Science Friday is premiering a new series that follows the innovative research of women scientists. The first episode follows Dr. Rene Gifford and her colleague Dr. Allyson Sisler-Dinwiddie who together develop methods to improve cochlear implants.

At the Millstone Township Middle School in New Jersey, the future problem solvers club have developed some helpful learning tools for students with disabilities. This group of middle schoolers created seven different video games in earth science, math and social studies to supplement after school learning.

After being hunted off of the mainland of New Zealand centuries ago, a new generation of the earth's rarest sea lion species has returned. Jim Fyfe, a ranger with the New Zealand Department of Conservation, is tasked with watching over new sea lion pups and ensuring their safety.

Ainissa Ramirez is a scientist, author, and a self-proclaimed Science Evangelist. She is calling for big changes in science education and is the creator of a podcast series called “Science Underground.” Ainissa joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the topic of women in the space industry.

Dave Mosher is a science reporter who has written for Scientific American, popular mechanics, National Geographic News and Discovery.com. Throughout his career, he has watched humans and robots launch into space, toured a cutting-edge nuclear reactor and flown over the north pole to catch a total solar eclipse. He joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss the massive iceberg that broke free in Antarctica.

In recent years the do-it-yourself biotech movement has been gaining momentum, spurring a growing number of community labs across the country. At the forefront of this movement is Ellen Jorgensen, Co-founder and former Director of the Brooklyn-based biotech lab Genspace and Founder of Biotech Without Borders.

The Great Smoky Mountains National Park bordering North Carolina and Tennessee is not only a natural paradise but also is home to 20,000 species of animals and plants. However, that park has some of the highest measured air pollution and the highest level of acid rain of any national park in the country.

At Discovery Space, a science museum in Pennsylvania, children have the opportunity to try their hand at engineering over summer vacation.

Scientific research can make strange bedfellows. In treating veterans with respiratory problems, one doctor sought help from an unlikely collaborator, a geoscientist who studies meteorites.

New programs for post-traumatic stress, or “p-t-s,” have been developed over the past few years. We visit a sailing camp and other alternative programs that work with U.S. veterans who suffer from p-t-s and traumatic brain injury.

From the massive amounts of land it takes to raise a global herd of animals to the water supply used in the greenhouse gases released during the process, the production of animal products like leather is resource intensive. Andras Forgacs, Co-founder and CEO of Modern Meadow, joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss how his company came up with an alternative by growing animal-free leather in a lab.

Texas is investing in STEM across the state. We go inside Wagner High School in San Antonio, Texas one of more than 100 stem academies collaborating to bring science, technology, engineering and math to students.

Dave Mosher is a science reporter who has written for Scientific American, Popular Mechanics, National Geographic News and Discovery.com. He joins Hari Sreenivasan to discuss how a dwindling supply of plutonium threatens deep space exploration.

The Kootenai River, which crisscrosses the U.S. Canada border is home to the endangered white sturgeon. In order to help save the sturgeon the Kootenai tribe of Idaho is undertaking a massive habitat restoration project.

Pennsylvania State University students participate in a contest to condense years of research into a two minute pitch. The competition helps students hone communication skills and is even dubbed as "Science Speed Dating."

Ancient human teeth can tell us a lot. Hidden inside each set of teeth are clues about their owner’s behavior and ancestry as well as what really made up the paleo diet. Shara Bailey, Associate Professor of Anthropology at New York University, reads the topography of teeth to better understand the origins and lineages of humans.

Biologist Tony Wilson and his lab at Brooklyn College in New York, have found that seahorse pregnancy may have a deeper genetic link to other forms of pregnancy than previously thought.

When Superstorm Sandy swept across much of the eastern seaboard it left massive damage. On Fire Island, New York, the storm left behind a breach or a land gap that threatened local communities. The National Park Service was left with a decision, close the gap or wait and see what happens. Five years later, we visit the island to see how nature took its course.

The American chestnut tree was once a staple of U.S. landscapes, numbering over a billion. But by the 1950s, a fungus eliminated many of the species. Now, after 35 years of research, Professor William Powell has developed a blight-resistant American chestnut tree to restore the population.

Scientists have made great strides in developing drugs to fight cancer. But some cancers have now become resistant to drug therapies. In this segment we meet researchers from the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida, who are using mathematical modeling to help fight drug-resistant cancers.