On Today's Podcast
Sci-fi thriller combines aliens, robots, and Cherokee culture
The sci-fi thriller “Hole in the Sky” imagines an alien first-contact scenario set in the heart of Cherokee Nation.
Listen NowMay 1, 2026
Birds are living dinosaurs whose ancestors include T. rex and giant penguins. Understanding their past can help us imagine their future. Plus, an executive order issued by President Trump aims to fast-track research for psychedelics, including ibogaine. What is it? And, measuring microplastics can be hard, partly because they’re everywhere—including the lab. One researcher is working on solutions.
Shooting Stars
Photographer Colin Legg makes time-lapse movies of celestial scenes. Legg shares tips, and describes some of the challenges of landscape astrophotography—from babysitting cameras for days and nights on end to running electronics off the grid.
Alan Alda’s Challenge to Scientists: What Is Time?
Calling all scientists! How do you explain the concept of time to an 11-year-old?
How Science Can Keep Your Christmas Tree Merry and Bright
Rick Bates, of Penn State University, shares handy tips for how to care for your Christmas tree.
Is It Possible to Create a Mind?
What does intelligence really mean? Can we build a machine that thinks as humans do?
A View from the Flip Side
Ten days is all it takes your brain to right a world that looks upside down.
Ask a Quantum Mechanic
Teleporting data, time travel, quantum computers. Sci-fi or science reality? ‘Quantum mechanic’ Seth Lloyd joins us to talk about the mysteries of the quantum world.
‘Instant’ Looks at Polaroid’s Land
Edwin Land, the inventor behind Polaroid, is the subject of a new book by Christopher Bonanos.
Super-Sized Snapshot
Meet a Polaroid camera that weighs 235 pounds and takes 2-foot-tall instant snapshots.
No Joke — Why Even Tragedy Gets a Laugh
A comedian and a neuroscientist walk into a bar… er, nevermind. Tig Notaro and Robert Provine talk about why we laugh at even the grimmest of subjects.
‘Escape Fire’ Exposes Flaws of American Healthcare
The film tells the stories of a soldier addicted to painkillers, and a doctor with no time for her patients.
Blue Whale Barrel Roll Caught on Camera
Biologists are using data tags and a National Geographic Crittercam to study the dining habits of the largest animal on the planet.
Unlocking a Lake’s Bacterial Secrets, Beneath 20 Meters of Ice
Bacteria locked under Antarctic lake ice may shed light on life’s limits, and the possibility of life on other worlds.
Ask an Astronaut: Don Pettit and Jeff Hoffman on Spaceflight
Two astronauts answer your questions and discuss the many curiosities of living in space.
Curiosity 2.0? NASA Announces New Mars Rover Plans
NASA officials weigh in on the flurry of planetary science news from the past week.
Blue Whale Barrel Roll
Blue whales can grow to 90 feet—that’s longer than a tennis court. To understand how they get so large, Jeremy Goldbogen studies their dining habits. And he found that blue whales do underwater acrobatics while they eat.
What Obamacare Means for Patients — And Their Docs
The law has many protections for patients—but could it cause higher premiums and doctor shortages?
Perhaps Another Reason to Spike That Eggnog?
A perennial holiday mystery: will alcohol kill bacteria in homemade eggnog?
Photographer James Balog on Climate Change and ‘Chasing Ice’
A new documentary explores how climate change is affecting the world’s glaciers.
SciFri Book Club Has ‘The Right Stuff’
Join the SciFri Book Club regulars for a look back, er…up, at ‘The Right Stuff.’
Ig Nobel Prizes Celebrate Somewhat Suspect Science
Ponytail physics, the sloshing in a coffee cup, and an opera about the universe feature in this year’s Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.