Science

What Is Torture? Our Beliefs Depend In Part On Who's Doing It.

8:13am December 11, 2014

by Shankar Vedantam

Researchers are studying how nations and individuals react when they given information that members of their own group have harmed other people, such as through torture. It takes some nimble thinking.

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Mathematician Phillip Adkins (left) and Drew Abbot, a software engineer at AiLive. They were members of the winning team.

A Crowd Of Scientists Finds A Better Way To Predict Seizures

8:12am December 11, 2014

by Jon Hamilton

The winners of an online competition identified electrical patterns in the brain that often precede a seizure. The victors included a mathematician and an engineer, but no doctor.

Nursing Homes Rarely Penalized For Oversedating Patients

6:26pm December 10, 2014

by Ina Jaffe

An NPR probe finds many nursing homes are still prescribing schizophrenia drugs to calm dementia patients — despite FDA warnings — but only 2 percent of excessive-medication cases result in penalties.

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This Nursing Home Calms Troubling Behavior Without Risky Drugs

5:34pm December 10, 2014

by Ina Jaffe

The staff's goal was to reduce the prescription of antipsychotic drugs by 20 percent. In the first year, they cut use by 97 percent. How? By addressing the real reasons for agitation and aggression.

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When the wrong cells take over, scientists' experiments can be derailed.

Scientists Often Skip A Simple Test That Could Verify Their Work

5:34pm December 10, 2014

by Richard Harris

Scientists have published thousands of studies using immortal cell lines, but in many cases the cells in the experiments have been misidentified or contaminated. The problem could be avoided easily.

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Science

Curiosity's View Of 'Mt. Sharp' Offers New Clues About Water On Mars

6:47pm December 09, 2014

Robert Siegel talks with NASA scientist, John Grotzinger, about the origins of a mountain discovered by the Curiosity rover on Mars.

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The 1962 Nobel Prize Medal in Medicine or Physiology that James Watson sold at auction last week will be returned to him, at the buyer's request.

Science

After $4.75 Million Auction, Watson Will Get Nobel Medal Back

6:27pm December 09, 2014

by Bill Chappell

"In my opinion, a situation in which an outstanding scientist has to sell a medal recognizing his achievements is unacceptable," says Russian business tycoon Alisher Usmanov.

Ralph Roloff trims meat from a deer donated to the Help Us Stop Hunger program in State Center, Iowa in 2007.

Venison As Benison: Food Banks Score From Deer Overpopulation

4:17pm December 09, 2014

by Allison Aubrey

With the start of hunting season, wildlife managers are tackling the overabundance of deer in parks around the country. Some of that meat is being salvaged and processed to distribute to the hungry.

NASA says "cross-bedding" in the layers of this Martian rock is proof that water moved on Mars, leaving waves or ripples of loose sediment. The image is from a site at Mount Sharp that NASA calls "Whale Rock."

Science

NASA Photos Show New Signs Of A Lake On Mars

12:41pm December 09, 2014

by Bill Chappell

The water and sediment flow might have been massive enough to build a mountain, NASA researchers say.

Oh, Snap! NASA Promises Best Photo Yet Of Faraway Pluto

10:22am December 08, 2014

by Geoff Brumfiel

A spacecraft on its way to Pluto has just woken up from hibernation. By next month, scientists expect to have the first good pictures of the dwarf planet. All of the others have been, well, crummy.

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