Science

Science

'Instant' Looks At Polaroid's Land

1:03pm December 14, 2012

Writer Christopher Bonanos tells the story of analog instant photography and the man who invented it--Edwin Land, the scientist and co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation. Plus Flora Lichtman visits New York's 20x24 Studio to capture a super-sized Polaroid camera in action.

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Alan Alda's Challenge to Scientists: What is Time?

1:03pm December 14, 2012

Alan Alda founded The Flame Challenge last year to promote better science communication, and he started by asking scientists to come up with a kid-friendly explanation for a flame. Now, Alda is back with round two of the popular contest, and kids want to know: What is time?

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Science

Ask A Quantum Mechanic

1:03pm December 14, 2012

Did you know plants use quantum mechanics every day? That quantum computers can hack the encryption used in online commerce? Or that a 'quantum internet' could someday teleport your emails? MIT's Seth Lloyd discusses those and other quantum mysteries in this episode of "Ask a quantum mechanic."

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Is It Possible To Create A Mind?

1:03pm December 14, 2012

Siri can make an appointment for you. IBM's Watson beat a human contestant on Jeopardy. But will they ever really think? Futurist Ray Kurzweil shares his thoughts on the nature of the brain and describes how biological and technological advances might augment the human mind.

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Using Science to Care for Your Christmas Tree

11:59am December 14, 2012

Nothing beats the smell of a live Christmas tree in your home, but how can you keep the needles on your tree and off your carpet? Rick Bates, professor of horticulture at Penn State University, offers tips for how to properly care for your Christmas tree this holiday season.

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The fossil remains of Dickinsonia, an Ediacaran organism that's long been extinct. Scientists have long assumed these early life forms lived in the sea, but a new study argues they emerged on land.

Science

Land Creatures Might Not Have Come From The Sea

6:29pm December 12, 2012

by Richard Harris

Conventional wisdom holds that complex life evolved in the sea, then crawled up onto land. But a provocative new study argues that the procession might be drawn in the wrong direction. The earliest large life forms may have appeared on land long before the oceans filled with creatures.

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Is California Up Next For An Oil And Gas Boom?

6:05am December 12, 2012

by Lauren Sommer

The Bureau of Land Management is auctioning off 18,000 acres of oil leases in California Wednesday. The state has one of the largest deposits of shale oil in the country. And it's attracting new attention because of the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing – or fracking.

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Science

New Lights Shine from Wake Forest University Lab

10:52am December 11, 2012

First there were incandescent lights. We've been using them ever since Thomas Edison invented the first practical ones. One problem: they're quite inefficient.

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This photograph from 1934 shows the Carnegie Museum's Apatosaurus skeleton on the right — wearing the wrong skull.

Science

Forget Extinct: The Brontosaurus Never Even Existed

7:09pm December 09, 2012

by NPR Staff

Even if you knew that, you may not know how the fictional dinosaur came to star in the prehistoric landscape of popular imagination for so long. The story starts 130 years ago, in a time known as the "Bone Wars."

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Delegates attend the last day of the U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, on Friday. U.N. climate negotiators locked horns on the final day of talks in Doha to halt the march of global warming, deeply divided on extending the greenhouse gas-curbing Kyoto Pr

At Doha Climate Talks, Modest Results At Best

11:50pm December 07, 2012

by Richard Harris

Diplomats in Doha, Qatar, are working late into the night to hammer out a deal in the 18th round of U.N. climate talks. Expectations are low as the talks are part of a multiyear process to make a transition from the fading Kyoto climate treaty to something that engages all nations of the world.

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