Science

Science

Exploring An Ever-Expanding Universe

1:23pm May 10, 2013

Saul Perlmutter shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery that the universe was expanding at an accelerating rate. Perlmutter explains how supernovae and other astronomical artifacts are used to measure the expansion rate, and explains what physicists are learning about "dark energy" — the mysterious entity thought to be driving the acceleration.

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The Myth Of Multitasking

1:23pm May 10, 2013

How long can you go without checking email, or glancing at your smartphone? Clifford Nass, a psychology professor at Stanford University, says today's nonstop multitasking actually wastes more time than it saves--and he says there's evidence it may be killing our concentration and creativity too.

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Microexpressions: More Than Meets The Eye

1:23pm May 10, 2013

David Matsumoto, a psychology professor at San Francisco State University, trains national security officials and police officers to recognize "microexpressions"--fleeting, split-second flashes of emotion across someone's face. Matsumoto says those subtle cues may reveal how an interview subject is feeling, helping officials to hone their line of questioning.

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One contemporary analysis links the increase in gender equality in a society with increased sexual empowerment of women and less sexual coercion. But there's more to it than that.

Science

What Does 'Sexual Coercion' Say About A Society?

11:46am May 10, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

Anthropologists have long documented the differences in the extent of sexual coercion — including rape — in different human societies. But is it a vestige of evolutionary history, indicative of cultural activity or governed by power dynamics between females and males?

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Students associated with the group Brown Divest Coal protested in front of the Brown University president's office during a rally May 3. The group is demanding that the university stop investing in certain oil and coal companies.

College Divestment Campaigns Creating Passionate Environmentalists

11:04am May 10, 2013

by Elizabeth Shogren

Taking a page from the playbook of decades past, college students are once again pressuring schools to pull investment funding from specific sectors. This time it's big oil and coal companies. But these campaigns have effects beyond the university — they're launching a new generation of activists.

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Cy Maramangalam gives a presentation about climate change for the Alliance for Climate Education.

Filling In The Gap On Climate Education In Classrooms

2:50pm May 08, 2013

by Jennifer Ludden

Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide.

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Are Those North Korean Long-Range Missiles For Real?

10:56pm May 07, 2013

by Geoff Brumfiel

When North Korea put its missiles on parade last year, experts were surprised to see what looked to be new long-range missiles that might be powerful enough to reach the U.S. But a closer look at details in the photos suggests the missiles on display might have been a bluff.

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A bee inspector checks on a frame of bees to assess the colony strength near Turlock, Calif., in February. More than 30 percent of America's bee colonies died off over the winter.

Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops

10:56pm May 07, 2013

by Dan Charles

The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.

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Science

This Bat Knows How To Drink

3:15pm May 07, 2013

by Rhitu Chatterjee

The Pallas' long-tongued bat has a neat trick at the tip of its tongue — tiny hairlike structures that fill with blood and stand straight out. This turns the tongue into a nectar-slurping mop at just the right time.

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Unearthing History: How Technology Is Transforming Archaeology

2:40pm May 06, 2013

For centuries, explorers tried to find la Ciudad Blanca, a fabled city in the rain forests of Central America. Dense jungle impeded efforts to uncover it. Douglas Preston tells the story of a team who used light detection technology to survey the iconic ruins from the air.

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