Humans

To Weather Criticism, It Helps To Think Of The Big Picture

10:36am April 24, 2015

by Maanvi Singh

Negative feedback is supposed to be good for us, but it sure doesn't feel so good. Shifting the context by thinking more broadly helps blunt the sting, a study found. So does embracing change.

Work partners Jon Chintanaroad (left) and Mike Prestano are all smiles now, but founding a tech startup together threatened their friendship — and their business.

Couples Counseling Catches On With Tech Co-Founders

7:03pm April 23, 2015

by April Dembosky

Friction between close business partners is the reason many startups fail. But increasingly in Silicon Valley, co-founders of companies are turning to therapists before things go south.

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NPR intern Poncie Rutsch takes a crack at making a big sound.

Why Knuckles Crack

9:39pm April 21, 2015

by Rob Stein

A little MRI video seems to settle the decades-old debate about that loud pop of the joints: It's all about bubbles. But imagine an air bag inflating, not the bursting of a balloon.

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This spiral CT image of the chest shows a large malignant mass (purple) in one lung. A conventional chest X-ray could have missed this tumor, radiologists say.

Why Some Doctors Hesitate To Screen Smokers For Lung Cancer

10:39pm April 20, 2015

by Anders Kelto

Medicare now pays for some long-term smokers to get an annual test. These scans could save thousands of lives each year, but some doctors still worry risks outweigh benefits.

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Setting The Record Straight On The Phrase 'Gateway Drug'

7:08pm April 20, 2015

Denise Kandel coined the term, often associated with marijuana, in a research paper 40 years ago. But her work suggested nicotine, not pot, was most likely to lead to the use of harder drugs.

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Galileo (portrayed by a peep) stand in front of his telescope.

Science

Kitchen Science: We Used Peeps To Calculate The Speed Of Light

4:20pm April 20, 2015

by Adam Cole

There's a new use for those stale Easter marshmallows you still have lying around: calculating a constant that governs the universe.

"We're built with a strong bias to differentiate the world between us and them" — Paul Bloom

Why Do We Create Stereotypes?

1:37pm April 20, 2015

by NPR/TED Staff

Psychologist Paul Bloom explains why prejudice is natural, rational and even moral — the key is to understand why we depend on it, and recognize when it leads us astray.

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