Podcast appearances and mentions of umair irfan

President Trump is making the first extended foreign trip of his term in the Middle East. The Wall Street Journal’s Eliot Brown discusses how parts of his personal business empire are also striking deals in the region. USA Today looks at opening statements in the criminal trial for Sean “Diddy” Combs, and the legal arguments expected from the defense and the prosecution. Using batteries for grid-scale energy storage will improve how Americans get their power. Vox’s Umair Irfan tells us about the benefits. Plus, what to know about Republicans’ proposed Medicaid cuts, Trump’s executive order instructing drug companies to lower prices, and the unlikely winner of the NBA draft lottery. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.

The cuts hit multiple agencies, affecting work on HIV, gun violence prevention, vaccines, minority health research, and more.On April 1, thousands of federal health workers woke up to find that they had been laid off. Scientists and civil servants at the Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and National Institutes of Health were let go as part of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s pledge to cut jobs at the country's top disease-fighting agencies.Host Ira Flatow talks with Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox in Washington, D.C., about the repercussions of these cuts. They also discuss other science news of the week, including a pacemaker the size of a grain of rice, how air pollution affects the climate, and miso made on board the International Space Station.Transcript for this segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Layoffs at the agency, which releases weather forecasts and monitors extreme weather, could have serious implications. Also, funds for climate and sustainability-focused farming projects have been indefinitely frozen, even though the USDA has already signed contracts.10% Of NOAA Staff Laid Off, With More Cuts PossibleThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, better known as NOAA, impacts and provides services for Americans every day. The agency releases daily weather forecasts and monitors extreme weather, and it also conducts research into global weather and climate change.Along with many other federal science agencies, NOAA is being subjected to layoffs in the name of cost-cutting: 10% of the agency's workforce has been laid off, with 1,000 more cuts potentially to come. According to Dr. Timothy Gallaudet, acting NOAA administrator during Trump's first term, this is likely to lead to declines in quality of service and access to information about weather events.Host Flora Lichtman speaks to Umair Irfan, science correspondent at Vox, who has been covering the turmoil at NOAA. They also discuss other science stories of the week, including the death of prolific blood donor James Harrison.Frozen Climate And Conservation Funds Leave Farmers In LimboAround the country, farmers are planning and planting this year's crops. It can be uncertain work, made even more tenuous by some of the Trump administration's changes to climate and conservation policies.The administration has frozen billions of dollars in grants to farmers for sustainable agriculture, conservation, and “climate smart” projects. In some cases, farmers had already signed contracts with the government and begun work on these projects.While some funding from the Inflation Reduction Act was recently released, many farmers across the country are still in limbo.Host Flora Lichtman talks with Patrick Brown, a farmer in Warren County, North Carolina; and Dr. Kitty O'Neil, an agricultural climate resiliency specialist at Cornell University's Cooperative Extension about the future of farming in a changing climate.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

After her SciFri internship 20 years ago, Flora went on to become a beloved science journalist, video producer, and podcaster. Now she's back! Also, several different fires are causing extreme damage in the Los Angeles area. Strong Santa Ana winds are one factor behind their rapid spread.Science Friday Now Has Two Hosts: Meet Flora Lichtman!Big news! Science Friday now has two hosts—Ira Flatow, the program's founder, and veteran science journalist Flora Lichtman. Going forward, you'll hear both of them regularly on the air and on our podcast. Flora joins Ira to introduce herself and talk about her background, from her start as an intern at Science Friday 20 years ago to her role as a video producer, then a writer for Bill Nye, and as creator of the podcast “Every Little Thing.”Los Angeles Wildfires Burn For Days, Stoked By Santa Ana WindsThis week, the Los Angeles area has been battered by at least five separate wildfires. Tens of thousands of acres have burned, and thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes. Fire experts had warned on January 2 that conditions were ideal for wildfires in parts of Southern California. One factor that has helped these fires spread rapidly? Unusually strong Santa Ana winds.On the other side of the country, Winter Storm Blair has caused freezing temperatures and up to a foot of snow across the Midwest and up into the East Coast, putting more than 60 million people under weather alerts.Joining Ira Flatow to discuss these and other top stories of the week is Umair Irfan, science correspondent at Vox, based in Washington, D.C.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

As 2024 winds down, enjoy some of our favorite recent conversations:For the centennial series "100 Years of 100 Things," Matthew Barton, curator of recorded sound at the Library of Congress, walks us through the history of radio.April's earthquake in New Jersey was likely a natural phenomenon, but earthquakes can be caused by human interventions -- like fracking. For our climate story of the week, Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox writing about climate change and energy policy, breaks down how fracking and other natural resource extractions have increased the likelihood of earthquakes in the United States.Malcolm Gladwell, host of the podcast Revisionist History and author of many books, including Revenge of the Tipping Point: Overstories, Superspreaders, and the Rise of Social Engineering (Little, Brown and Company, 2024), talks about his new work which follows up on his breakthrough book, The Tipping Point, with a more sobering look at social "epidemics."As our centennial series continues, John Fricke, historian focused on The Wizard of Oz and Judy Garland and the author of The Wonderful World of Oz: An Illustrated History of the American Classic (Down East Books, 2014), talks about the enduring impact of the story of The Wizard of Oz. These interviews were lightly edited for time and clarity; the original web versions are available here:100 Years of 100 Things: Radio (July 10, 2024)How Fracking Can Cause Earthquakes (April 9, 2024)Malcolm Gladwell Re-Considers (October 18, 2024)100 Years of 100 Things: The Wizard of Oz (December 9, 2024)

Leaders from the top-polluting countries, like the US and China, aren't showing up to the UN's big climate conference in Azerbaijan. And, walking pneumonia typically affects school-age kids, but the CDC reports a rise in cases in children aged 2-4.At COP29, The World's Top Polluters Are No-ShowsThe United Nations' annual international climate conference, COP29, got underway this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Leaders from around the world come together at this conference to hammer out deals between nations to lower emissions and coordinate climate change-related financial efforts.And a big focus this year was to negotiate a deal for wealthier countries to financially compensate developing nations who've experienced climate-change related damage. The only problem is that world leaders from the top-polluting countries, like the US and China, aren't even showing up.Ira Flatow is joined by Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, to catch up on this and other science stories of the week, including new data on rising alcohol consumption, why Voyager 2 got an inaccurate snapshot of Uranus in the 1980s, and why the world's largest organism might also be its oldest.Walking Pneumonia Is Spiking. Here's How To Stay SafeLast month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put out a report outlining a significant spike in Mycoplasma pneumoniae infections, better known as walking pneumonia. This respiratory illness is caused by bacteria spread through respiratory droplets, and symptoms usually mimic the common cold. It's pretty common, with about 2 million infections happening each year, mostly in school-age kids. This year's spike, which started in the spring, is a little different: There's been a significant increase in kids aged 2 to 4 and it is now the new leading cause of pneumonia for that group.Dr. Preeti Sharma, pediatric pulmonologist at Children's Heath in Dallas, knows what it's like to have a child with mycoplasma pneumonia. Her daughter came home with the illness in the spring. What she thought was a typical cold turned into a deep and lingering cough: a telltale sign of walking pneumonia.Dr. Sharma, who is also an associate professor at UT Southwestern, joins Ira Flatow to discuss this year's Mycoplasma pneumoniae spike, the best treatments, and how to keep your family healthy this holiday season. Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

The storm flooded mines in Spruce Pine, North Carolina, which supply the tech industry with some of the purest quartz in the world. Also, researchers developed a 3D-printable material, inspired by worms, that can act as a Band-Aid for damaged heart and cartilage tissue.Hurricane Helene's Damage Could Affect The Global Tech IndustryAfter making landfall on September 26, Hurricane Helene devastated regions in the southeastern US. Over 200 people are confirmed dead so far. About a million people are still without power, and many lack clean water.As climate change intensifies, hurricanes like Helene are expected to occur more often and be more intense. What's become very clear in the last few years is that due to the interconnectedness of the modern world, extreme weather in one place can have global implications.For example, Spruce Pine, North Carolina, home to around 2,200 people, flooded during Hurricane Helene. The town is also home to several mines that produce some of the world's purest quartz, an ingredient necessary to make solar panels, smartphones, semiconductors, and more.Ira talks with Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, about this and other science news of the week, including a completed map of a fruit fly's brain, how scientists in the United Kingdom are screening newborns for rare diseases, and how octopuses and fish are hunting as a team.A Strong, Stretchy, And Sticky Band-Aid For The HeartThe heart is an impressive organ that has to beat constantly for years. But what happens when heart tissue is damaged? Or when cartilage in joints like our knees wears out? These constantly moving tissues don't regenerate easily, and there aren't a lot of great treatment options.To address these kinds of problems, a team at University of Colorado Boulder invented a new strong, stretchy, and sticky hydrogel material that could act as a Band-Aid to heart or tissue lesions. They were inspired by masses of worms that tangle and untangle themselves, behaving almost as both a solid and liquid. The team was able to replicate that in a molecular structure with the help of a new 3D-printing technique. And it could have applications far beyond medicine, including for manufacturing and improving the 3D-printing process itself. Their research was published in the journal Science, and their lab has filed for a provisional patent for the material.Dr. Jason Burdick, professor of chemical and biological engineering at CU Boulder's BioFrontiers Institute, joins Ira Flatow to talk about the new material and how it could improve future tissue and cartilage treatment.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

The Boeing capsule is having issues with its thrusters and cannot bring astronauts back to Earth. Also, move over, Farmer's Almanac. A more accurate long-term weather forecast could be on the horizon.Boeing's Starliner Leaves Astronauts Stuck On The Space StationIn another blow to Boeing's Starliner program, which is meant to ferry astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station, NASA announced Wednesday that the troubled spacecraft would not be able to take astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore back to Earth due to issues with its thrusters.The two astronauts arrived at the International Space Station in June for a mission that was supposed to last eight days. But with the current problems, the pair might be stuck on the space station, where Starliner remains docked, until early next year. NASA is considering bringing them back in an upcoming SpaceX Dragon mission.Ira Flatow is joined by Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, who breaks down this and other top science stories this week, including how the Olympic Games are adjusting to abnormally high temperatures in France, why the EPA banned a widely used weedkiller, and what the moon's atmosphere is made of.Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years—Or A Decade—In Advance?Access to weather forecasts has been made easier than ever with the advent of smartphones. Most of the time, we can get accurate information about weather for the next few hours up through the next few days. But a week or two out, those predictions get less reliable.In the near future, it may be possible to get accurate weather forecasts weeks, months, or even a decade ahead of schedule. While this sounds like science fiction, researchers at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) are working on this very challenge.Earth system predictions, as the field is called, combines a variety of factors including atmospheric conditions, ocean currents, and even what's happening in the soil to form predictions. These forecasts are in high demand as the climate changes, particularly as farmers need more information about incoming heat and precipitation. There's even the possibility that Earth systems predictions could help regions prepare for dangerous natural hazards well ahead of time.At Science Friday Live in Boulder, Colorado, Ira sat down with two NCAR scientists, Dr. Yaga Richter and Dr. Jerry Meehl about their work in this field.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Researchers say the Wet Bulb Globe Temperature is a better indicator of heat stress. Also, cancer is the leading cause of death in dogs. A new vaccine has increased survival rates in clinical trials, offering hope for dogs and humans.Yes, It's Hot. But How Hot?Much of the country has been enduring a heat wave this week, with millions sweating from Maine to the Midwest. But describing exactly how hot it is—and when temperatures become hazardous—can be challenging. Beyond the basic temperature, there's the heat index, invented in 1978, which incorporates humidity measurements and is supposed to give a better indication of how a person might feel outside. Some health researchers are calling for more attention to a different type of temperature measurement known as the wet bulb globe temperature. It tracks temperature, humidity, and sunlight, and improves upon the heat index standard.Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins SciFri's Kathleen Davis to talk about measuring temperatures and protecting yourself from extreme heat. Plus, they discuss other stories from the week in science, including advances in tornado prediction, a delay in a return flight from the International Space Station, and a newly-described horned dinosaur that once roamed the US.A Canine Cancer Vaccine Shows Promising ResultsDogs are by far the most popular pet in the United States: 62 million households have at least one. They are humans' best friends, after all. Sadly, cancer is the leading cause of death in domestic dogs. And when a pet gets sick, it can be devastating for the entire family.Lucky for dogs (and their people), there may soon be a breakthrough in treating canine cancer: a vaccine that can slow and even stop the spread of tumors. Clinical trial results are quite promising so far, increasing 12-month survival rates in dogs with some cancers from 35% to 60%. The research team also reports that in many dogs the vaccine shrinks tumors.Joining guest host Kathleen Davis to talk about this novel therapy is Dr. Mark Mamula, professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. Mamula discusses this important breakthrough, and possible future applications for human cancer therapies.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

While progress has been made in replacing water pipes in Flint, many residents say they still don't know if their tap water is clean or not. Also, scientists are adding sensors to an underwater cable network to monitor changes in the ocean and quickly detect earthquakes and tsunamis.10 Years Later, Flint's Water Crisis Still Isn't OverIn 2014, city officials in Flint, Michigan, switched their water source to the Flint River, a move that was projected to save the city $5 million. Instead, the water corroded the city's lead pipes, which led to multiple negative health impacts for local residents, including lead poisoning, and a Legionnaires' disease outbreak that resulted in a dozen deaths.Now, almost 30,000 homes and businesses have had their water lines replaced, but 1,900 others have still not been reviewed. The city says they've reached out to owners of these properties with no response and have not been able to move forward, but activists claim that the city hasn't contacted them.Guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross is joined by Vox senior correspondent Umair Irfan to talk about this and other top science news from this week, including new Long COVID trials that are underway, regulations from the EPA that require new coal and gas plants to limit 90% of their CO2 emissions, and a positive software update for Voyager 1.How Underwater Telecom Cables Could Help Detect TsunamisDeep under the sea, a wide network of cables crisscrosses the ocean floor, keeping the internet and other telecommunications online. While these cables have a big job to do, researchers want to make them even more important by giving them the ability to detect seismic activity and alert those on land of a tsunami risk earlier than is currently possible.Portugal is about to be the testing ground for these new, integrated cables, with a 3,700-kilometer cable to be installed between the Iberian country and the Madeira and Azores archipelagoes. This is a fitting place to pilot this, as Lisbon was the site of a devastating 1755 earthquake and tsunami that killed tens of thousands.Joining guest host Arielle Duhaime-Ross to discuss the potential of smart cables is Dr. Bruce Howe, research professor of engineering at the University of Hawaii and chair of the United Nation's SMART Cables Joint Task Force.Transcripts for each segment will be available after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.   Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Last Friday's earthquake in New Jersey was likely a natural phenomenon, but earthquakes can be caused by human interventions -- like fracking. For our climate story of the week, Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox writing about climate change and energy policy, breaks down how fracking and other natural resource extractions have increased the likelihood of earthquakes in the United States.

A Massachusetts man who received a kidney from a genetically modified pig is recovering well. Also, on April 8, a total solar eclipse will plunge parts of North America into darkness. Scientists answer the questions you asked.Recipient Of Pig Kidney Transplant Leaves The HospitalLast month, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston announced that a team of doctors had transplanted a kidney from a genetically engineered pig into a living human for the first time. This week, that patient, a 62-year-old man living with end-stage kidney disease, was sent home from the hospital, having recovered enough to be discharged. Sixty-nine genes were edited in the donor pig, including three that coded for a certain sugar found on the surface of pig cells. The edits, hopefully, will make it less likely for the human recipient to reject the transplant.Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins Ira Flatow to talk about the xenotransplantation advance, and how it could affect patients awaiting donor organs. They'll also talk about other stories from the week in science, including how power grid operators are preparing for the upcoming solar eclipse, NASA's search for a new lunar rover, an advance in getting robots to make appropriate faces, research into using a drug similar to the obesity medication Ozempic to delay Parkinson's symptoms, and plans for a new time zone—on the moon.Answering Your Questions About Monday's EclipseAfter months of excitement, the 2024 total solar eclipse is almost here! On Monday, April 8, the moon will line up perfectly between the Sun and the Earth. For a few short minutes, it'll plunge parts of North America into total darkness—right in the middle of the day.More than 30 million people live in the path of totality—where the moon will completely block off the sun. It stretches from northwest Mexico, across the US, and into southeastern Canada. Depending how far you are from the path, you might experience a partial eclipse. Magical, nonetheless.Ira talks with Dr. Padi Boyd, astrophysicist at NASA and host of the agency's podcast Curious Universe, and Mark Breen, meteorologist and planetarium director at the Fairbanks Museum & Planetarium in Vermont. They answer questions our readers and listeners have submitted about the eclipse, and discuss why we should be excited, how to prepare, and what scientists can learn from this phenomenon.For more eclipse-day tips and facts, visit our website.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Private Spacecraft Makes Historic Moon LandingThursday evening, the Odysseus moon lander successfully soft-landed on the moon, becoming the first U.S spacecraft to do so in over 50 years. The lander mission wasn't created by NASA or another government space agency, but by the company Intuitive Machines, making it the first commercial mission to successfully soft-land on the surface of the moon. The mission was part of a NASA program called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, which aims to make lunar missions faster and cheaper. There are other commercial moon missions planned for later this year. Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins guest host Sophie Bushwick for an update on the mission.They'll also talk about other stories from the week in science, including the move by some automakers toward plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, work on freezing antimatter, a strange meat-rice hybrid, and progress towards a universal snake antivenom.A New Recipe For Cloud Seeding To Boost Snowfall In IdahoWe're taught in school that water freezes at 32 degrees Fahrenheit.“It usually happens like that in the lake or on the ground,” said Derek Blestrud, a Senior Atmospheric Scientist at Idaho Power.But the process differs in the sky, he said. Clouds contain supercool water that doesn't turn to ice until it reaches about -40 degrees F. That is, unless some other substance initiates the freezing.“Water's really dumb,” Blestrud likes to say. “It doesn't know how to freeze unless something else teaches it how to freeze.”That's where scientists like Blestrud step in. They help clouds produce more snow through cloud seeding, which involves releasing tiny particles that serve as nuclei for snowflakes to form.Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Plus, to stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

Look out for a total solar eclipse, more solar flares, and the Parker Solar Probe's closest approach to the sun. Also, underground hydrogen stores have raised renewable energy hopes, but can the industry overcome the logistical hurdles of distributing it?Solar Activity Flares Up In 2024Look out 2024—this is going to be the sun's year (for science, at least). There will be a total solar eclipse on April 8, and scientists are seeking volunteers to help them observe the event. Researchers also expect an uptick in solar activity—that means more sunspots and solar flares, which could increase the amount of auroras the Earth experiences and also might disrupt satellites and power systems on the ground. Plus, NASA's Parker Solar probe is on track to make its closest pass to the sun yet in December, a mere 3.8 million miles from its surface.Umair Irfan, staff writer with Vox, sits down with Ira to talk about these and other science stories from this week, including why greenhouse gas emissions might actually start to fall this year, research showing that apes are able to recognize each other after decades apart, and the discovery of an enzyme that makes your pee yellow.Could Underground Hydrogen Reserves Put Clean Energy Within Reach?In 1987, a crew in the village of Bourakébougou, Mali, was digging for water. After drilling 108 meters deep, they still hadn't found any, but the resulting borehole produced a steady stream of wind. When a driller lit a cigarette near the hole, the wind ignited, burning the worker. It took weeks for the crew to put out the blue flame, which produced no smoke, and they eventually capped the hole. It remained sealed until 2012 when a local oil and gas company reexamined it and found that the original crew had stumbled upon an underground store of naturally occurring hydrogen. They converted a Ford engine to burn the gas and soon connected it to a generator, providing electricity for the village.Hydrogen has long been touted as a source of renewable energy with the potential to replace fossil fuels to power transportation and factories. When burned, its only output is water—with no carbon emissions—making it extremely attractive as a clean energy source. But producing commercial hydrogen involves splitting water molecules into their hydrogen and oxygen components, an energy-intensive process typically powered by fossil fuels.But splitting water isn't the only way to get hydrogen: It also occurs naturally in underground reservoirs when water heated by the planet's mantle mixes with iron-rich rocks. The oil and gas industry hasn't prioritized the search for these underground stores of hydrogen, but more of them have been found lately, including a potentially massive one in Lorraine, France that was discovered last year.Dr. Geoffrey Ellis, a research geologist at the United States Geological Survey, joins Ira to talk about hydrogen's potential as a clean fuel, why finding stores of it has been a lower priority than finding oil and natural gas, and the hurdles the industry faces as it aims to expand.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. To stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.

If given final approval by the FDA, this sickle-cell treatment would be the first to use gene-editing CRISPR technology on humans. Also, gene variants inherited from Neanderthals can impact pain tolerance in modern humans.  FDA Panel Clears Way For CRISPR-Based Sickle Cell TreatmentAn FDA committee cleared the way for a revolutionary cure for sickle cell disease this week. If given final approval, the treatment would be the first to use CRISPR gene editing in humans. Sickle cell disease is caused by a genetic mutation that causes blood cells to develop into crescent or “sickle” shapes. The extremely painful and often deadly disease disproportionately affects Black and African American people.Ira talks with Vox staff writer Umair Irfan about the new sickle cell treatment and other top science news of the week, including the link between the auto worker strike and a clean energy transition; new evidence about the moon's origin; and why starfish don't have arms. Your Pain Tolerance May Have Been Passed Down from NeanderthalsThere's a little bit of Neanderthal in most of us. Neanderthals and Homo sapiens had a long history of intermingling, before the former went extinct about 40,000 years ago. That mixing means most modern humans have some amount of Neanderthal DNA—and it accounts for up to 3% of the genome in some people.While these genetic remnants don't have much impact on our day-to-day lives, they may be responsible for one surprising effect: pain tolerance. Recent research shows that people with Neanderthal variants in the gene SCN9A have a lower pain tolerance than people without the gene.This isn't the only Neanderthal remnant that's been passed down. A study from earlier this year pinpointed a certain genome region that impacts nose shape. Taller, wider noses were passed down from our Neanderthal ancestors who lived in colder climates. A larger nose warmed air before it hit the sensitive lungs.Ira speaks with Dr. Kaustubh Adhikari, assistant professor of statistics at the Open University in the United Kingdom, who worked on both of these studies.  To stay updated on all things science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. 

An mRNA Advance Wins A Nobel PrizeThis week, a handful of scientists scattered around the world got surprise telephone calls announcing that they will be receiving Nobel Prizes. On Monday, the prize in medicine or physiology was announced. It went to Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, scientists who developed the modifications to mRNA that made the biomolecule a viable strategy for creating vaccines. On Tuesday, the Nobel in physics went to Pierre Agostini, Ferenc Krausz and Anne L'Huillier, who created techniques to illuminate the movement of electrons using attosecond-length pulses of light. And on Wednesday  Moungi G. Bawendi, Louis E. Brus and Alexei I. Ekimov learned that they had won the prize in chemistry for their work with tiny bits of semiconductor material known as quantum dots.Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about the winners and their advances, and to share other stories from the week in science, including an FCC fine for a satellite company's space junk, concerns over drought in the Amazon rainforest, and a tale of fighting a coral-threatening algal bloom using hungry crabs. Venus Lightning Debate Gets LitVenus is an inhospitable place. The longest any spacecraft has survived on the planet's surface is thought to be around two hours. It's blazing hot. It has bone-crushing atmospheric pressure and clouds made of sulfuric acid. But is there lightning?Flybys of Venus have detected electromagnetic signals in the radio spectrum called “whistler waves” that, on Earth, are associated with lightning strikes. So some experts speculated that Venus might have lightning too—perhaps a lot of lightning. But there was no hard proof. The question of Venusian lightning has been a topic of electric debate among scientists for some 40 years.A study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters last month used data from the Parker Solar Probe to argue that the whistler waves around Venus may have a different cause. Research scientist Dr. Harriet George and space plasma physicist Dr. David Malaspina of the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado, Boulder join guest host Flora Lichtman to talk about the finding, and what it could tell us about planets elsewhere in the galaxy.   To stay updated on all-things-science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com. 

We're not just talking snowbirds. The Sunshine State is the fastest growing in the nation despite, you know, climate change. Vox's Marin Cogan and Umair Irfan explain why. This episode was produced by Haleema Shah, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Serena Solin and Laura Bullard, engineered by Patrick Boyd, and hosted by Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Youth Climate Activists Score A Win In MontanaThis week, a state court in Montana ruled in favor of a group of 16 youth climate activists, who argued that a state environmental law was in violation of a provision in the state constitution. The Montana constitution states: “The state and each person shall maintain and improve a clean and healthful environment in Montana for present and future generations.”  The ruling will allow (but not require) regulators to consider climate impacts when evaluating proposed energy projects for approval.Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Ira to talk about the decision and what it might mean for other climate-related litigation around the country. They'll also discuss other science news of the week, including some strange particle physics from Fermilab,  the end of the road for the common incandescent light bulb, and how researchers decoded a snippet of song — using electrodes on a brain. COVID-19's Summer Wave Raises New QuestionsStep outside into a public place, and you may experience some deja-vu: Masking is back up, the coughs and sniffles are echoing, and coworkers are calling in sick. It's not just your imagination—hospitalizations from COVID-19 are up 14.3 percent for the week of August 5. This new wave has a name: EG. 5, named for the recent Omicron variant that is now the most prevalent.With new boosters on the horizon, Ira catches up with Dr. Angela Rasmussen, virologist at VIDO, the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, at the University of Saskatchewan. They answer questions about the new monovalent booster, testing guidance, and why COVID-19 is still a public health problem.New Research Suggests Neurological Culprit For COVID Brain FogAmong the most debilitating symptoms of Long Covid is brain fog, a condition which includes symptoms like confusion or inability to concentrate. A recently published study using mice cells in petri dishes suggests that brain fog might be the result of neurons fusing together. The results have yet to be tested in live animals or humans. SciFri producer Kathleen Davis talks with study author, Dr. Ramón Martínez-Mármol, research fellow at the Queensland Brain Institute, at the University of Queensland, based in Brisbane, Australia, about what his research might help us better understand about brain fog. Reno Is Preparing To Turn Its Wastewater Into Drinking WaterInside a water treatment plant in north Reno, Nev., on a recent Wednesday, recycled wastewater was running beneath a floor grate inside a small testing room. Inside the space is a system of serpentine-like PVC pipes with 19 different ports, used to test water samples at different intervals.“It's about halfway through the treatment process at the wastewater facility,” said Lydia Teel, an engineer with the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, or TMWA, which serves about 440,000 people in the greater Reno area. “So, it's clean, but there's still some color, there's bacteria in it, some solids.”Teel spearheads a demonstration project called OneWater Nevada, an effort to show that the region can recycle the water that flushes down people's toilets and shower drains and – eventually – turn it back into clean, pure drinking water flowing from faucets, effectively creating a new water resource. The project is a collaboration between TMWA, the cities of Reno and Sparks, the University of Nevada, Reno, Washoe County, and the Western Regional Water Commission.The Reno area doesn't have a history of threatened water supplies, and historic snowfall this past winter eased drought conditions in Nevada and across parts of the Mountain West. But that could shift quickly with climate change.To stay updated on all-things-science, sign up for Science Friday's newsletters.Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

Two insurance giants will stop issuing new policies for California homes. CalMatters reporter Ben Christopher and Vox's Umair Irfan say insurers have determined what homeowners refuse to accept: Climate change has made some parts of the country too risky to live in. This episode was produced by Avishay Artsy, edited by Matt Collette, fact-checked by Laura Bullard, engineered by Michael Raphael, and hosted by Noel King. Transcript at vox.com/todayexplained Support Today, Explained by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Supermassive Black Hole The Mass Of 30 Billion Suns This week, astronomers reported that they may have found signs of one of the largest black holes ever detected–a space behemoth the mass of some 30 billion suns. The supermassive black hole, located in part of the Abell 1201 galaxy cluster, was detected using a combination of gravitational lensing and supercomputer simulations. First, the astronomers observed how the images of other more distant objects viewed by the Hubble Space Telescope were warped by the vast gravitational well produced by the black hole. They compared those images to thousands of simulations created via a supercomputer, and found that a simulation containing a supermassive black hole matched the real-world images. The work was reported in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins SciFri's Kathleen Davis to talk about the finding and other stories from the week in science, including the FDA's approval of over-the-counter Narcan, the real-world challenges of EV charging, and the creation of a meatball–made of mammoth.   What's Driving A Rise In Mumps Cases In The United States? In 1971, the United States rolled out a revolutionary new vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella. The MMR vaccine nearly eradicated all three of those viruses by the start of the 21st century. Over the last several years, there have been numerous measles outbreaks cropping up across the country, especially among unvaccinated kids. What about mumps—that second “m” in the MMR vaccine? Since 2006, there have been mumps outbreaks too. But unlike measles, most of the people getting the mumps are vaccinated. And they're older too, mostly teens and young adults. New research suggests that the efficacy of the mumps vaccine wanes over time, unlike the ones for measles and rubella. Guest host Shahla Farzan talks with Dr. Deven Gokhale, co-author of a recent study on the reemergence of mumps. Gokhale recently completed his PhD from the University of Georgia's Odum School of Ecology, based in Athens Georgia.   Foundational Food Sources In The Gulf Of Maine Are Failing At the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, researchers Barney Balch and Catherine Mitchell are looking at a map affixed to a large table. “We're looking at a chart of the Gulf of Maine, and right across the middle there's a line that's drawn from Portland, in Maine, to Yarmouth, in Nova Scotia,” Mitchell says. That line is the route along which Bigelow researchers have been taking regular measurements for the last 25 years. They've analyzed chemical and temperature data that help describe how the waters of the gulf are changing. One tool they use is a six-foot long cylinder with wings. “This is an autonomous underwater vehicle, or a glider,” Mitchell says. “So it's a big robot that moves up and down in a yoyo-like pattern, from the top of the ocean to the bottom of the ocean right across the middle of the Gulf of Maine. So it's measuring a bunch of science things as it goes. It looks a bit like a big yellow torpedo. It's got some wings on it.” Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.   Is Spring Falling Out Of Sync? Each year, it feels like spring comes as a surprise—too early or too late. For example, new maps reveal that spring is 13 days late in Sacramento, California but two weeks early in Richmond, Virginia. And that could be a problem because plants and animals use environmental cues, like temperature, to know when to flower, migrate, breed, or emerge from hibernation. So when the seasons are thrown off, what happens to those natural rhythms that once flowed together seamlessly? Guest host Shahla Farzan talks with Dr. David Inouye, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland and a researcher at the Rocky Mountain Biological Station, and Dr. Theresa Crimmins, director of the USA National Phenology Network and research professor at the University of Arizona. They discuss the variability in seasons, and the cascade of effects these changes can have on ecosystems.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.    

How Scientists Predict Where Earthquakes Will Strike Next The pair of earthquakes that hit Turkey and Syria this week left the region grappling with death and destruction. Despite the region being seismically active, this particular area hadn't seen an earthquake of this size for decades. There are ways of knowing where the next big earthquakes will happen—but not when. Scientists use knowledge of fault lines and historical data to make their predictions, but saving areas from mass casualties often relies on infrastructure policies. Building codes that prioritize strong buildings can save lives, but older structures remain vulnerable. Across the globe, in California, the health impacts of electric vehicles are beginning to be seen. A study published this month finds that for every 20 EVs in a zip code, asthma-related visits to the emergency room drop by 3.2%. This is a striking number for a technology that's just now becoming more commonplace. Joining Ira to talk about these stories and more is Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, based in Washington, D.C.   ChatGPT And Beyond: What's Behind The AI Boom? The past few months have seen a flurry of new, easy-to-use tools driven by artificial intelligence. It's getting harder to tell what's been created by a human: Programs like ChatGPT can construct believable written text, apps like Lensa can generate stylized avatars, while other developments can make pretty believable audio and video deep fakes. Just this week, Google unveiled a new AI-driven chatbot called Bard, and Microsoft announced plans to incorporate ChatGPT within their search engine Bing. What is this new generation of AI good at, and where does it fall short? Ira talks about the state of generative AI and takes listener calls with Dr. Melanie Mitchell, professor at the Santa Fe Institute and author of the book, Artificial Intelligence: A Guide for Thinking Humans. They are joined by Dr. Rumman Chowdhury, founder and CEO of Parity Consulting and responsible AI fellow at the Berkman Klein Center at Harvard University.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.  

Some folks promote local food. Others swear by veganism. But what is the most environmentally-friendly diet? And does it really matter what we eat? Or are there bigger fish to fry when it comes to climate activism?Outside/In is trying out a new segment called This, That, Or The Other Thing. It's all about the little decisions we make to try and build a more sustainable world—whether they have any effect, and what we can do instead if they don't. For our inaugural edition, we're focusing on food. From Brazilian beef and tofu tacos to food waste and composting, host Nate Hegyi talks with experts to understand how our choices impact the planet… and how we can make a difference in our communities. Featuring Umair Irfan, Tamar Haspel, and Ben Halpern. SUPPORTOutside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to become a sustaining member of Outside/In. Subscribe to our FREE newsletter.Follow Outside/In on Instagram or Twitter, or join our private discussion group on Facebook LINKSGive a listen to Tamar Haspel's podcast, Climavores.Vox reporter Umair Irfan wrote about how individual action actually does matter in the fight against climate change. Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara put together a big study on the cumulative environmental pressures of different foods. Want to tackle food waste? The Environmental Protection Agency has a great, down-to-earth guide on what you can do.  CREDITSHosted, reported, produced, and mixed by Nate HegyiEdited by Taylor Quimby with help from Justine Paradis, Jessica Hunt, and Felix Poon.Rebecca Lavoie is our Executive ProducerMusic by Blue Dot Sessions, Sven Lindvall, El Flaco Collective, Future Joust, Spring Gang, Eight Bits, and Awlee.Our theme music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.Outside/In is a production of New Hampshire Public Radio

It's not every day that you get to witness a genuine scientific breakthrough, but on Tuesday that's exactly what the scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory had to share with the world with their announcement that they had ignited a fusion reaction that produced more energy than it took to create. This milestone, decades in the making, brings us one step closer to harnessing a potentially limitless source of clean energy. So on this edition of KCBS In Depth, we'll hear from one of the scientists who helped get us here about how he and his colleagues managed to pull it off.  Guests:  Arthur Pak, among the scientists involved in the ignition experiment  Umair Irfan, correspondent, Vox Host: Keith Menconi 

Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder and former CEO of crypto company FTX, has been arrested in the Bahamas and charged by federal officials with eight counts of fraud, conspiracy, campaign finance law violations and money laundering.  He is being accused of funneling customer money into his hedge fund to make investments and loans to himself.  About $8 billion in client funds have gone missing with only $1 billion being recovered.  The difficulty there is that there was no adequate record-keeping as it was found out the multibillion-dollar company was using QuickBooks.  Dan Primack, business editor at Axios, joins us for what to know.   Next, a significant breakthrough when it comes to fusion energy, something that could one-day provide us with unlimited clean power.  Researchers at the National Ignition Facility were able to achieve what is called ignition, getting more energy out of a reaction than what they put in.  The team fired 192 laser beams at a small fuel pellet and produced a small amount of net gain energy.  While this is an important step in proof-of-concept of the science, it is still a long time away from being a commercially viable energy source.  The lasers and equipment used would have to be drastically upgraded to produce more energy.  Umair Irfan, senior correspondent at Vox, joins us for this fusion energy breakthrough.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Interviews with The Hill's Sylvan Lane on House hearing on FTX cryptocurrency exchange collapse (8) and Vox's Umair Irfan on fusion energy breakthrough (26), President Biden signs same-sex marriage protection bill, Rep. Biggs calls for impeaching DHS Sec Mayorkas. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Wish A Happy 190th Birthday To Jonathan The Tortoise A birthday should always be celebrated. For Jonathan the tortoise, who turned 190 this week, that celebration involved a salad cake and a three-day party. Jonathan is the oldest known living animal, hatched in 1832. Jonathan, who calls the island of St. Helena home, may be blind and unable to smell, but he maintains a good quality of life and even continues to mate with his companions. Jonathan's ripe old age surpasses the typical tortoise life expectancy of 150 years. In other “old” news, scientists have found fragments of DNA one million years older than the previous record: making these samples two million years old. The fragments were found in Ice Age sediment in Northern Greenland, and are from a time where the climate was much warmer than it is now. Vox staff writer Umair Irfan joins Ira to talk about these and other science stories of the week, including an end to the monoclonal antibodies we have for COVID and the FDA's first approval of fecal transplant therapy.   The Joy And Sadness Of Bird Counting The state of the birds is not looking good. That's the conclusion from a new report that looks at decades of community-collected population data from surveys like the annual Christmas Bird Count and the Breeding Bird Survey. Species that inhabit grasslands seem to fare the worst, with their populations down over 30 percent in the last 50 years. Meanwhile, dozens of newly identified “tipping point” species have lost 50 percent of their populations in the same time, and are poised to lose the same proportion in the coming half century. Dr. Amanda Rodewald of Cornell University's Lab of Ornithology helps unpack the report's key findings, including the good news: Decades of cooperative efforts to protect waterfowl have paid off in thriving duck populations. Rodewald explains what this can tell us about reversing declines in other habitats. Plus, birder and science writer Ryan Mandelbaum joins Ira and listeners to talk about the joys of winter birding, the upcoming Christmas Bird Count, and the feathery sightings that brighten our lives.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

Scientists Are Trying To Study Human Neurons… In Rat Brains? Scientists have a tricky time studying neurons, partially because they are remarkably difficult to grow in a lab. They need other cells around them, and they don't replicate or reproduce like other cells do. In a new study in Nature, researchers figured out that they can take a ball of human brain tissue and frankenstein it into a rat's brain, and the rat can respond to it. This exciting discovery could offer scientists a new way to study the human brain. This week's co-host Kathleen Davis talks with Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, about this story and other science news of the week. They chat about neurons that can play ping pong, COVID updates, a disturbing uptick in STI cases, how deep sea mining could destroy an underappreciated ecosystem, and how a mummified dinosaur named Dakota is challenging what paleontologists knew about dino preservation.   How Gamification Has Crept Into School, Work, And Fitness Gamers often spend hours embarking on quests, unlocking new levels, and collecting badges. But what about when aspects of games start popping up in other parts of life—like work, school, and exercise? Adrian Hon created the fitness app “Zombies, Run!” and has thought a lot about how the principles of gaming have crept into so many different corners of our lives, and why it may not always be as innocent as it seems. Ira and co-host Kathleen Davis talk with Adrian Hon, author of You've Been Played: How Corporations, Governments, and Schools Use Games to Control Us All. Hon is also the CEO and founder of the game developer, Six to Start, based in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.   A Taste Of New York In A Hyper-Local Beer If you're a person who enjoys beer, you've likely been aware of the craft beer boom of the last couple of decades. India Pale Ales, or IPAs, have become some of the most popular types of beer brewed in local breweries. But it doesn't get more local than a type of beer that most people have never heard of: the gruit. The gruit traces its origins back to the 11th century. Historically, instead of hops, brewers used herbs and spices native to wherever they lived. This results in a flavorful beer that changes taste depending on the plant life in the region. Fast forward a few hundred years to now, and you'll find brewers getting back to this hyper-local brewing tradition. Those brewers include Isaac Patient, head brewer of Sixpoint Brewery in Brooklyn, New York. His team partnered with Saara Nafici and Brendan Parker at Red Hook Farms to procure four key herbs for the brew: rosemary, tarragon, lemongrass, and mugwort.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

In this slightly-longer-than-normal episode, we start with a pandemic check-in. (Bivalent boosters are available! Go get 'em!) Ellen leads us on a journaling journey, sharing the embarrassing evidence of past attempts. Stephen challenges us to think through examples of adaptation, or maybe translation, or transcreation...well, we mostly figure it out by the end. Mark is extra-sharp with the one-liners.When, why, and how to get a new Covid-19 booster shot - Keren Landman, Umair Irfan, VoxHylics  - WikipediaGato Roboto - Developer's website Keeping a Game Design Journal 0:16:16 Ellen Burns-JohnsonGame Design"Mark's Home Office" 11/11/2021 - Nice Games Club, PatreonBeanstacker: Reading tracker app - Google Play StoreContraindication (definition) - WikipediaThe Complete Guide to Video Game Genres: From Scrollers, Shooters, to Sports - GameDesigning.orgList of video game genres - WikipediaOctalysis - Yu-kai Chou, Octalysis GroupChronicle of the Movies: A Year-by-Year History from the Jazz Singer to Today - Leonard Multon, Biblio.comGames I've played (Ellen's journal v1, with new entries!) - Google sheet - Ellen Burns-JohnsonGameplay journal (Ellen's journal v2 input form) - Google form - Ellen Burns-JohnsonGameplay journal (Ellen's journal v2, responses) - Google sheet - Ellen Burns-Johnson Bringing Other Media into Games 0:54:36 Stephen McGregorArtGame DesignFan Shows Us What A Frasier Game Would Look Like… Hectic - Sean Murray, TheGamer.comSingle-Camera vs. Multi-Camera TV Sitcom Scripts: What's the Difference? - Ken Miyamoto, Screen CraftThe Project Gutenberg eBook of "Goody Two-Shoes" - Anonymous, Project Gutenberg

Will A Colorado River Drought Dry Up Energy Supplies? This week, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, a federal agency that manages water in the Western U.S., started the process of cutting water use allotments along the Colorado River after seven states missed a deadline for coming up with their own reduction plan. The area has been under a long-running drought—and with water in demand for everything from drinking to agriculture to industry, and with the population of the area on the rise, agreements over water use are difficult to come by. The drought has another less obvious effect on the area as well—drops in water allocation could lead to declines in power production in a region that relies on several major hydroelectric facilities. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Ira to talk about the plan for distributing western water and other stories from the week in science—including a possible reprieve for nuclear power plants in Germany and California, a geomagnetic storm sparking an astronomical light show, orders for future supersonic aircraft, and investigations into why thinking hard makes you physically tired.   How Viruses Have Shaped Our World SARS-CoV2. HIV. CMV. HSV-1 and HSV-2. MPX. EBV. HPV. WPV. WNV. The alphabet soup of viruses that infect us may seem long and daunting. But as scientist and author Joseph Osmundson writes in Virology: Essays for the Living, the Dead, and the Small Things In Between, these viruses are vastly dwarfed by the total number of harmless or even beneficial viruses on our planet. “It's a rounding error larger than zero,” he writes. A single ounce of seawater will contain more than seven billion individual viruses incapable of doing us harm. Osmundson's book is both COVID-19 quarantine memoir, and reflections of a self-described queer man coming of age after the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. In it, he questions the war-like language we ascribe to “fighting” pathogens, explores the non-binary nature of health and illness, and advocates for a world where we are more ready to care for each other. “The problem wasn't illness,” he writes of HIV's death toll before the development of effective treatments. “The problem never is. Illness is a fact of life. The problem is our inability to provide care to all.” Osmundson talks to producer Christie Taylor about making new meanings for viruses through biomedicine and public health interventions. Plus, lessons for the monkeypox global public health emergency, and all the viruses to come. Seagrass Oasis In Gulf Of Mexico Signals Good News For Manatees Florida's offshore marine habitat is in peril. Populations of fish are dwindling in many places, and manatees have been dying in record numbers. The basis for much of this life lies in seagrass just under our boats. We join scientist on a trip into one of the healthiest seagrass meadows in the Gulf of Mexico. Read the rest at sciencefriday.com. Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.  

As heat waves rip across the globe, many climate pessimists are calling this "the coolest summer of the rest of our lives." Umair Irfan, climate reporter at Vox, joins Virginia to talk about the real impacts of extreme heat on humans, and the moral obligation we have to solve this problem — with resources that already exist.

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is proving that the pandemic is still not over.  It continues to evade immunity, even from previous omicron infections.  The good news is that death rates are down and hospitals aren't overwhelmed like before, but the virus is spreading fast again and the small fraction of people getting seriously ill can add up.  Umair Irfan, senior reporter at Vox, joins us for how virus mutations are keeping Omicron in play. Next, all signs point to President Biden running again in 2024, but the one person who weighs most heavily on his decision is former President Trump.  It has set up an almost codependent relationship between the two for the next election.  Rumors are that Trump could declare in September and Biden in April, but there are plenty of considerations yet to be made.  Matt Viser, White House reporter at The Washington Post, joins us for how we could be in store for a presidential rematch. Finally, we'll tell you how the Brazilian butt lift became one of the deadliest cosmetic surgeries and inadequate regulations make it hard for patients to tell if they are getting a good doctor or not.  One of the things to consider, there is a difference between plastic surgeons, which require years of specialized training and cosmetic surgeons which doctors can call themselves after a few months of training.  Fiona Rutherford, healthcare reporter at Bloomberg News, joins us for what to know. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Omicron subvariant BA.5 is proving that the pandemic is still not over.  It continues to evade immunity, even from previous omicron infections.  The good news is that death rates are down and hospitals aren't overwhelmed like before, but the virus is spreading fast again and the small fraction of people getting seriously ill can add up.  Umair Irfan, senior reporter at Vox, joins us for how virus mutations are keeping Omicron in play.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The concept of the hydrogen-powered car has been around for decades, but still has yet to really take off. Vox's Umair Irfan (@umairirfan) tells us about the past, the future, and the pitfalls of hydro-electric vehicles.   Read Umair's story: https://www.vox.com/recode/22973204/hydrogen-energy-power-toyota-mirai-climate-change Today's episode was produced and engineered by Jon Ehrens and hosted by Rani Molla. Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

FDA Approves COVID Vaccines For Kids Under Five Parents of young kids may finally breathe a big sigh of relief. On Friday the FDA granted emergency use authorization for COVID-19 vaccines for kids under the age of five. The agency approved a two-dose regimen from biotech firm Moderna and three-dose regimen from Pfizer. Small children could begin getting vaccinated as early as next week. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Ira to talk about COVID vaccines for little kids, the largest forest fire in New Mexico's history and a Google engineer who claims an AI chatbot is sentient and more.     What Would Happen To IVF If Roe V. Wade Is Overturned? An overturn of Roe v. Wade could have rippling effects far beyond access to abortions. Some state laws designed to ban or severely restrict abortion could also disrupt the process of fertilizing, implanting, and freezing embryos used in in vitro fertilization. That's because some of these laws include language about life beginning at conception, raising questions about in vitro fertilization's (IVF) legality. Roughly 2% of all infants in the United States are born following the use of some form of artificial reproductive technology. While that figure might seem small, it's nearly double what it was just a decade ago. Ira talks with Stephanie Boys, associate professor of social work and adjunct professor of law at Indiana University, about the legal implications of an overturn of Roe v. Wade on IVF treatment. Later, Ira also interviews Dr. Marcelle Cedars, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology at UC San Francisco and president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, about the science behind IVF and what people often get wrong about when and how life begins.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

How do we stay cool on a warming planet? Air conditioning is one way, but depending on what kind of AC unit you have, it could be actually polluting the air and making the problem worse. Umair Irfan, climate reporter at Vox, has been looking into this (extremely frustrating) air conditioning paradox.  Read Umair's article: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/23067049/heat-wave-air-conditioning-cooling-india-climate-change  Today's episode was produced and engineered by Sofi LaLonde, and hosted by Adam Clark Estes. Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Your Dog's Breed Doesn't Always Determine How They'll Behave The dog world abounds with stereotypes about the personalities of different breeds. The American Kennel Club describes chihuahuas as “sassy,” and malamutes as “loyal,” while breed-specific legislation in many cities target breeds like pit bulls as stereotypically aggressive. But do these stereotypes say anything true about a dog's personality and behaviors? New research in the journal Science looked at the genomes of thousands of dogs, both purebred and mutt, plus owner reports on personality traits. And their findings were more complicated: Yes, many behaviors have a genetic or heritable component. But breed, it turns out, may be a poor predictor of many things, including aggression or friendliness. Guest host Umair Irfan talks to co-author Elinor Karlsson about the complexities of genetics, personality, and breed in our best friends.   Life At The Poles Is Changing. What Do These Frozen Regions Forecast? It's been a spring of alarming headlines for the coldest climates on Earth, from record heat waves at both poles, to a never-before-seen ice shelf collapse in East Antarctica. But what can we say for sure about how the Arctic and Antarctic are changing under global warming? In this Zoom taping, guest host Umair Irfan talks to two scientists, Arctic climate researcher Uma Bhatt and Antarctic biological oceanographer Oscar Schofield, about the changes they're seeing on the ice and in the water, and the complex but different ecologies of both these regions. Plus, answering listener questions about the warming polar regions.   Can Hydrogen-Fuel Cells Drive The Car Market? If you've been shopping for a new car recently, you may have been struck by the number of electric vehicles available from different manufacturers. According to Kelley Blue book data, Americans bought almost twice as many EVs in the first quarter of 2022 compared to the first quarter of 2021, with battery-powered electric vehicles reaching 5% of the new car market for the first time. But electric isn't the only alternative to the traditional gasoline or diesel powered car—there are also hydrogen fuel cell car options, such as the Mirai, a hydrogen fuel cell car from Toyota. In those vehicles, compressed hydrogen is used in conjunction with a catalytic fuel cell membrane to generate the electricity to drive the vehicle. Cars using the technology can have a 300-mile range, with fuel-ups taking as little as five minutes. And while today much of that hydrogen comes from fossil fuels, there is the potential for it to come from electrolysis of water via renewable energy, such as solar or wind. But there are big technological and infrastructure challenges to solve before fuel cell technology could compete with the battery-powered electric car. Joan Ogden, a professor emeritus of environmental science and policy at UC Davis, joins Umair Irfan to talk about the requirements for building the refueling infrastructure that would make fuel cell vehicles a more attractive option to consumers.   Is It Possible To Decarbonize Shipping? It's said that 90% of all goods at some point travel on a ship. Much of that transportation is on container ships, gargantuan vessels that carry thousands of the 20-foot or 40-foot shipping containers that serve as the foundation of the global economy. But those big cargo ships have a massive energy appetite, and the “bunker oil” fuel they devour is notoriously dirty. If the global shipping industry was a country, it would be the sixth-largest greenhouse gas emitting country in the world. Lee Kindberg, head of environment and sustainability for North America for the shipping giant Maersk, joins Umair Irfan to talk about the company's efforts to reduce its carbon footprint. Maersk recently placed an order for a dozen methanol-fueled cargo ships, the first of which it plans to launch next year.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.

What's Up With The Spike In Hepatitis Among Young Kids? This spring, there's been a strange spike in hepatitis cases among young children. Hepatitis can leave kids with stomach pain, jaundice, and a generally icky feeling. 169 cases have been recorded globally, and one death. A majority of these cases have been found in the United Kingdom, with the others in Spain, Israel, and the U.S. The sudden rise in cases is unusual, and physicians are trying to unlock the mystery of where this is coming from. Joining guest host Umair Irfan to talk about this story and other science news of the week, including the holdup over COVID-19 vaccines for kids under five years old, is Science Friday producer Kathleen Davis.   COVID-19 Vaccines Are Some Divorced Parents' Newest Divide Heather and Norm have had their share of disagreements. Their separation seven years ago and the ensuing custody battle were contentious. But over the years, the pair has found a way to weather disputes cordially. They've made big decisions together and checked in regularly about their two kids, now ages 9 and 11. But the rhythm of give and take they so carefully cultivated came to an abrupt end last fall, when it came time to decide whether to vaccinate their kids against COVID-19 — Heather was for it; Norm was against. (WHYY News has withheld their last names to protect the privacy of their children.) In Pennsylvania, decisions about children's health must be made jointly by parents with shared legal custody, so the dispute went to court. And Heather and Norm weren't the only ones who couldn't come to an agreement on their own. In the months since the vaccine was approved for children, family court judges across the commonwealth have seen skyrocketing numbers of similar cases: Divorced parents who can't agree on what to do. Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.   Why Sharing Viruses Is Good… For Science The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked an unprecedented era of global scientific collaboration. Just a few days after the SARS-CoV-2 virus was isolated, its genomic sequence was posted online and accessible to researchers around the world. Scientists quickly went to work trying to understand this brand new pathogen, and began to counter it with treatments and vaccines. But genetic sequences have their limits, and scientists also have to work with the real viruses. Sometimes there's no substitute for a specimen. Sharing pathogens across borders is where things get a lot more complicated. A web of international laws govern some, but not all aspects of how pathogens are shared and stored. Science isn't the only factor here—global politics shape responses to the tracking and detection of disease. What happens if countries are not on the friendliest terms with each other, or if they aren't up to the same safety standards? Could viruses be misused or mishandled, potentially escaping containment? There are some historical examples that could be instructive. And while the COVID-19 pandemic spurred cooperation between scientists, some governments downplayed or misled the world about the state of the pandemic. Does misinformation remain a threat, and if so, how can we prevent it? Guest host Umair Irfan talks with Amber Hartman Scholz, head of science policy at Leibniz Institute DSMZ German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures based in Braunschweig, Germany, to unpack the complex system of scientific virus sharing, and the importance of developing a better process.   Transcripts for each segment will be available the week after the show airs on sciencefriday.com.  

Maria and Julio reflect on the last two years of the coronavirus pandemic with guests Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox covering Covid-19 and climate change, and Kiera Butler, senior editor and public health reporter at Mother Jones. They discuss government response to the health crisis, the disproportionate impact on Black and brown communities and what we can expect next. ITT Staff Picks: For Vox, Umair Irfan dives into what is needed at a scientific research and policy level in order to spot the next pandemic virus. Kiera Butler writes about what it means for the coronavirus to become an “endemic” disease in this piece for Mother Jones. “The truth is that America's battle with covid-19 has been more damaging than we like to think. And it is still ongoing,” writes Dhruv Khullar in this piece for The New Yorker. Photo credit: AP Photo/Brittainy Newman, File

Third Person Cured From HIV, Thanks To Umbilical Cord Stem Cells The third person ever, and the first woman, has been cured of the HIV virus, thanks to a stem cell transplant using umbilical cord blood. While the invasive, risky bone marrow transplant process may not prove the answer for large numbers of people, the use of cord blood may open up pathways to new treatment options for a wider variety of people than the adult stem cells used to cure the two previous patients. Vox staff writer Umair Irfan explains why. Plus how President Biden is using executive orders for decarbonizing new parts of the economy, new research on the climate origins of the mega-drought in the American West, a prediction for even more rapidly rising sea levels from NOAA, and how orangutans—some of them at least—might be able to use tools.   How To Close Gaps In Healthcare Access When a public health crisis strikes, a natural instinct is to turn to a strong leader. The COVID-19 pandemic is a prime example: We want someone who can calm our fears, tell us what to expect, and what steps we can take to make things better. But leadership does not happen overnight—and it will take a brave person to step into the shoes that guide the country through the next stage of the pandemic. Dr. David Satcher is used to adversity. Born into poverty in Anniston, Alabama, Satcher contracted whooping cough at two years old. The town's only Black doctor, Dr. Jackson, treated Satcher, but did not expect him to live. Overcoming this illness launched him into a lifetime of public health work, with an emphasis on health equity. Satcher speaks to Ira about his work as former assistant secretary for health, surgeon general of the U.S., and director of the Centers for Disease Control under Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. They also discuss his leadership work at the Morehouse School of Medicine, and his advice for getting the country towards a more equitable healthcare system.   New Energy Record Set By Fusion Reactor The promise of a human-made, sustained, controlled nuclear fusion reaction has always seemed to be “just a few decades away.” But now recent results from JET, the Joint European Torus experiment, have researchers hopeful that practical fusion may indeed be possible as soon as 2035. In the experiment, a high-temperature plasma made of equal parts deuterium and tritium was confined in a magnetic containment vessel known as a tokamak. The run produced 59 megajoules of energy over a fusion “pulse” of five seconds, considerably longer than previous attempts. While the experiment did not produce more energy than it took to produce the extreme conditions needed to induce fusion, researchers took the run as a proof of concept that an upcoming reactor called ITER should be successful. Alain Bécoulet, head of the engineering domain for the ITER project and author of the upcoming book Star Power: ITER and the International Quest for Fusion Energy joins Ira to discuss the recent advance at JET and the prospects for producing a sustained, controlled nuclear fusion reaction—what Bécoulet calls mastering a small piece of the sun.  

Scientists Are Working On A Universal COVID Vaccine As the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spike around the U.S., there are scientists working not on variant-specific boosters, but on a vaccine that might cover every possible strain, past and future. Called universal vaccines, they require a fundamentally different approach from a shot that would target Delta, Omicron, or any other variant. Instead, a universal vaccine would need to train the body to respond to something every variant has in common—or to fill in the blanks of any possible mutations. Vox senior science reporter Umair Irfan reports on the difficult path and ongoing work toward such a vaccine, and why the immune system's T cells and B cells, more than neutralizing antibodies, will dictate our long-term future with the virus. Plus how an undersea eruption near Tonga was one of the most documented volcanic explosions in history, new research assesses the vast toll of global antibiotic resistance, and more stories from the week.   New Research Links Epstein-Barr Virus to Multiple Sclerosis A group of scientists at Harvard University says they have made a major breakthrough in understanding multiple sclerosis. For years, they have been testing out a hypothesis that the Epstein-Barr virus causes multiple sclerosis, a chronic and incurable disease of the nervous system. (Epstein-Barr is the contagious virus responsible for mononucleosis.) Researchers analyzed a dataset of 10 million active-duty military members. They found that service members who contracted the Epstein-Barr virus were 32 times more likely to later be diagnosed with MS. The research was published in the journal Science. Ira is joined by Dr. Alberto Ascherio, professor of epidemiology and nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in Boston, Massachusetts, to discuss his team's research and its broader implications.   Saliva Sharing Might Help Kids Identify Their Closest Relationships How do little kids understand who has a close relationship with them? One of the clues they use to figure it out is by noticing who they're swapping saliva with. The closest bonds are with the people who are giving them kisses, sharing their forks, and wiping their drool. Those are the findings of a recent study published in the journal Science. Ira is joined by Ashley Thomas, the study's lead author and a post doctoral fellow in the brain and cognitive sciences department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, in Cambridge, Massachusetts.   Big Agriculture Schools Face Increasing Donor Conflicts Of Interest A major donor to the University of Illinois wondered what the heck was up. Robb Fraley, a top Monsanto executive at the time, emailed the dean of the agriculture college in 2018 complaining about a professor saying publicly that one of his company's flagship products was causing widespread damage to crops. Monsanto was also a major donor. Fraley accused the professor of being “biased” and “prone to exaggeration.” U of I officials had spent years courting Fraley, and they had listened to him before when he'd complained about a lack of progress on an endowed chair he'd funded. But the 2018 episode highlights potentially thorny situations for public universities, which have cultivated powerful agricultural corporations as donors while public funding has stagnated. Dicamba posed a particularly critical issue to Fraley. After all, he was as responsible as anyone for leading modern agriculture into using lab-designed seeds that could withstand spraying from weedkillers. That Monsanto-branded Roundup Ready pairing of biotechnology with glyphosate herbicide revolutionized grain farming around the world. When glyphosate lost its punch — after weeds grew resistant to Roundup — Monsanto shifted to teaming different genetically modified seeds with the dicamba herbicide. But farmers who'd not adopted the new genetically engineered seeds started complaining about “dicamba drift” and of seeing their crops perish from the effects of the herbicide migrating to their fields. So when U of I weed scientist Aaron Hager spoke about a controversy as big as any in commercial agriculture in ways that didn't sit well with Fraley, the university benefactor let the school know about his displeasure. Read the rest at sciencefriday.com.   Growing Plants—And Providing Solar Energy Food is one of our most basic needs. As the population of the world grows, we're going to need to grow more of it within the same amount of space. The United Nations estimates the world's population will grow by 2 billion people between now and 2050. Access to fresh food is already a problem in many countries, and will likely get worse with more mouths to feed. This is where the concept of agrivoltaics could create a massive change. This farming setup mixes water, energy, and plant growth all in one space. Solar panels collect energy from the sun's rays; underneath those panels is where the plants grow. The setup takes less water than the traditional way of farming, all-in-all creating a more sustainable way to grow food and create energy. Joining Ira to talk about the promise of agrivoltaics is Dr. Chad Higgins, associate professor of biological and ecological engineering at Oregon State University, in Corvallis, Oregon.  

How America Is Preparing For Another Pandemic Winter The weather is getting colder, the days are getting shorter, and the world is approaching the two year anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like last year, experts are wary that a winter surge in cases could happen again this year, even with the protection of vaccinations. The Biden administration is trying to get ahead of this possibility, especially as the Omicron variant looms. A new plan prioritizing booster shots and testing has been released to get the country through another pandemic winter. Joining Ira to break down this and other science news of the week is Umair Irfan, staff writer for Vox based in Washington, D.C. They also discuss the latest information on the Omicron variant's virulence and genetic sequencing, and take a look at the complicated world of conserving the rarest marine mammal, the vaquita.   Three Plant-Based Chemicals That Can Change Your Brain If you've enjoyed a cup of coffee, tea, or certain soft drinks today, you've been making use of the mind-altering properties of the chemical caffeine, which bestows an alert buzz. And we probably all know a coffee addict, who becomes cranky and irritable without their morning mug. But there are also other plant-based compounds that affect the mind's consciousness, including opium and mescaline—and the use of those compounds isn't seen as acceptable in modern society. In his book This Is Your Mind On Plants, author Michael Pollan looks at the way these three compounds have been adopted or shunned by various cultures, and why. He joins Ira to talk about the science behind their action, the history of their use around the world, and the societal and cultural factors that go into deciding which drugs are seen as acceptable by a community.

Government officials from countries all over the world are gathered in Glasgow, Scotland, to discuss a path forward on how to combat climate change. Vox's Umair Irfan (@umairfan) is there now, and he joins Recode Daily to share the latest. Read Umair's latest reporting here  This episode was made by:  Host: Adam Clark Estes (@adamclarkeste) Producer: Alan Rodriguez Espinoza (@ardzes) Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey Support Recode Daily by making a financial contribution to Vox! bit.ly/givepodcasts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rep. Katie Porter on Building Trust with Voters Rep. Katie Porter, the white board carrying Congresswoman from California joins us to discuss everything from paid family leave to the difficult task of getting people to trust Congress. Key Takeaways from COP26 Climate Summit This week, world leaders began meeting at a UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26. This is seen as one of the most important international climate negotiations as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit a record high this year, after trending downward last year due to the pandemic. Umair Irfan, senior staff writer covering climate change and energy at VOX, joins The Takeaway to discuss the key takeaways from the COP26 summit, what commitments have been made, and where countries still fall short.  Asian Americans Secure Historic Political Wins Across The Country To get a better understanding of the issues that members of the AAPI community really care about and more on the week's historic wins, we spoke with Jane Junn, a professor at the University of Southern California, and Arun Venugopal, a senior reporter in the Race and Justice Unit at WNYC.  For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

Rep. Katie Porter on Building Trust with Voters Rep. Katie Porter, the white board carrying Congresswoman from California joins us to discuss everything from paid family leave to the difficult task of getting people to trust Congress. Key Takeaways from COP26 Climate Summit This week, world leaders began meeting at a UN climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland, known as COP26. This is seen as one of the most important international climate negotiations as carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere hit a record high this year, after trending downward last year due to the pandemic. Umair Irfan, senior staff writer covering climate change and energy at VOX, joins The Takeaway to discuss the key takeaways from the COP26 summit, what commitments have been made, and where countries still fall short.  Asian Americans Secure Historic Political Wins Across The Country To get a better understanding of the issues that members of the AAPI community really care about and more on the week's historic wins, we spoke with Jane Junn, a professor at the University of Southern California, and Arun Venugopal, a senior reporter in the Race and Justice Unit at WNYC.  For transcripts, see individual segment pages.

Younger Kids Next In Line For COVID-19 Vaccines This week, an FDA advisory panel voted unanimously to recommend that the COVID-19 vaccine made by Pfizer vaccine be approved for children as young as 5. If the FDA concurs and the CDC agrees, lower-dose Pfizer vaccinations could soon be available for children ages 5 to 11, via local pediatricians. Just who will be immediately eligible for the doses, and how vaccinating young children might affect school mask policies and other restrictions, remains to be seen. Umair Irfan, staff writer at Vox, joins Sophie Bushwick to talk about the news and other stories from the week in science, including potential COVID-related criminal charges against Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro, an experimental bionic vision implant, and the possible discovery of an exoplanet in the galaxy Messier 51.   Could Ordinary Household Objects Be Used To Spy On You? In the movies, if a room is bugged, the microphone might be hidden in a potted plant. But in recent years, researchers have come up with ways to use the trembling leaves of a potted plant, light glancing off a potato chip bag, and even tiny jiggles in the head of a spinning hard drive caused by a nearby conversation to be able to listen to what's happening in a room, or to gain information about what's going on nearby. On a larger scale, other researchers have been able to use the vibrations of an entire building to paint a picture of movements within it—and even the health status of the people inside. The approach is known as a side-channel attack: Rather than observing something directly, you're extracting information from something else that has a relationship with the target. Many of the approaches are not straightforward—they require an understanding of the physics involved, and sometimes heavy data-processing or machine learning to interpret the hazy information yielded by these techniques. Jon Callas of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Hae Young Noh of Stanford, and Kevin Fu of the University of Michigan join host Sophie Bushwick to talk about the risks and opportunities afforded by these sneaky methods of surveillance, and how concerned you should be.   A Maggot Revolution In Modern Medicine In a bloody battle during World War I, two wounded soldiers were stranded on the battlefield in France, hidden and overlooked under some brush. Suffering femur fractures and flesh wounds around their scrotum and abdomen, they lay abandoned without water, food, or shelter for a whole week. At the time, outcomes for these kinds of wounds were poor: Patients with compound femur fractures had a 75 to 80% mortality rate. By the time the soldiers were rescued and brought to a hospital base, orthopedic surgeon William Baer expected their wounds to be festering, and their conditions fatal. But much to his surprise, neither showed any signs of fever, septicaemia, or blood poisoning. When his team removed the soldiers' clothing, they discovered that their flesh wounds were filled with thousands of maggots, or baby flies—little larvae with a massive appetite for decaying matter. Baer was repulsed by the sight, and the team quickly washed off the wriggling maggots. Underneath, instead of the expected pus and bacteria-infected flesh, Baer marveled over “the most remarkable picture.” “These wounds were filled with the most beautiful pink granulation tissue that one could imagine,” Baer later wrote in a 1931 report in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery. Maggots have long been associated with death, but in this case, they were helping the soldiers stay alive. As these insects were simply tucking in for their typical meal of dead, decaying flesh, they were inadvertently aiding the soldiers by cleaning their wounds, keeping infection at bay. The soldiers recovered—saved by their tiny, wriggling “friends which had been doing such noble work,” Baer wrote. Baer's paper is one of the first reports of maggots used in medicine, but these insects have been found healing wounds for thousands of years, with references in the Old Testament and in ancient cultures of New South Wales and Northern Myanmar. Read the rest on sciencefriday.com.

Vox's Umair Irfan joins Diane to discuss the stakes at the U.N.'s upcoming climate conference and what it will take to curb rising temperatures.

Host Andrew Xu sits down once again with Umair Irfan, a science reporter who covers the pandemic at Vox. They discuss the origins of the pandemic, the scientific consensus surrounding it, and the way mainstream news outlets have handled the situation.   References   "The lab leak theory" from Today Explained   "The origins of SARS-COV-2" from Cell   "The lab leak hypothesis — true or not — should teach us a lesson" by Umair Irfan, Vox   "The conspiracy theories about the origins of the coronavirus, debunked" by Eliza Barclay, Vox   "Why the Lab Leak Theory Matters" by Ross Douthat, The New York Times

Since 1990, American presidents have been required by law to oversee a major report on climate change called the National Climate Assessment featuring research from 13 federal agencies and 300 scientists. Despite plans to release the findings in December as is standard practice, the Trump administration opted to rush the 1,600-page report out the day after Thanksgiving. On Monday, President Trump told an AP reporter, “I don't believe it.” On this week's TrumpWatch, Umair Irfan, staff writer for Vox, considers the environmental consequences for a president who says he doesn't believe global warming is a threat.

Since 1990, American presidents have been required by law to oversee a major report on climate change called the National Climate Assessment featuring research from 13 federal agencies and 300 scientists. Despite plans to release the findings in December as is standard practice, the Trump administration opted to rush the 1,600-page report out the day after Thanksgiving. On Monday, President Trump told an AP reporter, “I don't believe it.” On this week's TrumpWatch, Umair Irfan, staff writer for Vox, considers the environmental consequences for a president who says he doesn't believe global warming is a threat.

Today we are discussing the head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt. His tenure has been controversial. He has been in the news for potential ethics violations regarding airline fares. There have been odd details about personal security and a lack of transparency. Environmentalists have voiced concerns about policy process and changes that have occurred under his orders. Pruitt is, by all accounts, deeply religious and in this episode we'll try to connect the dots between his faith and environmental policy. Ralph Drollinger, "Coming to Grips with the Religion of Environmentalism," Capitol Ministries (April 2, 2018). Katherine Stewart, "A Christian Nationalist Blitz," New York Times (May 26, 2018). Jeremy Pierce, "Dominionismists," First Things (August 14, 2011). Scott Pruitt at the Federalist Society. Steve Eder, "Scott Pruitt Before the E.P.A.," New York Times (April 21, 2018). Scott Pruitt & Luther Strange, "The Climate-Change Gang," National Review (May 17, 2016). Margaret Talbot, "Scott Pruitt's Dirty Politics," New Yorker (April 2, 2018). Umair Irfan, "Scott Pruitt is slowly strangling the EPA," Vox.com (March 8, 2018).