Eyes In The Sky: The Science Behind Modern Balloons
This month, the news cycle has been dominated by updates about suspicious objects being detected in the stratosphere. This bonanza started with a balloon from China, and escalated as four more objects—not all confirmed as balloons—have been shot down from the sky.
Although this might sound like a new proble ... Show More
Today
Everything You Never Knew About Squash And Pumpkins
<p>It’s a wonderful time of the year: squash, pumpkin, and gourd season. But how do those <a href="https://www.sciencefriday.com/segments/squash-science-breeding-genetics/?utm_source=wnyc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=scifri" target="_blank">giant, award-winning pumpkins</a> gr ... Show More
12m 11s
Yesterday
Where Does Plastic And Other Trash Go After We Throw It Away?
<p>Have you ever gotten to the end of, say, a jar of peanut butter and wondered if it should go in trash or recycling? If it’s worth rinsing out? And where will it actually end up?</p><p>Journalist Alexander Clapp had those same questions, and went to great lengths to <a href="ht ... Show More
18m 29s
Aug 2024
Have Swiss scientists made a chocolate breakthrough?
Chocolate is very important to Switzerland’s economy: with more than 200,000 metric tonnes produced each year, sales are worth almost $2 billion. But there are challenges – not just over sustainability, but over exploitation. And the volatile price of cacao.We meet the researcher ... Show More
17m 39s
Aug 2024
Peanut Allergy, Ancient Cancer Treatment, Cuckoo Evolution
Today, you’ll learn about why giving babies foods with peanuts could crack the peanut allergy problem, a wild discovery of cancer treatment 4,000 years ago, and the sneaky way cuckoos evolve to look like other birds so they can live in their nests. Peanut Allergy “Giving young ch ... Show More
10m 53s
Oct 2024
How Can Math Help Beat Cancer?
<p>When we think about medicine’s war on cancer, treatments such as surgery, radiation and chemotherapy spring to mind first. Now there is another potential weapon for defeating tumors: statistics and mathematical models that can optimize the selection, combination or timing of t ... Show More
42m 52s
Aug 22
Could Peanut Allergies Be Cured?
Peanut allergies have surged dramatically in recent decades, and scientists are still working to understand why. In this episode, journalist Maryn Mckenna, who recently authored an article on the subject, and host Rachel Feltman explore the latest research on causes, treatments a ... Show More
20m 29s
Mar 2024
Eat This, Not That: The Surprising Science of Personalized Nutrition (encore)
This episode, we've got the exclusive on the preliminary results of the world's largest personalized nutrition experiment. Genetic epidemiologist Tim Spector launched the study, called PREDICT, to answer a simple but important question: do we each respond to different foods diffe ... Show More
57m 30s