Science

Scientists who eat the plants and animals they study are following in the tradition of Charles Darwin. During the voyage of The Beagle, he ate puma ("remarkably like veal in taste"), iguanas, giant tortoises, armadillos. He even accidentally ate part of a

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Dining Like Darwin: When Scientists Swallow Their Subjects

10:55am August 27, 2015

by Jessie Rack

Some scientists carry on the tradition of eating the animals or plants they study: leeches, tadpoles, 30,000-year-old bison. Darwin did it first, but why do it at all? Call it all-consuming curiosity.

University Medical Center New Orleans on Aug. 1, when the $1 billion facility welcomed its first patients.

Katrina Shut Down Charity Hospital But Led To More Primary Care

2:44pm August 26, 2015

by Patti Neighmond

More than 70 percent of New Orleans residents say some progress has been made in the availability of medical services since the storm. Still, most say care for the poor continues to lag.

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A thermoelectric PowerCard like this one can be used to convert waste heat into an electric power source, Alphabet Energy says.

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A Lot Of Heat Is Wasted, So Why Not Convert It Into Power?

8:08pm August 25, 2015

by Joe Palca

What if there were a way to take the waste heat that spews from car tailpipes or power plant chimneys and turn it into electricity? An entrepreneur says something called thermoelectrics is the key.

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Frozen sperm straws and embryos are stored in liquid nitrogen, in a process known as cryopreservation. One question confronting the courts: Should embryos such as these be treated as property, or as children subject to custody action?

After A Divorce, What Happens To A Couple's Frozen Embryos?

5:23pm August 25, 2015

by Jennifer Ludden

Former spouses who disagree over whether their embryos can be destroyed have taken their case to court. In the process, one thing has become clear: how far the law lags behind reproductive technology.

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Michael Arnott, of Cambridge, Mass., says he used to have trouble staying awake on long drives. Sleep specialists discovered he has obstructive sleep apnea, though not for the most common reasons — he isn't overweight, and doesn't smoke or take sedative

Snooze Alert: A Sleep Disorder May Be Harming Your Body And Brain

5:23pm August 25, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

A lack of sleep can increase the risk of traffic accidents, heart attacks, diabetes and maybe even Alzheimer's disease, research suggests. Yet most people with sleep disorders don't get treatment.

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Study Suggests Some Treatment For Early Breast Cancer Is Unnecessary

3:27pm August 24, 2015

by Rob Stein

A new study renews questions about how aggressively doctors should treat a very early form of breast cancer or pre-cancer.

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Can Health Care Be Cured Of Racial Bias?

3:10pm August 24, 2015

by April Dembosky

A growing body of research suggests that doctors' racial biases and other prejudices continue to affect the care patients received. Medical educators say self-awareness is an important first step.

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'Science Of Mom': Scientist Sorts Through Studies So Parents Don't Have To

3:09pm August 24, 2015

Alice Callahan uses her background in nutritional biology and fetal physiology to help new parents tell fact from fiction in her new book The Science of Mom. She gives tips to NPR's Rachel Martin.

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Maryann Frazier, a researcher at Penn State's Center for Pollinator Research, checks on one of her experimental honeybee hives.

Don't Worry, Honey, The Other Bees Have Your Back

11:22am August 24, 2015

by Lou Blouin

Honeybees are major crop pollinators in the U.S., but they're in trouble. So researchers are now investigating how other bees could start picking up some of the slack.

Dr. Claire Guest, co-founder of Medical Detection Dogs, says one of her dogs sniffed out her own breast cancer.

For Cancer-Detecting Canines, The Nose Knows

10:14am August 23, 2015

by NPR Staff

A British hospital will soon launch a clinical trial using dogs to detect prostate cancer. With their powerful noses, the dogs can sniff out cancer in as little as one-fifth of a teaspoon of urine.

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