Journalism Grants
Funding For:
Health Reporting
Health Equity
Recipient:
Science Friday
Grant Period:
Dec 01, 2022 - Dec 31, 2023
AMOUNT:
$20,000.00
Summary of the Project:
This project fills gaps in science coverage at major and local news outlets by producing digital and broadcast reporting on health news, innovations, and breakthroughs using evidence-based resources.
About the Grantee:
Science Friday was first broadcast in 1991 as a caller-driven public radio talk show focused on science and directly connecting the public with science. Since then, it has expanded into the ever-changing digital media space and into several realms of education and out-of-school learning. With the mission to increase public access to science and scientific information – Science Friday strives to deliver relevant, understandable science news to people and communities across the country.
Related Grantee Work
June 9, 2023
A Scientist’s Catalog Of 100 Days Under The Sea
Ira talks with Dr. Deep Sea, aka Dr. Joe Dituri, a biomedical engineer and associate professor at the University of South Florida, and Dr. Sarah Spelsberg, wilderness emergency specialist and the medical lead for Project Neptune 100 coming to us from the Maldives. Check out some photos of Dr. Dituri’s undersea life.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 26, 2023
The Long And Short Of Telomere Activity
Telomeres are repeating short sequences of genetic code (in humans, TTAGGG) located on the ends of chromosomes. They act as a buffer during the cell replication process. Loops at the end of the telomere prevent chromosomes from getting inadvertently stuck together by DNA repair enzymes. Over the lifetime of the cell, the telomeres become shorter and shorter with each cell division. When they become too short, the cell dies. Telomere sequences weren’t thought to do much else—sort of like the plastic tip at the end of a shoelace. Jack Griffith, one of the authors of the report and the Kenan Distinguished Professor of microbiology and immunology at the UNC School of Medicine, joins SciFri’s Charles Bergquist to talk about the idea and what other secrets may lie inside the telomere.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 26, 2023
Tracking Pain In Your Brain
Chronic pain is complex, and a lot of its basics are still unknown. But a new study from this week discovered another piece of the pain puzzle: brain signals that are associated with chronic pain and the region they are processed in. Researchers hope that this is the first step in developing a brain stimulation therapy that can intercept those chronic pain signals and bring relief to patients. Guest host and SciFri director Charles Bergquist talks with lead author Dr. Prasad Shirvalkar, neurologist and associate professor at the University of California San Francisco, about this new paper.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 26, 2023
What Can We Learn From A Woman Who Feels No Pain?
Researchers have been studying Jo Cameron and her brain in an effort to better understand her sensory experience. This week, researchers published a new study that looks at the genes and mutations responsible for Jo’s pain free existence. They hope to use what they learn to come up with better pain management treatments for the rest of us. Guest host and Science Friday Senior Producer Charles Berquist talks with Andrei Okorokov, associate professor at the Wolfson Institute for Biomedical Research at the University College London, about this fascinating new research.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 19, 2023
Can Science Find An Antidote To Americium?
The NIH announced the start of an early clinical trial for an oral drug delivered as a tablet that could potentially be used to bind and remove radioactive elements including plutonium, uranium and neptunium from the body. Rachel Feltman, editor at large at Popular Science, joins Ira to talk about that trial and other stories from the week in science, including an experimental universal flu vaccine, research into the amount of trace DNA humans shed every day, and an update on the planet Saturn’s moon count.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 19, 2023
Debunking Common Myths About Being Fat
Science Friday producer, Shoshannah Buxbaum talks with Aubrey Gordon, co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase and author of the recent book “You Just Need To Lose Weight” and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, about the history of the Body Mass Index or BMI. She discusses why the word “obesity” is tangled up in stereotypes about fat people, the flaws in commonly cited mortality statistics, and how anti-fat bias translates into worse healthcare for fat people.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 12, 2023
US Declares An End To The COVID-19 Public Health Emergency
Dr. Anthony Fauci, former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, joins Ira Flatow to talk about where we go from here. Is life back to normal—or is there a new normal? What have we learned from the past three years about responding to future outbreaks?
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 5, 2023
Are Phages A New Page In Medicine?
While scientists first discovered phages’ ability to treat bacterial infections about a century ago, there’s been little interest in turning them into a treatment for patients with antibiotic resistant infections—until recently. Ira talks with Dr. Graham Hatfull, professor of biotechnology at the University of Pittsburgh about the latest in phage science.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
May 5, 2023
How To Combat The Antibiotic Resistance Crisis
Scientists are struggling to keep up with the need to replace antibiotics that no longer work. It’s a never ending game of catch up. Ira discusses some of the possible solutions to this vexing problem and takes listener questions with Dr. Victor Nizet, faculty lead of the Collaborative to Halt Antibiotic-Resistant Microbes at the University of California San Diego and Dr. Eddie Stenehjem, executive vice chair of medicine at the University of Colorado.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 21, 2023
Dismantling Myths About Menstruation
Biological anthropologist Kate Clancy dug into the history of menstruation research, and the myriad misconceptions about it, while working on her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation. What she found was a lack of basic understanding of the biological process, from physicians and menstruators alike. Clancy speaks with guest host Maddie Sofia about the misconceptions of a “normal” menstrual cycle, and other persisting period myths.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 21, 2023
How We Arrived At Current Standards Of Care For Trans Medicine
Guest host Maddie Sofia talks with Hil Malatino, Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and Philosophy at Penn State University, to put in perspective the history of gender affirming care.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 21, 2023
All You Need To Know About Anesthesia
Guest host John Dankosky talks with Dr. Louise Sun, professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford University Health and Dr. Gunisha Kaur, anesthesiologist, director of the Human Rights Impact Lab, and medical director of Weill Cornell Center for Human Rights at Weill Cornell Medicine about the basics of how anesthesia works. This interview is part of a virtual event hosted by Science Friday. Watch a full recording of the event.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 14, 2023
Lactose Intolerance May Have A Lot To Do With Your Gut Microbiome
There’s a lot to learn about the origins of lactose persistence and lactose intolerance, and much of that knowledge comes from the gut microbiome. Joining Ira to talk about this is Christina Warinner, associate professor of anthropology at Harvard University, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 14, 2023
Farm Fertilizers Can Contain ‘Forever Chemicals’ From Sewage
The treatment plant takes everything the people of Greater Boston send down their sinks, toilets, showers and washing machines — plus industrial waste — and treats it. The treated water is clean enough to let out into the ocean. The remaining sludge gets recycled into fertilizer that’s used in nearly 20 states. But now that fertilizer is raising fresh concerns. That’s because wastewater treatment plants like Deer Island were not built to handle the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 7, 2023
Workout Worms May Reveal New Parkinson’s Treatments
Scientists wanted to see how exercise affects brain health by putting a bunch of these worms in an exercise class—in a tiny pool. Ira talks with the co-author of this fascinating new research, Dr. Joyita Bhadra, post-doctoral researcher at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
April 7, 2023
Your Future COVID-19 Vaccine May Come Through Your Nose
The development of nasal vaccines comes at a time when many Americans are anxiously awaiting if the government will approve additional COVID-19 boosters. The bivalent boosters have been out for more than six months, and there have been reports the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will recommend an additional dose for some Americans this spring. Joining Ira to give us the latest on nasal sprays, boosters, and answering some listener questions is Dr. Akiko Iwasaki, immunobiologist at Yale Medical School in New Haven, Connecticut.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
March 31, 2023
What’s Driving A Rise In Mumps Cases In The United States?
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.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
March 17, 2023
How AI Is Changing The Drug Development Pipeline
Researching and developing new drugs is a notoriously long and expensive process, filled with a lot of trial and error. Before a new drug gets approved scientists must come up with something they think might work in the lab, test it in animals, and then if it passes those hurdles, clinical trials in humans. In an effort to smooth out some of the bumps along the road, a growing number of pharma companies are turning to new artificial intelligence tools in the hopes of making the process cheaper and faster. Ira talks with Will Douglas Heaven, senior editor for AI at MIT Technology Review about his reporting on the topic.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
March 17, 2023
Stop Flushing Your Health Data Down The Toilet
You could be flushing important information about your health right down the toilet—quite literally. Pee and poop can tell you a lot about your health, so what if your waste…didn’t go to waste? What if, instead, it could tell you more about your health? Like number one, it can catch a condition like diabetes early. Or number two, check out what’s going on in your gut microbiome. That’s the goal of the smart toilet—a device that gets all up in your business to tell you more about your health. Ira talks with the inventor of the PH Smart Toilet, Dr. Seung-min Park, instructor of urology at Stanford’s School of Medicine in California, about how the toilet works, how it can be used to catch diseases early on, and the ethical implications of such a device.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
February 24, 2023
A Medication Abortion Drug Faces Potential Nationwide Restriction
Maggie Koerth, senior science writer at FiveThirtyEight, joins John Dankosky to talk about the case and its implications. They also tackle other stories from the week in science, including investigations of the Earth’s inner core, a timeline for astronauts on board the ISS, and efforts to understand what “burnout” actually is.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
February 17, 2023
Low Income Patients Hit Hardest By Cancer Treatment Costs
Researchers at Augusta University wanted to track the results of the financial burden after patients’ treatment was complete. They found that poorer patients were hit harder financially—which not only resulted in more bills, but also worse health outcomes. Ira talks with Dr. Jorge Cortes, co-author of this study and director of the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University, about the importance of making cost part of the discussion in developing new cancer therapies.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
February 17, 2023
Ohio Residents Want Answers About Risks Of Train Derailment
What started as an open house with tables set up around the floor for the US EPA, the Ohio EPA, the state Division of Wildlife, and the county health department to answer individual questions morphed into a town hall meeting. Residents sat in bleachers and yelled their questions to the officials. Many were angry, largely because Norfolk Southern, the rail operator, did not show up to the meeting.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
February 10, 2023
Rethinking The Future Of Dementia Care
Alzheimer’s is the leading cause of dementia. Ira talks with Dr. Suman Jayadev, a neurogeneticist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, about the biology of Alzheimer’s, and where we stand with treatments. Then, the conversation turns to the future of dementia care: What are we doing right? What needs to change? And how can we rethink the future of dementia care? Ira speaks with Dr. Tia Powell, the director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center for Bioethics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the author of the book Dementia Reimagined, as well as Dr. Nathaniel Chin, a geriatrician and assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
January 27, 2023
Here’s What We Know About Long COVID, Three Years Later
Guest host Maddie Sofia talks with Hannah Davis, co-founder of the Patient-Led Research Collaborative and co-author of a recently published comprehensive review on the state of Long COVID research, and Dr. Bhupesh Prusty, principal investigator at the Institute for Virology and Immmunobiology at the University of Würzburg in Germany.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
January 20, 2023
Why Are Children’s Antibiotics So Hard To Find Right Now?
Pediatric sickle cell disease specialists say they are alarmed by signs that the stock of liquid penicillin is dwindling in some places. They say children’s lives depend on this medication, and a penicillin shortage could spell disaster.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
January 20, 2023
Why Are Gas Stoves Under Fire?
Rebecca Leber, senior reporter covering climate at Vox, joins Ira to explain the heated words over gas stove use, and how they fit into a larger battle over fossil fuel usage and climate change.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday
January 6, 2023
The Nose Knows When It’s Cold—And It May Get You Sick
Ira speaks to the study’s lead author Benjamin Bleier, associate professor at Mass Eye and Ear in Boston, Massachusetts, about this breakthrough and the impact it could have on future treatments for respiratory illness.
Learn MoreAuthor: Science Friday