Senators on Energy: What is Congress doing to help address our nation's energy problems? In this segment, Ira talks with senators John Warner and Jeff Bingaman about energy policy topics. (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Alzheimer's Research: In this segment, we'll get the latest on research into Alzheimer's and the search for treatments for the disease. (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Tracking Accidental Drug Deaths: Deaths due to mixing of prescription medications with alcohol or street drugs have increased by over thirty times in recent years, researchers find. (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Exercise in a Pill?: Could popping a pill turn a couch potato into a long-distance runner? (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Olympic Air: The summer Olympics are only a week away -- but will Beijing's air be in shape for the games? (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Micro Microscope: We'll talk with one of the inventors of a new on-chip, lens-free microscope. (first broadcast Friday, August 1, 2008)

Mars Update: Last week, water in the form of ice was found on Mars. This week, the lander dug up perchlorate, a salt used in fireworks and rocket fuel. What does this mean for possibility of life on the Red Planet? (first broadcast Friday, August 8, 2008)

Solar Systems and a Mysterious Cosmic Ghost: How does a disk of gas and dust turn into a solar system?A new study suggests conditions had to be just right to make our solar system. Plus, a mysterious cosmic object is stumping astronomers. (first broadcast Friday, August 8, 2008)

Drug Testing Examined: With the Olympics approaching, we take a look at the science of drug testing. (first broadcast Friday, August 8, 2008)

Kiss My Math: Ira talks with actress and math advocate Danica McKellar about her new book 'Kiss My Math:Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss.' (first broadcast Friday, August 8, 2008)

Traffic: Are you a late merger? You might be on to something. Ira speaks with Tom Vanderbilt, author of 'Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (and What It Says About Us)' about the psychology and engineering found where the rubber meets the road. (first broadcast Friday, August 8, 2008)

Self Assembly for Building Nanoscale Patterns: Researchers have found a way to create high-quality repeating patterns with features just ten nanometers across. We'll talk about why that matters. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

Geothermal Energy: As part of our ongoing series on alternative energy sources, we'll take a look at methods to harvest energy from the heat beneath the surface of the Earth. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

Ethanol Power to the People: Ira talks with ethanol biofuel advocate David Blume about common misconceptions about the use of ethanol for fuel, and about Blume's vision for decentralized, community supported ethanol production in the US. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

What Put The Heat in Chili Peppers?: New research indicates that chili pepper plants may have developed their signature heat as a way to fight off fungal infections caused by insects. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

Mass Extinction Event On the Horizon?: Scientists studying many different parts of the planet's ecosystems are warning that Earth may be on the verge of a 6th major mass extinction event. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

Towards a Super Lens -- Or Invisibility?: Ira talks with one of the researchers behind a material that can make light bend in unusual ways -- potentially leading to more powerful optics, or even a cloak of invisibility. (first broadcast Friday, August 15, 2008)

Nanoantenna Sheets Harvest Energy: We'll talk with the developers of flexible sheets of 'nanoantennas' that could aid in getting energy from solar energy or from other heat sources. (first broadcast Friday, August 22, 2008)

The Science of Getting a 'Yes': In this segment, Ira talks with a social psychologist about persuasion, and psychological tricks for helping you get what you want. (first broadcast Friday, August 22, 2008)

How Undecided Are 'Undecided Voters?': Just how undecided are 'undecided voters?' New research published this week in the journal Science looks at 'automatic mental associations' and finds that they can be good predictors of the way an 'undecided' voter will likely finally vote. (first broadcast Friday, August 22, 2008)

Chemistry News Roundup: We'll get a roundup of research being presented at this week's American Chemical Society meeting in Philadelphia. (first broadcast Friday, August 22, 2008)

Inventing the Movies: Edison to the iPod: We'll look at how Hollywood became a driving force in the invention of new technologies. (first broadcast Friday, August 22, 2008)

Diabetes News: In this segment, we'll look at new research in the battle against diabetes, and efforts to cure Type 1 diabetes by regrowing islet cells. (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)

Childhood Vaccinations: With kids set to head back to school, we'll talk about the childhood vaccinations required in much of the country. Parental resistance to vaccines has diseases such as measles on the rise. (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)

Large Hadron Collider Set to Start Up: The massive Large Hadron Collider at CERN is just a few weeks away from startup. The particle accelerator has passed several key performance tests, and is on track to send the first beam of particles through the ring of the accelerator on September 10th. (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)

How Do Flies Get Away?: Ira talks with bioengineering researcher Michael Dickinson of Caltech about new research into why flies are so good at evading an approaching fly swatter. (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)

What I Did On My Summer Vacation: What things related to science, technology, or the environment did YOU do this summer? Call in and tell us what you did on your summer vacation, and how you did it. (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)

Higher-Res Eye In The Sky: If all goes according to plan, next week a rocket will launch carrying a commercial imaging satellite capable of making out details on Earth just 16 inches across. We'll talk with one of the people behind the GeoEye-1 launch about the satellite and its c (first broadcast Friday, August 29, 2008)