Science : NPR

Report Of Liquid Woolly Mammoth Blood Prompts Clone Talk

A file photo from 2011 shows a man touching a giant bronze sculpture of a mammoth in the Siberian city of Khanty-Mansiysk. A team of Russian and South Korean scientists who found a well-preserved frozen woolly mammoth carcass this month say it also included blood. Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP/Getty Images

The Two-Way

Report Of Liquid Woolly Mammoth Blood Prompts Clone Talk

May 31, 2013 • Scientists in Siberia say they've extracted blood samples from the carcass of a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth, leading to speculation that a clone of the extinct animal might someday walk the earth. But researchers say the find must be studied further to know its potential.

Gizmo Uses Lung Cells To Sniff Out Health Hazards In Urban Air

Adam Cole/NPR

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Gizmo Uses Lung Cells To Sniff Out Health Hazards In Urban Air

May 31, 2013 • Scientists are trying to figure out how chemicals in the air interact with each other to make people sick. So they're building an instrument — a "lung in a box" — that goes way beyond the usual chemical monitors.

Mental Health

Bad Diagnosis For New Psychiatry 'Bible'

May 31, 2013 • The new edition of the DSM, the so-called "Bible" of psychiatry, is out. But many psychiatrists and psychologists say the manual's approach is outdated, boxing mental illness into discrete categories like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, when very little is known about the underlying causes of disease.

Education

Teacher Feature: Ethnobotanist Tom Carlson

May 31, 2013 • "Office hours are some of my favorite hours of the week," says professor Tom Carlson, a medical doctor, ethnobotanist and instructor of 1700 students annually at the University of California, Berkeley. One of Carlson's former students, SciFri associate senior producer Christopher Intagliata, says Carlson's class got him on the path toward science. In this "Teacher Feature," Intagliata tells his former teacher what the class meant to him.

With Chemical Tweaks, Cement Becomes A Semiconductor

May 31, 2013 • With the right chemistry, cement can take on some of the properties of a metal, researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Chris Benmore, a physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, explains why a semiconducting cement might be useful.

Researchers Revive A Plant Frozen In Time

May 31, 2013 • It sounds like something from the movies — scientists uncover a sample of plant material frozen inside a glacier for hundreds of years, bring it back to the lab, and watch as it comes back to life. Catherine LaFarge describes the work, and what it means for plant scientists.

The SciFri Book Club Takes a Hike

May 31, 2013 • The book club regulars gather to chat about the best-sellingA Walk in the Woods, writer Bill Bryson's 1998 account of a hiking trip along the Appalachian Trail. Plus, journalist Deborah Blum joins the club to talk about the best science books to stash in your beach bag (or backpack).

Huge Asteroid Makes Its Closest Pass To Earth Today

Radar images of asteroid 1998 QE2, taken when the cosmic traveler was about 3.75 million miles from Earth, revealed that the asteroid, with a 1.7-mile diameter, has a moon or satellite revolving around it. NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR hide caption

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NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR

The Two-Way

Huge Asteroid Makes Its Closest Pass To Earth Today

May 31, 2013 • The space rock, which is nine times the size of a cruise ship, is dropping by Earth and it's not coming alone. Asteroid 1998 QE2 has already given scientists a surprise: It has its own moon, measured at about 2,000 feet wide.

Big-Mouthed Toucans Key To Forest Evolution

Channel-billed toucans are important seed dispersers in rain forests. Courtesy of Lindolfo Souto/AAAS/Science hide caption

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Courtesy of Lindolfo Souto/AAAS/Science

Animals

Big-Mouthed Toucans Key To Forest Evolution

May 31, 2013 • As humans have cut into Brazil's forests, the toucan population has taken a dive. The trees, in turn, have changed, too: Without large-billed birds to eat fruit with big seeds, only trees with small seeds thrive. Eventually, one scientist says, "the impacts on the forest could be quite dramatic."

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Houston's Petrochemical Industry, Source Of Jobs And Smog

May 31, 2013 • Houston's air quality improved dramatically over the past decade, but the city is still short of meeting the latest smog standards. Getting there isn't simply a matter of cracking down more on the petrochemical industry — the city needs to deal with cars on its sprawling roads, and bad air blowing from out of town.

Michigan Tracks Cattle From Birth To Plate

Whenever a steer or cow leaves a farm in Michigan or goes to a slaughterhouse, it passes by a tag reader, and its ID number goes to a central computer that keeps track of every animal's location. Dan Charles/NPR hide caption

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Dan Charles/NPR

The Salt

Michigan Tracks Cattle From Birth To Plate

May 31, 2013 • Would you like to know the life history of that steak before you eat it? Technology exists to give you that information, at least in Michigan, where the state government requires all cattle to carry an electronic tag for tracking purposes.

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery complex in Baton Rouge, La. John W. Poole/NPR hide caption

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John W. Poole/NPR

Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

May 30, 2013 • The Standard Heights neighborhood sits next to the nation's second-largest gasoline refinery. Recently, residents learned a new truth about the plumes of exhaust they see every day: Exxon Mobil's aging refinery and petrochemical facilities — like many others — are pumping out far more pollution than the law allows.

Headed To Mars? Watch Out For Cosmic Rays

NASA/SDO

Shots - Health News

Headed To Mars? Watch Out For Cosmic Rays

May 30, 2013 • The dose of radiation an astronaut would experience on a trip to Mars is higher than the annual limit set for workers at nuclear power plants. But Mars enthusiasts say the radiation threat isn't high enough to cancel the trip.

Smelted In Space? Ancient Iron Beads Linked To Meteorite

The metal in an Egyptian iron bead dating from around 3,300 BC has been found to have originated from space, according to analysis. Here, the bead is seen in (clockwise from top left) a photograph, a CT cross-section view, a model of nickel oxides, and a model in which blue areas represent the rich presence of nickel inside the bead. The Open University/University of Manchester hide caption

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The Open University/University of Manchester

The Two-Way

Smelted In Space? Ancient Iron Beads Linked To Meteorite

May 30, 2013 • Since its discovery in 1911, an Egyptian iron bead has sparked debate over how it was produced — made around 3,300 BC, it predates the region's first known iron smelting by thousands of years. Now researchers say the iron was made in space, and delivered to Earth via meteorite.

GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field. How Did It Get There?

Genetically modified wheat has been discovered growing in a field in Oregon. GMO wheat is not approved for sale in the U.S. Above, a wheat field in Arkansas. Danny Johnston/AP hide caption

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Danny Johnston/AP

The Salt

GMO Wheat Found In Oregon Field. How Did It Get There?

May 30, 2013 • An Oregon farmer discovered genetically engineered wheat growing in his field. Nobody knows how it got there. GMO wheat is not approved for sale in the U.S.