Science Friday

Flowers peeking up through the soil are a welcome sight after a long cold winter—and are one of the first markers of spring. Biologist David George Haskell argues that flowers aren’t just beautiful: They’re also critical to most ecosystems and the diversity of life as we know it. Flowering plants also make up a large part of human diets (rice, maize, and wheat are all flowers). And homing in on orchids, Haskell says, can help us understand the complex relationship between flowers and pollinators.

Guest:

Dr. David George Haskell is a biologist and author of: “How Flowers Made Our World: The Story of Nature’s Revolutionaries”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

The Apple Computer Company was founded on April 1, 1976, and in the 50 years since, the company has evolved from a handful of Silicon Valley misfits to a global technology and media powerhouse. 

Tech journalist David Pogue talks with Ira Flatow about the backstory of the company, and the leadership of the mercurial Steve Jobs. He offers a peek into some lesser known chapters of the company’s history, like the ill-fated Apple Paladin, a prototype Apple-produced fax machine. Pogue chronicles the company’s history in his latest book, “Apple: The First 50 Years.”

Guest:

David Pogue is a tech journalist, CBS Sunday Morning correspondent, and author of the book “Apple: The First 50 Years.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Science fiction nerds, rejoice: the long-awaited adaptation of “Project Hail Mary” is in theaters now. Host Flora Lichtman chats with book author Andy Weir and astrobiologist Mike Wong about the film’s aliens, and how they buck the trend of what extraterrestrials usually look like on screen.

Guest:

Andy Weir is the author of “Project Hail Mary” and “The Martian.”

Dr. Mike Wong is an astrobiologist and planetary scientist at Carnegie Science in Washington, D.C.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

A project called Antscan has generated high resolution images of thousands of ants, representing over 700 species. To make it happen, researchers brought preserved ants from collections around the world to a particle accelerator in Germany. There, a powerful synchrotron X-ray source combined with a vial-swapping robot allowed the researchers to build a collection of 3D ant images, inside and out. Each voxel (like a 3D pixel) has a resolution of 1.22 micrometers—enough to see the tiny hairs on ant bodies, and distinguish individual muscle fibers.

Antscan researcher Julian Katzke joins us to describe the background of the project, and how the images could be used for science and art.

Check out Antscan images at our website.

Guest:

Dr. Julian Katzke is a postdoc at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.  He worked on the AntScan project while a PhD student at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

For decades, renowned environmental writer Elizabeth Kolbert has taken readers to remote corners of the planet to understand how all life is connected—and how our planet is changing. She’s covered everything from the collapse of insect populations to the success of one town’s effort to go carbon neutral. 

Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Kolbert about the undeniable heaviness of our current climate moment, how the splendor of the Great Barrier Reef “tilted” her worldview, and the messy business of trying to solve environmental problems. 

In March and April, the Science Friday Book Club is reading Kolbert’s latest book, “Life on a Little-Known Planet.” It’s a collection of essays she’s written over the years. Check out the Book Club to read along.

Guest:

Elizabeth Kolbert is a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of several books, including “Life on a Little-Known Planet: Dispatches from a Changing World.”

Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.