Accessibility links
Science The latest health and science news. Updates on medicine, healthy living, nutrition, drugs, diet, and advances in science and technology. Subscribe to the Health & Science podcast.

Science

Saturday

Environment

Climate Change Bill Faces Delays In Senate

While the House narrowly passed a climate change bill last summer, the Senate isn't expected to act until next spring. Five Senate committees have to weigh in before a final bill can go before the full Senate. The issue has taken a back seat to health care.

Climate Change Bill Faces Delays In Senate

Listen · 4:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120828193/120925883" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Environment

Activists, Union Fight For Cleaner Trucks In Newark

Environmentalists and the Teamsters Union are fighting for newer, cleaner trucks at the Port of Newark, but most of the trucks are owned by independent drivers who can't afford to buy new ones.

Activists, Union Fight For Cleaner Trucks In Newark

Listen · 4:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120896279/120896422" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Music

They Might Be Giants Sings About Science

In Here Comes Science, the band They Might Be Giants tackles the scientific process, plasma physics, the role of blood in the body and the importance of DNA, all in song. Band members John Linnell and John Flansburgh discuss the album and play some science tunes. Originally broadcast Sept. 25, 2009.

They Might Be Giants Sings About Science

Listen · 26:36
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120890762/120890905" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Food

Cheese: Chemistry Rolled Into Every Wheel

Can science explain what makes Stilton stinky and goat cheese gooey? Liz Thorpe, vice president of Murray's Cheese in New York and author of the book The Cheese Chronicles, talks about the science and business of making cheese in America. Originally broadcast Aug. 14, 2009.

Cheese: Chemistry Rolled Into Every Wheel

Listen · 21:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120890754/120890753" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Diversions

Ig Nobel Prizes Salute Silly Science

The winners of this year's Ig Nobel Prizes include the inventor of underwear that doubles as an emergency gas mask, researchers who created diamonds from tequila, and more. The Igs honor research that "first, makes you laugh, then, makes you think," according to Marc Abrahams, the master of ceremonies and the editor of Annals of Improbable Research.

Ig Nobel Prizes Salute Silly Science

Listen · 47:12
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120890870/120890752" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Environment

China Reveals Goals To Cut Carbon Emissions

The Chinese government has announced plans to slow its greenhouse gas emissions, but the formula allows emissions to rise as China's economy expands. China already leads the world in greenhouse gases. The announcement raises questions of how effective the plan will be on cleaning up earth's atmosphere.

China Reveals Goals To Cut Carbon Emissions

Listen · 3:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120883908/120883801" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sense Of Touch Can Help Hearing, Study Says

Sensations on the skin can help people understand speech, according to a study in the journal Nature. The study builds on decades of research showing that the brain often uses visual information to augment hearing — making people "whole-body perceiving machines," says one researcher.

Sense Of Touch Can Help Hearing, Study Says

Listen · 3:20
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120873368/120883897" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Scientists Turn Trees Into Carbon Banks

Sunlight shines through a grove of redwood trees at the Muir Woods National Monument in Marin County in Northern California. Eric Risberg/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Eric Risberg/AP

Scientists Turn Trees Into Carbon Banks

Scientists in California are experimenting with carbon banking. The idea is to manage forests so they absorb more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and slow down global warming. Countries could, in essence, be paid to turn their forests into carbon banks. But first, climate scientists need to become climate accountants — to put hard numbers on how much carbon trees breathe in and out.

Scientists Turn Trees Into Carbon Banks

Listen · 5:11
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120849322/120883899" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

Scientists Seek New Ways To Produce Flu Vaccine

One reason for the shortage of the new H1N1 flu vaccine this year is the way flu vaccines are made. A modified form of the virus is grown inside chicken eggs, but the process takes months. Now, scientists are working to create new flu vaccines that can be made much faster, using the virus' DNA.

Scientists Seek New Ways To Produce Flu Vaccine

Listen · 3:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120711392/120863194" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

A Thanksgiving Feast For The Ears And Eyes

This Year, No Turkey Feast For Shuttle Astronauts

NASA has pioneered all kinds of irradiated, thermo-stabilized and freeze-dried Thanksgiving delights, like smoked turkey, candied yams and cornbread dressing. But this year, space shuttle Atlantis rocketed off without any special holiday fare because of a late schedule change.

This Year, No Turkey Feast For Shuttle Astronauts

Listen · 3:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120836252/120863198" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Business

Nuclear Radiation Worries? There's A Pill For That

WFAE

Fear turns out be a very good thing for certain businesses. When North Korea or Iran mentions the word "nuclear," orders pour in to NukePills.com — a Web site that sells potassium iodide. The government also stockpiles this FDA-approved drug.

Nuclear Radiation Worries? There's A Pill For That

Listen · 3:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120751935/120863146" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

Darwin: The "Reluctant Revolutionary"

The Butterflies And Beetles Behind Evolution

Alfred Russel Wallace was Darwin's colleague, a globe-trotting naturalist who helped shape the theory of evolution. Thirty years ago, an antique shopper wandered into a modest antique shop in Arlington, Va., looking for Chinese carpets and wound up buying a magnificent rosewood cabinet. It contained Wallace's personal collection of 1,600 butterflies and insects.

The Butterflies And Beetles Behind Evolution

Listen · 2:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120793257/120846005" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Stolen E-Mails Raise Questions On Climate Research

E-mails stolen from a climate research center in England reveal that a small group of scientists has been pressuring scientific journals not to publish reports that cast doubt on climate change. The e-mails raise questions about the impartiality of the peer-review process, which is designed to keep poor science out of the technical literature.

Stolen E-Mails Raise Questions On Climate Research

Listen · 4:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120846593/120845999" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Environment

Group's Video Equates Flying And Polar Bears

A British environmental group has produced a video that shows falling polar bears slamming into the sides of buildings, onto the sidewalk or into the top of a parked car. The group, Plane Stupid, equates the weight of each bear, 400 kilograms, to the amount of greenhouse gases produced by an average European flight for each passenger it carries. Andrew Revkin, a New York Times reporter who covers the environment, looks at the facts.

Group's Video Equates Flying And Polar Bears

Listen · 3:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120846009/120846000" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Politics

Obama To Outline U.S. Goals At Climate Summit

President Obama will commit the U.S. to a goal of cuts in greenhouse gas emissions over the next decade at a climate conference in Copenhagen next month. His goal is to cut carbon dioxide emissions by about 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

Obama To Outline U.S. Goals At Climate Summit

Listen · 1:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/120825417/120845998" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript