Science

Taking an intelligence test at the University of Maryland: In one month of brain training, former NPR correspondent Barbara Bradley Hagerty vastly increased her scores in intelligence tests.

Forget About It: Your Middle-Aged Brain Is Not On The Decline

6:54pm March 15, 2016

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

You forget someone's name, or why you ran downstairs. Your brain is getting older, and the connections are weakening. But research shows the middle-aged brain is actually operating at its peak.

Queue Listen Now

Food scraps are seen in a compost bin at a San Francisco restaurant. A new report ranks centralized composting as a top strategy for keeping food waste out of landfills, where it emits methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.

These 27 Solutions Could Help The U.S. Slash Food Waste

5:38pm March 15, 2016

by Allison Aubrey

The U.S. wastes 133 billion pounds of food annually. Cutting that by 50 percent by 2020 is going to take a serious action plan. A new data-driven report ranks approaches that could get the job done.

"If you eat the same things every day... it can produce some negative psychological effects," Kim Binsted says, of why astronauts might need to get cooking on a Mars mission.

Science

Even Astronauts Get The Blues: Or Why Boredom Drives Us Nuts

8:25am March 15, 2016

by NPR Staff

We've all been there: bored in class, bored at work, bored in standstill traffic. But why do we find boredom so unbearable? Hidden Brain investigates – hopefully, without boring you.

Queue Listen Now

Rock shrimp from Florida used to be considered too hard-shelled to be worthwhile as commercial seafood. A custom-made machine to crack and split them has made the sweet crustaceans a favorite for Orlando chef Jessica Tantalo, who prepared them as part of

Can 'Slow Fish' Help Save America's Small-Scale Fishermen?

8:31pm March 14, 2016

by Eve Troeh

An event in New Orleans this weekend highlighted the wealth of seafood the Americas have to offer — and the endangered state of the small fishers who catch it.

Horse-sized primitive tyrannosaur Timurlengia euotica from the middle Cretaceous (ca. 90 million to 92 million years ago) of Uzbekistan.

Science

Newly Discovered Dinosaur Helps Explain Rise Of Tyrannosaurs

4:13pm March 14, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

The horse-sized Timurlengia euotica provides a glimpse into a 20 million-year gap in fossil records, when tyrannosaurs evolved from "marginal hunters" to "apex predators."

Forget The Red Sports Car. The Midlife Crisis Is A Myth

12:50pm March 14, 2016

by Barbara Bradley Hagerty

The midlife crisis is entrenched in American popular culture, but mostly, it doesn't exist in more than a mere 10 percent of the population. Here, five ways we misunderstand midlife.

Queue Listen Now

Science
Arts

The Science Behind Baking Your Perfect Pie (Happy Pi Day)

12:03pm March 14, 2016

by Maanvi Singh

Great pumpkin pie is elusive. You could end up with a soggy crust or a grainy filling. Reporter Maanvi Singh embarked on a months-long quest to crack the code for the ideal pie.

Queue Listen Now

Science

Treating Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Adrienne Livengood

5:32pm March 11, 2016

Radio Camper Reese Sizemore talks to Adrienne Livengood. Livengood is a Teaching Assistant in the Psychology Department at Salem College.

Queue Listen Now

Science

Medical Cocaine Addiction Treatment Being Developed by Winston-Salem Entrepreneur

11:34am March 11, 2016

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Envir

Queue Listen Now

Science

Why A Group's Power Dynamics Interferes With Collaboration

5:59am March 11, 2016

by Shankar Vedantam

Research finds that when you put powerful people together in a group, individuals tend to vie for the same level of authority and deference they receive outside the group.