Old creepy houses are a horror cliche, but why? Why do they freak us out? According to new research, it might have something to do with infrasound: a sound that’s below the range of human hearing, potentially emitted by low-rumbling pipes or old boilers more common in older houses. Psychologist and pseudoscience researcher Rodney Schmaltz explains his new study, and what role infrasound could play in leading people to feel unsettled in “haunted” places. Then, infrasound researcher Milton Garcés breaks down the infrasound that’s produced by volcanoes and asteroid impacts, and how it serves as a “keep away” signal in nature. Guests: Dr. Rodney Schmaltz is a professor of psychology at MacEwan University in Edmonton, Alberta. Dr. Milton Garcés is a research scientist at the Hawai‘i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology and director of the Infrasound Laboratory at the University of Hawai’i in Honolulu. Other episodes you may enjoy: What The Sounds Of Melting Glaciers Can Tell Us The World According To Sound: A Sonic History Of Astronomy Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

We recently got a call from a SciFri listener in Florida who has autoimmune arthritis. He told us that over the years he’d taken 10 drugs, and each out eventually stopped working. He then tried to enroll in a clinical trial for a new drug for his condition, but he was rejected specifically because he was on his 10th drug. Today we’re digging into clinical trials and how they work. Are there incentives for drug developers to leave out “problem children”? Or is it more complicated than that? Flora talks with lawyer and bioethicist Holly Fernandez Lynch about what clinical trials are designed to do, how participants are chosen, and where FDA regulation comes into play. Guest: Dr. Holly Fernandez Lynch is an associate professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania. Other episodes you may enjoy: Why so many studies can’t be replicatedCan ‘Suggestion-Box Science’ Make Public Health More Useful? Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The herbicide paraquat is so toxic it’s banned in over 70 countries. But its use in the U.S. is growing, despite known links to Parkinson’s disease. In southeastern Mississippi, an industrial plant is leaking tens of thousands of pounds of the chemical into the air. Environmental reporter Delaney Nolan and epidemiologist Beate Ritz join Host Flora Lichtman to discuss the implications of this leak, and what we know about how paraquat affects the body. Guests: Delaney Nolan is an environmental reporter based in New Orleans. She reported this story for The Lens and the Mississippi River Basin Ag & Water Desk. Dr. Beate Ritz is a professor of epidemiology at UCLA in Los Angeles. Other episodes you may enjoy: Teasing Apart The Causes And Early Signs Of Parkinson’s Workout Worms May Reveal New Parkinson’s Treatments Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Bucket hats. Low-rise jeans. Track suits. As you might’ve noticed, Y2K fashion is in right now. People say that fashion moves in 20-year cycles, and it turns out…it does! At least according to math. Host Flora Lichtman sits down with mathematician Emma Zajdela to figure out how she analyzed over 35,000 images of women's clothing dating all the way back to the 1860s to confirm this theory. Guest: Dr. Emma Zajdela is a Franco-American mathematician and science diplomacy activist. Other episodes you may enjoy: The Many, Many Ways Tuberculosis Shaped Human Life Functional Fashion From An Artist And A Caterpillar Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A recent study simulated the extreme temperatures and pressure of the Earth’s interior by squeezing a sample between diamonds and heating it with a laser. In those simulations, researchers found that the Earth’s core may contain vast amounts of hydrogen, locked away in alloys with iron and silicon. Planetary scientist Anat Shahar joins Host Ira Flatow to discuss what this tells us about how the planet formed, and where water on Earth may have come from. Then, another kind of deep history: Paleontologist Arnaud Rebillard introduces Host Flora Lichtman to “regurgitalite”—fossilized vomit. Rebillard studied a sample of regurgitalite some 50 million years older than the dinosaurs. Guests: Dr. Anat Shahar is a planetary scientist, and vice president for research at the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. Arnaud Rebillard is a PhD candidate in paleontology at the Natural History Museum of Berlin. Other episodes you may enjoy: Could Underground Hydrogen Reserves Put Clean Energy Within Reach? A Reptile’s Baffling Backfin And The Math Of Dashing Dinos Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! The transcript for this episode is available at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Just about every animal with a backbone yawns (maybe even dinosaurs), but why we do it is still something of a mystery. A SciFri listener from Texas recently spotted some research that suggests yawning could play a role in clearing waste products from the brain, and asked us to get to the bottom of it. Biomechanical engineer Lynne Bilston, an author on that study, joins Flora to discuss the findings and what they could mean for neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's. Plus, about a third of Americans aren’t getting the recommended seven hours of sleep per night, according to a new CDC report. We check in with sleep researcher Stuti Jaiswal to break down the report and find out how to get a better night's sleep. Check out an MRI video of what yawning looks like inside the body. Guests: Dr. Lynne Bilston is a biomechanical engineer at UNSW Sydney in Australia. Dr. Stuti Jaiswal is a physician scientist and co-director, education at Scripps Research Translational Institute in San Diego, California. Other episodes you may enjoy: Does Taping Your Mouth Shut Help You Sleep? The Brain’s Glial Cells Might Be As Important As Neurons Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An upcoming resupply mission will carry tumor samples to the International Space Station for research. Experiments in microgravity have yielded shocking results: Some tumors triple in size in just 10 days—the kind of growth that could take 10 years on Earth. What does that mean for science, and for astronauts? Joining Ira to discuss this new frontier in cancer research are hematologist Catriona Jamieson and aerospace engineer Meenal Datta. Guests: Dr. Catriona Jamieson is a hematologist at the UC San Diego Health Moores Cancer Center in California. Dr. Meenal Datta studies the physics of cancer at the University of Notre Dame’s College of Engineering in Indiana. Other episodes you may enjoy: How A Fringe Idea Led To Lifesaving Cancer Treatments To Get Ready For Mars, NASA Studies How The Body Changes In Space Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Have you noticed that your newer appliances are serenading you? Many new washing machines, dishwashers, dryers, and vacuums have sonic signatures. But why? And who are the composers making music for the machines in your home? Flora talks to sonic branding experts Audrey Arbeeny, who has developed sounds for washing machines; and Joel Beckerman, who has composed for Roomba. Guests: Audrey Arbeeny is the owner and executive producer of Audiobrain. She’s composed for Whirlpool, KitchenAid, the London Olympic Games, and Microsoft’s Xbox 360. Joel Beckerman is a composer and founder of Made Music Studio, and author of “The Sonic Boom: How Sound Transforms the Way We Think, Feel, and Buy.” He’s composed for the NFL, IMAX, and the Roomba vacuum. Other episodes you may enjoy: Are Physical Buttons And Knobs Making A Comeback? Common Loons Are Pop Music Icons Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Scientists studying climate models say there’s a high chance this will be an El Niño year—and that we could be in for a “super” El Niño. The difference is indicated by sea surface temperatures in part of the Pacific Ocean rising a little—or a lot—above their long-term average. El Niño is one half of what climatologists call the ENSO, the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The oscillation operates on a roughly 3-7 year cycle, changing the path of the jet stream and shifting weather conditions around the world. An El Niño year, for instance, typically brings wetter weather in the western U.S. but dryer conditions in the Pacific Northwest, and can be a drought buster for regions such as southern California. But shifting ocean currents also have the potential to affect marine ecosystems, leading to algal booms, coral bleaching, and more. Climate scientist Dillon Amaya joins Host Ira Flatow to describe the role of the El Niño in shaping world weather, and what effects a particularly strong El Niño year might have on global ecosystems. Guest: Dr. Dillon Amaya is a research scientist at the NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. Other episodes you may enjoy: Meet A Pioneer Of Modern Weather Prediction Could We Get Weather Forecasts Years—Or A Decade—In Advance? Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In April, the crew of Artemis II got an unprecedented tour of the far side of the moon, and they brought back a proverbial shoebox full of pictures. Lunar scientist Kelsey Young stayed on Earth, and helped guide the astronauts through their photo shoots from Mission Control. Young talks with Host Flora Lichtman about how the science team chose their shot list, how to lead distant astronauts in their scientific observations, and what researchers are learning from the images and in-the-moment descriptions captured by the Artemis II crew. Guest: Dr. Kelsey Young is the Artemis science flight operations lead for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. Other episodes you may enjoy: Inside the lives of astronauts’ families How The Moon Transformed Life On Earth, From Climate to Timekeeping Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

When Kemi Doll was in medical school, she learned that Black women are twice as likely to die from uterine cancer as white women, and also suffer disproportionately from other uterine-related conditions. What wasn’t explained was why. Now a gynecologic oncologist, Doll has made it her mission to change these trends and improve care for Black women. She joins Flora to discuss her new book, “A Terrible Strength: The Hidden Crisis of the Black Womb and Your Survival Guide to Healing.” They explore the way systemic racism and the normalization of Black women’s pain lead to later diagnoses of uterine cancer and poorer health outcomes for a range of gynecologic conditions including fibroids, endometriosis, and heavy periods. And Doll explains the problem with using reproductive health as a synonym for uterine health. Guest: Dr. Kemi Doll is a gynecologic oncologist and professor at the University of Washington Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Other episodes you may enjoy: Endometriosis Is Common. Why Is Getting Diagnosed So Hard? A Black Physician’s Analysis Of The Legacy Of Racism In Medicine Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Cameras and sensors are just about everywhere, recording your face, how you walk, where you go, your heart rate. And AI is making it easy to amass and analyze that data about all of us. Privacy attorney Anne Toomey McKenna joins Host Flora Lichtman to talk about the ubiquity of biometric surveillance and how data brokers are gathering and selling our information, including to law enforcement. Guest: Anne Toomey McKenna is an attorney specializing in privacy and biometric surveillance. She’s on the Advisory Board for AI Policy at the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers - USA. Other episodes you may enjoy: Why Worry About My Data If I Have Nothing To Hide? New Products Collect Data From Your Brain. Where Does It Go? Transcripts for each episode are available within 1-3 days at sciencefriday.com. Want SciFri gear? Check out our new shop! Subscribe to this podcast. Follow our show on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and Bluesky @scifri and sign up for our newsletters. Got a science question that’s keeping you up at night? Call us: 877-4-SCIFRI Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.