Science Friday

It’s been an unusually tough winter virus season. Rates of flu-like infections are higher than they’ve been in nearly 30 years. And for the first winter since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, flu deaths have surpassed COVID deaths. Add to that a higher-than-average year for norovirus, a nasty type of stomach bug.

Then there’s the emerging threat of avian flu. While there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission of the virus, about 70 people in the US have contracted the virus from livestock since April 2024.

To make sense of the latest viral trends, Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Katelyn Jetelina, epidemiologist and author of the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist”; and Dr. Erica Shenoy, chief of infection control at Mass General Brigham hospital.

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

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Last week, some 3,500 people from across scientific fields gathered in Boston for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). The organization’s CEO, Dr. Sudip Parikh, gave a rousing speech to attendees.

“Destruction for the ill-conceived notion of cutting costs didn’t put an American on the moon, and it didn’t wipe smallpox from the face of the Earth,” Parikh said in opening remarks.

He was referring, of course, to the huge funding cuts and mass firings happening across federal science and health agencies under the Trump administration. Over the last few weeks, news of these cuts has been frequent—along with the cancellation of grants that include certain prohibited words and the disappearance of data from agency websites.

So what’s happening, and how should the scientific community respond? Host Flora Lichtman sat down with Dr. Sudip Parikh to discuss the importance of this point in time for American science and technology, what cuts for “efficiency” are getting wrong, and what’s at stake in the next few weeks.

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

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Finding the original tomb of the royal is one of the most significant developments in Egyptian archeology in recent history. Also, a video of a gloriously creepy anglerfish inspired tears and poetry online. But why was this deep-sea dweller near the surface at all?

A British-Egyptian team has made one of the most significant Egyptian archeological finds in recent history: the tomb of pharaoh King Thutmose II, who ruled sometime between 2000 and 1001 BCE. This is the first tomb of a pharaoh unearthed since Tutankhamun’s in 1922.

Thutmose II’s mummified remains were found two centuries ago, but they had been moved from his original tomb, the location of which remained a mystery until now. Part of the reason why his tomb’s location was such a mystery was that Thutmose II was buried in an area associated with the wives of Egyptian kings, about 1.5 miles west of Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about this and other science stories of the week is Maggie Koerth, science writer and editorial lead of CarbonPlan, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Last week, a viral video likely floated to the top of your feed: a rare black seadevil anglerfish, which looks like a floating head with a frightening amount of teeth and two cloudy eyes, swimming in azure waters. The fish showed up near Spain’s Canary Islands, off the northwestern coast of Africa. It made the news because it was spotted near the surface, while anglerfish normally reside in the deep ocean.

So why was she paddling so close to the surface? Was she sick? How unusual is this? And also, why do they even look like that? We had questions.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Dr. Kory Evans, assistant professor of biosciences at Rice University, to separate fact from fish-ction. He also explains new research he helped conduct about the evolutionary history of anglerfish, which could help explain why they look the way they do.

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

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We have lots of expressions to describe the pain of loss—heartache, a broken heart, a punch in the gut. These aren’t just figures of speech: While grief is an emotional experience, it’s also a physical one. Studies show that grief can change your physiology, most dramatically in the cardiovascular and immune systems.

One staggering finding? A heart attack is 21 times more likely to happen in the 24 hours after the death of a loved one. And after the death of a parent, risk of ischemic heart disease rises by 41%, and risk of stroke increases by 30%.

Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor has dedicated her career to understanding the physiology behind grief and grieving. She joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss what she’s learned over the years, and her new book The Grieving Body.

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

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In the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” the central premise, as Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan’s characters stay friends throughout the years, is, can men and women really just be friends?

In the movie, the answer is no, not really. Spoiler alert: They do get together in the end. But what if we take that concept and bring it to the animal kingdom, specifically to primates?

The Kinda baboon is known for its distinct social behaviors. Individuals form long-term, social bonds, and those relationships are seen, uniquely, between male and female baboons. Over nine years, researchers studied the Kinda baboon, a kinder, gentler species of baboon, to learn more about their social lives. Kindas are unique among baboons because they’re the least sexually dimorphic: males and females are close to the same size, making them a better analog for us humans.

So can male and female baboons really be just friends? Much like the movie, long friendships do happen between Kindas—but there also appears to be a benefit during mating season.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to talk about her work with these baboons is Dr. Anna Weyher, founder of the Kasanka Baboon Project in Zambia. Weyher has studied Kinda baboons for over a decade.

What do you do when a bear keeps coming too close to people, and doesn’t take the hint to stay away? It’s a serious problem, because human-wildlife conflict can be dangerous for both the people and animals involved. Wildlife managers have for years used a collection of deterrents, including firecracker noises, rubber bullets, and trained dogs, to try to chase bears away from human habitations.

Writing in the journal Frontiers in Conservation Science, former Montana bear management specialist Wesley Sarmento claims that a high-tech approach may be more effective: drones. Sarmento joins Host Flora Lichtman to discuss his experiences with hazing stubborn bears.

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

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The North and South Poles, also known as Earth’s iceboxes, help cool the planet, store fresh water, influence weather patterns, and more. They’re also the fastest warming places on Earth.

A new book called Ends of The Earth: Journeys to the Polar Regions in Search of Life, the Cosmos, and Our Future illustrates the wonders of Antarctica and the Arctic—and the lengths scientists go to to study them before it’s too late.

Host Ira Flatow talks with author Dr. Neil Shubin, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Chicago, about some of the wonders found at the ends of the Earth, and the threats they’re facing.

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

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It’s the first FDA approval for a pain medication in 25 years. How does the drug work, and who is it for? Also, non-mixing layers of water and hydrocarbons thousands of miles deep could explain the icy planets’ strange magnetic fields.

In January, the Food and Drug Administration approved a new pain medicine called Journavx (suzetrigine), made by Vertex Pharmaceuticals. It’s the first time in 25 years the agency has given the green light to a new painkiller. Notably, it’s not an opioid and, according to the company, it’s not addictive. Unlike opioids, which act directly on the brain, Journavx instead blocks nerve endings across the body that transmit pain.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Dr. Sean Mackey, a professor of anaesthesiology and pain medicine at Stanford University and chief of the Division of Stanford Pain Medicine, to discuss how the new drug works, who should take it, and what its limitations are.

We’ve got a pretty good idea about what’s beneath the surface of our nearest planetary neighbors, like Mars. But as you get farther out into the solar system, our knowledge becomes scarce. For instance, what’s inside the so-called ice giants, Neptune and Uranus?

Recent research based on computer simulations of fluids hints that the planets could contain vast multi-layered oceans, as much as thousands of miles deep. A layer of water that is on top of—but doesn’t mix with—a deeper layer of hydrocarbons could help explain strange magnetic fields observed during the Voyager mission.

Dr. Burkhardt Militzer, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Berkeley, wrote about this idea in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He joins Host Ira Flatow to explain his theories.

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

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Neutrinos are sometimes called “ghost particles,” because they are nearly weightless, rarely interact with any other matter, and have very little electric charge.

Now, scientists have discovered a neutrino with a recording-breaking level of energy, which could bring us closer to understanding physics underpinning the creation of the universe.

Host Ira Flatow is joined by Sophie Bushwick, senior news editor at New Scientist, to talk more about the latest in neutrino research and other top science news of the week, including supersonic spaceflight without a sonic boom; an asteroid headed for Earth; and why loggerhead turtles are dancing.

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

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In "Common Side Effects," the starring scientist finds a mushroom that can heal any ailment. But powerful people will do anything to stop him from cultivating it. And, a combination of environmental factors and the way our bodies function play a role in how we perceive the smell of snow.

In the new Adult Swim show “Common Side Effects,” an eccentric scientist has a secret: He’s discovered a strange mushroom that can cure any illness or injury, and he wants to get it to people in need. The only problem is that a pharmaceutical company doesn’t want that secret to get out and will do anything to make sure he’s stopped.

Joining Host Flora Lichtman to break down this fungal drama, and the science that inspired it, are the show’s creators, Steve Hely, who previously wrote for “30 Rock” and “Veep;” and Joe Bennett, creator of the animated sci-fi show “Scavengers Reign” on Max.

If you know snow, you might know that it has a particular smell to it. It has to do with where you are and how cold it is. It may even involve the memory parts of your brain.

Producer Rasha Aridi talks with Host Flora Lichtman about the science behind that snowy smell, featuring Dr. Johan Lundström, snow aficionado and professor of psychology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

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

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Every year, billions of dollars are funneled into Alzheimer’s research. And yet, so far, there’s no treatment that’s been able to reverse the disease, or even meaningfully slow the cognitive decline of patients.

Part of the reason is that the disease is complex, and brain disorders are notoriously difficult to understand.

But in a new book, an investigative science reporter makes the case that there’s another reason progress toward Alzheimer’s treatments has stalled: scientific fraud.

Host Flora Lichtman talks with Charles Piller, investigative journalist at Science and author of the book Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s.

Read an excerpt of Doctored at sciencefriday.com.

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

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