Science

What's Mittens Thinking? Make 'Sense' Of Your Cat's Behavior

10:42am May 01, 2015

Kitties don't play — they hunt. And their aloof appearance has evolutionary roots. A new book explains cats' mysterious nature and how their relationship with humans has changed over the years.

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Could this cat be enjoying "Spook's Ditty"?

These Tunes Are Music To Your Cats' Furry Ears

10:42am May 01, 2015

by NPR Staff

Composer David Teie's most recent compositions are catered to our feline friends. His music mimics purring, and might be just the thing to perk your cat up.

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NASA Spacecraft Crashes Into Mercury, Concluding 4-Year Study Of Planet

8:19pm April 30, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

A NASA spacecraft plunged into the planet Mercury on Thursday. It's demise comes after four years of studying our solar system's innermost planet.

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This image of a "red spot" on Mercury, which is thought to be the result of a volcanic explosion, was sent to Earth by the Messenger probe in 2011.

Kill The Messenger: NASA Orbiter Crashes Into Mercury

5:36pm April 30, 2015

by Bill Chappell

Messenger was launched from Earth in 2004. After 4,104 orbits of Mercury and billions of miles of space travel, the orbiter ended its mission with a quiet bang Thursday.

St. Agnes Hospital in Baltimore is one of the 131 hospitals run by Ascension Health. It's a not-for-profit, Catholic health care system that treats many low-income patients.

Expanding Medicaid Trims Hospitals' Costs Of Caring For Uninsured

4:42pm April 30, 2015

by Anders Kelto

One aim of Obamacare was to ease the financial strain on nonprofit hospitals that provide medical care to people who lack insurance and can't pay their bills. That plan is working, hospitals say.

No Rest For Your Sleeping Brain

4:28pm April 30, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

No wonder the brain needs so much energy. The same coordinated activity that allows you to retrieve a specific memory, like what you had for breakfast, continues at rest and even during sleep.

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Algy Garrod's rapeseed in bloom in Norfolk, England.

How British Farmers Are Making Rapeseed (Canola) Posh And Flavorful

4:23pm April 30, 2015

by Anne Bramley

In the U.K., rapeseed is getting a royal treatment. It's called cold-pressing, and it's a method of processing the oilseed to bring out the best of its mustardy flavor.

Drought In Calif. Creates Water Wars Between Farmers, Developers, Residents

2:37pm April 30, 2015

Fresno native Mark Arax has written about the war over water in his state for decades. "It used to be the farmers against the delta smelt fish, and now it's the urbanite against the almond," he says.

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A surgeon and nurse anesthetist a baby by emergency cesarean section at a hospital in Rwanda.

Safe Surgery Is A Dream In The Developing World

2:21pm April 30, 2015

by Natasha Gilbert

One-third of global deaths occur because people don't have access to safe surgery, a study finds. Dirty operating rooms and unskilled attendants make going under the knife extremely risky.

An artist's rendition of the HD 7924 planetary system — just 54 light-years away from Earth — shows newly discovered exoplanets c and d, which join Planet b.

Science

Welcome To The Neighborhood: 2 Super-Earths Discovered

8:53am April 30, 2015

by Joe Palca

Astronomers using telescopes in Hawaii and California have found two exoplanets orbiting a star a mere 54 light-years away. The discovery is important for two big reasons.

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