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
- Sep 4, 2026 · 31 minJennifer Chayes maps the mathematics of massive networksThe episode connects abstract mathematics to the systems shaping technology, while asking what institutions and habits could make AI safer and more equitable.
- Sep 3, 2026 · 12 minPersonalized vaccines target melanoma’s returnThe approach could make cancer vaccination more precise, but its benefits, risks, cost, and availability remain unsettled.
- Sep 2, 2026 · 10 minFungi challenge the meaning of age and individualityFungi blur the boundaries between organism, network, and individual, complicating basic questions about lifespan, growth, and identity.
- Sep 1, 2026 · 18 minOcean recovery depends on changing the stories we tellThe episode connects severe marine threats with evidence that ecosystems can recover when public values, institutions, and conservation efforts change.
- Aug 31, 2026 · 18 minMars missions must pair human judgment with robotic reachThe choices made before humans reach Mars will shape how efficiently they search for life and what science they can bring home.
- Aug 28, 2026 · 18 minDoctors adopt AI while questioning its authorityAI is entering clinical workflows faster than doctors, patients, and hospitals can agree on how to evaluate, govern, or take responsibility for it.
- Aug 27, 2026 · 12 minClimate attribution turns extreme weather into evidenceAttribution science can clarify how climate change worsened specific disasters and shape adaptation, compensation claims, infrastructure decisions, and litigation.
- Aug 26, 2026 · 18 minGPS turns military precision into everyday dependenceGPS guides modern life while remaining vulnerable to interference and widely misunderstood as a tracking system.
- Aug 25, 2026 · 15 minMichigan court reopens fight over Great Lakes pipelineThe Line 5 dispute tests whether an ancient public trust principle can shape modern decisions about water, access, and environmental risk.
- Aug 24, 2026 · 13 minJWST’s little red dots may reveal black hole birthIdentifying these abundant early-universe objects could clarify how supermassive black holes formed, but astronomers still lack consensus on what they are.
- Aug 22, 2026 · 5 minA Cretaceous world would challenge humans beyond the dinosaursThe episode tests a familiar survival fantasy against the Cretaceous climate, ecology, disease evidence, and asteroid-driven extinction.
- Aug 21, 2026 · 13 minMicroplastics research confronts pregnancy’s biggest unknownsParticles have been detected in reproductive tissues, but scientists still cannot say whether current exposure levels harm pregnancies or future generations.