Science Friday

The mountaineering history behind "skimo," a new Winter Olympic event. Plus, research into a true alpine champion, the mountain goat.

It's easier than ever for companies to collect your personal data and compile it into a profile for advertisers, ICE, and other agencies.

New USDA dietary guidelines tell us to “eat real food.” Should policymakers get highly processed foods out of our stores and school lunches?

Agrivoltaics combines solar panels and agriculture on the same land. It’ll be an uphill battle for it to hit the mainstream.

A new book explores what we lose when we’re always keeping score—at work, in life, even within ourselves. Can games help set us free?

SciFri Host Flora Lichtman joined Jeremy Hobson on “The Middle” to talk about how trust in science can be restored.

A new study suggests dogs began to diversify about 11,000 years earlier than we thought. Plus, a long-running experiment to domesticate foxes.

China is reshaping its energy economy with renewables like wind and solar—and flooding the world with affordable solar technology.

As we enter a new age of space travel, a former NASA astronaut says that rather than accepting risk, we should try to control risks.

A flu variant called subclade K emerged too late to be fully covered by this year's vaccine. But the flu shot can still help protect you.

An urban fire can release all kinds of chemicals. One year after fires hit Los Angeles, scientists are trying to understand the toxic fallout.

X’s AI chatbot Grok is undressing users, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg with fake imagery online. How does it work and what comes next?

When it comes to “bad” cholesterol, most cardiologists say lower is better. But what’s the best way to get that number down?

In 2025, more than 420 bills were introduced to weaken public health measures for vaccines, milk safety, and fluoride. What will we see in 2026?

Conventional wisdom is that ice is slippery because it has a thin layer of water on top, but new research suggests something else is at play.

Some Parkinson’s patients may experience strange symptoms, like smell loss and sleep disorders, decades before diagnosis.

A boom in construction of AI data centers is facing backlash over soaring electricity and water usage, and the resulting utility hikes.

Flora and “Part-Time Genius” co-host Mangesh Hattikudur put one lucky listener to the test with food science trivia.

Some animals seem to defy the rules of aging. Understanding how they do it could help us live longer, healthier lives.

Google's tool for predicting how proteins “fold” turns 5 this year. How is it fitting into biological research—and where is it going?