PODCAST

Universe of Art

Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Meet artists who use science to bring their creations to the next level.

arts visual arts

All Episodes

00:02:14

Saying Goodbye To Universe Of Art

Universe of Art ·

2025/06/03

It's time to say goodbye to Universe of Art. Thank you to everyone who listened over the past couple of years.Subscribe to the Science Friday podcast.Sign up for our Science Goes To The Movies newsletter.

00:12:52

How Death Metal Singers Make Their Extreme Vocalizations

Universe of Art ·

2025/05/20

Being able to belt out a tune like Adele or Pavarotti is not just about raw talent. The best singers in the world have to work on their technique—like how to control their breath and develop the stamina to hit note after note for a two-hour concert. But pop stars and opera singers aren’t the only vocalists who have figured out how to harness their voices for maximum impact.Death metal vocalists also train their voices to hit that unique guttural register. And those iconic screams are not as easy to

00:17:16

How ‘Science Interpreters’ Make Hidden Science Visible

Universe of Art ·

2025/05/06

Imagine you’re diving into a cell. You’re paddling around in the cytoplasm, you’re climbing up a mitochondria. If you’re having a hard time picturing this, that’s okay! There are professionals who do this for a living.We wanted to learn more from expert science interpreters, who take the results section of a research paper and translate it into something tangible, like a 40-foot dinosaur skeleton or a 3D animation of cellular machinery too small to see.At a live event in Salt Lake City in March,

00:17:44

How Real Doctors Brought ‘The Pitt’ To Life

Universe of Art ·

2025/04/22

What is it actually like to work in an emergency room? To deal with overcrowded waiting rooms, a shortage of hospital beds, and a constant flow of life-and-death health conditions—while trying to maintain your sanity at the same time?That’s the focus of “The Pitt,” a new medical drama on Max from the creators of “ER,” starring one of that show’s key actors, all grown up: Noah Wyle. The first season takes place over a single shift, and each episode is one hour of that shift in real time. And medical

00:13:38

This Video Game Prioritizes Restoring An Ecosystem...

Universe of Art ·

2025/04/08

If you’ve played Rollercoaster Tycoon, Cities: Skylines, the Civilization series—even Animal Crossing—you’re probably familiar with this gameplay pattern: extract some kind of resource from the land, industrialize it into a theme park or a city, and (step three) profit, ad infinitum. But Terra Nil, a new game from the studio Free Lives, fundamentally challenges this oft-used game loop. Instead of maximizing profit at the expense of the local ecosystem, the player’s focus is to make a healthier,

00:11:45

Revisiting Lessons Learned From World Of Warcraft's...

Universe of Art ·

2025/03/18

The widespread infection of roughly four million virtual characters all started with a giant snake demon. In 2005, the massively multiplayer online video game World Of Warcraft introduced a special event raid, where groups of players could team up to fight a giant snake demon named Hakkar the Soulflayer. Hakkar would cast a spell called “Corrupted Blood” on players, which would slowly whittle down their health.The effect of the spell was only supposed to last inside the raid arena—when players

00:11:21

In ‘Common Side Effects,’ A Clash Over An All-Healing...

Universe of Art ·

2025/02/25

In the new Adult Swim show “Common Side Effects,” an eccentric scientist has a secret: He’s discovered a strange mushroom that can cure any illness or injury, and he wants to get it to people in need. The only problem is that a pharmaceutical company doesn’t want that secret to get out and will do anything to make sure he’s stopped.Joining Host Flora Lichtman to break down this fungal drama, and the science that inspired it, are the show’s creators, Steve Hely, who previously wrote for “30 Rock” and

00:17:27

A Novel Imagines The Inner Lives Of Astronauts On The...

Universe of Art ·

2025/02/04

From down here on Earth, life on the International Space Station seems magnificent: floating through the day, enjoying stunning views out your window, having an experience only a handful of other people will ever get.But what’s it really like to live up there? How does experiencing 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets every day change your perception of time? How do you cope with being so far from the people you love?Those are some of the questions explored in the novel Orbital, which won the Booker Prize

00:18:18

If ‘Interstellar’ Were Made Today, What Would Be...

Universe of Art ·

2025/01/21

The science fiction film “Interstellar” turns 10 years old this month. For many of us, it was our first encounter with some pretty advanced astrophysics, taking sci-fi concepts like wormholes and time warping, and backing them up with actual science. Now, we’re revisiting the impact that movie’s science had on pop culture, and how astrophysics has advanced in the past decade. If it were made today, what would be different?Ira Flatow sits down with “Interstellar” science advisor Dr. Kip Thorne, a

00:07:30

A Play About Pregnancy Inspired By Mushroom Research

Universe of Art ·

2025/01/07

People are finding all sorts of uses for mushrooms these days, but we’re going to focus on two of them: how scientists are using them in robots and how playwrights are using them in theater. A few weeks ago, SciFri producer and host of our “Universe of Art” podcast D Peterschmidt moderated a panel at the Science In Theater Festival in Brooklyn, New York.The festival is put on by a company called Transforma Theatre that stages science-inspired plays. Each year, they pair playwrights with scientists

00:18:27

Our favorite 2024 science books for kids

Universe of Art ·

2024/12/10

It’s that time of the year when you’re making your list, checking it twice, for gifts that spark a love of science for the kids in your life. Ira talks with Mahnaz Dar, young readers’ editor at Kirkus Reviews and Carrie Wolfson, collection development librarian at the Boulder Public Library to round up some of the top kids’ science books of 2024 and make recommendations based on listener questions.Still looking for a specific kids science book, but didn’t get a chance to ask our experts in

00:12:35

How metaphors help—and hurt—science

Universe of Art ·

2024/11/26

Here at Science Friday, we’re big fans of metaphors. They can make complicated scientific concepts easier to understand, for both non-experts and scientists themselves. For example, “the big bang” helps us visualize the beginning of the universe. Or we can understand DNA’s role better as a “building block of life.”But some of these scientific metaphors also have a downside, and can even set research back.Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff are the hosts of the podcast series “The World According to Sound,”

00:17:47

How insects changed the world—and human culture

Universe of Art ·

2024/11/12

Did you know that there are ten quintillion—or 10,000,000,000,000,000,000—individual insects on the planet? That means that for each and every one of us humans, there are 1.25 billion insects hopping, buzzing, and flying about.A new book called The Insect Epiphany: How Our Six-Legged Allies Shape Human Culture celebrates the diversity of the insect world, as well as the many ways it has changed ours—from fashion to food to engineering.Guest host Sophie Bushwick talks with entomologist and author Dr

00:13:31

Intertwining the lives of moths and humans through music

Universe of Art ·

2024/10/29

Before the pandemic, Peter Kiesewalter didn’t think much of moths. Like a lot of people, he’d thought of them mostly as pests. But when his brother Tobi, an interpretive naturalist for Ontario Parks and moth enthusiast, showed him macro photos he’d taken of them, he was blown away. “[They were] absolutely stunning,” Peter says. “The amount of colors and hair were just extraordinary.”Peter is a Grammy-nominated musician based in New York City. He’s composed music for ABC News, Monday Night Football,

00:11:31

Benjamin Franklin and the American experiment collide...

Universe of Art ·

2024/10/15

When you think of famous scientists of the early United States, you likely think of Benjamin Franklin, inventor of the lightning rod, bifocal glasses, and even the glass harmonica.He and his son are the subject of the play “Franklinland.” It explores their sometimes contentious relationship, Benjamin Franklin’s accomplishments as a scientist, and how the scientific method can be used to understand the ongoing experiment of the United States. It’s running now until November 3 at the Ensemble Studio

00:19:23

Pollution cookies and the hidden physics in Van...

Universe of Art ·

2024/10/01

Would you be interested in a cookie infused with smog from your favorite city? Maybe a loaf of sourdough made from wheat tainted by wildfires?Those are just a few of the projects from the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, based in Amsterdam and Portugal, where artists use innovative ingredients to represent environmental crises and imagine what the future of food could look like.Ira talks with Zack Denfeld, co-founder of the Center for Genomic Gastronomy, about how art and food can help us envision a

00:11:34

How a diver and artist brought a mysterious octopus...

Universe of Art ·

2024/09/17

Octopus mating behaviors can be quite deadly. Many species are cannibalistic, making the entire prospect of mating dangerous, and female octopuses often die after laying one clutch of eggs. Their cannibalistic tendencies mean that octopuses don’t socialize as much as other animals.But the larger Pacific striped octopus (LPSO) is different. For one, they live together in colonies. And mating is not only a safer proposition, it involves beak-to-beak “kissing.” Plus, females can lay eggs repeatedly,

00:12:33

What newly discovered cave art tells us about human...

Universe of Art ·

2024/09/03

In July, researchers discovered the oldest known cave art. It was found in a cave on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, and it shows three human-like figures and a wild pig. The painting was dated at 51,200 years old—5,000 years older than any other known cave art.The finding continues a trend of researchers unearthing older and older examples of human-made art, including those found outside of Spain and Southern France, where most cave art discoveries have been made.Guest host Maggie Koerth is

00:18:04

How ancient art influenced modern astronomy

Universe of Art ·

2024/08/20

Looking into space can be pretty daunting. How do we make sense of the vast expanse above our heads, the millions of stars we might be able to see, and the billions more we can’t?Now, what about listening to space? That’s the task that Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff gave themselves, for their series “Cosmic Visions.” They’re the team behind “The World According to Sound,” a podcast that’s brought our listeners close to the sounds of science over the last few years.This new series takes listeners through

00:18:18

How science fiction influenced American psychological...

Universe of Art ·

2024/08/06

When you think about connections between science and war, the obvious links are in technology—advanced radar, spy satellites, more powerful explosives—and in medical innovations that seek to heal the wounds caused by conflict. But in a new book, Stories are Weapons: Psychological Warfare and the American Mind, author Annalee Newitz says that stories and narrative can be weapons too, used in battle on a psychological battlefield.Ira talks with Newitz about the history of psychological warfare, from

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