Science

A whale shark dives near the surface in waters off the coast of Mexico.

Science

Where The Whale Sharks Go

3:17pm August 22, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

A nine-year study tracked more than 800 of the massive and largely mysterious whale sharks. For the first time, researchers have tracked the sharks' far-flung migration and where they may go to give birth.

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The Crosstex NGL Pipeline is just one such project in the country that has forced long, unwanted legal battles between oil companies and landowners.

Legal Battles Over Land Rights, Pipelines Are On The Rise

2:24pm August 22, 2013

by Mose Buchele, KUT News

The industry estimates that the U.S. will need to add 2,000 miles of pipeline per year, and that's just natural gas. Oil will need its own infrastructure. That means there will be a lot of pipeline going through a lot of private land — along with sometimes long, drawn-out legal fights with landowners.

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Project Puffin staffers "grub" for puffin chicks beneath boulders.

On A Rocky Maine Island, Puffins Are Making A Tenuous Comeback

8:12pm August 21, 2013

by Fred Bever

The windswept island about 6 miles off the coast was a haven for a hugely diverse bird population until fishermen decimated the birds' ranks. Puffins have been successfully reintroduced to Eastern Egg Rock, but warming ocean waters may be threatening their ability to survive.

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Heavy rains in Australia in 2010 and 2011 flooded farmland and homes, like these in the Queensland state town of St. George, seen here on Feb. 7. 2011.

How Extreme Australian Rains Made Global Sea Levels Drop

9:19am August 20, 2013

by Richard Harris

Sea level has been rising steadily as a result of global warming. But in 2010 and 2011, levels dropped sharply by a quarter of an inch. A new analysis says that's because extraordinarily heavy rainfall got trapped in inland Australia.

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If someone like Lang Lang were starting out now, the energetic concert pianist could nail every piano competition without the judges ever hearing a note, according to a new study.

How To Win That Music Competition? Send A Video

5:13am August 20, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

A new study shows that judges base musical performances more on sight than on sound.

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The olinguito (right) was discovered while a researcher was sifting through specimens at The Field Museum in Chicago. On the left is a North American raccoon.

Science

Meet The Olinguito, The Newest Member Of The Raccoon Family

5:44pm August 19, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

This cousin of the raccoon is the first new carnivore discovered in the Western Hemisphere in 35 years. Native to the Andes Mountains of Colombia and Ecuador where it's still living, the olinguito was actually first identified in a Field Museum specimen storage room in Chicago.

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This NASA diagram shows the two Voyager spacecraft inside the magnetic bubble around the sun. But Marc Swisdak believes it's already crossed the heliopause into interstellar space.

Has Voyager 1 Left The Solar System?

2:52pm August 19, 2013

by Geoff Brumfiel

For the past decade or so, scientists have been waiting for the Voyager 1 spacecraft to cross into deep space. New research suggests it already has — over a year ago.

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Dolphin Deaths Alarm Scientists

7:35am August 18, 2013

The animals are washing ashore at a higher rate than the last 26 years. Host Scott Simon speaks with Charley Potter, collection manager for marine mammals at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, about the response along the Mid-Atlantic.

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N. America's Oldest Known Petroglyphs Discovered In Nevada

6:22pm August 16, 2013

by Elizabeth Shogren

The carvings etched into limestone boulders near Pyramid Lake in western Nevada show that the early North Americans were surprisingly creative artists. The carvings, which are at least 10,000 years old, are abstract, geometric designs including shapes that look like diamonds and trees.

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Of Neurons And Memories: Inside The 'Secret World Of Sleep'

2:13pm August 15, 2013

Think of everything your brain processes in a single day: your breakfast, a stain on a book cover, a meeting at work. If you remembered all those things, your brain would reach capacity. Author and neuroscientist Penelope Lewis says sleep helps sort through the memories that are worth keeping.

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