Humans

A family in western Kenya received this cow as part of a Heifer International program.

Cash, Cows And The Rise Of Nerd Philanthropy

9:12pm August 23, 2013

Most charities get money from donors and spend it on things they think will help people — schools, medicine, farm animals. GiveDirectly just gives money away. And that poses a challenge to the more traditional charities.

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Science

Physicists Find New Particle, Look for Answers

10:42am August 23, 2013

Researchers say that they've discovered a new subatomic particle - one that appears to contain four quarks bound together. Physicist Sean M. Carroll describes the significance of the find, and talks about the ongoing effort in physics to explain why the universe is the way it is.

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Science

Coffee's Natural Creamer

10:41am August 23, 2013

Coffee beans are filled with oils that emerge from coffee grounds under high pressure. These oils form the crema - "the frothy stuff" on top of an espresso. In the last installment of Science Friday's series on coffee, food-science writer Harold McGee, author of On Food and Cooking, explains the chemistry of crema.

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Of Neurons And Memories: Inside The 'Secret World Of Sleep'

2:13pm August 15, 2013

Think of everything your brain processes in a single day: your breakfast, a stain on a book cover, a meeting at work. If you remembered all those things, your brain would reach capacity. Author and neuroscientist Penelope Lewis says sleep helps sort through the memories that are worth keeping.

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Could the images common in accounts of near-death experiences be explained by a rush of electrical activity in the brain?

Brains Of Dying Rats Yield Clues About Near-Death Experiences

7:57am August 13, 2013

by Rob Stein

Researchers discovered what appears to be a momentary increase in electrical activity in the brain associated with consciousness. As the brain struggles to survive, it also struggles to make sense of many neurons firing in the survival attempt.

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A nematode worm glows as it nears death in this screenshot from a YouTube video showing the work of researchers in London.

Worms' Bright Blue Death Could Shed Light On Human Aging

7:50pm August 03, 2013

by NPR Staff

Researchers are getting clues about the human life cycle from studying the death of tiny worms, which internally release a blue fluorescent dye in the waning hours of their lives. The glowing chemical travels from one end of the creature to the other. One researcher calls it "reminiscent of the soul departing the worm."

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Echolocation is second nature to animals such as bats and dolphins. Can humans also find their way using sound as a tool?

'Batman' Style: How We Can See With Sound, Too

11:30am July 29, 2013

by NPR Staff

Echolocation: Birds do it, bats do it, and now even educated people do it. A team of researchers has devised an algorithm that could give the rest of us a way to discover our surroundings without using our eyes.

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Tossing and turning in the light of the full moon? Maybe it's not just the light.

Don't Blame Your Lousy Night's Sleep On The Moon — Yet

3:10pm July 26, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

Over drinks in the light of a full moon, a group of Swiss sleep researchers recently realized they could put a bit of folklore about the moon's disruptive effect on sleep to the test. The answer surprised them and didn't quite win over some other scientists in the field.

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Being In The Minority Can Cost You And Your Company

11:59am July 24, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Social scientists recently made an interesting discovery: The wage gap between blacks and whites (working identical jobs) varies greatly by location.

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Researchers say it may be possible to temporarily reduce racial biases.

How To Fight Racial Bias When It's Silent And Subtle

8:00pm July 19, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

New research suggests that racial disparities and other biased outcomes in medicine, the criminal justice system, and other areas, can be explained by unconscious attitudes and stereotypes. But how do we get rid of subtle racial biases?

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