Science

Science

NYC Cockroaches Stick To Their Neighborhoods

11:11am October 05, 2013

Cockroaches, it just so happens, actually resemble humans, forming distinct groups and neighborhoods. Host Scott Simon talks to Mark Stoeckle of Rockefeller University, whose research uncovered this roach behavior.

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Cellist Matt Haimovitz made it big in the classical music scene as a little kid.

Studying The Science Behind Child Prodigies

12:53pm October 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

Matt Haimovitz is 42 and a world-renowned cellist. His mother took him to many concerts as a kid, but nothing in his family history explains where he got his extraordinary talent. And that's typical, says Ellen Winner, a psychology professor at Boston College who has spent much of her career studying prodigies.

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How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

10:00am October 01, 2013

In The Story of the Human Body, evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman explains how our bodies haven't adapted to modern conditions. The result is "mismatch diseases" — ailments that occur because our bodies weren't designed for the environments in which we now live.

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Examining The Psychology Of Sports Fans

6:35am October 01, 2013

Some sports fans' lives depend on how well their teams are doing. In one theory, sports allow us to deeply identify with the athletes so it feels like we are playing the game.

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Is Living With Extreme Wildfires The New Normal?

5:02pm September 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona was deadly in part because of how close a highly flammable forest was to a community. The U.S. once faced a crisis with structural fires, but managed to change regulations to turn the trend around. Experts say it will take a renewed effort to take on this newer fire threat.

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How Recycling Bias Affects What You Toss Where

6:07am September 27, 2013

by NPR Staff

People tend to throw whole pieces of paper in the recycling bin — and fragments of paper in the trash. Research on the trend finds that we may be acting on unconscious prejudice about what is worth recycling.

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Science

1 In 7 American Adults Don't Go Online

5:06am September 26, 2013

by Mandalit del Barco

Fifteen percent of Americans don't use the Internet, according to a survey by the Pew Research Center. Most of these "offline adults" are 65 years old or older, many live in rural areas and have incomes lower than $30,000 a year.

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Science

Ancient Fish Fossil Sheds Light On Modern Jaws

5:06am September 26, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

A newly discovered fossil of a fish in China changes what scientists know about the origins of jaws. It turns out, human jaws are remarkably similar to the jaw of this 419-million-year-old fish. That suggests jaws evolved much earlier than previously thought.

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Science

Quake In Central Pakistan Makes New Island

5:52pm September 24, 2013

A large earthquake shook a remote part of central Pakistan Tuesday, and so far local authorities have only reported a few dozen fatalities so far. But according to estimates by the U.S. Geological Survey, the death toll could be far higher. The quake also gave rise to a mysterious island off the coast of Pakistan. The island was likely created by frozen methane that was shaken loose by the shaking. It pushed its way to the surface and created a muddy piece of land that will soon be washed away.

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An iceberg floats through the water in Ilulissat, Greenland, in July. Researchers are studying how climate change and melting glaciers will affect the rest of the world.

How Many Scientists Does It Take To Write A Climate Report?

10:53am September 24, 2013

by Richard Harris

Scientists are about to deliver another major assessment of climate change. The report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change involved hundreds of scientists from around the world and has left some of them wondering whether there's a more effective way to put the document together.

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