Top Vídeos
Meet a set of giant pumpkins--find out how to grow them and go to a weigh off to see growers compete for the heftiest pumpkin title.
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As part of Doug Emlen’s biology lab at the University of Montana in Missoula, Jillian del Sol was no stranger to bug battles. Year after year, study after study, species after species, students in Emlen’s lab have revealed the dramatic effects of sexual selection on male biological weaponry. So when she travel to East Asia to witness the tree trunk battles of the rhino beetles as part of her Ph.D. research, she came prepared to document the ecological conditions that influence chitinous combat. To her surprise, the successful male beetles didn’t just claim their prize after ousting their foes. Instead, they began to sing- or rather chirp and chitter at the females. This acoustic courtship continued even as they mated. Clearly, there was more to this mating system than just an escalating arms race between males. Now equipped with 150 beetles from field sites from Japan, del Sol aims to record these acoustic mating rituals in detail to hopefully discover why this bruiser bug suddenly turns from fighter to lover.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Jeramiah Jones, Audio Network, and Pond5
Additional Footage and Stills Provided by Jillian Delsol
Pond5, Louis Hollis (CC BY 2.0), Carol Burch-Brown (CC BY 2.0),
Flora Lichtman, Glacier National Park, (CC BY 2.0), Ian A. Nelson (CC BY 2.0)
Special Thanks to Annie Nero
Tips on mushroom hunting from the president of the Mycological Society of America.
It's crunch time for the 'balloonatics' at Macy's Parade Studio. The balloons themselves, which are designed and fabricated in a warehouse in New Jersey, are getting their final checkup before the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. John Piper and Jim Artle take us around the studio and spill the secrets of inflation, explain how to calculate whether your balloon will float, and explain why the balloons look better after a little time in the sun. (Broadcast Nov 2011)
Chris Tack made seven trips to Goodwill to get rid of his stuff, before moving into the 140-square-foot home he and his wife Malissa Tack designed and built. Constructed on a trailer bed and parked in Snohomish, Washington, the house is more than enough space for them, the couple says. And one advantage of a home on wheels, the 29-year-olds say, is that you can always move.
For Navajo hydrologist Karletta Chief, water is sacred. When a mine spill contaminated a vital river in the Navajo Nation, she decides to investigate the potential environmental and health impacts it had on her community.
A film by Science Friday
Produced in collaboration with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Produced by Emily V. Driscoll and Luke Groskin
Directed by Emily V. Driscoll
Edited by Emily V. Driscoll and Luke Groskin
Filmed by Brandon Swanson
Animations by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Additional Photos and Video by Hayden Ferguson, Pond5. US Environmental Protection Agency
Project Advisors:
Laura A. Helft, Laura Bonetta, Dennis W.C. Liu and Sean B. Carroll - Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Special Thanks to
Karletta Chief, Black Mesa United, Shiprock Chapter, Dennis McQuillan, Xiaobo Hou, Janene and Chili Yazzie, Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne, Allison Scott Majure, Danielle Dana, Chistian Skotte, Ariel Zych
and Jennifer Fenwick
Science Friday/HHMI © 2017
By 1982, fewer than two dozen California condors lived in the wild. By 1985, only one wild breeding pair was known to exist. That's when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service decided to capture any remaining condors and bring them to live--and breed--in captivity. The Peregrine Fund, in Boise, Id., houses the largest California condor breeding center in the U.S.--with nearly sixty California condors living on site. Bill Heinrich and Taiana Carvalho take us "behind the enclosure" for a tour of the condor compound.
Given their outlandish names and traits, imaginary companions might be dismissed as nostalgic relics of our ephemeral youth. Yet, research by psychologists has revealed that imaginary companions can provide glimpses into the development of critical creative, social, and cognitive skills of children. In the third episode of The Real Guide to Imaginary Companions, we'll see how developmental psychologist Tracy Gleason uses imaginary companions to study how children form relationships. We'll also learn how developmental psychologist Stephanie Carlson tests the role of pretend play, such as creating an imaginary companion, in a child's ability to exercise self-control.
Produced by Science Friday with generous support from the John Templeton Foundation
Produced, directed, and narrated by Luke Groskin
Filmed by Katie Graham, Luke Groskin and Patrick Pelham
Editor by Erika Sutter
Animations by Gabe Darling and Candice Aquino
Music by Audio Network
"Fairy Godmother" voiced by Annie Nero
Additional footage provided by
Pond5.com
Carlson Lab Experiment Footage Courtesy of Mind in the Making, Bezos Family Foundation.
Think oysters are good on the half shell? They may be even better whole. Oysters can restore marine habitats by cleaning water, creating homes for other sea life and preventing coastal erosion. But oyster populations around the world have declined, experts say. Find out how scientists in New York are working to replenish oyster populations in the waters around the city.
Big and boisterous, Spotigy and Buri appear to be standard 1-year-old bulls. But a quick glance at their furry heads and closer examination of their genes would reveal that they're unique specimens—hornless Holsteins. The bulls are the result of a gene-editing experiment by Alison Van Eenennaam and colleagues at UC Davis, along with researchers at the biotech company Recombinetics, who aim to develop hornless cattle that might one day replace cows whose horns must be physical removed through expensive and painful methods. Van Eenennaam explains how the technique of "precision breeding" can be a faster and more effective means of de-horning cows compared to traditional breeding methods.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Filmed by Christian Baker
and Luke Groskin
Additional Stills and Video by
Shutterstock
Pond5
Jack Wakeham (C.C. BY 3.0)
Cornell Alliance for Science
In perhaps the cutest study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, psychologist Marcel Zentner and Tuomas Eerola found that babies will spontaneously boogie when they hear music and other rhythmic sounds. The findings suggest babies are not great dancers, but they smile more when they do hit the beat.
This is how live radio looks! Watch Ira Flatow talk to scientist turned playwright Carl Djerassi, actor Simon Jones and chemist Alfred Vendl talk about Djerassi's new play Phallacy.
An elephant shrew is neither an elephant nor a shrew and has a manatee for a close relative. It's more like a mix between a miniature antelope and anteater. Researchers recently discovered a new species of elephant-shrew in Tanzania
Danica McKellar--aka Winnie Cooper in the TV series The Wonder Years--talks to NPR Host Ira Flatow about math.
NPR Host Ira Flatow comes face to face with his avatar when Science Friday broadcasts in Second Life.
How do you capture an asteroid? What does rap music have to do with science? SciFri explores these questions, and more, on this week's' show.
Ultravox - Hymn 1983
Give us this day all that you showed me -
The power and the glory
till my kingdom come.
Give us this day all that you showed me -
The power and the glory
till my kingdom come.
Give me all the storybook told me
The faith and the glory
till my kingdom comes.
And they said that in our time
all that's good will fall from grace.
Even saints would turn their face
in our time.
And they told us that in our days
Different words said in different ways
Have other meanings from he who says
in our time:
Give us this day all that you showed me -
The power and the glory
till my kingdom come.
Give me all the storybook told me
The faith and the glory
till my kingdom comes.
And they said that in our time
we would reap from their legacy
We would learn from what they had seen
in our time.
And they told us that in our days
We would know what was high on high
We would follow and not defy
in our time.
Give us this day
