Science

Study Shows Long-Term Benefits Of Welfare Program

1:12pm November 11, 2014

by Shankar Vedantam

Data from the Mothers Pension Program, launched at the turn of the 20th century, finds benefits on education, income and longevity. It's the first to document benefits over the span of a century.

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Researchers had thought comet 67P was shaped like a lumpy potato. But as they drew closer, they realized it was far stranger. This image was taken on Sept. 19 at a distance of around 18 miles from the comet.

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Researchers To Attempt Robotic Landing On Comet's Surface

10:12am November 11, 2014

by Geoff Brumfiel

Putting a probe on a comet's surface would be a first for mankind. But it doesn't look like it will be easy.

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Fraught U.S.-Russia Relationship Could Undermine Nuclear Security

7:08pm November 10, 2014

by Michele Kelemen

A former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory has worked with Russia for years on securing loose nukes and upgrading facilities in the former Soviet Union. Siegfried Hecker is now writing a book about two decades of of nuclear cooperation.

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Even this early model, a little penguin rover with clearly visible wheels, was accepted into the huddle. Later models, like the one shown in the video below, had the tires concealed.

Science

WATCH: The Robotic Baby Penguin That Spies For Scientists

3:34pm November 10, 2014

by Priska Neely

The emperor penguins of Antarctica are adorable. They're also pretty skittish when humans come around to collect data. Researchers at the University of Strasbourg have a solution: a penguin rover.

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Le Laboratoire Cambridge features a restaurant, the Cafe ArtScience. The restaurant's bar features a glass-globed drink vaporizer called Le Whaf.

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Arts

Inhalable Chocolate? Ingestible Ideas From A Lab For The Senses

1:31pm November 10, 2014

by Andrea Shea

A real-life Willy Wonka invites scientists, designers, composers, artists and chefs to collaborate on novel foods and other cultural confections.

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A section of a bike path that uses solar cells to produce electricity is opening for full-time use Wednesday.

Solar Bike Path Opens This Week In The Netherlands

12:39pm November 10, 2014

by Bill Chappell

Integrating solar panels into a bike commuter path, a special roadway outside Amsterdam will generate power that's then funneled into the national energy grid.

Laundry detergent makers recently introduced miniature packets, but doctors across the country say children are confusing the tiny, brightly colored packets with candy and swallowing them.

Study: Detergent Pods Can Harm Children Who Play With Them

7:58am November 10, 2014

by Doreen McCallister

A study by an association of poison control centers warns that new laundry detergent pods pose a serious risk to kids who think they are candy.

Screen grab from the teaser for the Discovery Channel's Eaten Alive.

Science

Discovery's Man-Swallowing Snake Stunt Stretches Credulity

12:13pm November 09, 2014

by Scott Neuman

The channel promises to air an episode featuring a man in a protective suit who is swallowed alive by a giant green anaconda.

How Catchy Songs Lodge Their Hooks In Your Ears

12:13pm November 09, 2014

"Wannabe," by the Spice Girls, is the catchiest song in the U.K., according to a new study. NPR's Rachel Martin speaks with Ashley Burgoyne, a computational musicologist from the University of Amsterdam.

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A recent study found obese women are more likely than other women to work physically demanding jobs, like the kind that call for hard hats. They're less likely to work in jobs that require a lot of interaction with clients and customers — jobs that, on

Obese Women Make Less Money, Work More Physically Demanding Jobs

7:34am November 09, 2014

by Rebecca Hersher

A 65 percent increase in a woman's weight is associated with a 9-percent drop in earnings. A recent study investigated what's behind that "obesity penalty," and why it hits women harder than men.

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