Science

Dr. Shane Avery (right) and Kevin Collins, Scott County's coroner, say the prescription opioid problem in their community has led to an HIV outbreak that's still expanding.

Indiana's HIV Spike Prompts New Calls For Needle Exchanges Statewide

2:32pm March 30, 2015

by Jake Harper

Southeastern Indiana is battling an HIV outbreak. The new cases are mostly linked to injection drug use and have reignited a debate over needle exchanges, which are currently illegal in the state.

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Critic Faults Alcoholics Anonymous For Lack Of Evidence

9:34am March 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

Writer Gabrielle Glaser challenges the usefulness of Alcoholics Anonymous in April's issue of The Atlantic. The program's tenets aren't based in science, she says, and other options may work better.

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John Hargrove, a trainer who spent 14 years working with orcas, mostly at SeaWorld, eventually became disillusioned with the company's treatment of its killer whales.

Former Orca Trainer For SeaWorld Condemns Its Practices

9:12pm March 28, 2015

John Hargrove says he left SeaWorld after seeing "devastating effects of captivity" on orcas. His new book is Beneath The Surface. SeaWorld's Christopher Dold says such criticism is "unfounded."

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One possible result in the Mighty Mini Mammals division of 2015's Mammal March Madness tournament. If the species that's seeded highest always wins its bracket, the fennec fox will beat out the rest of the division and advance to the final four.

Science

Could A Quokka Beat A Numbat? Oddsmakers Say Yes

7:05pm March 28, 2015

by Adam Cole

In "Mammal March Madness," you win or die. No basketball in this tournament — it's a simulated survival-of-the-fittest game set up by evolutionary biologists. The battle cry? Mammals suck ... milk!

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Science

Birder Finds Panama Packed With Species, But No Harpy Eagles

10:56am March 28, 2015

There are more species of birds in Panama than all of North America. NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Ray Brown, host of the radio program Talkin' Birds, who just returned from the country.

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A worker kicks up dust as he drives a tractor at a farm on Aug. 22, 2014 near drought-stricken Firebaugh, Calif.

Calif. Governor Can't Make It Rain, But Can Make Relief Money Pour

6:05pm March 27, 2015

by Kirk Siegler

California Gov. Jerry Brown signed his sweeping $1.1 billion emergency drought relief bill Friday. It funds water infrastructure improvements like flood control and aid for farmworkers.

NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is seen inside a Soyuz simulator at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center on March 4 in Star City, Russia. Kelly, along with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko of the Russian Federal Space Agency, are scheduled for launch Frida

Science

NASA To Study A Twin In Space And His Brother On Earth

3:58pm March 27, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

During astronaut Scott Kelly's year in space, scientists will compare his physiology with that of his twin brother, Mark, to study the effect of prolonged space flight on the human body.

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Flight crew in cockpit, rear view (zoom effect).

Is There Any Way To Screen The World's Pilots For Suicidal Tendencies?

3:45pm March 27, 2015

by Emily Sohn

There are questionnaires that aim to identify people at risk of killing themselves. But the tests are flawed — and it's not at all clear they'd be effective in assessing the mental state of pilots.

A drone built by Agribotix, a Boulder startup, flies over a farm in Weld County, Colo. The drone has a camera that snaps a high-resolution photo every two seconds. From there, Agribotix stitches the images together, helping the farmer see what's happening

Is Colorado Primed To Become The Silicon Valley Of Agriculture?

8:31am March 27, 2015

by Luke Runyon

Colorado's food and ag industries have been growing two to four times faster than the state's economy overall. The state's economists are ever more hopeful about cornering the market on ag innovation.

A 2008 view of the leading edge of the Larsen B ice shelf, extending into the northwest part of the Weddell Sea. Huge, floating ice shelves that line the Antarctic coast help hold back sheets of ice that cover land.

Big Shelves Of Antarctic Ice Melting Faster Than Scientists Thought

8:01pm March 26, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

The rate at which the ice is shrinking at the ocean's edge in the West Antarctic has increased by 70 percent over the past decade, an analysis of satellite measurements suggests.

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