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What Will Replace The International Space Station? Apr 10, 2025

Show notes

NASA is planning to decommission the International Space Station by the end of 2030. The ISS, which began operations in 2000, is reaching the end of its lifespan and has become costly to maintain. NASA selected SpaceX to construct a vehicle that would “de-orbit” the football field-sized station, pushing it down into the atmosphere where it’ll burn up safely over the Pacific ocean.

So what comes next? So far, NASA has awarded contracts to private companies including Axiom Space, Blue Origin, Northrup Grumman, and Starlab to support the research and development for commercial space stations which would help facilitate future research in orbit, among their own space tourism offerings. Next year, NASA will certify one or more of these companies to build at least one space station, where it’ll then become one of many customers to purchase services from the new facilities.

Loren Grush, space reporter at Bloomberg News, joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss who’s in the running and how future space stations could differ from the one we know today. She also talks about her recent trip to the headquarters of Vast, one of the companies competing for this contract, to learn more about its cryptocurrency origins and its high-level recruitments from NASA and Apple.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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What Artificial General Intelligence Could Mean For Our Future Apr 09, 2025

Show notes

What happens when AI moves beyond convincing chatbots and custom image generators to something that matches—or outperforms—humans?

Each week, tech companies trumpet yet another advance in artificial intelligence, from better chat services to image and video generators that spend less time in the uncanny valley. But the holy grail for AI companies is known as AGI, or artificial general intelligence—a technology that can meet or outperform human capabilities on any number of tasks, not just chat or images.

The roadmap and schedule for getting to AGI depends on who you talk to and their precise definition of AGI. Some say it’s just around the corner, while other experts point a few years down the road. In fact, it’s not entirely clear whether current approaches to AI tech will be the ones that yield a true artificial general intelligence.

Hosts Ira Flatow and Flora Lichtman talk with Will Douglas Heaven, who reports on AI for MIT Technology Review; and Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, who specializes in ethical, explainable and transparent AI, about the path to AGI and its potential impacts on society.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Climate Change Has Made Allergy Season Worse. How Do We Cope? Apr 08, 2025

Show notes

In many parts of the United States, spring has sprung. There’s nothing quite like those first few beautiful days of spring. They’re delightful—until the sneezing starts.

According to the CDC, a quarter of US adults deal with seasonal allergies. And if you think they’re getting worse, it’s not just in your head. Previous research has shown that climate change is making pollen seasons start earlier and become more intense, a problem that’s expected to get worse.

Joining Host Ira Flatow to discuss the science behind seasonal allergies, and the best methods for treating them, is Dr. Neeta Ogden, director of the Allergy, Asthma and Sinus Center in Edison, New Jersey.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Microdosing Peanut Butter Could Alleviate Some Peanut Allergies Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

Over the past two decades, rates of peanut allergies in children have more than tripled. A variety of theories has been proposed to explain this, from a rise in industrialization keeping kids away from the germs that develop the immune system, to the previous pediatric guidelines that urged parents to restrict access to peanuts early in life. Whatever the cause, higher rates of peanut allergies means effective treatments are in higher demand.

New research published in NEJM Evidence shows that a simple treatment could be effective for kids who can tolerate half a peanut or more before an overwhelming reaction: eating a small amount of store-bought peanut butter, gradually increasing the amount over 18 months. In the study, 100% of participating kids increased their tolerance to three tablespoons of peanut butter without an allergic reaction.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to discuss this study and other food allergy treatments on the horizon is Dr. Scott Sicherer, Director of the Jaffe Food Allergy Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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The Department Of Health And Human Services Cuts 10,000 Jobs Apr 04, 2025

Show notes

The cuts hit multiple agencies, affecting work on HIV, gun violence prevention, vaccines, minority health research, and more.

On April 1, thousands of federal health workers woke up to find that they had been laid off. Scientists and civil servants at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health were let go as part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s pledge to cut jobs at the country’s top disease-fighting agencies.

Host Ira Flatow talks with Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox in Washington, D.C., about the repercussions of these cuts. They also discuss other science news of the week, including a pacemaker the size of a grain of rice, how air pollution affects the climate, and miso made on board the International Space Station.

Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Forecasting Cuts Spark Worries About Hurricane Season | Soothing Babies With Music Apr 03, 2025

Show notes

Emergency response experts say that funding and staff cuts at the National Weather Service could mean less reliable weather forecast. And, babies like music, but they generally have preferences. A music therapist reveals the best kinds of music to soothe a baby.

Forecasting Cuts Leave Some Worried For Hurricane Season

Many in Georgia are still recovering from the devastation of Hurricane Helene last fall.

Now, firings and funding cuts at the National Weather Service and other agencies have some experts worried about accurate forecasts heading into the next hurricane season, which begins June 1.

Hundreds of workers have been fired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, including meteorologists at the Weather Service. More cuts by the Trump administration are reportedly on the way.

“The forecast is not going to be as accurate because it won’t have as much information in it,” said Chuck Watson of ENKI research in Savannah, who studies disaster preparedness and response.

Read the whole story at sciencefriday.com.

Tips For Soothing Your Baby With Music, From A Music Therapist

If you’re a parent, you’ve probably heard that playing music is good for your baby’s brain development. But that’s where many people’s knowledge about the subject ends. What about music is good for a baby’s development? Will queuing up a lullaby playlist get the job done? And how can you tell if it’s all just too much for them?

Sarah Nolan, a board-certified music therapist and neonatal intensive care unit music therapist in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles’ Mark Taper and Johnny Mercer Artists Program recently published recommendations on the best ways to play music around your baby.

Host Ira Flatow talks to Nolan about the ideal length of time to play music, what kinds of music are best, and the benefits of music therapy to babies and adults alike.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Massive Iceberg Breaks Off Antarctica, Revealing Wonders Below Apr 02, 2025

Show notes

In January, an iceberg the size of Chicago splintered off from the Antarctic Peninsula and drifted away in the Bellingshausen Sea.

As luck would have it, a team of scientists was nearby on a research vessel, and they seized the chance to see what was lurking on the seafloor beneath that iceberg—a place that had long been covered, and nearly impossible to get to.

They found a stunning array of life, like octopuses, sea spiders, and crustaceans, as well as possible clues to the dynamics of ice sheets.

Host Ira Flatow talks with the expedition’s two chief scientists: Dr. Patricia Esquete, marine biologist at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, and Dr. Sasha Montelli, glaciologist and geophysicist at University College London.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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TikTok Is Shaping How We Think About ADHD Apr 01, 2025

Show notes

Mental health information on social media can be both revelatory and misleading. How do clinicians and their patients make sense of it?

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 both how accurate they are and how young people respond to them. Researchers found that about half of the videos were inaccurate or missing key context, and that the more TikToks young adults watched, the less critical they were of the content.

For some, watching social videos about mental health conditions led them to better understand themselves and eventually get a proper diagnosis and treatment. For others it made them consider if they have conditions they don’t meet the diagnostic criteria for.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with the lead author of the ADHD TikTok study, Vasileia Karasavva, a PhD Student in clinical psychology at the University of British Columbia; and Dr. Jennifer Katzenstein, director of psychology, neuropsychology, and social work at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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Engineering Lessons One Year After The Baltimore Bridge Collapse Mar 31, 2025

Show notes

Engineers take an in-depth look at why the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore collapsed and how to prevent future tragedies.

In the early morning of March 26, 2024, the container ship Dali struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Within 30 seconds, the bridge collapsed into the river below. Six construction workers lost their lives.

On the one-year anniversary of the accident, we talk about what went wrong, and how to improve the safety of our nation’s bridges and prevent another tragic crash.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Abi Aghayere, professor of civil engineering at Drexel University; and Dr. Thomas McKenney, associate professor of engineering practice in the naval architecture and marine engineering department at the University of Michigan.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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23andMe Bankruptcy | A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll Mar 28, 2025

Show notes

The company has genetic data of 15 million people, which could be shared with a future buyer. Here’s how to delete it. Plus, an experimental coating could make golf balls roll more reliably on greens with different conditions.

After 23andMe Bankruptcy, Customers Urged To Delete Their Data

If you’re one of roughly 15 million people who used 23andMe to unlock information from their DNA, consumer advocates have a message for you: Delete your data. On Sunday, the company, which has customers send saliva samples for DNA analysis, filed for bankruptcy. While many customers submitted their saliva for the purpose of ancestral analysis, 85% of customers also consent to their data used for genetic disease research.

As the company searches for a buyer, consumer advocates, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have urged customers to delete their data from 23andMe’s website. 23andMe and other genetic testing companies are not subject to HIPAA, meaning health and medical records kept by 23andMe could be shared with a future buyer.

Producer Kathleen Davis joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss this and other top science stories of the week.

Chemists Make A Coating That Can Slow A Golf Ball’s Roll

With spring here, the days are getting warmer and longer, meaning conditions are perfect for a trip to the golf course. And while golf is certainly a game of physics—force, angles, parabolas—this week researchers presented work showing that chemistry could play an important role on the golf course as well. Speaking at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in San Diego, researchers described a high performance coating that could be incorporated into the polyurethane shell of a golf ball.

The hydrophilic (water-loving) coating would make tiny bits of water stick to the surface of the golf ball and sheet off, modifying the way the ball interacts with the grass of the green. That interaction, says Tom Kennedy, owner of Chemical Innovative Solutions Inc., would lead to the ball rolling more slowly and reliably, especially on “fast,” closely-cut greens in dry and windy conditions.

Kennedy joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss the technology, and how hydrophilic coatings could find a home in other applications, including solar cells.

Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

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