Science Friday Archives - browsing recent stories

International Space Station following most recent upgrade. Credit: STS-119 Shuttle Crew, NASA.

Mystified? Solve It With Science: A new book uses one-minute mysteries to get students energized about science. (first broadcast Friday, January 2, 2009)

The Invention of Air: Take a breath and think of scientist-theologian Joseph Priestley, the discoverer of oxygen. (first broadcast Friday, January 2, 2009)

Keep the Holidays Merry - and Safe: Find out how to poison-proof holiday gatherings, and keep the holidays happy. (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

Making New Year's Resolutions Stick: Why do people make, keep, and break their New Year's resolutions? (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

Tweets from Frolleagues: Cowpooling? Frolleagues? Wired magazine's "Jargon Watch" columnist runs down the top tech jargon terms of 2008. (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

Holiday Birding: We'll take a trip to the great outdoors to check in on the progress of the annual Christmas Bird Count. Plus, birds and coffee. (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

Shade-Grown Coffee Not Just for the Birds: Shade-grown coffee is sometimes called "bird friendly coffee," but a new paper in the journal Current Biology suggests that the plantations also help maintain the genetic diversity of native tree species. (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

Birdscapes Pop-up Book: Sure, pop-up books add a new dimension to reading -- but a new pop-up book for bird enthusiasts takes the experience to another level with sound. (first broadcast Friday, December 26, 2008)

2008 Science News In Review: What were the biggest science stories of 2008 - and which flew under the radar? Ira and a panel of journalists look back on the year in science. (first broadcast Friday, December 19, 2008)

Dark Energy Confirmed: This week scientists announced that they have confirmation on the presence of dark energy in the universe. We'll talk about their study and what it means. (first broadcast Friday, December 19, 2008)

2008 In Social Media: In this segment, Ira talks with with tech guru Tim O'Reilly about the year in social media -- and what comes next. (first broadcast Friday, December 19, 2008)

Most-Cited Science: In academic circles, citations are a measure of success. We'll talk about some of the year's most-cited papers, and why other scientists found them so noteworthy. (first broadcast Friday, December 19, 2008)

Obama Environmental Appointments: We'll talk about President-elect Obama's choices for key environmental posts, including Secretary of Energy and the head of the EPA. (first broadcast Friday, December 12, 2008)

Elephant Health: Research published this week indicates that elephants in protected areas in the wild live longer, healthier lives than those in captivity. (first broadcast Friday, December 12, 2008)