Humans

What Does Modern Prejudice Look Like?

10:08am April 23, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Most Americans think of prejudice as animosity toward people in other groups. But two psychologists argue that unconscious bias — often in the form of giving some people special treatment — is the way prejudice largely works in America today.

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Red Meat's Heart Risk Goes Beyond The Fat

1:03pm April 12, 2013

Reporting in Nature Medicine, researchers write that a chemical in red meat, L-carnitine, may up the risk of heart disease in people and mice--but only in frequent red-meat eaters. Study author Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic explains how diet changes the gut's bacterial flora, and how that can affect heart health.

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Science

Searching For The Roots of 'Right' And 'Wrong'

4:54pm April 05, 2013

In The Bonobo and the Atheist: In Search of Humanism Among the Primates, primatologist Frans de Waal explores traits like empathy and fairness in our closest relatives, bonobos and chimpanzees, and argues that human morality is not the product of rational thought or religion, but evolved long ago.

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Tracking A Rise In ADHD Diagnosis

4:54pm April 05, 2013

Surveys show a marked rise in the diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, among the nation's youth. William Graf, a professor of pediatrics and neurology at Yale School of Medicine, discusses the surge in ADHD diagnosis and its potential implications.

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A window into dreams may now be opening.

Researchers Use Brain Scans To Reveal Hidden Dreamscape

2:57pm April 05, 2013

by Rob Stein

Philosophers, poets and psychologists have long shared a fascination with dreams. Now Japanese scientists have scanned the brains of dreaming volunteers to create a lexicon of imagery that can be used to detect and decode dreams while a person sleeps.

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A worker stands on top of a storage bin on July 27, 2011, at a drilling operation in Claysville, Pa. The dust is from powder mixed with water for hydraulic fracturing.

Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers

1:50pm April 01, 2013

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The sand is pumped underground along with water and other chemicals to extract oil and natural gas trapped deep in rock. But researchers found that air samples taken at some drilling sites contained high enough levels of very fine silica particles to be dangerous to workers.

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More than 100 years ago, Golgi staining on nerve cells opened the gates to modern neuroscience. Scientists recently developed the Technicolor version of Golgi staining, Brainbow, allowing more detailed reconstructions of brain circuits.

Science

Somewhere Over The Brainbow: The Journey To Map the Human Brain

9:55pm March 31, 2013

by NPR Staff

The government-funded plan could cost $3 billion, take 10 years and involve hundreds of scientists. The hope is the project can unlock the secrets of conditions such as Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease. But progress will likely be slow, and in the end, will it be worth the cost?

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Science
Arts

Gripping Science Tales Need Not Be Science Fiction

9:19am March 30, 2013

When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.

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Since joining AARP's dating service, Dina Mande has gone out on a half-dozen dates

National

Seniors Flirt With AARP's Online Dating Service

7:48pm March 17, 2013

by NPR Staff

Here's the plan: Find someone, get married, grow old together. But what if you've done that, and suddenly find yourself back at square one? For those 50 and older, AARP has launched a dating site to help find that special someone.

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'Bones' Inspires A New Generation Of Crime Fighters

1:03pm March 15, 2013

Kathy Reichs, the writer and scientist behind the TV show Bones, is back with a new novel for young adults. Code: A Virals Novel stars Tory Brennan, great-niece of Reich's famed crime-solving heroine Tempe Brennan. Reichs discusses the book, co-written with Brendan Reichs.

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