NPR's Ira Flatow: Science Is Sexy

Is science sexy? Public radio and TV journalist Ira Flatow thinks so. Every week, he turns scientific discoveries into conversation pieces on his radio programScience Friday. In his talk “Science is Sexy,” he argues that museums, zoos, TV shows and films have overtaken formal education as the main ways people learn about science. Whether it’s the Mars rover or the Large Hadron Collider, scientific research is a hot commodity. Is popular science good for scienceas a whole?

Also this hour: Leaders of the state’s public universities have warned of tuition increases of 5 to 7 percent without a funding bump from Olympia. Yesterday, Republican state senators proposed another $300 million for higher education. They’d spend more on public universities and community colleges, cut in-state tuition by 3 percent and link some of the money to performance measurements. Given the state's budget shortfall, where will the money come from? We'll ask Republican Michael Baumgartner and Democrat Larry Seaquist.

Video: Ira Flatow interviews James Watson about the discovery of DNA's structure and his relationships with Francis Crick and Rosalind Franklin. Discover and subscribe to more Science Friday videos on YouTube.