NPR Topics: Science
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03/11/2010 Doctors Often Order Heart Test But No Disease Is Found Most patients without known heart disease who get coronary angiograms don't have clogged arteries after all, a large study finds. The results cast doubt on the usefulness of the expensive test in about 200,000 cases a year. Read more at this website... 03/10/2010 Half-Rooster/Half-Hen Helps Unlock Sex Mystery In mammals, a flood of hormones tells cells to develop male or female features. But a new study of gender-bending chickens reveals that birds may be different. They have an additional way of determining whether they appear male or female: Individual cells may be able to do it. Read more at this website... 03/10/2010 Lonely Wolverine Seeks West Coast Mate It isn't a personal ad: A male wolverine, dubbed "Buddy" by researchers, has been found in Tahoe National Forest in California. A wolverine has not been spotted in the state for some 90 years. No one can figure out just how Buddy got there, but as mating season approaches, this little guy could feel lonelier than ever. Read more at this website... 03/10/2010 Vaccinating Kids Helps Adults Avoid Flu Researchers studying isolated communities in Canada showed that immunizing children against influenza lowered flu rates among unvaccinated adults by 60 percent. Read more at this website... 03/09/2010 Giving May Be Contagious Even a little pot of money can lead to a lot of giving, as the altruistic spirit ripples through a network, researchers say. Read more at this website... 03/09/2010 For Quake Scientists, Chile Becomes A Unique Lab Following the massive earthquake that struck on Feb. 27, scientists have flocked to Chile with the goal of picking up enough clues to one day predict when the next big one will strike. Read more at this website... 03/09/2010 When You Were Just A Twinkle In A Cro-Magnon's Eye In the grand scheme of things, humans are mere infants on this planet. Some creatures alive today were swimming under the sea during the U.S. Civil War or photosynthesizing when the Egyptian pyramids were being built. Here are six of the oldest living things on the planet. Read more at this website... 03/09/2010 Genetics Made Very, Very Simple If this photo were a genetics lesson, could you spot what's wrong? Read more at this website... 03/08/2010 Chameleon Tongues Stay Speedy In The Cold Lizards normally can't move very quickly when the temperature drops. But a new study shows that chameleons have a special adaptation that allows them to quickly catch prey, even when it's cold outside. Read more at this website... 03/08/2010 For Developing Nations, Exports Boost CO2 Emissions China is criticized for being the world's largest producer of carbon dioxide, but a new report shows that a quarter of that is emitted while making things for Western consumers. Researchers say that climate policy must account for emissions resulting from trade. Read more at this website... 03/07/2010 Scientists Still Hopeful About Gene Therapy's Promise For 25 years, scientists have touted the promise of gene therapy to treat human diseases, but only a handful of therapies have shown progress. Nonetheless, proponents remain optimistic and say the approach may yet revolutionize medicine. Read more at this website... 03/07/2010 Researcher: Pesticide 'Castrates' Male Frogs Atrazine is widely used as weedkiller on American farms. And a new study shows this common chemical may have gender-bending effects on frogs. Host Guy Raz talks to biology professor Tyrone Hayes about his work with atrazine and frogs. Hayes found that 9 of every 10 male frogs he exposed to atrazine became chemically castrated. And that other 1 out of every 10? Well, he became a she. Read more at this website... 03/06/2010 Naps May Improve Performance Later In The Day If you need an excuse to take your afternoon siesta, look no further: Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley have found that naps may help your brain work better later. Read more at this website... 03/05/2010 Can Technology Solve Nuclear's Problems? President Obama has pledged support for nuclear power, but problems including how to dispose of the waste persist. Ira Flatow and guests look at the latest nuclear technology, from microreactors to waste storage, and compare the cost of nuclear to other energy sources. Read more at this website... 03/05/2010 Yucca Mountain As Metaphor in About A Mountain When writer John D'Agata moved his mother to the suburbs of Las Vegas, he began looking at the history of the government’s plan to store nuclear waste deep in Nevada's Yucca Mountain. The resulting boo—-- About a Mountai—-- is a reporter's notebook that reads like poetry. Read more at this website... |
