Science

Burmese migrant Thazin Mon Htay and her father Ko Ngwe Htay were trafficked to Thailand to peel shrimp. They worked 16-hour shifts, seven days a week, for less than $10 a day, Ko Ngwe told PBS NewsHour.

Emotional Scars Of Modern Slavery Run 'Deeper Than Any Visible Wound'

6:00pm February 24, 2015

by Linda Poon

Scientists interviewed more than 1,000 men, women and children who were forced into sex work and hard labor. The result is the largest study to detail the health of human trafficking survivors.

Botanists say this plant is the fern equivalent of a human-lemur love child.

'Weird' Fern Shows The Power Of Interspecies Sex

9:48am February 24, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Two species of fern that diverged 60 million years ago are as evolutionarily distant as, say, elephants and manatees. Nonetheless, the two species recently produced a hybrid, say astounded botanists.

Queue Listen Now

Science

Angry Tweets Predict Patterns Of Heart Disease, Researchers Say

7:48am February 24, 2015

by Shankar Vedantam

Can tweets be analyzed to predict heart disease? New research suggests the answer is yes.

Queue Listen Now

Professional trapper Dan Eaton starts to release a coyote after it was fitted with a GPS collar. University of Georgia biologists will track the animal for two years as part of a study of Southern coyotes.

Catching A Southern Coyote, Then Letting It Go In The Name Of Science

6:40pm February 23, 2015

by Grant Blankenship

Coyotes in the Deep South live among a mosaic of agricultural fields and woods but little wilderness. A new study uses tracking collars to understand how these animals thrive in three Southern states.

Queue Listen Now

Eastern oysters in South Kingston, RI on July 25, 2013.

Acidifying Waters Are Endangering Your Oysters And Mussels

5:48pm February 23, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

Many coastal communities that harvest shellfish could soon be hurt by ocean acidification, a study finds. The Pacific Northwest and New England are hot spots, as are estuaries along the East Coast.

Scent Bar, in central Los Angeles, is home to over 700 niche fragrances — several of which are neatly arranged here.

The Scents And Sensibility Of LA's Nosy New Perfume Enthusiasts

1:54pm February 23, 2015

by Chloe Prasinos

Our sense of smell isn't simply a powerful trigger. It's a draw to scientists — and to a flourishing subculture in Los Angeles, where amateur perfumers collect fragrances like others collect stamps.

Queue Listen Now

An example of a human precision grip — grasping a first metacarpal from the thumb of a specimen of Australopithecus africanus that's thought to be 2 to 3 million years old.

Maybe Early Humans Weren't The First To Get A Good Grip

1:16pm February 23, 2015

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The opposable thumb you use to hold a pencil was long thought to be a defining aspect of humans. But an analysis of finger bones suggests stone tool use by pre-humans — perhaps 3 million years ago.

Queue Listen Now

U.N. Report Warns Of 'Irreversible' Damage To Earth's Climate

11:49am February 23, 2015

by Christopher Joyce

In Copenhagen on Sunday, scientists gathered to issue their latest assessment of the world's climate. Their report is considered the most comprehensive overview of the state of climate science.

Queue Listen Now

Strontium atoms floating in the center of this photo are the heart of the world's most precise clock. The clock is so exact that it can detect tiny shifts in the flow of time itself.

New Clock May End Time As We Know It

11:49am February 23, 2015

by Geoff Brumfiel

Scientists working to create the perfect atomic clock have a fundamental problem: Right now, on the ceiling, time is passing just a bit faster than it is on the floor.

Queue Listen Now

Parks Service Surveys The Environment's Accoustical Health

12:36pm February 22, 2015

The National Park Service has been measuring sounds in nature for a decade. But not all sounds are natural. NPR's Rachel Martin checks in with Kurt Fristrup, who's behind the bio-acoustical project.

Queue Listen Now