On Today's Podcast
African Grey Parrots Are Popular—And It’s Fueling Illegal Trade
Talkative African grey parrots are charismatic internet stars. A global scramble to source and sell the birds threatens their survival.
Listen NowNovember 21, 2025
Flora and “Part-Time Genius” co-host Mangesh Hattikudur put one lucky listener to the test with food science trivia. Plus, talkative African grey parrots are charismatic internet stars. A global scramble to source and sell the birds threatens their survival. And, Google’s tool for predicting how proteins “fold” turns 5 this year.
How Electronic Ink Was Invented
The screen technology used in e-readers like the Amazon Kindle was conceived by undergraduates at MIT.
11:48
Bacteria Vs. (Zika) Virus, New Earth-Like Planets, and What Went Wrong With Theranos?
A new possible method for fighting Zika, plus a cautionary tale for biotech start-ups everywhere.
23:03
Recalculating the Global Influence of GPS
Has your GPS ever gotten you in trouble? It’s so common in National Parks that rangers in Death Valley call it “death by GPS.”
12:04
Preparing for a Stellar Show
Dean Regas shares tips for viewing the upcoming transit of Mercury, and other sights in the spring skies.
17:07
Shedding Pounds, Then Keeping Them Off
What “The Biggest Loser” can teach us about how the body loses and maintains weight.
10:39
Would You Trust a Robot to Perform Your Surgery?
Researchers have now developed a robot that can perform sutures and other delicate operations completely autonomously.
16:05
A Candid Camera for Wildlife
Camera traps lend a technological assist to researchers studying elusive animals in the wild.
Behind the Master Controls of GPS
Author Greg Milner explains how five billion devices use 31 GPS satellites to determine their locations.
Preserving the World’s Monuments, One Digital Scan at a Time
CyArk is traversing the globe in a race to digitally preserve the earth’s greatest heritage sites.
Finding a Sanctuary in Science
Geobiologist Hope Jahren’s memoir, “Lab Girl,” is meant not only to describe her connection to science, but to make science relatable to the public.
11:50
Fecal Matter Transplants, a Moon for Pluto ‘Sibling,’ and Tweeting Sharks
What’s going on in the body during and after a fecal matter transplant? Plus, a look at the good and the bad of sharks that tweet.
34:16
In the Quantum World, Physics Gets Philosophical
Could the space we live in—our everyday reality—just be a projection of some underlying quantum structure?
11:52
The Blossoming Internet of Things — For Your Garden
A growing group of apps, sensors, and other technologies can tell you when to water and fertilize, or even what to plant.
26:50
Mapping Out the Future of Genomics
Genomics pioneer Craig Venter revisits his predictions for the field made during a SciFri conversation in 2003.
6:34
Plugging Into DNA for Digital Data Storage
Engineers were able to store and retrieve digitized photos from sequences of DNA.
Weighing the Importance of Locality
Author George Musser breaks down the concept of place.
Seeing Inside The Eye
Improvements in laser scanning technology reveal the intricacies hidden inside our eyeballs.