NPR - 2/4/2012 6:25 AM
- Science
Russian researchers in Antarctica are on the verge of piercing a hole through two miles of ice into an ancient lake, untouched by the light of day for some 20 million years. But it'll be a delicate process to break through without disturbing the pristine waters. Guest host David Green speaks with Antarctic researcher John Priscu about the process.
NPR - 2/3/2012 12:00 PM
- Environment
A new map from the USDA has some northern gardeners hoping to grow plants that used to be considered too fragile for cold weather zones. The hardiness zone chart is about a half zone warmer than the last one issued in 1990. The USDA says the changes are not due to global warming, but to more sophisticated mapping methods. Seed sellers and buyers say that, whatever the reason, the warmer temperatures expand possibilities for planting this spring.
NPR - 2/3/2012 12:00 PM
- Environment
For snow fans in the contiguous US, this winter has left much to be desired. The warm and mild season in the lower 48 and the wild snow dumps and cold weather up north in Alaska can be blamed largely on a weather pattern called "arctic oscillation." Audie Cornish gets an explanation of the weather phenomenon from meteorologist Jeffrey Masters.
AP - 2/3/2012 10:22 AM
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) -- Researchers who spent three years dragging sheets of fabric through the woods to snag ticks have created a detailed map they claim could improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease....
AP - 2/3/2012 10:20 AM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- It's advice that sounds like heresy on the gridiron: Go for it on fourth down. Try more onside kicks. Running backs don't matter much....
NPR - 2/3/2012 10:00 AM
- Technology
Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) are replacing boots on the ground in some wars. Commercially, UAVs are being used for things like crop-dusting and flood mapping. Experts discuss advances in drone technology and how to address legal and privacy concerns that stem from their use.
AP - 2/3/2012 8:53 AM
BRUSSELS (AP) -- The European Union's data protection authorities have asked Google to delay the rollout of its new privacy policy until they have verified that it doesn't break the bloc's data protection laws....
NPR - 2/2/2012 9:01 PM
- Shots - Health Blog
A study of cocaine addicts finds that they have abnormalities in areas of the brain involved in self-control. And these abnormalities appear to predate any drug abuse.
AP - 2/2/2012 3:36 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- NASA says it still has confidence in the quality of Russia's manned rockets, despite an embarrassing series of glitches and failures in the Russian space program....
NPR - 2/2/2012 10:57 AM
- Energy
The relatively clean gas is replacing dirty coal-fired power plants. That's good news for the environment. But in the long run, cheap natural gas might delay the transition to even cleaner sources of energy, such as wind and solar power.
NPR - 2/2/2012 9:20 AM
- Energy
The once-booming clean-tech industry is facing hard times, in part because of cheaper natural gas, the effects of the financial crisis, China's growing solar industry and the Solyndra bankruptcy. Reporter Juliet Eilperin, who covers the industry's struggles in Wired's February issue, explains.
AP - 2/2/2012 6:41 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- Figuring out how to pack a processor and other electronics into a machine gun bullet has been a challenge for engineers at Sandia National Laboratories, so weapons experts say the miniature guidance system the lab has developed is a breakthrough....
AP - 2/1/2012 6:19 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Snow has been missing in action for much of the U.S. the last couple months. But it's not just snow. It's practically the season that's gone AWOL....
NPR - 2/1/2012 3:00 PM
- Shots - Health Blog
Researchers counted more than 5,000 ticks to calculate the risk of Lyme disease in the Eastern U.S. Turns out the risk is high in the Northeast and nearly zero in the South.
NPR - 2/1/2012 2:10 PM
- The Salt
A new study wants to rectify beef's image as an environmental miscreant. It says modern beef production is a lot kinder to the environment than it was 30 years ago.
AP - 2/1/2012 10:51 AM
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A death row inmate's theory that a mysterious "man in red" could have started the arson fire that killed his 3-year-old son is "an extraordinary stretch of the imagination," the state parole board ruled Wednesday in unanimously rejecting his plea for mercy....
NPR - 2/1/2012 8:27 AM
- Krulwich Wonders...
From oppressive regimes to editors of magazines, manipulating photos is nothing new. And technology is making these edits easier and easier: A group of grad students built a computer program that stands to make such forgeries a cinch.
NPR - 1/31/2012 9:01 PM
- Science
Last year it looked like stricter controls would be put in place to limit workers' exposure to dangerous silica dust. But for almost a year, the proposed regulations have been stalled at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Worker safety advocates are growing frustrated, but industry stakeholders say current regulations are sufficient.
AP - 1/31/2012 6:31 PM
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wants to create a lunar colony that he says could become a U.S. state. There's his grand research plan to figure out what makes the human brain tick. And he's warned about electromagnetic pulse attacks leaving America without electricity....
AP - 1/31/2012 6:24 PM
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A glimpse beyond our solar system reveals the neighborhood just outside the sun's influence is different and stranger than expected, scientists reported Tuesday....
AP - 1/31/2012 7:54 AM
MOSCOW (AP) -- The head of Russia's space agency said Tuesday that cosmic radiation was the most likely cause of the failure of a Mars moon probe that crashed to Earth this month, and suggested that a low-quality imported component may have been vulnerable to the radiation....
NPR - 1/30/2012 11:37 PM
- Animals
The Florida Everglades is infested with Burmese pythons. To keep them from spreading, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is making it illegal to import the pythons into the country, or transport them across state lines. Scientists have discovered the pythons are doing more damage than ever imagined.
NPR - 1/30/2012 9:01 PM
- Shots - Health Blog
The anesthetic and club drug ketamine seems to lift depression symptoms in a matter of hours. But how does it work? Researchers are searching for the answer in an attempt to make a new class of depression medications. "We can take care of a migraine in hours," one researcher asks. "So why do we have to wait weeks or months with depression?"
NPR - 1/30/2012 10:01 AM
- The Salt
At current rates of overfishing, jack mackerel stocks in the southern Pacific could collapse soon, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists reports.
NPR - 1/30/2012 9:31 AM
- Animals
Burmese pythons have been slithering around south Florida for decades, but scientists now say the invasive constrictors are so bad, they're eating their way through the swamps. The snakes have decimated populations of mammals like raccoons, possums and white-tailed deer.
