Science

'Eee!' Male dolphins whistle to stay in touch with distant ocean pals

4:43pm March 30, 2022

Dolphins are known to use physical contact like petting and rubbing to bond with their closest allies. But for more distant contacts, male dolphins bond by trading whistles instead.

The Norwegian Gateway cruise ship is moored at PortMiami on Jan. 7 in Miami. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention dropped its advisory warning Wednesday for cruise travel after more than two years of warning Americans.

CDC drops its COVID-19 risk advisory for cruise ship travel

4:43pm March 30, 2022

by Jonathan Franklin

While the agency has lifted its travel health notice two years after putting it in place, officials say it's up to travelers to determine their own health risks before going aboard a ship.

Expedition 66 crew members (left to right) Mark Vande Hei of NASA and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Pyotr Dubrov of Roscosmos are seen inside their Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft after it landed in a remote area near the town of Zhezkazgan on Wednesday in Zhezk

A U.S. and 2 Russian astronauts return to Earth together following a trip to space

4:03pm March 30, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A NASA astronaut and the Russian cosmonauts parachute-landed in Kazakhstan on Wednesday after a trip back to Earth from the International Space Station, in a rare instance of U.S.-Russia cooperation.

The FDA has authorized second booster shots for people over 50 and for some people who are immunocompromised.

Do I really need another booster? The answer depends on age, risk and timing

3:10pm March 30, 2022

Health officials argue the protection of the COVID vaccine booster wanes over time and say some people need a second booster. But other infectious disease experts say three shots are enough for now.

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The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted the farthest star ever seen. The magnified galaxy looks like a stretched out red line with three dots. The single star is the middle one.

Science

The light from this star that astronomers just spotted is 12.9 billion years old

12:02pm March 30, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists using the Hubble Space Telescope have spotted light from what appears to be the most distant star ever seen. It offers a glimpse into an early moment in the history of the universe.

An image of a flamingo. This is not the flamingo that escaped from a Kansas zoo.

Pink Floyd, a flamingo on the lam from a Kansas zoo since 2005, is seen again in Texas

11:16am March 30, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A video posted by the Coastal Fisheries Division of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department shows the fugitive flamingo wading into Cox Bay about 120 miles southwest of Houston.

Sleeping in a room even a little bit of light can hurt a person's health, study shows

5:30pm March 29, 2022

by Will Stone

Turn out the lights for a good night of sleep: this seems like common sense, but many Americans don't actually follow it. New research shows it doesn't take much light at night to hurt our health.

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The Biden administration wants people 50 and over to have the option of getting an additional booster shot.

The FDA is expected to authorize 2nd boosters for people 50 and up

9:06pm March 27, 2022

People aged 50 and over could soon be eligible for a second Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna COVID vaccine booster. The administration wants to offer the shots as immunity from the first booster is waning.

Science

In 'Biohacked' podcast, at-home genetics tests rewrite family history

5:14pm March 26, 2022

NPR's Danielle Kutrzleben speaks with T.J. Raphael and Amber Van Moessner, the team behind the podcast Biohacked: Family Secrets, which puts a spotlight on the donor conception industry.

Epidemiologist answers questions about the infectious omicron BA.2 variant

5:14pm March 26, 2022

NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben speaks with Harvard epidemiologist Bill Hanage about the BA.2 COVID-19 variant and how people should be thinking about yet another new phase of the pandemic.