Brain Candy

According to research from Harvard, between 10% and 40% of the kids who intend to go to college at the time of high school graduation don't actually show up in the fall. Education researchers call this phenomenon "summer melt," and it has long been a puzz

Why Aren't Students Showing Up For College?

9:00pm July 17, 2017

by Shankar Vedantam

According to research, between 10 and 40% of kids who intend to go to college at high school graduation don't show up in the fall. This phenomenon, known as "summer melt," has puzzled universities.

During one "extravehicular activity," members of Crew 177 collected rock specimens for analysis back at the lab.

To Prepare For Mars Settlement, Simulated Missions Explore Utah's Desert

5:25pm July 06, 2017

by Rae Ellen Bichell

NASA plans to send people to the Red Planet in the 2030s. In the meantime, a remote location in southern Utah serves as a non-NASA training ground for the Mars-minded.

Queue Listen Now

Cellular respiration is a kind of slow-motion, controlled combustion.

You're A Firework (Scientifically Speaking)

11:52am July 03, 2017

You have more in common with pyrotechnics than you might think. The same basic process that makes fireworks explode is happening inside your cells (in a slow-motion, controlled way) right now.

Eyes come in all sizes. These belong to a domestic cat (from left), an owl and an octopus. The Comparative Ocular Pathology Laboratory of Wisconsin has 56,000 specimens in its collection â including 6,000 from more exotic species.

'One Of A Kind' Collection Of Animal Eyeballs Aids Research On Vision Problems

8:08am July 02, 2017

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Most of the 56,000 eyes sent to the little lab in Wisconsin come from vets who want help diagnosing dogs, cats and horses. But the repository also has eyes from sloths, elephant seals and dragonflies.

Patrick McGovern, scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Project at the University of Pennsylvania Museum, delves into the early history of fermentation in his latest book.

Meet The Indiana Jones Of Ancient Ales And Extreme Beverages

3:35pm June 30, 2017

by Courtney Columbus

Patrick McGovern searches for and studies the residues of fermented drinks that can be thousands of years old — and then re-creates them. His new book explores these brews and their cultural value.

From sports, to politics, to the stock market, we love to make (and hear) predictions. This week, Hidden Brain explores why the so-called experts are so often wrong, and how we can avoid the common pitfalls of telling the future.

Degrees of Maybe: How We Can All Make Better Predictions

9:00pm June 26, 2017

Pundits and prognosticators make predictions all the time: about everything from elections, to sports, to global affairs. This week, we explore why they're often wrong, and how we can all do better.

Our brains can store huge amounts of information, but forgetting some of that information may actually make us smarter.

Could The Best Memory System Be One That Forgets?

3:56pm June 23, 2017

by Andrea Hsu

Forget thinking about forgetting as failure. Researchers now say that ridding our brains of irrelevant details and outdated information helps us better navigate our ever-changing world.

Deborah Lipstadt on the TEDxSkoll stage.

Deborah Lipstadt: How Do You Stand Up To A Holocaust Denier?

9:24am June 23, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

After publishing the book Denying the Holocaust, Deborah Lipstadt was sued for libel in the UK by Holocaust denier David Irving. Rather than ignore the case, she chose to fight it — and won.

Queue Listen Now

Science
Arts

Carrie Poppy: Can Science Reveal The Truth Behind Ghost Stories?

9:24am June 23, 2017

by NPR/TED Staff

After visiting a bookstore, Carrie Poppy started feeling odd: pressure on her chest and auditory hallucinations. She thought it was a spirit – until she found another explanation for her symptoms.

Queue Listen Now

Scientists think that dreams are a form of memory consolidation.

Forget Freud: Dreams Replay Our Everyday Lives

11:42am June 22, 2017

by Jon Hamilton

Sigmund Freud thought dreams were all about wish fulfillment and repressed desire. But scientists now think they're linked to memory processing and consciousness. And they're often quite mundane.