Episodes

For our 33rd anniversary, we’re broadcasting some of our listeners’ favorite SciFri stories. And, this year’s Ig Nobel Prizes include awards for studying coin flipping, the movements of a dead trout, and more.

On the 50th anniversary of Lucy’s discovery, paleoanthropologists reflect on what she means to science, and what she taught us about ourselves. Plus, divers have recovered seeds of a long-lost rye variety from a 146-year-old shipwreck in Lake Huron. And, just in time for Thanksgiving, a potato researcher explains potato varieties, potato nutrition, and some tubular tuber facts.

Medical historian Dr. Elsa Richardson discusses the changing cultural and scientific understandings of the gut. Plus, a “one-of-a-kind” fossil helps fill a giant gap in scientists’ understanding of how bird brains evolved. And, walking pneumonia typically affects school-age kids, but the CDC reports a rise in cases in children aged 2-4.

Decades of research shows that expanding highways, despite its promise to reduce congestion, actually increases travel times. Plus, a math enthusiast finds the largest known prime number. And, blood pressure categories are based on patients who are sitting in a certain position. But not every doctor’s office takes readings that way.

Running a marathon is a major physical feat. One expert answers listener questions about how it impacts the body and mind. Plus, the Clean Air Act gave the U.S. some of the world’s cleanest air. But with industrial zones and climate change, it’s not protecting everyone. And, an author and naturalist discusses chicken intelligence and her experience raising a flock in New Hampshire.

COP16 will tackle questions like who should profit from non-human DNA, and who is responsible for financing critical conservation projects. And, in “The Insect Epiphany,” an entomologist explores the history of insects in art, food, engineering, and more. Plus, abortions later in pregnancy are the most stigmatized, leading to misinformation and a hesitancy to talk openly about why people have them.

New research sheds light on changes in the brain’s gray and white matter during pregnancy. Plus, philosopher Susana Monsó unpacks the latest research into how animals like possums, chimps, and ants interpret death. And, a pair of musicians wrote a concept album inspired by moths—and found that humans have more in common with the insects than they expected.

We kick off a series on health misinformation leading up to the election. Plus, although the kinds of risks vary by location, there is no place that’s immune to the damaging effects of climate change. And, scientists are looking to recruit 10,000 people over age 95 to study how their genes may contribute to longer, healthier lives.

With the presidential election a month away, researchers explain the psychology behind holding, changing, and acting on political opinions. Plus, researchers developed a 3D-printable material, inspired by worms, that can act as a Band-Aid for damaged heart and cartilage tissue. And, a recent study concluded that people who are highly resilient to stress have specific biological signatures in their gut microbiomes.

Climate activists Bill McKibben and Akaya Windwood say it isn’t fair to leave the climate crisis for younger generations to solve. Plus, a cultural anthropologist discusses the Mariana Islands’ long history of colonization and why demilitarization matters for climate progress. And, new research into a fish known as the sea robin finds that leg-like appendages can “taste” prey buried in the sand.