Golden Goose Awards 2026: The Science Behind the Winners (Part 1)

What connects a noise complaint, holiday lights seen from space, and the physics of a coffee stain? Three unexpected paths from basic research to discoveries with real-world impact. Krishna Choudhary and Lester Nare unpack the science behind the 2026 Golden Goose Awards, tracing three research stories from their surprising beginnings to advances in cancer treatment, disaster response, and soft matter physics. First, we follow University of Michigan researcher Zhen Xu and her colleagues as they develop histotripsy: focused ultrasound that creates tiny, collapsing bubbles to mechanically break apart targeted tissue. We explain the physics of cavitation, the work needed to control it, and the progression from early experiments to clinical research on liver tumors. Along the way, we separate results in patients from promising preclinical work on immune responses and treatment through the skull. Next, NASA's Black Marble team turns Earth's nighttime lights into a tool for understanding life on the ground. From holiday celebrations to Hurricane Maria, COVID-19 lockdowns, and access to electricity, we explore how researchers extract useful signals from satellite images and what those signals can and cannot tell us. Finally, University of Chicago physicist Sidney Nagel shows how everyday puzzles can reveal deep physics. Falling drops, coffee rings, splashes, and jammed grains lead us into disordered systems, robotic grippers, and materials that can be trained to respond differently to force. Together, these stories show why the value of federally funded basic research can be difficult to predict at the outset. This is Part 1 of our Golden Goose coverage. Part 2 will feature conversations with the award-winning researchers and AAAS CEO Sudip Parikh. CHAPTERS 00:00 Golden Goose Awards trailer 01:19 Introducing our Golden Goose special 02:42 Zhen Xu: From a noise complaint to histotripsy 05:57 The early ultrasound experiments 13:42 Controlling cavitation with microtripsy 20:29 Tumor destruction and the immune response 28:33 Histotripsy through the skull 37:23 The HOPE4LIVER clinical trial 43:55 Why basic research needs time 47:17 FFP updates and supporting the show 49:20 NASA Black Marble: Holiday lights from space 55:29 Turning night lights into reliable data 1:01:36 Hurricane Maria and unequal recovery 1:08:12 COVID-19 and changing nighttime activity 1:10:16 Mapping access to electricity 1:15:20 Where Earth is brightening and dimming 1:32:57 Sidney Nagel and the physics of everyday life 1:37:07 The science of a falling drop 1:46:02 Why coffee leaves a ring 1:51:04 Jamming: When grains become rigid 1:53:35 A robotic gripper filled with grains 1:55:39 Why air pressure changes a splash 1:58:55 Materials that can be trained and retrained 2:03:26 The payoff from curiosity 2:05:29 Coming in Part 2 2:07:06 Outro FEATURED RESEARCH Histotripsy: The #HOPE4LIVER single-arm pivotal trial (Radiology, 2024) https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.233051 NASA's Black Marble nighttime lights product suite (Remote Sensing of Environment, 2018) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.03... Training and retraining liquid crystal elastomer metamaterials for pluripotent functionality (PNAS, 2025) https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2504304122 EXPLORE FFP Website: https://ffppod.com Science Funding Tracker: https://ffppod.com/funding Science Transfer Portal: https://ffppod.com/transfers America 250: https://ffppod.com/America250