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The sample return capsule from NASA's OSIRIS-REx mission is seen shortly after touching down in the desert at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. Keegan Barber/NASA hide caption

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Keegan Barber/NASA

NASA asteroid sample lands safely in Utah before being whisked away by helicopter

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Ekemeni Riley is the managing director of Aligning Science Across Parkinson's, a research initiative that worked on an effort to bring a more diverse population into a study on genes that carry a greater risk for the disease. A team that included scientists from Lagos, London and the U.S. found a previously unknown gene variant that can nearly quadruple the risk for people of African ancestry. Anna Rose Layden for NPR hide caption

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Anna Rose Layden for NPR

Theoretical physicist and YouTuber Sabine Hossenfelder, shown in a photo taken in December at the University of Oxford in England, turned to YouTube "to keep my sanity" during the dark days of the pandemic. Anthony Sajdler hide caption

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Anthony Sajdler

Clarence DeMar in 1932. Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection hide caption

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Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection

A study of this champion's heart helped prove the benefits of exercise

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Archaeologists dug into a riverbank in Zambia and uncovered what they call the earliest known wood construction by humans. The half-million year-old artifacts could change how we see Stone-Age people. Larry Barham and Geoff Duller/University of Liverpool hide caption

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Larry Barham and Geoff Duller/University of Liverpool

World's oldest wooden structure defies Stone-Age stereotypes

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New analysis has found a source of carbon within Europa, Jupiter's moon that is believed to hold massive amounts of liquid water. This view of the moon was created from images taken by NASA's Galileo spacecraft in the late 1990s. NASA/JPL-Caltech hide caption

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NASA/JPL-Caltech

Last month team members practiced retrieving the sample return capsule, using a replica, at the Department of Defense's Utah Test and Training Range. NASA/Keegan Barber hide caption

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NASA/Keegan Barber

NASA effort to bring home asteroid rocks will end this weekend in triumph or a crash

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Freder/Getty Images

To woo a cockatoo, scientists find having your own drumsticks and rhythm is key

Today on the show, All Things Considered co-host Mary Louise Kelly joins Regina G. Barber and Maria Godoy for our bi-weekly science roundup. They talk through some of the latest eye-catching science news, including the percussion-intensive mating life of cockatoos, what pink diamonds today tell us about the breakup of the ancient supercontinent Nuna and the latest on the Nipah outbreak in India.

To woo a cockatoo, scientists find having your own drumsticks and rhythm is key

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Bulbul Aktar, a shasthya kormi, or community health worker, with the malaria elimination program in Bangladesh, goes door to door to treat malaria patients. "This is my job, my duty," says Aktar. "Every single home, I have to know about them and visit them." Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR hide caption

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Fatima Tuj Johora for NPR

Malaria is on the ropes in Bangladesh. But the parasite is punching back

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Smoky haze from wildfires in Canada obscures New York City's Empire State Building this year. The air in the U.S. has improved over the past 50 years, but smoke pollution from growing wildfires erodes much of that progress. David Dee Delgado/Getty Images hide caption

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David Dee Delgado/Getty Images

A diver in the Revillagigedo Archipelago interacts with giant mantas as part of a citizen science cruise led by Dr. Alfredo Giron. Alfredo Giron hide caption

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Alfredo Giron

A study of nearly 300,000 people in the U.K. found that people who maintained at least five of seven healthy habits cut their risk of depression by 57%. Maria Stavreva/Getty Images hide caption

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Maria Stavreva/Getty Images

These habits can cut the risk of depression in half, a new study finds

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We've heard we need more fiber in our diets. Here are 8 easy tips for getting there

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Since its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has sent back detailed images and spectra of galaxies from when the universe was just 900 million years old. NASA, ESA, CSA, Simon Lilly (ETH Zurich), Daichi Kashino (Nagoya University), Jorryt Matthee (ETH Zurich), Christina Eilers (MIT), Rongmon Bordoloi (NCSU), Ruari Mackenzie (ETH Zurich) hide caption

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NASA, ESA, CSA, Simon Lilly (ETH Zurich), Daichi Kashino (Nagoya University), Jorryt Matthee (ETH Zurich), Christina Eilers (MIT), Rongmon Bordoloi (NCSU), Ruari Mackenzie (ETH Zurich)

Saucer-like lenticular clouds appear over Turkiye's Bursa province in the early morning hours of January 19, 2023. Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images hide caption

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Anadolu Agency/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

New NASA report lays out roadmap for studying UFOs

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Experts say the new COVID boosters are a much closer match to currently circulating variants than prior vaccines and boosters. Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Frederick J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

The new COVID boosters are coming: Here's what you need to know

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The cover of Ben Goldfarb's latest book, Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping The Future of Our Planet Courtesy of W.W. Norton and Co. hide caption

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Courtesy of W.W. Norton and Co.

From "massive squishings" to the insect apocalypse, roads are terrorizing nature

40 million miles of road unite us. They also cause mass destruction for many species. Today, environmental journalist Ben Goldfarb and host Aaron Scott go on a tour of that destruction — the subject of Ben's new book Crossings: How Road Ecology Is Shaping the Future of Our Planet. But don't worry, it's not all grim! Along the way, we learn why fewer insects are hitting our windshields, talk about the breakthrough that is highway overpasses, and how at least one bird has adapted to avoid 18-wheel semi-trucks.

From "massive squishings" to the insect apocalypse, roads are terrorizing nature

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A person receives a COVID-19 vaccination dose, during a free distribution of COVID-19 rapid test kits for those who received vaccination shots or booster shots, at Union Station on January 7, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

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Mario Tama/Getty Images

New Shots and a New Era for COVID

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Gerhardt Boukes, chief scientist at Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, formulates mRNA for use in a vaccine against COVID-19. The company — based in Cape Town, South Africa — is the linchpin of a global project to enable low- and middle-income countries to make mRNA vaccines against all manner of diseases. Tommy Trenchard for NPR hide caption

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Tommy Trenchard for NPR