Best Science Friday and WNYC Studios Podcasts (2025)

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How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? 23:28

Play Pause

19h ago23:28

23:28

Bacteria have been around for billions of years. Could they have come up with complex behaviors that we just don’t understand yet? Could they have their own language? Their own culture? Their own complex societies playing out right under, and in, our noses? Microbiologist Bonnie Bassler has been studying these questions for more than 30 years. She …

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A Lab-Grown Salmon Taste Test And More Foodie Innovations 30:19

4d ago30:19

30:19

After years of development, lab-grown fish is taste-test ready for the public. Four restaurants in the US are serving up cultivated salmon made by the company Wildtype. Producer Kathleen Davis gives Host Flora Lichtman a rundown on how Wildtype tastes, initial public perception, and the upstream battle to take cultivated meat mainstream. Plus, SciF…

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What Did It Feel Like To Be An Early Human? 18:47

5d ago18:47

18:47

Do science documentaries need a refresh? What if the goal wasn’t just teaching you something, but making you feel something? A new series from the BBC, airing on PBS, called “Human” tries to do just that. It tells the tale of our ancient family tree, embracing the complex and dramatic sides of the story. It asks: Who were the different species of h…

151
TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD 18:27

6d ago18:27

18:27

TikTok and other social media sites are full of mental health content—often short, grabby, first-person videos detailing symptoms for conditions like ADHD and autism. But what does this mean for teens and young adults who spend hours a day scrolling? A new study published in PLOS One analyzes the 100 most viewed TikTok videos about ADHD to assess b…

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Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And Play 12:55

7d ago12:55

12:55

We’re taking a polar plunge into the science of sea unicorns, also known as narwhals! Narwhals are mysterious arctic whales with long, twirly tusks protruding from their foreheads, like a creature out of a fairy tale. And it turns out that we don’t know too much about them, partly because they live so far north in the remote Arctic. An internationa…

1
Have Astrophysicists Spotted Evidence For ‘Dark Stars’? 13:04

8d ago13:04

13:04

Astrophysicists may have spotted evidence for “dark stars,” an unusual type of star that could possibly have existed in the earliest days of the universe, in data from the James Webb Space Telescope. Instead of being powered by nuclear fusion as current stars are, the controversial theory says that these ancient dark stars would have formed by mixi…

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AI Was Supposed To Discover New Drugs. Where Are They? 17:59

11d ago17:59

17:59

AI is everywhere these days, and though there’s debate about how useful it is, one area where experts think it could be game-changing is scientific research. It promised to be particularly useful for speeding up drug discovery, an expensive and time-consuming process that can take decades. But so far, it hasn’t panned out. The few AI-designed drugs…

1
How Math Helps Us Map The World 18:11

12d ago18:11

18:11

It’s easy to take maps for granted. After all, most of us have a pretty good map in our pockets at all times, ready to show us how to get anywhere on the globe. But to make a map useful, you have to decide what to keep in and what to leave out—and, most importantly, which mathematical equations to use. Beyond navigating from point A to point B, mat…

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The Science Of Replacing Body Parts, From Hair To Hearts 18:38

13d ago18:38

18:38

It seems like every week, there’s a new headline about some kind of sci-fi-esque organ transplant. Think eyeballs, 3D-printed kidneys, pig hearts. In her new book, Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy, science writer Mary Roach chronicles the effort to fabricate human body parts—and where that effort sometimes breaks down. Host Flora Lichtm…

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It’s Not Just You—Bad Food Habits Are Hard To Shake 18:36

14d ago18:36

18:36

Remember “The Biggest Loser”—the show where people tried to lose as much weight as quickly as possible for a big cash prize? The premise of the show was that weight loss was about willpower: With enough discipline, anyone can have the body they want. The show’s approach was problematic, but how does its attitude toward weight loss match our current…

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100 Years Later, Quantum Science Is Still Weird 18:39

15d ago18:39

18:39

In July 1925, physicist Werner Heisenberg wrote a letter to Wolfgang Pauli sharing his new ideas about what would eventually become known as quantum theory. A hundred years later, that theory has been expanded into a field of science that explains aspects of chemical behavior, has become the basis of a new type of computing, and more. But it’s stil…

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An Off-The-Grid Nobel Win, And Antibiotics In Ancient Microbes 18:31

17d ago18:31

18:31

This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine went to three people whose combined discoveries outlined the role of the peripheral immune system—how the immune system knows to attack just foreign invaders and not its own tissues and organs. But when the phone rang for Shimone Sakaguchi, Mary E. Brunkow, and Fred Ramsdell, only two of them picked…

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World Space Week And Promising Climate Tech Companies 25:26

18d ago25:26

25:26

It’s World Space Week, and we’re fueling up the rocket for a tour of some missions and projects that could provide insights into major space mysteries. Astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi joins Host Flora Lichtman to celebrate the wonders of space science, from the recently launched IMAP, which will study the solar environment, to the new Vera Rubin Obse…

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The Story Behind The Largest Dam Removal In U.S. History 20:11

19d ago20:11

20:11

The Klamath River, which runs from southern Oregon to California, used to be a top salmon run. But after a series of hydroelectric dams was installed along the river around 100 years ago, salmon populations tanked. This is the prologue to a remarkable story of a coalition that fought to restore the river. Led by members of the Yurok Nation, who’ve …

1
How Archaeologists Try To Smell, Hear, And Taste The Past 18:16

20d ago18:16

18:16

Archeologists in movies have a reputation for being hands-on, like Indiana Jones unearthing hidden treasure, or Lara Croft running through a temple. Archeology in real life tends to be a bit more sedentary. But some archeologists are committed to getting their hands dirty—even recreating the stinky, slimy, and sometimes tasty parts of ancient life.…

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Moth Survival Strategies And A Rodent Thumbnail Mystery 18:12

20d ago18:12

18:12

By Flora Lichtman, Charles Bergquist

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As The CDC Falters, How Do We Fill Public Health Gaps? 12:07

22d ago12:07

12:07

Our country’s public health system is ailing. With layoffs and leadership changes at the CDC, changing vaccine guidelines, a government shutdown, and declining public trust—where do we go from here? Can state and local public health agencies pick up the slack? Are there other solutions? Host Flora Lichtman talks with former CDC director Tom Frieden…

Science Friday And WNYC Studios Podcasts

1
Science Friday

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
Undiscovered

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
Universe of Art

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
SciFri

SciFri

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Science Diction

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

1
How Do Bacteria Talk To Each Other? 23:28

1
A Lab-Grown Salmon Taste Test And More Foodie Innovations 30:19

1
What Did It Feel Like To Be An Early Human? 18:47

151
TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD 18:27

1
Footage Shows How Narwhals Use Tusks To Hunt And Play 12:55

1
Have Astrophysicists Spotted Evidence For ‘Dark Stars’? 13:04

1
AI Was Supposed To Discover New Drugs. Where Are They? 17:59

1
How Math Helps Us Map The World 18:11

1
The Science Of Replacing Body Parts, From Hair To Hearts 18:38

1
It’s Not Just You—Bad Food Habits Are Hard To Shake 18:36

1
100 Years Later, Quantum Science Is Still Weird 18:39

1
An Off-The-Grid Nobel Win, And Antibiotics In Ancient Microbes 18:31

1
World Space Week And Promising Climate Tech Companies 25:26

1
The Story Behind The Largest Dam Removal In U.S. History 20:11

1
How Archaeologists Try To Smell, Hear, And Taste The Past 18:16

1
Moth Survival Strategies And A Rodent Thumbnail Mystery 18:12

1
As The CDC Falters, How Do We Fill Public Health Gaps? 12:07