Science

Science

Same-Sex Couples May Have More Egalitarian Relationships

6:35pm December 29, 2014

Lourdes Garcia-Navarro talks to researcher Robert-Jay Green about how people behave in same-sex marriage compared with heterosexual marriage. Green has studied LGBT relationships going back to 1975.

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Science

Do Fish Have Fingers?

2:15pm December 29, 2014

by Joe Palca

Of course they don't, but they do have the genetic machinery to make fingers — something that shows how similar fish are to modern mammals.

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Recent research has shown that zebra finches sing differently when drunk, but not whether they know enough of the lyrics to get through "I Will Survive" or "Don't Stop Believin'."

Science

Scientists Discover That Drunk Birds Sing Like Drunks

1:18pm December 29, 2014

by Christopher Dean Hopkins

The songs of zebra finches, long used as a model for how humans learn to use speech, get a little sloppy after a few drinks, a new study finds. Future research will look at how it affects learning.

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TED speakers share their stories about intense curiosity.

Science
Arts

Playlist: Stories That Will Spark Your Imagination

9:08am December 29, 2014

by NPR/TED Staff

These TED Radio Hour stories will make you curious and maybe even ignite some creative ideas of your own.

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Sleepy in the day and wide awake at night? Give the screen a rest.

One More Reason To Reach For A Paper Book Before Bed

8:18am December 29, 2014

by Rob Stein

Using an e-reader before trying to nod off may disrupt sleep more than reading a paper book, a study suggests. Scientists suspect the screen's blue light is messing with a sleep-inducing hormone.

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From One Man's Damaged Brain, A Treasure Trove Of Research On Memory

6:02pm December 28, 2014

When Kent Cochrane survived a motorcycle accident in 1981, he emerged with types of amnesia so rare that his brain became one of the most studied in history. He died this year at 62.

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Beemer, shown at the Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station in Utah in 2011, is a candidate for both Mars One and the Mars Arctic 365 program.

Science

An Aspiring Martian Continues To Pursue The Red Planet

6:54pm December 27, 2014

by NPR Staff

Heidi Beemer has dreamed of going to Mars since she was 8 years old. In January, NPR talked to her about her application to Mars One, which is still pending — now she explains she has a plan B, too.

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A negative image of Kks3, made using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope. The core of the galaxy is the right hand dark object at the top center of the image.

Dwarf Galaxy, Long Overlooked, Discovered In Our 'Hood

2:48pm December 27, 2014

by Scott Neuman

Tiny Kks3, 7 million light years distant, is made up mostly of star stuff that's just a billion or so years younger than the Big Bang.

By the 1960s, humpback whales and other whale species had been hunted extensively, sometimes to the point of near extinction. Then a recording of humpback whale songs helped shift public opinion on the hunting of all whale species.

Recordings That Made Waves: The Songs That Saved The Whales

6:22pm December 26, 2014

by Michael May

In the mid-1960s, a biologist discovered the beauty of humpback whale songs. But his recordings weren't just academic — they were woven into popular music, and they kicked off an entire movement.

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A still from the Schmidt Ocean Institute of a new species of snailfish.

Unexpected Life Found In The Ocean's Deepest Trench

5:39pm December 26, 2014

by Christopher Joyce

An expedition to the Pacific's Mariana Trench has found evidence that life exists miles below the surface. But it's not life as we know it.

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