Science

Great Salt Lake Is No 'Dead Sea'

10:21am April 26, 2013

Parts of Utah's Great Salt Lake are 10 times saltier than the ocean. But the lake is host to plenty of life, including salt-loving microbes that can turn the lake's water bubblegum pink. Bonnie Baxter, director of the Great Salt Lake, discusses how the bugs might hold the secrets to better sunscreen, hydrogen fuel cells--even life on Mars.

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Flooding from Superstorm Sandy damaged Gordon Fishell's basement lab at NYU in Manhattan. Almost all of his research mice died.

A Tale Of Mice And Medical Research, Wiped Out By A Superstorm

2:46am April 26, 2013

by Jon Hamilton

When Superstorm Sandy flooded lower Manhattan last year, thousands of lab animals drowned and many scientists lost months or even years of work. The specialty animals can be very difficult to replace, but researchers say the loss of animal life is emotionally devastating and difficult to get over.

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Deadly Strain Of Bird Flu Is 'Most Lethal' Flu Virus Yet

2:34pm April 24, 2013

At a briefing in Beijing Wednesday, World Health Organization officials called the H7N9 bird flu that's emerged in China one of the "most lethal" flu viruses so far. NPR science correspondent Richard Knox talks about what we know, and the questions that remain about the deadly strain.

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'Zoobiquity': What Humans Can Learn From Animal Illness

11:05am April 24, 2013

Animals and humans have a lot in common, including some of the health problems that plague them. In her book Zoobiquity, Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz explores how studying animal illness — from cancer to sexual dysfunction — can help us better understand human health.

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Missouri farmer Gary Riedel says wet weather will put him about a month behind last year's planting.

For Corn, Fickle Weather Makes For Uncertain Yields

9:06am April 24, 2013

by Abbie Fentress Swanson

Corn production was down last year thanks to drought. This year, conditions are too cold and wet for farmers to plant the crop. Without a break in the clouds pretty soon, there may be another shortage of the crop at harvest time.

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What Does Modern Prejudice Look Like?

10:08am April 23, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Most Americans think of prejudice as animosity toward people in other groups. But two psychologists argue that unconscious bias — often in the form of giving some people special treatment — is the way prejudice largely works in America today.

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Members of the research team fend for themselves in a communal kitchen (while fending off persistent ants) before heading out for a challenging day on the reef.

This Scientist Aims High To Save The World's Coral Reefs

9:52pm April 22, 2013

by Richard Harris

Ken Caldeira is trying to come up with a big solution to the problem of increasingly acid oceans: antacids for coral reefs. That might keep the reefs from being destroyed by humans' use of fossil fuels. And that's not his only big idea. But even Caldeira admits that his audacious plan could fail.

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Science

Pouring Over The Science Of Coffee

6:55am April 22, 2013

Brewing coffee is a neverending science project, according to barista Sam Penix, owner of Everyman Espresso in New York City. Grind-size, brew method, coffee beans (which are really seeds), water temperature can all affect the flavors that end up in your cup. Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, explains some of the chemistry of coffee.

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The small squares superimposed on this image of the Milky Way galaxy show where in the sky the Kepler telescope is hunting for Earth-like planets. Kepler, which launched in 2009, has identified more than 100 planets.

Kepler Telescope Spots 3 New Planets In The 'Goldilocks Zone'

10:26pm April 18, 2013

by Joe Palca

The planets orbiting far-off stars are close to Earth-sized and are a distance from their suns that makes their surfaces neither too hot nor too cold. Since launching in 2009, the Kepler telescope has identified more than 100 planets.

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Lionfish, like this one spotted in the Bahamas, are a nonnative predatory fish that can decimate native fish populations.

Lionfish Attacking Atlantic Ocean Like A Living Oil Spill

1:45pm April 18, 2013

by Elizabeth Shogren

Scientists say they have few weapons to wield against the poison-spined lionfish, which is gobbling up reef fish in the Bahamas and other habitats.

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