Science

Men outside a hospital in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, wear surgical masks as a precaution against infection with a coronavirus.

Triple Threat: Middle East Respiratory Virus And 2 Bird Flus

8:11am June 11, 2013

by Richard Knox

Is the world on the verge of a pandemic? There are three reasons to think so. Two flu viruses are active, and a virus that bears a resemblance to SARS has cropped up in the Middle East. Each has devastating potential, but many early warnings of past pandemics have failed to materialize.

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Thierry Chopin from the University of New Brunswick examines a raft that holds strings of seaweed. The seaweed grows around pens of farmed salmon and soaks up some of the nutrients that would otherwise pollute the Bay of Fundy.

How To Clean Up Fish Farms And Raise More Seafood At The Same Time

5:38pm June 10, 2013

by Richard Harris

Coastal fish farms are a major source of the seafood we eat, but all the fish waste they generate takes a toll on the environment. So a researcher in Canada is trying to clean up fish farms by creating an ecosystem where fish waste gets taken up by other valuable seafood commodities, like shellfish and kelp.

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City Life Disrupts Daily Rhythm Of Birds

7:08am June 10, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

City life can be harsh on people. For example, it pushes people to work longer and sleep less. A new study suggests that city life can have a somewhat similar effect on birds too. It shows urban blackbirds wake up earlier and go to bed later than their forest dwelling cousins.

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Projected image of the complete Blacktip Reef exhibit.

Aquarium Sculptors Create Coral For Conservation Awareness

10:42pm June 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

Colorful, fake coral gives aquarium visitors an eco-friendly glimpse inside a reef. At the National Aquarium in Baltimore, a new reef exhibit presents an artistic challenge to the coral fabrication team.

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Plug Pulled On California Nuclear Plant, For Good

8:29pm June 07, 2013

by Ina Jaffe

Southern California Edison announced Friday morning that it will not restart the troubled San Onofre nuclear power plant. The facility has been offline for a year and a half after a leak in a steam tube created safety concerns.

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Science

Tracing The Origins Of French Winemaking

1:33pm June 07, 2013

Many people associate France today with the production of great wines. But winemaking isn't native to the French. Patrick McGovern, an archaeologist of fermented beverages, has dated the beginning of viniculture in France to around 500 B.C. and contact with the Etruscans.

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Whole Genome Scans Could Reveal Too Much

1:33pm June 07, 2013

When doctors run out of clues on how to treat a cancer patient, they sometimes order a scan of all the patient's genes. But such a test can turn up unexpected results, such as greater risk of another disease. When are doctors obligated to tell the patient what they know? And do patients have the right not to know?

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Strengthening Buildings In Tornado Alley

1:33pm June 07, 2013

Scenes of destroyed homes and businesses were common following the recent Oklahoma tornadoes. David Prevatt, a structural engineer at the University of Florida, says that improving resistance to tornadoes will require better building materials and techniques, plus a strong dose of political will.

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Promising Results In Early Trial of Novel MS Treatment

1:33pm June 07, 2013

Reporting in the journal Science Translational Medicine researchers say a new method for essentially resetting the immune systems of patients with multiple sclerosis appears to be safe. Study co-author Stephen D. Miller of Northwestern University, describes the novel approach tested in this small, phase 1 clinical trial and explains how it might one day also be used to treat other autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes.

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Science

Comet Shines Light on Sun Dynamics

1:33pm June 07, 2013

In 2011, Comet Lovejoy traveled through the sun's corona and lived to tell the tale. But its tail was the most telling. Reporting in the journal Science, Cooper Downs, an astrophysicist at Predictive Science Inc., says that the wiggly path of the comet's tail helps explain the sun's magnetic field.

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