Science

Researchers excavated the remains of five creatures who lived 1.8 million years ago, including this adult male skull. The excavation site, in Georgia in the former Soviet Union, was home to a remarkable cache of bones.

Science

Fossil Find Points To A Streamlined Human Lineage

5:35pm October 18, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

Conventional wisdom about early human evolution is that several species arose in Africa. But a skull found in the former Soviet state of Georgia could upend this idea. The discovery suggests that there may have been more variety in a single species than previously suspected.

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At more than 400 square miles, the Rim Fire is the largest Sierra Nevada fire in recorded history.

Fuel In The Fire: Burn Wood For Power Or Leave It To Nature

12:59pm October 16, 2013

by Lauren Sommer

The record-breaking wildfire in Yosemite National Park is calling attention to a problem found across the West: Forests are overloaded with fuel after a century of putting out fires. What to do about that is fueling its own heated debate.

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Why College Freshmen May Feel Like Impostors On Campus

11:47am October 16, 2013

Psychologist Greg Walton has found that a simple intervention can help many students get the most out of college. The trick is in helping students see that setbacks are temporary, and often don't have larger implications.

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Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspects the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran on March 8, 2007. The tall cylinders are centrifuges for enriching uranium.

Are Iran's Centrifuges Just Few Turns From A Nuclear Bomb?

6:19pm October 14, 2013

by Geoff Brumfiel

Talks about the country's nuclear program are set to begin in Geneva. Iran says it is making nuclear fuel for power plants, but some observers are suspicious of the country's motives.

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Science

Why Is Cheating In Science Research On The Rise?

6:19pm October 14, 2013

by Gigi Douban

The vast majority of researchers in the science field are honest and conscientious. But that's not the case for all of them, and a federal agency that tracks misconduct and cheating in the field is seeing increases.

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Birds Of A Feather Spy Together

6:12pm October 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Tom Vanderbilt discusses the nonhuman operatives — from pigeons to house cats — deployed by the United States government during the Cold War. He wrote about the program recently for the Smithsonian magazine.

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Seniors around the country depend on weekly deliveries of nutritionally balanced food from the USDA's supplemental nutrition program.

Shutdown Leaves Some Seniors Worried About Their Next Meal

7:27pm October 11, 2013

by Patrick Center

Some Michigan seniors may be going hungry thanks to the government shutdown. In western Kent County alone, more than 1,300 low-income seniors depend on a government surplus food program. But the USDA has announced that the program is hold until further notice.

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Bob Adams is a lab animal veterinarian at Johns Hopkins University.

Shutdown Imperils Costly Lab Mice, Years Of Research

8:33pm October 10, 2013

by Jon Hamilton

A lack of funding to labs is likely to mean an early death for thousands of mice used in scientific and medical research. The loss of specialty mice, many of which have genes that can cause them to develop versions of human diseases, is especially troubling to scientists — and expensive.

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President Obama speaks at the southern site of the Keystone XL pipeline in Cushing, Okla., in March 2012.

One Thing Obama Can Do: Decide The Fate Of The Keystone Pipeline

3:58pm October 09, 2013

The president alone can approve or reject construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which is designed to take crude oil extracted from Alberta, Canada, through America's heartland to refineries on the Gulf Coast. New Yorker journalist Ryan Lizza says Obama could use the decision as a "symbolic turning point in the kind of energy future he wants America to have."

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Flooding brought down a house in Jamestown, Colo., on Sept. 18.

Flood Forensics: Why Colorado's Floods Were So Destructive

10:25am October 09, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

Nearly a year's worth of rain was dumped on parts of the state in four days this fall. The downpour from the heavens created a slurry on the mountainsides that scrubbed away soil, trees, boulders and buildings. Scientists say the flooding may have been a once-in-a-thousand-years event.

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