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Science

Sunday

Your Choice In Utensils Can Change How Food Tastes

Cheese might take on a whole new flavor when you use a plastic utensil. Elizabeth Willing/Courtesy Flavour hide caption

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Elizabeth Willing/Courtesy Flavour

The Salt

Your Choice In Utensils Can Change How Food Tastes

Cutlery, dishes and other inedible accoutrements to a meal can alter our perceptions of taste, according to researchers. And it might be more about our brains than our tongues.

Your Choice In Utensils Can Change How Food Tastes

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Saturday

Shuttle Atlantis Lands For Good At Kennedy Space Center

The space shuttle Atlantis, with its cargo arm extended, goes on display today the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. John Raoux/AP hide caption

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John Raoux/AP

Space

Shuttle Atlantis Lands For Good At Kennedy Space Center

WMFE

After traveling 125 million miles in orbit, the shuttle is now on display about 10 miles from where it launched and landed on its final mission just under two years ago.

Shuttle Atlantis Lands For Good At Kennedy Space Center

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Health

The Latest Research On Alzheimer's

The largest gains in treatment of the disease have been made in the psycho-social realm — preparing the patient and the caregiver for what to expect. Dr. Jason Karlawish of the University of Pennsylvania tells guest host Lynn Neary what else researchers are learning.

The Latest Research On Alzheimer's

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Friday

Space

Not One, but Three 'Goldilocks Planets'?

In a study published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, researchers say that they've discovered a solar system with not just one, but three planets that could support life only 22 light-years away from Earth. Rory Barnes, the lead U.S. author of the study, talks about how it's possible to find multiple "Goldilocks planets" around one star.

Not One, but Three 'Goldilocks Planets'?

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Energy

Aiming For 'Wild and Crazy' Energy Ideas

The Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy, or ARPA-E, backs energy technologies that are too risky for investors, but offer a potentially huge payoff — if they work. The agency has gambled on flywheels, compressed air energy storage, lithium-air batteries, even wind-energy kites.

Aiming For 'Wild and Crazy' Energy Ideas

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Environment

Obama: U.S. Should Lead Assault on Climate Change

This week President Obama announced his plan to tackle climate change, including proposals to regulate gas and coal emissions, and brace the nation for rising seas. David Roberts, who covers energy and climate change for Grist.org, talks about what to expect from the plan — and how much the president can accomplish without the help of Congress.

Obama: U.S. Should Lead Assault on Climate Change

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Living Large in 140 Square Feet

Chris Tack made seven unloading trips to Goodwill before moving into the tiny home he and his wife Malissa designed and built. Constructed on a trailer bed and parked in Snohomish, Washington, the house is more than enough space for them, the couple says. And one advantage of an abode on wheels is that you can always move, says Malissa.

Living Large in 140 Square Feet

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Mental Health

'Brainwashed' Examines the Value of Brain Scans

In the new book Brainwashed: The Seductive Appeal of Mindless Neuroscience, co-authors Sally Satel and Scott Lilienfeld examine the science behind some recent brain imaging research. Satel joins host Ira Flatow and other guests for a look at what brain scans can — "and cannot — "tell us about human behavior and how the mind works.

'Brainwashed' Examines the Value of Brain Scans

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Put Down Oil Drill, Pick Up The Test Tube: Making Fuel From Yeast

Jay Keasling (left), speaking with Rajit Sapar at the Joint BioEnergy Institute, is pioneering a technique to develop diesel fuel from yeast. Courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory hide caption

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Courtesy of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Environment

Put Down Oil Drill, Pick Up The Test Tube: Making Fuel From Yeast

Synthetic biologist Jay Keasling has already taught yeast to make the leading anti-malarial drug. His next project takes the technology a step further, using yeast to turn plant waste into diesel — and maybe gasoline and jet fuel, too.

Put Down Oil Drill, Pick Up The Test Tube: Making Fuel From Yeast

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Tips For Surviving A Mega-Disaster

Patong beach in Phuket, Thailand, was destroyed by the tsunami on Dec. 25, 2004. More than 230,000 people died. Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images hide caption

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Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images

Tips For Surviving A Mega-Disaster

NASA has a plan to fend off giant asteroids, but what about tsunamis, earthquakes, storms that last 45 days and mammoth floods? Earth scientists say science-based strategies can help communities prepare for the worst of the worst.

Tips For Surviving A Mega-Disaster

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Thursday