widely deployed, researchers question whether safeguards can mature before a serious incident forces a reckoning.
- Sep 23, 2026 · 18 minSubmerged landscapes rewrite early American historyUnderwater sites preserve evidence from vanished Ice Age environments, offering a crucial test of how and when people reached the Americas.
- Sep 22, 2026 · 13 minWarmer oceans raise Hawaiʻi’s hurricane stakesHawaiʻi’s reefs, shorelines, and communities face compounding pressure from stronger storm risks, sea-level rise, erosion, drought, and wildfires.