Humans

Science

Tracking Privacy and Ownership In An Online World

1:03pm February 11, 2013

Your phone knows where you are. Social networks know who your friends are, and what you ate last night. How much of your personal data is really yours to control? Khaliah Barnes of the Electronic Privacy Information Center helps sort out the politics and policies of privacy.

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Science of Slumber: How Sleep Affects Your Memory

3:55pm February 08, 2013

We spend a lot of time sleeping (roughly one-third of our lives, according to the National Institutes of Health). But how much downtime do our brains really need? Experts discuss the links between sleep, memory and cognition, and why our sleep patterns change as we age.

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Science

Researchers Point To The Demise of the Dinosaurs

1:35pm February 08, 2013

The idea that a comet or asteroid impact led to the downfall of the dinosaurs has been around for years. Now, Paul Renne and colleagues report in Science that they've narrowed down the timing of that collision. It's practically simultaneous with dinosaur extinction.

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More than 400 guns, including these three, were turned in during a Dallas gun buyback program in January. But determining the effectiveness of such programs is difficult due to limits on gun-related research.

Debate Rages On Even As Research Ban On Gun Violence Ends

6:12pm February 06, 2013

by Julie Rovner

President Obama has ordered an end to a 16-year-old ban on federal funding of research on guns and health. But the political controversy that led to the ban in the first place is far from over.

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Health researchers say the proportion of people in their late 40s to 60s with diabetes, hypertension or obesity has increased over the past two decades.

Aging Poorly: Another Act Of Baby Boomer Rebellion

10:40am February 06, 2013

by Rob Stein

Many of them have cut out smoking, and rates of heart attack and emphysema have declined. But baby boomers are burdened with diabetes, hypertension and many other chronic conditions. Researchers say too little exercise and a rise in obesity threaten baby boomers' golden years.

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49ers fan Kristofer Noceda (third from left) with friends at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Sports

Keeping Those Jerseys Unwashed For The Big Win

6:16pm February 03, 2013

by Amy Held

On Super Bowl Sunday, there are likely a lot of unwashed Ravens and 49ers jerseys around. It's just one of many superstitions sports fans cling to in the belief it will bring their team victory. But superstitions may also be beneficial from an evolutionary standpoint.

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Disinfecting robots at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore spray rooms with toxic doses of hydrogen peroxide to kill dangerous drug-resistant bacteria.

Got A Superbug? Bring In The Robots

6:16pm February 03, 2013

Johns Hopkins Hospital is using disinfecting robots to kill dangerous drug-resistant bacteria in its hospital rooms. Since it began using the machines, the hospital has seen the number of untreatable infections fall by a stunning 64 percent.

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Science

Preserving Science News In An Online World

1:49pm February 01, 2013

How can journalists and bloggers avoid some of the pitfalls of communicating science in an online world? Should a website's comments section be moderated, or removed altogether? How has social media changed the blogosphere? A panel of experts joins Ira Flatow to discuss.

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The Book Club Catches 'The Andromeda Strain'

1:08pm January 25, 2013

This month, the book club discusses Michael Crichton's 1969 best-selling science fiction thriller The Andromeda Strain. Writer Richard Preston joins the club to talk about Crichton's writing style, and what it was like to work on Crichton's unfinished final manuscript, Micro.

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Cold Snap Shakes Up Winter Weather Outlook

1:03pm January 25, 2013

Unusual activity in the atmosphere over the Arctic Circle is triggering snow and frigid temperatures across Canada, the U.S. and parts of Europe. Climatologist Jeff Weber, of the University Corporation of Atmospheric Research, explains why this winter could pack a punch.

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