Christopher Intagliata

Senior Producer

Science Friday

Christopher Intagliata is the senior producer for Science Friday.

Christopher is Science Friday's senior producer, and a regular contributor to Scientific American. His favorite stories feature microbes or food — or in the best-case scenario, both. Before coming to Science Friday, Christopher taught English in Italy and counted endangered frogs (Rana muscosa) in the Eastern Sierra Nevada. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of California at Berkeley, and a master's in science, health and environmental reporting from the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute at New York University.

A close-up view of a male blue orchard bee, also known as Osmia lignaria. This type of bee, which is native to North America, is known to be one of the world's best pollinators.

Book creates buzz about native bees of North America

When you hear the word “bee,” you probably picture a honeybee. As a new book shows, though, many bees native to North America defy conventionalism and remain relatively unknown on their own continent

Book creates buzz about native bees of North America
In 1908, New Zealand Parliament passed the Prevention of Quackery Act to defend against claims such as the one featured in this leaflet: "bile beans" that claimed to cure a vareity of ailments, including indigestion, headaches, pimples and sleeplessness.

New book looks at medical cures now considered 'quackery'

New book looks at medical cures now considered 'quackery'
A biting midge pollinates a cacao flower on the Goodman Cacao Estate in Killaloe, Australia.

Giant chocolate industry depends on tiny insects for survival

Giant chocolate industry depends on tiny insects for survival
For years, Shanghai has featured some of China's worst air pollution. Recent initiatives by the Chinese government, though, have begun to clean up some of the problem.

With the US pursuing fossil fuels, alternative, renewable forms of energy could be an even bigger boon to China

With the US pursuing fossil fuels, alternative, renewable forms of energy could be an even bigger boon to China
Wikimedia Foundation servers

Scientists warn we may be creating a 'digital dark age'

Scientists warn we may be creating a 'digital dark age'
Bats flying near Bracken Cave, Texas.

For the future of self-driving technology, look to ... bats?

Scientists still aren’t sure how bats avoid colliding with one another in swarms. Solving the mysteries of their “biological sonar” could give us clues for our own technology.

For the future of self-driving technology, look to ... bats?
Wild horses.

The trouble with managing America’s wild horses

“We never have really figured out how to make the idea of the horse as a symbol of freedom, and the practical biology of protecting and yet limiting this horse, work,” says author David Philipps.

The trouble with managing America’s wild horses
Rainbow scarab beetle

Dung beetles navigate using the Milky Way and other facts about ‘nature’s recyclers’

You may not envy what dung beetles and carrion beetles dine on, but you live in a world that they help keep clean.

Dung beetles navigate using the Milky Way and other facts about ‘nature’s recyclers’
Three psychologists debunk a persistent myth about how we learn.

Consider yourself a 'visual' or 'auditory' learner? Turns out, there’s not much science behind learning styles.

Three psychologists debunk a persistent myth about how we learn.

Consider yourself a 'visual' or 'auditory' learner? Turns out, there’s not much science behind learning styles.
phone in hand

How to make biometric technology more secure

What’s on the horizon in biometric security, and how can we make the technology more secure?

How to make biometric technology more secure
1919 eclipse

Why we still remember a ‘relatively’ important eclipse nearly a century later

In 1919, a total solar eclipse confirmed a prediction in Einstein’s theory of general relativity.

Why we still remember a ‘relatively’ important eclipse nearly a century later
hadron supercollider

In small collisions, scientists find big new physics questions

Three recent experiments at particle colliders around the world have turned up results that seem to flout the rules of physics. It may result in finding a new particle.

In small collisions, scientists find big new physics questions
A fire ant.

How fire ants manage to build ‘Eiffel Tower’-like structures using their own bodies

Ant researcher David Hu estimates that for humans, the equivalents of some ant towers would stretch tens of stories high.

How fire ants manage to build ‘Eiffel Tower’-like structures using their own bodies
Scientists in the Arctic.

What does a scientist look like? The 'Skype a Scientist' program helps schoolkids find out.

The project shakes up stereotypes by connecting classrooms to real, working scientists.

What does a scientist look like? The 'Skype a Scientist' program helps schoolkids find out.
Solar panels

California’s electrical grid can’t handle all the solar energy the state is producing

As the Los Angeles Times journalist Ivan Penn explains, California has actually paid neighboring states to take its surplus renewable energy — dozens of times this year.

California’s electrical grid can’t handle all the solar energy the state is producing