Science

Each year, 6 to 8 percent of the global population of sharks and rays gets caught, scientists say. The fish can't reproduce fast enough to keep pace

Ancient And Vulnerable: 25 Percent Of Sharks And Rays Risk Extinction

9:23am January 22, 2014

by Richard Harris

"People know about the global trade in shark fins, but few know that some of the most valuable fins ... used in shark fin soup come from the sharklike rays — species like sawfishes and wedgefishes and guitarfishes," says Sonja Fordham, who contributed to a new analysis of the fisheries.

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Tracks from NASA's Opportunity rover disappear toward the horizon on the Meridiani Plains of Mars. The rover has been on the planet since 2004.

Science

Mars Or Bust: Putting Humans On The Red Planet

6:42pm January 19, 2014

by NPR Staff

Some of the earliest science fiction imagined voyages to Mars. We now have the space-faring technology to make reaching the Red Planet possible. It would involve massive resources and many potential dangers, but some believe the rewards would be massive.

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Science

Body On A Chip

2:52pm January 17, 2014

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

Today we'll talk about printing body parts. I'm not talking about antics in the copy room. I mean bio-printing three dimensional human organs for medical research.

There are several types of 3D printers, but the generic model for this particular type involves a nozzle that squirts out a building material like an ink. Mounted in a frame, it moves side to side as well as up and down. This allows for travel to any point within the printer's range; “printing” material layer by layer. The result is an accurate translation of a digital computer file into a solid three dimensional object.

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A northern spotted owl in a Redwood forest.

To Save Threatened Owl, Another Species Is Shot

12:19pm January 17, 2014

by Elizabeth Shogren

The rare northern spotted owl species faces habitat loss and, now, intruding barred owls. A biologist, and the federal government, have made a difficult decision — killing one owl to ward off the extinction of another.

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The world's biggest trees, such as this large Scots pine in Spain's Sierra de Baza range, are also the world's fastest-growing trees, according to an analysis of 403 tree species spanning six continents.

An Old Tree Doesn't Get Taller, But Bulks Up Like A Bodybuilder

9:12am January 17, 2014

by Richard Harris

An aging tree's girth is good for the planet, scientists say, because it helps it suck more carbon dioxide out of the air. "It's as if, on your favorite sports team, you find out the star players are a bunch of 90-year-olds," one ecologist says.

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The Big Impact Of A Little-Known Chemical In W.Va. Spill

10:06am January 14, 2014

by Elizabeth Shogren

At the time of the accident, the CDC didn't have a standard for how much of the coal-cleaning chemical is safe in drinking water. So the agency had to come up with one.

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Science

Triad Geology

3:05pm January 10, 2014

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

From a geologic perspective, we don't usually think about the North Carolina Piedmont as being very exciting. There are no tall mountains or volcanoes right nearby.

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Science

Study: Mass Shootings Are On The Rise Across U.S.

10:21am January 10, 2014

David Greene talks to criminologist J. Pete Blair of Texas State University, and Terry Nichols of the Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training Center, about a new study showing a dramatic increase in mass shootings in the U.S. since 2008.

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Can't Stand The Cold Snap? Don't Go To Antarctica

6:56am January 08, 2014

by Geoff Brumfiel

You think it's cold? You ain't seen nothing! Imagine what it's like at science's coldest places: from the Eastern Antarctic Plateau to the moons of Saturn to the coldest labs.

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Arctic Methane Bubbles Not As Foreboding As Once Feared

4:27pm January 06, 2014

by Richard Harris

European scientists were alarmed in 2008 when they discovered streams of methane bubbles erupting from the seafloor in Norway's high Arctic. This gas, which contributes to global warming, was apparently coming from methane ice on the seafloor. A follow-up study finds that methane bubble plumes at this location have probably been forming for a few thousand years, so they are not the result of human-induced climate change. But continued warming of ocean water can trigger more methane releases in the Arctic, with potentially serious consequences to the climate.

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