Science

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Social Science Research Examines The Generosity Of The Wealthy

4:09pm January 19, 2016

by Shankar Vedantam

Self-made billionaires are bigger philanthropists than those who inherit their wealth, research says. That might explain why the self-made wealthy plan to donate much of their wealth to charity.

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We're using social science to help our News Assistant Max Nesterak quit smoking.

Science

Why It's Not Too Late To Make A New Year's Resolution

8:12am January 19, 2016

by NPR Staff

Today is the perfect day to (re)start your resolution. Here's how.

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Amy Thomson holds 2-month-old Isla in Seattle Children's Hospital in early 2014. When the Thomson family learned Isla's heart was failing, they took an air ambulance from Butte, Mont., to Seattle to get medical care.

Lifesaving Flights Can Come With Life-Changing Bills

10:34pm January 18, 2016

by Corin Cates-Carney

People in big, sparsely populated states like Montana rely on air ambulances to get to medical specialists they need. But the lifesaving flights can be hugely expensive and not covered by insurance.

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Can't Focus? It Might Be Undiagnosed Adult ADHD

6:16pm January 18, 2016

by Patti Neighmond

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is most commonly diagnosed in children. But older adults may find that what they had worried was early dementia is actually ADHD.

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What's Being Done To Address The Country's Backlog Of Untested Rape Kits

11:37am January 17, 2016

by NPR Staff

Tens of thousands of rape kits sit, untested, in evidence rooms. While a new push to clear the backlog has brought urgency the issue, what's taken so long — and why does it exist in the first place?

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Flint Combats Lead-Contaminated Water Effects On Child Development

3:55pm January 16, 2016

Pediatrician Mona Hanna-Attisha discovered alarming levels of lead in the drinking water of Flint, Mich. NPR's Scott Simon asks her about an initiative she's leading to help the children affected.

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More Bad News For Coal Mine-Reliant States

8:27am January 16, 2016

by Stephanie Joyce

On Friday, the Obama administration announced a halt to new coal leases on federal land. In Wyoming, most of the federally-owned coal mines and revenue from coal leases pays for school construction.

Currently, only about 10 percent of egg-laying chickens in the U.S. live in cage-free houses like the one seen in this photo.

Science

Most U.S. Egg Producers Are Now Choosing Cage-Free Houses

7:21pm January 15, 2016

by Dan Charles

The majority of American egg producers, when they order new chicken houses, are choosing cage-free systems. That's a sea change driven by consumer demand for cage-free eggs.

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This photo taken Nov. 3, 2015, shows SoCalGas crews and technical experts attempting to safely stop the flow of natural gas leaking from a storage well at the utility's Aliso Canyon facility in Los Angeles. Efforts to plug the well appear to have destabil

Gas Company Understated Benzene Exposure From California Leak

3:23pm January 15, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

SoCalGas wrote about two air samples with high levels of the carcinogen — but not about 12 others, the AP reports. And the LA Times writes that efforts to cap the well appear to have destabilized it.

Science

Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome and Research Funded by Winston-Salem Based Foundation

12:31pm January 15, 2016

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Envir

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