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Sixteen-year-old Alexander Kendrick's prize-winning invention combines "teen-tech" with underground communication. His text messaging device could help rescue stranded cavers and preserve sensitive cave environments.
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Researchers have debated whether or not ancient animals called alvarezsaurs should be considered dinosaurs or birds. Now, the discovery of Haplocheirus, a 160-million-year old alvarezsaur that predates the earliest birds, sets the record straight: alvarezsaurs are dinosaurs.
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NASA rover Spirit is stuck in the Martian dust. But don't give up yet, says Steven Squyres, principal investigator of the Mars Exploration Rover Mission. Squyres discusses tactics for freeing Spirit and what projects are on the horizon for the rover if it survives the Martian winter.
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The Hayden Planetarium in New York takes opera to the moon with a new production of Il Mondo Della Luna. Diane Paulus and Philip Bussmann talk about merging cosmos footage with music, how science can enhance the arts and the future of technology and theater.
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Bdelloid rotifers haven't had sex for 30 million years and that's puzzling. Most asexual animals are doomed to extinction. Reporting in the journal Science, Paul Sherman and Chris Wilson explain the extraordinary adaptations that allow these rotifers to persist in celibacy.
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The $4 million the United States spends each year to detect near-Earth comets and asteroids is not nearly enough to detect all potentially threatening objects, according to a new report. Faith Vilas and Michael A'Hearn, two authors on the report, discuss options for keeping Earth safe.
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It's easy to find a dictionary definition of "time." But ask a group of theoretical physicists and the answer isn't as clear. Sean Carroll of CalTech discusses the mysteries of time in his book, From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time.
The bdelloid rotifer, a tiny invertebrate, hasn't had sex for 30 million years — and you thought you had a long dry spell. But species that reproduce asexually don't usually last very long, so the big question is how the rotifer has gone without it for millennia. Scientists at the University of Iowa think they have an answer.
It was a meteorological mystery: global temperatures hadn't increased dramatically over the Past decade, even though greenhouse gas levels did. It turns out that a temporary decline in water vapor in the Earth's upper atmosphere has been holding global warming in check.
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Researchers say that people who learned to run barefoot put less stress on their feet and legs than their shod peers. And it's more energy efficient, too. Barefoot is, after all, the natural way to run.
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The colors of dinosaurs have long been a mystery, since soft parts aren't preserved in the fossil record. But for the first time, scientists have teased out colors from fossilized feathers to reveal the orange-and-white ringed tail of a 125-million-year-old dinosaur.
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As China and the United States promise emissions cuts, coal consumption takes center stage. By Monday, as many as two dozen countries will have listed their emissions targets. Experts say countries need to weigh the costs and benefits of continuing to use a technology that produces the largest amount of greenhouse gases.
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Deep sea corals? A Brillo Pad convention? No and no. The photo of the day is a an extreme close-up of a flower petal.
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The space agency will end for now its effort to free Spirit from the sand trap where it has been stuck since April 2009. Instead, the focus will turn to preparing it to survive the upcoming Martian winter.
It's hard to make choices because our brains get tired, and yet we have more and more and more choices all the time. For example, how are we supposed to choose from 120 different crayon color options?
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The reason for a lack of willpower may be that you're working your prefrontal cortex too hard. If you give it too many jobs to do, it gets tired, calls it a day and gives into temptation.
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Carbon dioxide usually gets most of the blame for global warming, but a dramatic increase in methane gas emissions is worrying scientists. Global warming is causing the world's wetlands to produce more methane gas — which in turn is causing more global warming.
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During the Neolithic period, farming technology swept north into Europe over a period of several thousand years. A new study suggests that this development was due to migrating farmers and their appeal to hunter-gatherer women.
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The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed tightening the standard for smog to protect human health. The result would be cleaner urban air. But because of a quirk of atmospheric chemistry, the pollution control measures could contribute to global warming.
The island of Madagascar, located off the east coast of Africa, is host to a bizarre menagerie of small animals, many of which are found nowhere else. Biologists believe these creatures, like the ring-tailed lemur (above), arrived on the island millions of years ago from Africa — but no one has determined how they got there. Now, scientists are proposing that they floated across the ocean divide on stray vegetation and tree limbs.
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For teenagers, the effects of a drunken night out may linger long after the hangover wears off. A recent study finds damaged nerve tissue in the brains of teenagers who drink heavily, and poorer performance on thought and memory tests.
In 1848, Phineas Gage became a medical miracle when a 3 1/2-foot tamping iron blew through his head. His survival became the stuff of medical legend, but photos of him were lost to history — until now.
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If you've ever wasted time at work watching a YouTube video or playing an online game, you can thank a man named Jonathan Gay for the animation software that revolutionized the Web.
So you're forced to parallel park on the street. You finally find a spot between two hulking SUVs, but it looks pretty tight. Do you go for it or move on? Not to worry; geometry can save you.
You finally find a spot along the curb, between two hulking SUVs, and it looks pretty tight. Do you go for it or move on? Not to worry; geometry can save you.
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Experts say there are only 350 whooping cranes left in the world. Operation Migration, a nonprofit organization, has been using ultralight aircraft to train the birds to migrate south for the winter. They have succeeded in boosting the species' numbers in recent years.
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As attention turns from search and rescue to rebuilding Haiti, experts say that the billions of dollars in aid may be wasted unless money is invested in long-term projects. They say that soil erosion and a decline in agriculture exacerbated the quake's toll.
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A new report says NASA will not meet a 2020 deadline to detect big asteroids and comets that could potentially pose a risk to Earth. It suggests new strategies to find potential threats but says they'll require more funding than the annual $4 million currently spent on such searches.
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Last week, the FDA warned against exposure to a chemical called BPA, found in hard plastics. But how dangerous is the chemical? Gardiner Harris, of The New York Times, discusses the FDA's statement, and what it indicates about the future of the organization.
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Brenda Tan and Matt Cost, high school seniors from Trinity School in New York City, used a technique called DNA barcoding to find out what species were present in over 200 animal products. Their results suggest buyers should beware!
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Reporting in The Journal of Neuroscience, researchers write of creating working neurons from embryonic stem cells. When transplanted into an infant mouse brain, the cells hooked into the correct brain areas, as normal neurons would. Study author James Weimann discusses the findings.
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Facial recognition technology is already used at border crossings, the DMV and in photo-management software. But how do machines stack up against humans? Ira Flatow and guests discuss what facial recognition technology can and can't do, and talk about privacy issues concerning its use.
People have texted millions of dollars in donations to victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Is this the new model for philanthropy? Timothy Ogden, editor in chief of Philanthropy Action, explains the technology and the future of charity work in the information age.
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Genetically modified food, vaccines and synthetic biology are all hot-button issues. But they shouldn't be, according to guest Michael Specter, author of the new book Denialism. He argues that the scariest threat is not science itself, but the reluctance to discuss it.
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Have you ever wished you could time travel? Now you can! Kind of.
In deer mice, multiple males will often mate with one female, sometimes within minutes of each other. To increase their chances of reaching the egg, each male's sperm will cluster together with their own kind, allowing them to swim faster than those that go it alone.
About 400,000 Americans have multiple sclerosis, and up until now, the only drugs offered to them to slow the course of the disease had to be injected or dripped into a vein. But soon, it seems, they will have an alternative to this painful regimen: drugs that can be taken by mouth.
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Ever wonder what the Earth would look like with Saturn's rings? Animator Roy Prol shows us in this YouTube video.
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Ever wonder what the Earth would look like with Saturn's rings? Animator Roy Prol shows us in this YouTube video.
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NASA has invited education institutions, museums and other organizations to request artifacts from the soon-to-be-terminated program. The giveaway includes a massive amount of equipment from the program's nearly 30-year run.
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It has been one week since an earthquake devastated Haiti. A 6.0 earthquake struck Guatemala Monday, and earthquakes have recently shaken Argentina and Venezuela as well. NPR science correspondent Richard Harris explains the seismic activity in Latin America.
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From Britain to Beijing, folks have been shivering their way through a remarkably cold and snowy winter. Meanwhile, in parts of the Arctic, it's downright balmy — though still below freezing. What's behind all this unusual weather? It's the Arctic Oscillation — and it's gone negative.
Former editor-in-chief of New Scientist magazine predicts that the killer whale will usurp the polar bear as the king of the Arctic by the year 2050.
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In 1960, a physicist shined a flash bulb into a ruby crystal tube and the first laser was born. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the history of the laser, the intrigue surrounding its invention and why you can't pick up the phone or get in a car without having a laser to thank.
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The Chinese government has pledged that 15 percent of its energy will come from renewable sources by 2020. To that end, China announced a contract with California's eSolar to build one of the biggest solar plants in history. Bill Gross, CEO of eSolar, discusses the project.
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The 2010 census form has a box to check for race, but what do the categories mean? Some scientists say there’s no biological basis for dividing people into races. Others say race can be an important marker for disease. Ira Flatow and guests look at the science of race.
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Arctic-nesting shorebirds have some of the longest migrations in the world, traveling from the southern parts of Africa and South America. A new study reveals that they may go the distance for good reason: to avoid nest-raiding predators.
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Scientists have confirmed that men are still evolving — or at least the male chromosome is.
Scientists have confirmed that men are still evolving — or at least the male chromosome is. Y chromosome is what makes men men. A few years ago, scientists began wondering whether it was in trouble. When they compared it to the X chromosome, which is carried by both men and women, the Y chromosome didn't seem to measure up.
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The magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck a country whose buildings were barely built to engineering standards and were hopelessly fragile in the grip of such a strong quake. Haiti has no national building code, and many structures may not have been sound to begin with.
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Yesterday's devastating earthquake in Haiti may have come as a shock to the millions of people who are now suffering through its aftermath. But the quake was not a surprise to geologists. Though large quakes are rare in Haiti, it's in the middle of an active seismic zone.
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Researchers have found the Y chromosome, which makes a human a male, is changing far more rapidly than had been thought and may be one of the most active spots for evolution in the human genome.
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Haiti sits right at the spot where the tectonic North American plate and the Caribbean plate meet. One fault line runs straight through Port-au-Prince, making it earthquake country as one gigantic chunk of the Earth's crust grinds past another.
Haiti sits right at the spot where the tectonic North American plate and the Caribbean plate meet. One fault line runs straight through Port-au-Prince, making it earthquake country as one gigantic chunk of the Earth's crust grinds past another.
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The Transportation Security Administration is about to put hundreds of high-tech scanners in U.S. airports to deter terrorists. The scanners use a technology called backscatter X-ray. It's impressive, but some say it's far from perfect
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Monsanto's Roundup Ready gene inoculates plants against a herbicide that kills just about everything else. It's far and away the most successful, widely used piece of genetic engineering in agriculture. Monsanto's critics claim that the company has used this technology to gain a monopolistic grip on the seed industry. The company has drawn lawsuits from competitors, and investigations from state attorneys general and the Department of Justice. The results may yield some clarity to murky questions of patent law regarding agricultural biotech.
Monsanto's Roundup Ready gene inoculates plants against a herbicide that kills everything but the crop. Monsanto's critics claim that the company has used this technology to gain a monopolistic grip on the seed industry. The company has drawn lawsuits from competitors and investigations from state attorneys general and the Justice Department.
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Dr. Eric Coris, a specialist in sports medicine at the University of South Florida, says Mark McGwire's use of steroids probably didn't help him stave off injuries or recover from them more quickly.
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Scientists working in Spain say they've found evidence of sophisticated Neanderthal inventions — jewelry and makeup. Ornamentation is viewed as evidence of "symbolic" thinking, a trait most often thought of as belonging only to modern humans.
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Technology similar to what's inside a Nintendo Wii controller lets fans watch a virtual coin flip through the air just as the ref's real coin does.
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The star Epsilon Aurigae has one of the longest eclipses on record — almost two years. The star has puzzled astronomers for centuries. Now, data from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope is shedding new light on the mystery.
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The rate of nearsightedness among Americans is rising, by as much as 66 percent since 1970, according to one study. But why? Researchers working to unravel the mystery think it may be linked to the amount of time spent outdoors during childhood.
The initiative proposed to amend the state constitution by defining a person and extending due process rights from the beginning of biological development through end of life. The judge said the measure was too broad and general in nature to be put before voters in November.
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At the atomic level, things can be messy at room temperature — particles tend to jump around. But a group of physicists have found that if you cool things way down, and apply a magnetic field, some quantum particles align in elegant symmetrical arrangements.
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Reporting in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, researchers write that the American obesity epidemic is eating away at gains in health and life expectancy achieved by anti-smoking campaigns. Ira Flatow and guests discuss the trend, and how Americans can trim fat.
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Basalt formations off the East Coast of the U.S. could suck up a billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to a new study. Paleontologist Paul Olsen, of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, explains how to get the CO2 into the rocks, and why scientists believe it won't leak out.
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Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," uses water and an array of chemicals to push apart underground rock formations, releasing natural gas for collection. Environmental groups want more regulation of the chemicals used in fracking; industry groups say more rules aren't necessary.
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Neuroscientist and Nobel Prize winner Eric Kandel has been studying the molecular basis of memory for more than 50 years. His life and career are the subject of a new documentary, In Search of Memory. Kandel discusses the state of memory research and shares his own memories.
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Astronauts outfitted the Hubble Space Telescope with a powerful new camera last year. Now it has spotted the most distant galaxies known to science. Science News writer Ron Cowen chats about this and other news presented at the American Astronomical Society meeting this week.
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It's said that information is power but could information mean less power, when it comes to electricity use? Environmentalists and makers of so-called smart meters are convinced that's the case. They say if consumers could see in real time how much power they're using, they'd conserve more. But some behavioral economists say no way. They say electricity is so cheap that real-time information might lead people to run their lights and gadgets even more.
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The Environmental Protection Agency proposed new, stricter smog standards Thursday, which would reverse Bush-era limits that contradicted scientists' recommendations. Hundreds of counties now face government sanctions if they don't meet the new pollution rules.
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The Environmental Protection Agency wants to replace Bush-era limits with tighter health standards for smog. Officials said the revised rules are based on a more thorough examination of the science. The new standards likely will put hundreds more counties nationwide in violation.
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A group of hydrologists, ecologists and engineers analyzed years of research and found that mountaintop removal as a way to mine coal is more damaging to the environment and public health than the law should permit. They're urging federal and state authorities to halt or alter the practice.
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Scientists have mapped the shape of the dark matter that is surrounding our home galaxy, the Milky Way. According to their research, the Milky Way is sitting in a clump of dark matter that resembles a gigantic flattened beach ball. One astrophysicist says dark matter accounts for more than 70 percent of the mass in galaxies like ours.
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A common measure of depression in clinical studies may be mislabeling people as more depressed than everyday doctors would. As a result, an analysis that concludes antidepressants aren't much help for all but the most severely depressed could be missing the mark.
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A common measure of depression in clinical studies may be mislabeling people as more depressed than everyday doctors would. As a result, an analysis that concludes antidepressants aren't much help for all but the most severely depressed could be missing the mark.
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Researchers in California have identified 10 regional clusters where autism rates are roughly double that of surrounding areas. Most of the clusters are in places where parents have higher-than-average levels of education and researchers found no evidence of environmental risk factors.
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As red snapper populations along the southeast coast continue to decline, fisherman who depend on the stock are finding themselves at odds with the federal government and scientists who are working to overcoming years of overfishing.
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Dean Kamen's inventions range from medical devices, such as a stair-climbing wheelchair, to the much-hyped Segway Personal Transporter. These days, he's working on new technologies that he hopes will transform the world.
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Valerie Weiss received a Ph.D. in X-ray crystallography from Harvard University, but she wanted to be a filmmaker. So she abandoned the lab, moved to Los Angeles, wrote a screenplay, and is now filming her first feature.
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A shut-down Polaroid film factory in Massachusetts has gotten new life manufacturing flexible solar panels. It's just one example of a green industry that advocates say could use government support to spur job growth and help the environment.
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Just as wars over oil played a major role in 20th century history, a new book makes a convincing case that many 21st century conflicts will be fought over water.
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Up before dawn seven days week, Tim Maikshilo and Kristen Dellert still couldn't turn a profit off their conventional northern Vermont dairy farm. But after a couple of years with an empty barn, they gave it another go — this time, as part of an organic co-op.
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Winter weather means more than skiing and snowmen. Bullet rosettes, stellar plates and capped columns are just a few of the crystal varieties commonly found in snowstorms. Science Friday asked Kenneth Libbrecht, physicist at Caltech and snowflake expert, for guidance on snowflake hunting.
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Reporting in the journal Behavioral Neuroscience, researchers found that caffeine was no help in countering the effects of alcohol on learning and decision making, at least in mice. Thomas Gould, psychologist at Temple University, explains the findings.
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What mental tricks do retailers employ to push products? William Poundstone, author of Priceless: The Myth of Fair Market Value (and How To Take Advantage of It), talks about the science of pricing and shares tips for savvy shopping.
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Father-daughter team Eric and Natalie Yoder share brainteasers from their new book, One Minute Mysteries: 65 Short Mysteries You Solve With Math. Get your slide rule ready and see if you can solve their stumpers.
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What happens when scientific research borders on science fiction? Michael Belfiore, author of the new book The Department of Mad Scientists, talks about the bizarre projects happening behind the scenes at DARPA — the secretive research arm of the Department of Defense.
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For over a century, volunteers have been looking for larks and spotting sparrows in the annual Christmas Bird Count. Ornithologists David Bonter and Glenn Olson talk about this year's most exciting finds, and expert birder Bill Schmoker reviews the best gear for bird nerds.
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