Science

A student looks back at his mother, as he is vaccinated at a school-based COVID-19 vaccination clinic for students 12 and older in San Pedro, Calif., last month.

White House Says The U.S. Will Narrowly Miss Its Vaccination Goal

6:35pm June 22, 2021

President Biden set a goal of 70% of U.S. adults at least partially vaccinated by July 4. The White House is acknowledging Tuesday that it will likely come up short of that.

DEARBORN, MI - Ford F150 trucks being built by robots

A New Way To Understand Automation

6:30am June 22, 2021

by Greg Rosalsky

We speak with one of the leading scholars of automation about its evolving impacts on society.

A Quantum Life: My Unlikely Journey from the Street to the Stars, by Hakeem Oluseyi and Joshua Horwitz

From Poverty To Stanford, Memoir Tells A Physicist's Remarkable Tale

5:00am June 22, 2021

by Adam Frank

A Quantum Life is an important book to help understand the institutional hurdles that have kept science mostly white and male — and how the fire of inquiry can take root in a heart and lift it up.

How To Stay Safe In The West Coast's Sweltering Heat Waves

6:01pm June 21, 2021

As a sweltering heat wave hits much of the West Coast, NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Dr. Kristina Dahl from the Union of Concerned Scientists about the health risks of exposure to extreme heat.

Manatees are large marine mammals native to Florida that spend their time grazing on sea grass in shallow coastal areas. Since January, recorded manatee deaths have been nearly triple that of the same period for each of the past five years.

As Seagrass Habitats Decline, Florida Manatees Are Dying Of Starvation

4:40pm June 21, 2021

by Greg Allen

The mammals were removed from the endangered species list in 2017, but algae blooms and overdevelopment have killed 46,000 acres of seagrass, leaving manatees without enough to eat.

A few years ago Cleveland linked climate policy and social equity. Now the Ohio city is hoping to use federal funding to help achieve its climate action goals.

The White House Wants To Fight Climate Change And Help People. Cleveland Led The Way

11:28am June 21, 2021

by Dan Charles

The White House wants to fight climate change in ways that also remove economic and racial disparities. The city of Cleveland has a plan that describes what that might mean.

Photographer Taylor Lockwood found the rare mushroom Hypocreopsis rhododendri growing in the United States, a discovery that delighted scientists and mushroom devotees.

Science

Enthusiastic Amateurs Advance Science As They Hunt For Exotic Mushrooms

2:44pm June 20, 2021

by Richard Harris

Scientists who study mushrooms get a boost from a network of sophisticated aficionados who tromp through the forests observing oddball species and sharing valuable information about their finds.

Queue Listen Now

Reconstructions from the Daynès Studio in Paris depict a male Neanderthal (right) face to face with a human, Homo sapiens.

To Keep Your Brain Young, Take Some Tips From Our Earliest Ancestors

5:00am June 18, 2021

by Bret Stetka

Without a cure for Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, prevention is paramount. Habits that helped early humans thrive still make sense: a varied diet, exercise and an engaging social life.

Unpaid Caregivers Were Already Struggling. It's Only Gotten Worse During The Pandemic

7:58pm June 17, 2021

by Rhitu Chatterjee

A new CDC study finds that people who provide unpaid care for their children or adult loved ones are twice as likely as noncaregivers to have experienced depression or anxiety, or thoughts of suicide.

A teen gets a dose of Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine last month at Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami. Nearly 7 million U.S. teens and preteens (ages 12 through 17) have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine so far, the CDC says.

Pfizer's COVID Vaccine In Teens And Myocarditis: What You Need To Know

7:48pm June 17, 2021

by Joanne Silberner

Health officials are investigating reports of mostly mild, temporary and treatable heart inflammation that may or may not be causally linked to vaccination with an mRNA vaccine against COVID-19.