Science

16 Years After Its Inception, 'GoreSat' Set For Launch ... Soon

3:50pm March 24, 2015

by Scott Neuman

In 1998, then-Vice President Gore proposed the satellite, which has since been repurposed for NOAA's needs. It was set to take off Sunday, but the launch was scrubbed, and will be rescheduled.

Why There's A Big Battle Brewing Over The Lean Meat In Your Diet

1:22pm March 24, 2015

by Eliza Barclay

Should the government recommend lean meat as part of a healthy diet? That's emerged as a political flashpoint. The panel working on federal guidelines says the evidence on lean meat is muddled.

Why The War On Cancer Hasn't Been Won

12:26pm March 24, 2015

by Richard Harris

Medical researchers have made only modest progress treating the most common cancers since the war on cancer was declared in 1971. The disease has proved far more complicated than doctors had hoped.

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Researchers and therapists are developing strategies to help people cut back on drinking, including tracker cards and tools to screen for dependence.

Rethinking Alcohol: Can Heavy Drinkers Learn To Cut Back?

11:19am March 24, 2015

by Allison Aubrey

The limit for healthy drinking may be less than you think — one drink a day for women and two for men, according to health experts. New strategies aim to help heavy drinkers reduce their intake.

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Science

How Money Managers' Personal Lives Affect Your Investments

11:17am March 24, 2015

by Shankar Vedantam

For some people who discover a sudden drop in their investments, social science research offers a surprising explanation. When a hedge fund manager gets divorced, they underperform by 7.4 percent.

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Find other stories in the Living Cancer series at WNYC.org.

Stats Split On Progress Against Cancer

8:33am March 24, 2015

by Richard Harris

When you dig into the number on cancer, the results are mixed. Overall, deaths are up. But survival five years after diagnosis has improved for many forms of the disease, including breast cancer.

Even Oscar the Grouch might be put off by the growing heaps of trash in the center of Kathmandu.

You Think Your City Is Full Of Trash? Ha!

6:51pm March 23, 2015

by Donatella Lorch

Welcome to Kathmandu — or, as some call it, Trashmandu. Even in the best of times, rubbish piles up everywhere. Now things have gotten worse.

Grey lines connecting health care workers (marked with "+") and patients represent contacts between them. The red figures are carriers of MRSA.

Wireless Sensors Help Scientists Map Staph Spread Inside Hospital

5:34pm March 23, 2015

by Scott Hensley

Over four months of tracking and testing, French researchers mapped the hops that bacteria made from one person to another. Within a month, a third of patients were newly colonized with staph.

Laury Sacks and her husband, Eric. The actress and writer developed frontotemporal dementia in her late 40s and died in 2008 at age 52.

'Looks Like Laury' Shines The Power Of Friendship On A Failing Mind

8:09am March 23, 2015

by Deborah Franklin

When actress and writer Laury Sacks started losing words fast, her best friends, who happened to be filmmakers, captured her experience. Looks Like Laury, Sounds Like Laury shows how they reached her.

Smoke billows from chimneys of a steel plant on a hazy day in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, earlier this month.

Top Beijing Scientist: China Faces 'Huge Impact' From Climate Change

7:06pm March 22, 2015

by Scott Neuman

The head of the country's meteorological administration says it faces climate disasters and ecological degradation resulting from a warming planet.