Science Friday

Giant viruses evolved from smaller viruses that picked up genes from other organisms, according to a new study. Plus, a look at the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the challenges of listening to the stars from a planet filled with radio transmissions. And as incidence of Lyme disease soars, scientists look for answers.

If humans someday colonize the moon and Mars, robotic prospectors and miners will be among the first to arrive, manufacturing fuel, water, and other essentials. Plus technology like 3D printing is expanding what prosthetic limbs can do, and who can wear them.

Geologist Peter Schultz uses a high-velocity gun to test his hypothesis that asteroid impacts could preserve signs of ancient life. Plus, what would happen if you stuck your hand in a particle accelerator or jumped off of the Space Station?

The wildflower explosion in the southern California desert provides plentiful food to wild bees. In this springtime special, we talk about which wildflowers—and pollinators—to spot this season, and how to log your observations at www.inaturalist.org. Plus, mathematician Eugenia Cheng explores infinity.

A play explores the loss of human and animal life after the Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010. Plus, can the shape of a congressional district tell us everything we need to know about its fairness?

In his new novel, New York 2140, author Kim Stanley Robinson tackles how a drowning city might adapt and thrive after disastrous sea level rise.   Plus, as the globe warms, maple syrup, tea, and other specialty foods could suffer from lower quality and lower nutritional value.

Physicist Lawrence Krauss on the substance of the universe, the Higgs Boson, and how we know what we know. Plus, researchers use the tools of quantum physics to quantify the vibration of sound. And a robotic spacecraft could improve weather forecasting by fixing satellites in geosynchronous orbit.

How the president and Congress have been quietly and successfully tearing down U.S environmental and climate change policy. Plus, Tuvan throat singers have developed a technique that allows them to produce two notes at one time.

In their book Scraps, Wilt & Weeds, Mads Refslund and Tama Matsuoka Wong describe creative ways to use the parts of produce that we usually toss away. Plus, a look at how content moderators work behind the scenes to keep graphic content off your feed. And why certain types of bacteria in the atmosphere can play a role in rain and snow.