Science

Science
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Gripping Science Tales Need Not Be Science Fiction

9:19am March 30, 2013

When does a story about science become science fiction? Cosmologist Lawrence Krauss and theoretical physicist Brian Greene discuss how to spin a yarn about string theory or the Big Bang, without hyping the science. And novelist Ian McEwan, whose books touch on neurosurgery and quantum field theory, talks about what science offers to fiction.

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Science

Studying Rocks Found On Earth For Clues About Space

9:11am March 30, 2013

With samples from over 1,800 separate meteorite falls around the world, ASU's Center for Meteorite Studies claims the world's largest university-based meteorite collection. Meenakshi Wadhwa explains how meteorites can teach researchers about the history of the solar system.

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Workers clear honey from dead beehives at a bee farm east of Merced, Calif.

Are Agriculture's Most Popular Insecticides Killing Our Bees?

10:42am March 28, 2013

by Dan Charles

Neonicotinoids are pesticides widely used to coat the seeds of agricultural plants, especially corn. But some evidence suggests these chemicals may also be poisoning bees. A tell-tale clue: reports of massive bee die-offs that all took place during corn-planting season.

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Wind turbines at the San Gorgonio Pass Wind Farm in Whitewater, Calif., in 2012.

Science

Is The Sky The Limit For Wind Power?

9:55pm March 27, 2013

by Christopher Joyce

Building huge turbine farms too close together might significantly reduce their power, some atmospheric scientists say. The problem is "wind shadow" — the turbulence created by one big cluster of turbines that steals wind from another cluster down the road.

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Good Luck With That 'Perfect' March Madness Bracket. You'll Need It

9:30am March 27, 2013

by Adam Cole

Millions of basketball fans will fill out NCAA tournament brackets this week and try to correctly predict the outcomes of every game. The chances of succeeding are about 1 in 150 quintillion. A group of computer scientists are trying to beat those odds by writing programs that learn to pick winners.

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Demonstrators carry a mock pipeline as they pass the White House to protest the Keystone Pipeline, in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 18, 2012.

After Keystone Review, Environmentalists Vow To Continue Fight

2:33pm March 25, 2013

by Elizabeth Shogren

A report released by the State Department Friday says the pipeline won't have much of an impact on the development of oil from Alberta. But activists who oppose the project aren't giving in.

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Same-sex marriage advocates protest outside the county clerk's office in San Francisco on Feb. 14.

Shift In Gay Marriage Support Mirrors A Changing America

8:42am March 25, 2013

by Shankar Vedantam

The latest polls indicate 58 percent of Americans support same-sex marriage. In 1977, that number was 13 percent. One researcher says that jump in support isn't the result of a generational gap — it's that many who once opposed gay marriage have changed their minds or softened their opposition.

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Future Robot's FURo robot acts as a host.

Science

Four Robots That Are Learning To Serve You

6:34pm March 23, 2013

by NPR Staff

Robots are moving further from sci-fi into everyday reality. They can now assist with doing housework, giving directions and even performing surgery. They're still a few years off, but here are a few robots we may live with someday.

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The Abnormally Normal Science Of Sinkholes

2:58pm March 22, 2013

by NPR Staff

When a Florida man vanished into a massive sinkhole that opened underneath his home in February, the case garnered national attention. But geologists say sinkholes occur regularly without much notice.

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Scientists Search For Gulf War Illness Answers

2:14pm March 22, 2013

According to the Institute of Medicine as many as 250,000 of 700,000 veterans of the first Gulf War suffer from an array of unexplained medical ailments. Guests discuss the latest research on Gulf War illness and its treatment and why it's been hard to pinpoint a cause.

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