Science Friday

Andy Weir, bestselling sci-fi novelist and producer of the film adaptation, shares on-set stories and creative choices. Mike Wong, astrobiologist and planetary scientist, reflects on truly alien life and scientific perspective. They discuss a sun-dimming microbial threat, designing a non-humanoid alien named Rocky, and how filmmakers build empathy for a faceless creature.

Dr. Julian Katzke, a postdoc at the Smithsonian who built the AntScan 3D ant imaging pipeline during his PhD, discusses making high-resolution, micrometer-scale X-ray scans of thousands of ants. He explains the fast synchrotron scanning setup, the stunning anatomical detail revealed, and how the open dataset can power science, art, and AI-driven research.

Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker staff writer and environmental author, reflects on insect declines, the tilt of worldview after witnessing the Great Barrier Reef, and community climate action like Samso’s carbon-neutral transition. She discusses the emotional toll of reporting on climate, debates around hope versus urgency, and the challenges of restoring reefs and scaling solutions.

Caroline Chung, a radiation oncologist and co-director of UT MD Anderson’s Institute for Data Science Oncology, discusses building medical digital twins. She explains how these evolving models could personalize radiation and chemo plans, origins from engineering, data limits, privacy and ownership challenges, and how hybrids of physics and AI might shape clinical decision making.

Lauren Guillette, cognitive ecology professor who studies zebra finch behavior. Liz Graznak, organic farmer running Happy Hollow Farm. Dean Regas, astronomer and Farmers’ Almanac contributor. They talk about who actually reads almanacs, their mix of nostalgia and usefulness, how climate shifts farm planning, and how zebra finch nest color choices reflect individual bias versus social influence.

Penny Becker, CEO of Island Conservation who leads species reintroductions, and Charles Bergquist, a turtle and tortoise correspondent, discuss the revival of a Galapagos tortoise thought extinct. They cover finding surviving DNA relatives, captive breeding that produced 158 juveniles, the dramatic release and local ceremonies, invasive species removal, and sea turtle nesting and ancient fossil trackways.

Karen Hao, tech journalist and author of Empire of AI, explains how AI is weaving into military systems. She discusses consolidation between AI firms and the Pentagon. She recounts reports of large language models mapping potential Iran targets and the murky role of AI in strikes. She explores risks like automation bias, debates over autonomous weapons, and rising public pushback and regulation efforts.

Dr. Kevin Tracey, neurosurgeon and bioelectronic medicine pioneer who discovered the vagus nerve’s role in inflammation, walks through vagus anatomy and how electrical stimulation became a therapy. He traces the path from molecule discoveries to implanted stimulators, fact-checks social media claims, and explores uses from PTSD and epilepsy to long COVID and metabolic diseases.

Laurie Spiegel, composer and programmer known for The Expanding Universe and Music Mouse, reflects on early electronic and algorithmic music. She discusses algorithmic Bach, how prompt writing reshapes musical skill, the emotional limits of AI-generated music, and why interactive instruments matter more than noninteractive generators.

Dr. Adel Djellouli, an experimental physicist at Harvard who studies friction, explores why basketball shoes squeak. He describes using clever lab setups to watch contact and uncover supersonic slip pulses. He links these fast ripples to earthquake-like dynamics and even tiny lightning discharges that trigger squeaks. The conversation celebrates curiosity-driven experiments and surprising cross-scale physics.