Solar Bike Path Opens This Week In The Netherlands
Integrating solar panels into a bike commuter path, a special roadway outside Amsterdam will generate power that's then funneled into the national energy grid.
Science
Study: Detergent Pods Can Harm Children Who Play With Them
A study by an association of poison control centers warns that new laundry detergent pods pose a serious risk to kids who think they are candy.
Discovery's Man-Swallowing Snake Stunt Stretches Credulity
The channel promises to air an episode featuring a man in a protective suit who is swallowed alive by a giant green anaconda.
How Catchy Songs Lodge Their Hooks In Your Ears
"Wannabe," by the Spice Girls, is the catchiest song in the U.K., according to a new study. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Ashley Burgoyne, a computational musicologist from the University of Amsterdam.
Obese Women Make Less Money, Work More Physically Demanding Jobs
A 65 percent increase in a woman's weight is associated with a 9-percent drop in earnings. A recent study investigated what's behind that "obesity penalty," and why it hits women harder than men.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Sample
NASA just released a collection of sound effects from both this world and deep, intergalactic space into the Public Domain. They are now available for all of us to enjoy and perhaps use to make music.
The Ancient Art Of Cheese-Making Attracts Scientific Gawkers
In England, cheese-making is an art stretching back hundreds of years. But recently, scientists have become interested in the microbes that make the country's artisan cheeses so tasty.
Still Unknown In Virgin Space Crash: How Pilot Got Out
NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks to science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel about last week's tragic loss of the Virgin Galactic spaceship.
Can A Smell-Emitting Fork Alter How We Savor Flavor?
Flavor is a combination of taste and aroma. So can a scent-emitting fork trick our brains into thinking we're tasting something, when we're only just smelling it? The Salt team tests it out.
Your Brain... A Social Network?
SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County, located in Winston-Salem.
Human made items tend to be engineered and built. We look at them from a reductionist point of view. For example, a car engine is made up of many parts, but if you remove one part the car isn't going to run. Traditionally we have looked at the human brain with the same point of view; each part has its own specific role and if you damage one part you lose that function. However, Dr. Paul Laurienti from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology and his team are using what's known as “Complexity Science” to take a different approach.