A solar eclipse is a beautiful, awe-inspiring event.

And there's one coming up this Monday.

You'll be able to see it from certain parts of North America.

It's a few minutes of an otherworldly scene that you rarely get to be a part of in real time.

So if you can, look up.

It's Friday, April 5th, and this is Science Friday. I'm SciFRI producer Rasha Aireedi.

After years and years of waiting, the solar eclipse is just a few days away. And if you miss this one, well, you

might have to wait decades to see the next. So we're here to help you make the most out of this one.

We'll talk about why an eclipse is such an incredible spectacle, how to safely enjoy it,

and what scientists can learn from studying these phenomena. But first, let's check in on this week's

science news. Here's Ira Flato. Last month, researchers announced that a gene modified pig

kidney had been transplanted into a person. This week, the recipient of that kidney was discharged

from the hospital and sent home. Here to tell us more is Umarifan,

senior correspondent at Vox in Washington, D.C. Welcome back, Umair. Hey, Aura. Thanks for having me back.

Rewind the clock a bit. What happened here? Well, as you noted, there was a patient that received a

genetically modified pig kidney last month. The patient's name is Rick Slaman.

He's 62 years old, and he was suffering from end-stage renal disease. And now it turns out that

he got well enough that he could actually go home. This is actually a huge step forward because

we've been able to do some kinds of pig-to-human xenotransplants, as they're called, for some time, but they've been

very high-risk procedures. There was previously a kidney transplanted into a brain-dead patient,

but this patient, Rick's Lehman, is very clearly alive, and it shows that this kidney was actually

functioning normally enough that it could actually replicate human kidney function.

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