Science

This Alaskan cod taco with pickled radish salsa is one of several drought-friendly recipes that chef Nathan Lyon and his culinary manager, Sarah Forman, have cooked up.

Drought-Friendly Recipes Kick Up The Flavor — And Cut Back On Water

4:02pm June 08, 2015

by Ezra David Romero

An LA chef and his partner are cooking up recipes using ingredients that require less water to grow and cook with. They want to get us thinking about the resources that go into growing our food.

Los Angeles Oil Blobs Could Be Related To Santa Barbara Spill

11:49am June 08, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

Last month's oil spill along the coast near Santa Barbara could be more far reaching than originally thought. The number of dead wildlife being recovered continues to grow by the day.

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Once Feared, Now Celebrated, Hudson River Cleanup Nears Its End

6:40pm June 06, 2015

by Brian Mann

General Electric is entering the final year of a billion-dollar cleanup of PCB-contaminated water. The project was once controversial — now, even some early critics are asking for it to be continued.

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Salt appears in white clumps in a newly sprouted chile field in Garfield, N.M.

For New Mexico's Chiles, The Enemy Isn't Just Drought But Salt, Too

12:44pm June 06, 2015

by Mónica Ortiz Uribe

Farmers in New Mexico are worried about the future of the state's most beloved crop: green and red chiles. They're increasingly relying on salty groundwater, which damages the soil and the crops.

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NASA's RoboSimian is among the robots taking part in the Defense Department competition. The Space Agency may one day use it to explore caves on other planets.

The Pentagon Wants These Robots To Save The Day

7:13am June 06, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

A competition in California is trying to ready robots for disaster response. But the bots have a ways to go.

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The new lunch plates are made from recycled newsprint and are easier for kids to hold, says Eric Goldstein, chairman of the Urban School Food Alliance.

Schools Say Ciao To Plastic Lunch Trays, Hello To Compostable Plates

6:48am June 06, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

Six of the nation's largest school districts are ditching polystyrene lunch trays in favor of compostable plates. The hope is that they'll incentivize cities to build more composting facilities.

NCAA Tests Out Flat-Seamed Baseballs To Boost Batting Averages

6:47pm June 05, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel interviews physicist Alan Nathan, a professor at the University of Illinois, about how homeruns are up by 40 percent after using flat-seamed balls this season.

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Science

Tech Evolution

4:29pm June 05, 2015

by Shawn Fitzmaurice

For consideration on SciWorks Radio, submit your research or specialty to sciworks.org/radio.

SciWorks Radio is a production of 88.5 WFDD and SciWorks, the Science Center and Environmental Park of Forsyth County, located in Winston-Salem.

The pace at which technology is advancing is incredible, and is increasing exponentially. From the stone tool to the Apple Watch, new conveniences compound with one another, integrate and as a whole work to bring about newer technology. Like the evolutionary process, this can involve punctuated equilibrium. For example the advent of the microprocessor rapidly accelerated the evolution of computing. But there have been other giant technological leaps, and to learn more about them I spoke with Joe Magno, Executive Director of the North Carolina Center of Innovation Network (NC COIN).

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How Many Viruses Have Infected You?

4:12pm June 05, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Most tests for viruses aim to detect only one or two. But researchers can now check a drop of blood for antibodies to hundreds of viruses, tracing the history of a lifetime of infections, old and new.

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Nicholas Wildman and his mom, Mary, in 2015.

Are The Vaccine Court's Requirements Too Strict?

2:31pm June 05, 2015

by Anders Kelto

Before awarding compensation, the court wants a "preponderance of evidence" that a vaccine caused the injury. Some years, the nearly $4 billion fund earns more interest than it pays out in claims.

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