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‘The Kissing Bug’ And The Story Of A Neglected Disease Jan 09, 2026

Show notes

Growing up, Daisy Hernández was told that her aunt had become ill from eating a bad apple. She watched as her aunt became sicker and sicker, and didn’t learn until years later that she was living with Chagas disease. It affects around 8 million people, mostly across the Americas, and yet many of us have never heard of it.

Hernandez’s book, The Kissing Bug, is SciFri’s first book club pick of the year. Host Flora Lichtman speaks with Hernández about her book, the story of her aunt who died of Chagas, and how a disease that affects so many people can be so neglected.

Read an excerpt of The Kissing Bug: A True Story of a Family, an Insect, and a Nation's Neglect of a Deadly Disease.

Guest: Daisy Hernández is a journalist and the author of The Kissing Bug. She’s based in Chicago.

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

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Are Raccoons On The Road To Domestication? Jan 08, 2026

Show notes

What does it mean to be a wild animal in a world dominated by humans? A recent study found that city-dwelling raccoons’ snouts are getting shorter—a sign of domestication. Another study on dark-eyed juncos living on a Los Angeles college campus found that their beaks changed shape during the COVID-19 lockdown, when there wasn’t as much food and trash on campus.

Evolutionary biologist Pamela Yeh and animal domestication expert Raffaela Lesch join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss how wildlife is evolving in urban areas, what it means to be domesticated, and when we can expect to have a pet raccoon sleeping at the foot of the bed.

Guests:
Dr. Pamela Yeh is a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA.
Dr. Raffaela Lesch is an assistant professor of biology at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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

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The Community Group Rethinking LA's Approach To Wildfires Jan 07, 2026

Show notes

A year ago this week, the Eaton and Palisades fires broke out in Los Angeles, and ultimately became one of the most destructive urban fire events in recent history. Today we’ll hear about a community brigade that is taking firefighting into its own hands through a technique called “home hardening.”

Journalist Adriana Cargill, host of the new podcast “The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastle Special” from PRX, embedded with this group to understand what the future of firefighting could look like. She and Jack Cohen, a former research scientist with the USDA Forest Service, join Host Flora Lichtman to explain the science behind how people can prevent their own homes from burning.

Guests:
Adriana Cargill is a multimedia journalist and host of the podcast “The Palisades Fire: A Sandcastles Special.” She is based in Los Angeles, California.
Dr. Jack Cohen is a former research physical scientist with the USDA Forest Service, based in Missoula, Montana.

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

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What Should Astronauts Do First When They Reach Mars? Jan 06, 2026

Show notes

When humans finally land on Mars, what should they do? A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine lays out the science objectives for a crewed Mars mission. Planetary scientist Lindy Elkins-Tanton, who co-chaired the report committee, joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the plans to send people to Mars.

We’ll also get an update on the mission to survey the asteroid Psyche. Elkins-Tanton tells us how she managed the team that made the Psyche mission possible, and what she learned from her mistakes.

Guest: Dr. Lindy Elkins-Tanton is a planetary scientist. She’s the head of NASA’s Psyche mission and director of UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.

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

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Can The Rise In Solar Power Balance Out Clean Energy Cuts? Jan 05, 2026

Show notes

Since President Trump returned to office, his administration has been aggressive in rolling back clean energy initiatives. Trump’s “big beautiful bill” ended tax credits for solar panels and electric vehicles. And the EPA is moving to cancel $7 billion dollars in federal grants that were intended to help low- and middle-income families install solar on their homes.

But that isn’t the whole story. Texas, California, and other states are bringing so much solar and battery power online that in March, fossil fuels generated less than half the electricity in the US for the first time ever. And internationally, solar has gotten so cheap to build and install that it’s fundamentally transforming many countries’ power grids.

So where exactly does solar adoption stand in the US and across the world right now?

In August, climate activist Bill McKibben joined Host Ira Flatow to talk about the recent wins and future challenges that sun-powered energy faces, which he writes about in his new book Here Comes The Sun: A Last Chance for the Climate and a Fresh Chance for Civilization.

Read an excerpt from Here Comes The Sun.

Guest: Bill McKibben is a climate activist and founder of Third Act. He’s based in Middlebury, Vermont.

Transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

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Are Ultramarathoners Just Built Different? Jan 02, 2026

Show notes

‘Tis the season for exercise resolutions. For a select few, an ultramarathon—a race of 50, 100, or even more miles—may be on the table for 2026. But is there a limit to what our bodies can endure? And what makes ultramarathoners capable of these tremendous feats?

Joining Host Flora Lichtman are sports medicine expert Brandee Waite and biological anthropologist Andrew Best.

Guests:
Dr. Brandee Waite is the director of UC Davis Health Sports Medicine in Sacramento, California.
Dr. Andrew Best is an assistant professor of biology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

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

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Your Cells Are Always Building A Whole New You Jan 01, 2026

Show notes

In the last year, you’ve basically replaced your body weight in new cells. So yes, it’s a new year, new you. To ring in 2026, we’re talking about starting anew, and drawing inspiration from tiny worms that embody the ultimate growth mindset—they can regrow a whole body from just a tiny piece of their tail.

In this festive episode, Host Flora Lichtman talks with biologist Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado, a pioneer in the field of regeneration, about the science of regeneration and the biology lessons we can carry into the new year.

Guest: Dr. Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado is a biologist and president and chief scientific officer of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Missouri.

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

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A Look Back At 2025 In Science, From Federal Cuts To Space Junk Dec 31, 2025

Show notes

This has been a busy year in science, from government budget cuts and policy changes affecting research, to the record rise of renewables, to the surge in AI, and everything in between.

Science journalists Sophie Bushwick and Maggie Koerth join Host Ira Flatow to unpack some of the year’s top stories, and some you might have missed.

Guests:
Sophie Bushwick is a freelance science journalist and editor based in New York.
Maggie Koerth is climate and weather editor for CNN, based in Minneapolis.

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

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How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations Dec 30, 2025

Show notes

Being able to belt out a tune like Adele or Pavarotti is not just about raw talent. The best singers in the world have to work on their technique—like how to control their breath and develop the stamina to hit note after note for a two-hour concert. But pop stars and opera singers aren’t the only vocalists who have figured out how to harness their voices for maximum impact.

Death metal vocalists also train their voices to hit that unique guttural register. And those iconic screams are not as easy to master as they might seem.

Vocal scientists at the University of Utah are now bringing death metal singers into the lab to try to understand how they make their extreme vocalizations. What they’re finding is not only insightful for metalheads, but might also help improve treatment for people with some types of vocal injuries.

In a conversation from April, Host Flora Lichtman talks with speech pathologist Amanda Stark, and Mark Garrett, vocal coach and lead singer of the band Kardashev.

Read the whole story at sciencefriday.com.

Guests:
Dr. Amanda Stark is a speech pathologist and vocology researcher at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mark Garett is a vocal coach and the lead singer of Kardashev. He’s based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Transcript available at sciencefriday.com.

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What The Sigma Is Algospeak? Dec 29, 2025

Show notes

Gen Alpha slang can seem unintelligible to adults, but linguist and TikToker Adam Aleksic argues language development in the internet age is worth legitimate study. In a conversation from July, Adam talks to Host Flora Lichtman about how algorithms and social media are changing the way we speak, and discusses his new book, Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Guest: Adam Aleksic is a linguist and content creator posting educational videos as the “Etymology Nerd” to an audience of more than three million. He is the author of Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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