Science

Farmland is seen with standard solar panels from Cypress Creek Renewables, Oct. 28, 2021, in Thurmont, Md.

Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford

10:25am April 07, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can be a "continuous renewable power source" during the day and at night.

Scientists have analyzed a huge number of brain scans to learn more about how the brain develops, from infancy all the way until the end of life.

Scans reveal the brain's early growth, late decline and surprising variability

7:42am April 07, 2022

by Jon Hamilton

A study of more than 120,000 brain scans shows rapid growth before age 2 and accelerating decline after age 50. The results may one day help pick up abnormalities in the developing brain.

Queue Listen Now

Encore: Mystery recordings will now be heard for the first time in about 100 years

4:29pm April 06, 2022

A new machine at the New York Public Library can read cracked and broken wax cylinders, and play recordings from regular people not heard in about 100 years. It's one of seven in the world.

Plastic debris is washed up at Depoe Bay, Ore., on Jan. 19, 2020.

For the first time, researchers find microplastics deep in the lungs of living people

3:03pm April 06, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

Tiny plastic debris — some so small you can't see it — has previously been found in human blood, excrement and in the depths of the ocean.

Peaches ripen on a branch at Chappell Farms orchard in Kline, S.C., in July 2013.

Science
Arts

Here's why most of us love the smell of vanilla and peaches and not sweaty feet

10:19am April 06, 2022

by Dustin Jones

Researchers found that most people share similar preferences when it comes to smell, and it has little to do with their cultural background.

To study emotions in animals, scientists need to look beneath feelings to the brain states that produce certain behaviors.

In jumpy flies and fiery mice, scientists see the roots of human emotions

5:11am April 06, 2022

by Jon Hamilton

Scientists are trying to understand PTSD and other human disorders by studying emotion-related brain circuits in animals, which research suggests may have a lot in common with the human brain.

Pieter Van Ry, director of the South Platte Renew wastewater treatment facility in Englewood, Colo., stands surrounded by solid-waste separators.

Colorado is moving toward statewide coverage of wastewater surveillance

5:11am April 06, 2022

by John Daley - Colorado Public Radio

With 60% of the state's population already covered by wastewater testing, Colorado is aiming to be a sentinel of coming contagion — not just of COVID surges, but of other types of diseases, too.

Two iconic notebooks, which include Darwin's 1837 Tree of Life sketch, were returned to the Cambridge University Library last month.

2 missing Charles Darwin notebooks are mysteriously returned more than 20 years later

1:30pm April 05, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

The iconic notebooks, which include Darwin's 1837 Tree of Life sketch, were returned to the Cambridge University Library last month.

A photo of the the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moab, Utah. A construction project at the site recently damaged some of the tracks and trace fossils.

A construction project caused damage to 100-million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Utah

3:24pm April 04, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A project to replace the boardwalk at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moah, Utah, cause minor damage to tracks and trace fossils at the site, a Bureau of Land Management paleontologist found.

Just one night's sleep with artificial light streaming into your bedroom — from a TV, streetlight, or one of many electronics — could have an impact on cardiovascular and metabolic health, according to new research.

Sleeping with even a little bit of light isn't good for your health, study shows

10:17am April 01, 2022

by Will Stone

Just a night or two of exposure to faint light is enough to raise your pulse and increase insulin resistance — factors that increase the risk of heart disease and diabetes, researchers find.