Science

NASA Taps Snowstorm-Chasing Team To Improve Forecasting

5:31pm January 20, 2020

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Lynn McMurdie, a University of Washington professor and principal investigator for IMPACTS, NASA's new project to more accurately predict snowstorms.

Patients Still Struggle To Balance High Costs Of MS Treatment, Despite Generic

9:00am January 20, 2020

by Sydney Lupkin

Drugs to treat multiple sclerosis can run $70,000 a year or more. Patients hoped competition from a generic version of one of the most popular brands would spur relief, but prices went up. Here's why.

Assessing The Injuries After Iranian Missile Attack

7:55am January 18, 2020

Eleven U.S. service members have been sent to hospitals abroad after suffering injuries in Iran's missile strike in Iraq. Scott Simon speaks to neuropsychiatrist Stephen Xenakis about what that means.

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Levi Draheim, 11, wears a dust mask as he participates in a demonstration in Miami in July 2019. A lawsuit file by him and other young people urging action against climate change was thrown out by a federal appeals court Friday.

Kids' Climate Case 'Reluctantly' Dismissed By Appeals Court

8:04pm January 17, 2020

by Nathan Rott

The court said the nearly two dozen young people who were trying to force action by the government on climate change did not have standing to sue. The judges said climate change is a political issue.

A team of Stanford University researchers designed the PigeonBot.

Science

'PigeonBot' Brings Robots Closer To Birdlike Flight

6:27pm January 16, 2020

by Merrit Kennedy

Birds change the shape of their wings far more than planes. The complexities of bird flight have posed a major design challenge for scientists trying to translate the way birds fly into robots.

Scientists put several litters of wolf puppies through a standard battery of tests. Many pups, such as this one named Flea, wouldn't fetch a ball. But then something surprising happened.

Science

Fetching With Wolves: What It Means That A Wolf Puppy Will Retrieve A Ball

4:40pm January 16, 2020

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Some wolf puppies will unexpectedly play "fetch," researchers say, showing that an urge to retrieve a ball might be an ancient wolf trait and not a result of dog domestication.

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The SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft that ferried musclebound mice to the International Space Station and back can be seen at the top of this picture taken from the station on Dec. 20, 2019.

Scientists Sent Mighty Mice To Space To Improve Treatments Back On Earth

7:57am January 16, 2020

by Jon Hamilton

Forty mice spent more than a month in orbit to test two approaches to strengthening muscle and bone in microgravity conditions. The results could help people with muscle and bone diseases.

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A light micrograph of a primitive human embryo, composed of four cells, following the initial mitotic divisions that ultimately transform a single-cell organism into one composed of millions of cells.

Embryo Research To Reduce Need For In Vitro Fertilization Raises Ethical Concerns

9:10pm January 15, 2020

by Rob Stein

Aiming to find a cheaper, easier way than IVF to ensure human embryos are healthy before implantation, researchers paid women to be inseminated, then flushed the embryos from their wombs for analysis.

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For decades, the Earth has steadily gotten hotter. The planet has already warmed about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (or almost 1 degree Celsius) compared with in the mid-20th century.

2019 Was The 2nd-Hottest Year On Record, According To NASA And NOAA

7:09pm January 15, 2020

by Rebecca Hersher

Last year's data collected by the agencies is the latest confirmation that the Earth is steadily getting hotter. The planet is now almost 1 degree Celsius warmer than it was in the mid-20th century.

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Smoke from bushfires shrouds the Melbourne city skyline. Hazardous breathing conditions prompted Australian Open officials to suspend practice sessions on Tuesday.

Bushfire Smoke Causes Player To Forfeit Her Qualifying Match For Australian Open

3:06pm January 14, 2020

by Brakkton Booker

Slovenia's Dalila Jakupovic was trying to make the first round of the tournament set to open next week. She had trouble breathing and later told reporters, "I was really scared that I would collapse."