Science Friday and WNYC Studios
500 episodes listed below
Flora Lichtman interviews scientists, from gut-health researchers to Queen's Brian May.
Science Friday pairs careful questions with scientists, makers, and specialists who can explain what their work changes in everyday terms. The show ranges from organ imaging and dolphin whistles to compost piles, research replication, space families, and GLP-1 drugs.
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Science Friday is a long-running interview podcast built around one-on-one conversations between a host and a single scientific expert, author, or public figure. Flora Lichtman is the primary host and conducts most interviews; other Science Friday producers, such as D. Peter Schmidtt, host segments outside Lichtman's core beat, including coverage of AI-generated music. A recurring crossover partner is 'The Middle,' hosted by Jeremy Hobson, which brings a live call-in format to shared episodes on politically charged science topics like public trust and vaccination. Guests are typically credentialed researchers (a Harvard neurogastroenterologist, a Yale astrophysicist, a Carnegie Institution astrobiologist) or notable figures with a genuine science background, such as Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May. Episodes are structured around a single news hook, book release, or research finding rather than a broad survey, and often end with concrete, sometimes counterintuitive takeaways — a symptom that predicts disease years in advance, a statistic about AI music adoption, or a scientific detail embedded in a song or film. Subject matter ranges widely: digestive and neurological medicine, astronomy and astrobiology, science policy and federal funding fights, public trust in science and vaccine hesitancy, and the intersection of science with music and film. The tone is explanatory and conversational rather than academic, aimed at translating research and technical debates for a general audience. Listeners benefit from exposure to primary researchers explaining their own work directly, rather than secondhand science journalism. Episodes run in the 20-to-30-minute range, consistent with a single-topic interview format rather than long-form discussion.
Made for: General-interest science listeners who want short, single-topic expert interviews on current research, science policy, and science-culture crossovers rather than long-form deep dives.
What sets it apart: Distinguishes itself through single-topic interviews with primary researchers and unusual science-adjacent guests, including musicians and authors with genuine scientific credentials.
Covering the outer reaches of space to the tiniest microbes in our bodies, Science Friday is the source for entertaining and educational stories about science, technology, and other cool stuff.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Science Friday makes scientific methods and practical consequences legible through interviews, listener questions, and clear explanations of how evidence can fail.
Science Friday treats science as both usable knowledge and a process worth inspecting. Flora Lichtman moves from a frank conversation with neurogastroenterologist Dr. Trisha Pasricha about bowel health to a producer-reported look at AI-generated music.
Poop shame meets peer-review failure, so your curiosity never has to choose between useful and delightfully weird.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A clear Science Friday segment on how unchecked data and code can weaken published research.
Science Friday frames the replication problem as a question of how science earns trust after the first finding. Ira Flatow starts with a clean reminder: research is not just the first search, but the follow-up work that checks whether a result holds.
A frank, funny Science Friday segment turns poop shame into practical gastroenterology, from stool-color warnings to spicy-food biology.
Science Friday turns bathroom embarrassment into a real health conversation, with Dr. Trisha Pasricha arguing that poop shame can keep people from noticing what their bodies are trying to say.
A lively Science Friday riff on Project Hail Mary's aliens, especially the sun-eating microbes that set the story in motion.
Science Friday uses Project Hail Mary as an excuse to get happily nerdy about aliens on screen. Flora Lichtman opens on the movie's apocalyptic premise, with a planet-level extinction threat, but the segment's real pull is creature design: what kinds of life science fiction…
A clear, brisk look at AI music moving from meme songs to chart tracks, remix tools, and label dealmaking.
Science Friday catches AI music at the moment it stops feeling like a joke on the feed and starts looking like a business problem. Flora Lichtman turns the story over to producer and musician D.
A plainspoken Science Friday conversation about public health, trust, and what communities deserve after they are studied.
Science Friday takes up a blunt question: can public health become more useful by listening harder to the people it studies? The conversation turns on a guest from Jackson, Mississippi, who grew up poor and learned to distrust the field early.
A warm Science Friday conversation about 3D galaxy images, Brian May, and why art and astronomy belong together.
Science Friday uses a glossy idea, galaxy images rendered in 3D, to get at a more human question: what changes when space stops looking flat? Flora Lichtman talks with astrophysicist Derek Ward-Thompson and Brian May, better known to many listeners as Queen's guitarist but here…
A grounded call-in on why trust in science has frayed, and why clearer public language may be part of the repair.
Science Friday hands the mic to The Middle for a call-in conversation about trust in science after COVID turned public health guidance into political argument.
Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser build single reported stories around one scientific question.
Steven Novella and a rotating panel dissect weekly science news and debunk pseudoscience claims.
Long interviews with neuroscientists and philosophers on consciousness, decision-making, and whether AI is anything like a brain.
Bob McDonald anchors weekly multi-segment interviews on new research, from cricket courtship to moon missions.
APA's Kim Mills interviews psychology researchers on tipping, crying, and extremism.
A host and three academics dissect one topic weekly, from archaea to the Tudors.
This episode features an interview with Dr.
This episode explores dolphin communication, focusing on signature whistles that function like names and how researchers study dolphin dialects.
This episode explores the experiences of astronauts' families during space missions, featuring an interview with sociologist Tracy Scott, who shares insights from her research and personal background as the child of an Apollo astronaut.
This episode explores the science and practical aspects of composting, featuring an interview with author Cassandra Marchetto about purposeful decomposition and how to create an ideal compost pile for gardening.
How do we know what we know?
Science Friday interviews the sound designer of Project Hail Mary about the art and science of creating alien languages and monster sounds in movies.
A listener shares how taking a GLP-1 drug for diabetes unexpectedly helped him quit drinking, exploring the off-label effects of these medications.
A whale biologist discusses the first-ever documented sperm whale birth and the surprising altruistic behavior of other whales.
Ira Flatow discusses China's dominance in electric vehicles and battery production with Brookings fellow Kyle Chan.
Science Friday producer Kathleen Davis interviews environmental reporter Kate Grumke about microplastics, their prevalence, and recent EPA steps to regulate them in drinking water.
An update on the Artemis II moon mission, including launch details and future plans for a moon base.
Two planetary scientists discuss the ongoing debate over Pluto's planetary status and a NASA administrator's push to reinstate it.
Science Friday host Flora Lichtman interviews Dr.
This episode explores the real-world science behind spider silk and its potential applications, inspired by a listener's question about building functional web shooters.
An interview with a physicist about the discovery of a new heavy particle at the Large Hadron Collider.
A discussion with mathematicians about how AI's improving math abilities could transform the field of mathematics.
A primatologist discusses the viral fame of a baby monkey named Punch and why people are so fascinated.
Ira Flatow interviews tech journalist David Pogue about Apple's 50-year history, from its founding in a garage to its dominance in computing and mobile devices.
The alien is the hook.
An interview about the AntScan project that uses X-ray imaging to study ant mouthparts across hundreds of species.
Science Friday's turtle and tortoise correspondent discusses Galapagos tortoise conservation and the difference between turtles and tortoises.
An interview with neurosurgeon Dr.
Science Friday examines the rapid rise of AI-generated music, from a viral TikTok doo-wop song appearing in Kylie Jenner videos to AI artist Zania Monet signing a multi-million dollar record deal with a traditional label.
Public health starts with trust.
This episode explores how behavioral science has been used to shift responsibility for societal problems onto individuals rather than corporations or government regulation.
Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Dr.
This episode discusses delays in federal science research funding and their impact on institutions and the next generation of scientists.
This episode explores directed evolution of enzymes with Nobel laureate Frances Arnold.
Discussion of the creation of an independent vaccine review process amid political turmoil at the CDC.
A cognitive scientist discusses an experiment where a bonobo named Kanzi engaged in pretend tea parties, challenging the notion that imagination is uniquely human.
This episode explores the scientific impact of screen time on children's brains and bodies, featuring expert perspectives from neuroscience and pediatric medicine.
This episode examines the new federal dietary guidelines targeting ultra-processed foods, featuring expert analysis on nutrition policy and public health implications.
This episode explores agrivoltaics, a practice where farmers combine agriculture and solar energy production on the same land to enhance environmental and economic sustainability.
This episode explores how pervasive metrics and scoring systems influence our lives and values, featuring an interview with philosopher Dr.
Trust in science is treated as a problem people are still living with.