It'll Never Fly: When Gene Names Are TOO Fun

Science Diction by Science Friday and WNYC Studios

Jul 7, 202100:25:29Science & Medicine

In 1910, a fruit fly geneticist named Thomas Hunt Morgan noticed something strange in one of his specimens. Out of his many, many fruit flies—all with brilliant red eyes—a single fly had white eyes. This fruit fly turned...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from Science Diction.

New Show: Universe of Art

Aug 7, 2023 - 00:02:18

Hey Science Diction listeners! We’re back to tell you about a brand new show from Science Friday. Univers...

Saying Goodbye To Science Diction

Apr 5, 2022 - 00:03:26

Dear Science Diction listeners, It is with sadness that we announce the finale of the Science Diction pod...

American Chestnut: Resurrecting A Forest Giant

Dec 21, 2021 - 00:22:04

We have a favor to ask! We want to know more about what you like, what you don’t, and who you are—it’ll h...

Vocal Fry: Why I’m Not Getting A Voice Coach

Dec 7, 2021 - 00:16:18

For decades, vocal fry lived a relatively quiet existence. It was known to linguists, speech pathologists...

Juggernaut: Indian Temple Or Unstoppable Force?

Nov 23, 2021 - 00:18:53

In 2014, a grad student in Kolkata named Ujaan Ghosh came across an old book by a Scottish missionary. An...

Jargon: We Love To Hate It

Nov 2, 2021 - 00:20:49

Head on over to plainlanguage.gov, and you’ll find a helpful table, dedicated to simplifying and demystif...

Algebra: From Broken Bones To Twitter Feuds

Oct 19, 2021 - 00:14:25

When high schooler Gracie Cunningham posted a TikTok asking where algebra came from, she probably didn’t...

Hurricane

Sep 28, 2021 - 00:23:06

CORRECTION: In this episode, we say that there were only two names left on the 2021 list of Atlantic hurr...