Talk of the Nation - Science Friday
Encyclopedia
Science Friday is a weekly call-in talk show
Talk show
A talk show or chat show is a television program or radio program where one person discuss various topics put forth by a talk show host....

 that is part of NPR
NPR
NPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...

's Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation
Talk of the Nation is a talk radio program based in the United States, produced by National Public Radio, and is broadcast nationally from 2 to 4 p.m. Eastern Time. Its focus is current events and controversial issues....

radio program. SciFri is hosted by award winning science journalist Ira Flatow
Ira Flatow
Ira Flatow is a radio and television journalist and author who hosts National Public Radio's popular Science Friday. He is probably best known on TV for hosting Newton's Apple, a television science program for children and their families.-Biography:...

 and was created and is produced by ScienceFriday, Inc. . The program is divided into two, one-hour programs. The focus of each program is nature
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...

, science
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

, and technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...

 and the news and information. Each week 1.3 million listeners tune into the program.

Science Friday is also available in a podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...

ing format and is one of the most popular iTunes downloads, frequently in the top 15 downloads each week. SciFri podcasts are downloaded over 23 million times per year and over 1.3 million listeners tune in each week to hear the program. It is also carried via Sirius/XM satellite radio. In addition to the program, SciFri creates original videos and educational materials, all available on its website.

Twitter name: @scifri

"Science Friday" free iTunes app can be downloaded from the iTunes store. It gives you the choice of listening to the audio podcasts or watching the videos. An Android version will be available soon

The program's slogans are “Making Science User Friendly” and "Making Science Radioactive."

SciFri broadcasts excerpts from the annual Ig Nobel Prize
Ig Nobel Prize
The Ig Nobel Prizes are an American parody of the Nobel Prizes and are given each year in early October for ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. The stated aim of the prizes is to "first make people laugh, and then make them think"...

 ceremony on the Friday after Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...

.

Science Friday maintained an island (Science Friday Island) in Second Life
Second Life
Second Life is an online virtual world developed by Linden Lab. It was launched on June 23, 2003. A number of free client programs, or Viewers, enable Second Life users, called Residents, to interact with each other through avatars...

, including an open air theater with live audio and video feeds of the broadcast. But that venue is no longer in operation.

Science Friday non-profit, 501(c)(3) partner is the Science Friday Initiative which helps create educational materials and finds underwriting for the program. The Science Friday Initiative does accept tax-deductible donations on behalf of the radio program.

Funding

Science Friday is funded by the NPR member stations that broadcast the program, by individual donors, and by foundation and corporate underwriters including the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit organization in the United States. It was established in 1934 by Alfred P. Sloan, Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of General Motors.-Overview:...

, the US National Science Foundation
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation is a United States government agency that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National Institutes of Health...

, the Noyce Foundation, the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation, and the Smart Family Foundation.

History

SciFri was created when the National Science Foundation agreed to fund a weekly science talk-show on NPR. After the Gulf War in 1991, NPR created a daily talk show called Talk of the Nation, and incorporated Science Friday into it. Science Friday is not produced "in-house" at NPR but is licensed from ScienceFriday, Inc.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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