Ira Flatow is accustomed to having his guests take the spotlight, but this was different.
Midway through Flatow’s two-hour “Science Friday” show on National Public Radio, aired live Friday from Florida State University’s Fallon Theatre, Bruce Means went to his bag of tricks.
Means, the executive director of the nonprofit Coastal Plains Institute, produced a coiled racer king snake that he had found not far from Tallahassee.
He placed it on the table, then handed it briefly to the biologist to his left, University of Wisconsin professor Sean Carroll. Carroll gingerly stroked the snake as the appreciative packed audience hooted and clapped.
“I’ve been upstaged many times,” Flatow said, “but never by a snake.”