Science Friday Audio Podcast

How will the “Brazuca” fly? Scientists put the World Cup soccer ball through its paces.

Robert Cima of the Mayo Clinic says science doesn't back up pre-surgical practices like fasting and colon cleanses.

What technologies, budget, and partners would NASA needed for a successful manned mission to Mars?

In his new book, Paul Raeburn writes of the surprising biological and genetic connections fathers have with their children.

The EPA's proposal sets a 30 percent decrease in power plant carbon emissions by 2030.

In his book Stuff Matters, Mark Miodownik explains why the everyday materials around us are truly extraordinary.

A herd of “elite” brush-clearing goats demonstrate why they are a versatile tool to shield against wildfires in Southern California.

In her new book of photography, The Oldest Living Things in the World, artist Rachel Sussman documents the oldest continuously living organisms on the planet.

With projections of warmer temperatures and rising sea levels, which tourist destinations should you plan to visit sooner rather than later?

Researchers describe a type of nerve that helps us understand social interactions and emotion.

Zapping dental stem cells with lasers appears to switch on production of new dentin, the hard stuff under tooth enamel.

“Earworms” are song fragments that get stuck in our mind.

A recent study projects that by 2030, pancreatic cancer will become the second most deadly type of cancer in the U.S. after lung cancer.

Nearly all the body's cells contain identical DNA. So why does a neuron grow up so differently than a liver cell? Proteins, says Akhilesh Pandey, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University.

How can a commercial airliner go missing, and what can we do to improve tracking technology?