Science Friday

The movie “Klara and the Sun,” in theaters now, is based on the 2021 novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. The story is set in the future and is narrated by Klara, a robotic “Artificial Friend,” whose job is to be a companion to a sick teenage girl.
In the 5 years since the release of the novel, the AI landscape has changed profoundly. Flora talks to novelist Kazuo Ishiguro about the rapid evolution of artificial intelligence, the intersection of art and science, and his hopes—and fears—for the future of this tech.
Guest:
Kazuo Ishiguro is a novelist and Nobel laureate, based in London, England.
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.


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Have you ever wondered what it means for something to be bear resistant? How do manufacturers know that the cooler you take camping or the compost bin in your backyard will keep hungry bears out?
Wonder no more! Journalist Alex Davies’ new book “Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering” takes you inside the workplace of the grizzly bears whose job it is to tear apart consumer goods. Davies joins Ira to discuss how bears do it, and other creative experiments to test the safety of jet engines, pill bottles and more.
Read an excerpt from “Kobuk the Destroyer.”
Guest:
Alex Davies is a journalist and author of “Kobuk the Destroyer: And Other Tales from the Wild, Unseen World of Test Engineering.”
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374

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In 2020, Jennifer Doudna shared the Nobel Prize in chemistry for the development of the gene-editing technique CRISPR. Along with related techniques, it has become an essential tool in genetics, allowing specific sections of genetic code to be cut and replaced in a genome. It’s an advance that has changed the game in biological research.

Doudna talks with Ira Flatow about the path that led to the development of CRISPR, her own route into research, and her thoughts on the attributes needed for success in science.
Guest:
Dr. Jennifer Doudna is a professor of biochemistry, biophysics and structural biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a 2020 Nobel Laureate in chemistry, and the 2026 winner of the Priestley Medal.
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.
Photo credit: Glenn Ramit

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In late September 2026, NASA announced that a new telescope called PRIMA was getting a green light and advancing to something called Phase B of the development process. But what does that mean exactly? How does a billion-dollar space project get thought up, designed, approved, and constructed?
Flora talks with Jason Glenn, an astronomer who led the initial concept study for PRIMA, about the challenges ahead and the process of getting a massive space project off the ground.
Guest:
Dr. Jason Glenn led the concept study for the PRIMA space telescope, and is now a professor of astronomy at the University of Virginia.
Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374

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Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is one of the most prominent voices in the climate movement. She’s a marine biologist by training, but as she saw the effects of the climate crisis intensify, she took on more public-facing advocacy work.
Her work is expansive: She helped organize the March for Science, she founded a think tank focused on coastal cities, she’s started two podcasts about climate solutions, and she’s published a couple books, most recently “What If We Get It Right?”
Flora sat down with Johnson on stage at a show produced by Grist to discuss the climate movement, climate solutions, and her path to becoming one of the foremost climate thinkers.
Guest:
Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a marine biologist and the author of “What If We Get It Right? Visions of Climate Futures.” She’s based in Brooklyn, New York.
The transcript this episode is available at sciencefriday.com.

Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-472-4374

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