Science

Microbiologist Jennifer Doudna at the University of California, Berkeley. She's co-inventor of the CRISPR-Cas9 technology — a tool that's recently made the snipping and splicing of genes much easier.

Scientists Urge Temporary Moratorium On Human Genome Edits

7:58pm March 20, 2015

by Rob Stein

Researchers who helped develop powerful techniques warn that tweaking the genome is now easy. More public debate's needed, they say, before making changes in genes passed from parent to child.

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University of Arizona entomologist Justin Schmidt was stung well over 1,000 times while creating the Schmidt Sting Pain Index.

Science

No Pain, No Scientific Gain: One Man's Quest To Quantify Bug Stings

7:03pm March 20, 2015

by NPR Staff

How much does a bee sting hurt, exactly? How about a bullet ant bite? An entomologist has built an index ranking insect stings — after getting stung more than 1,000 times.

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Science

Alzheimer’s Disease & Lifestyle Intervention

4:55pm March 20, 2015

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County, located in Winston-Salem.

Dementia is a brain condition that causes problems with thinking and memory. There are many different types, but the most prevalent is Alzheimer's Disease. According to the Alzheimer's Foundation of America, over 5 million Americans may be suffering from this incurable disease. To learn more about it and some possible preventable measures, I spoke with Dr. Laura Baker, Associate Professor of Gerontology and Geriatric Medicine at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Alzheimers Disease is a progressive loss of brain capacity that affects a person's ability to remember, think, problem solve and organize. And the hallmark cognitive symptom is the inability to remember events in the recent past.

A woman watches a partial solar eclipse in Budapest, Hungary, on Friday.

Solar Eclipse Wows Parts Of Europe, Middle East And Russia

4:05pm March 20, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The eclipse, total in some areas far north and partial for many others, lasted about 2 1/2 hours and was visible from South America to Asia.

Alaria, a type of seaweed also known as "Wild Atlantic Wakame," grows in the North Atlantic Ocean and is similar to Japanese wakame, a common ingredient in miso soup.

Watch Your Back, Kale. Kelp Is Gunning For The Veggie Du Jour Title

2:47pm March 20, 2015

by Andrea Shea

With a little help, scientists say that seaweed growing along the Maine and New Hampshire coasts could become the "kale of the sea." The first step is teaching chefs and consumers how to enjoy it.

Fossil Collection Calls Berkeley's Clock Tower Home

8:19pm March 19, 2015

by Joe Palca

Why are 20 tons of fossils being stored in the bell tower at the University of California at Berkeley? A look into the world's only paleontological collection that has its own carillon.

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Free-range houses allow chickens to move around freely, but operating costs were 23 percent higher than for traditional cages, according to a new study.

Cramped Chicken Cages Are Going Away. What Comes Next?

3:57pm March 19, 2015

by Dan Charles

The results are in from a long-running study of three different ways to house egg-laying chickens. It found that more hens survive in cages, and cages are cheaper. But consumers prefer cage-free eggs.

Staghorn coral planted by scientists in the Florida Keys. Researchers hope to give the same sort of boost to the world's shrinking population of pillar coral, now that they can raise the creatures in a laboratory.

Scientists Catch Up On The Sex Life Of Coral To Help Reefs Survive

7:54am March 19, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

It's all in the timing. Biologists haven't been able to breed embryos of the rare, pillar coral in the lab because it's been tough to catch the creatures in the act.

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Made of cardboard, BlabDroid asks tough, personal questions that many people are apparently willing to answer.

SXSW Debuts Robot Petting Zoo For A Personal Peek Into The Future

6:43pm March 18, 2015

by Laura Sydell

Robots are coming — in fact they're already here. One exhibit at the South by Southwest interactive festival lets visitors get up close and personal to our future overlords.

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Celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis during a guest appearance on ABC's The Chew last fall. She can cook rich foods and keep her trim figure, but new research suggests that's a difficult feat for amateur cooks watching along at home.

Do TV Cooking Shows Make Us Fat?

1:37pm March 18, 2015

by Allison Aubrey

Women who cooked the meals they saw prepared on television weighed more, on average, than those who simply watched, a study shows. The findings challenge the notion that home cooking is always best.

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