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

Monday

Here's Something Congress Can Agree On: Helium

Party On: Legislation passed last week allows the Federal Helium Reserve to continue selling the stockpiled gas. Above, Jonathan Trappe launches his 370-balloon craft from Caribou, Maine, in an attempt to cross the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 12. Alexandre Ayre/Barcroft Media/Landov hide caption

toggle caption
Alexandre Ayre/Barcroft Media/Landov

It's All Politics

Here's Something Congress Can Agree On: Helium

With the government on the brink of a shutdown, Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together on a law to protect the Federal Helium Reserve. Legislation passed late last week will keep the gas used in party balloons flowing from the national stockpile.

Here's Something Congress Can Agree On: Helium

Listen · 3:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227772534/227869618" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Space's Wild: 5 Cool Happenings Along The Final Frontier

SpaceX launched an upgraded version of its Falcon 9 rocket Sept. 30 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, northwest of Los Angeles. SpaceX hide caption

toggle caption
SpaceX

All Tech Considered

Space's Wild: 5 Cool Happenings Along The Final Frontier

Space organizations are taking potential leaps for mankind: SpaceX tries to reuse rocket parts, Orbital Sciences docks a craft to the International Space Station, and NASA is exploring the uses of 3-D printing. Spoiler: One of those uses is pizza.

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times
iStockphoto.com

Author Interviews

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

Fresh Air

In The Story of the Human Body, evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman explains how our bodies haven't adapted to modern conditions. The result is "mismatch diseases" — ailments that occur because our bodies weren't designed for the environments in which we now live.

How Our Stone Age Bodies Struggle To Stay Healthy In Modern Times

Listen · 36:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227777434/227802614" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
No Assembly Required: Ikea To Sell Solar Panels In U.K.

Workers assemble solar panels at the now-bankrupt Suntech in the eastern Chinese city of Wuxi. Overproduction in the country has helped lower the cost of solar panels. Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images

The Two-Way

No Assembly Required: Ikea To Sell Solar Panels In U.K.

The Swedish housewares retailer, which is already using renewable energy to power many of its own stores, says it wants to tap into a growing demand for solar.

Sunday

Is Living With Extreme Wildfires The New Normal?

A wildfire burns in Prescott, Ariz., on June 18. The fire covered nearly 11 square miles of the Prescott National Forest. Todd Tamcsin/AP/American Red Cross hide caption

toggle caption
Todd Tamcsin/AP/American Red Cross

Environment

Is Living With Extreme Wildfires The New Normal?

The Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona was deadly in part because of how close a highly flammable forest was to a community. The U.S. once faced a crisis with structural fires, but managed to change regulations to turn the trend around. Experts say it will take a renewed effort to take on this newer fire threat.

Is Living With Extreme Wildfires The New Normal?

Listen · 11:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227556368/227551589" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

But Can Your Smartphone Pick The Fastest Checkout Line?

Shoppers are increasingly distracted by their smartphones at the checkout lines, and as a result they're less likely to make impulse purchases on items like candy or magazines. Writer Jon Nathanson tells host Rachel Martin that this change in habit is prompting retailers to come up with new ways to grab shopper's attention.

But Can Your Smartphone Pick The Fastest Checkout Line?

Listen · 3:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227431382/227431365" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Music

Babies Smell Delicious, Just Like A Cheeseburger

A baby's scent triggers the reward circuits in women's brains, the same circuits that light up when an addict gets drugs or you eat a juicy cheeseburger, according to a study co-authored by University of Montreal researcher Johannes Frasnelli. He explains to host Rachel Martin why people want to nibble on their infants.

Babies Smell Delicious, Just Like A Cheeseburger

Listen · 2:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227431388/227433187" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

What Lurks Beneath The Earth's Surface

Shinichi Kuramoto of the Center for Deep Earth Exploration in Japan displays a replica of earthquake fault rock. TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images

The Protojournalist

What Lurks Beneath The Earth's Surface

Water pools, oilfields, undersea volcanoes. By exploring the planet's interior, we are making new, unexpected discoveries and learning more about life above the surface — and perhaps deep within ourselves.

The Fragile, Invisible Connections Of The Natural World

From the TED Radio Hour, writer and environmentalist George Monbiot tells the story of what happened when wolves were re-introduced to Yellowstone National Park after a 70-year absence.

The Fragile, Invisible Connections Of The Natural World

Listen · 3:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/227118003/227117994" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Why Brain Surgeons Want Help From A Maggot-Like Robot

University of Maryland's Jaydev Desai shows off a prototype of a robot that he and colleagues are developing to minimize harm to patients during brain surgery. John T. Consoli/University of Maryland hide caption

toggle caption
John T. Consoli/University of Maryland

Shots - Health News

Why Brain Surgeons Want Help From A Maggot-Like Robot

While watching TV, a neurosurgeon got the idea for a robot that would help minimize collateral damage during operations to remove tumors. Now he and colleagues at the University of Maryland are making progress on a wormy robot that could be ready for testing in humans in a few years.

Environment

UN Climate Change Report: Sea Level, Air Temperature To Rise

The United Nation's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change releases its latest assessment today. This is the fifth since 1990. The reports project the rate of global warming, sea level rise and other expected effects that result largely from our use of fossil fuels, which puts billions of additional tons of carbon dioxide into the air every year.

UN Climate Change Report: Sea Level, Air Temperature To Rise

Listen · 3:21
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/226902314/226902316" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Students Win Seed Money To Make Flour From Insects

MBA students from McGill University in Montreal are building a company to mass produce grasshoppers, seen here at a market in Oaxaca, Mexico. William Neuheisel/Flickr hide caption

toggle caption
William Neuheisel/Flickr

The Salt

Students Win Seed Money To Make Flour From Insects

The students plan to make the nutritious "power flour" with grasshoppers, weevils and caterpillars. Their goal is to make insect-based food products available year-round to people living in some of the world's poorest slums.

Food

Food Fermentation: The Science of Sausage and Cheese

Fermentation is one of the oldest methods of preserving foods. How does acid affect sausage and cheese? What role do microbes play in determining texture and flavor? We'll discuss the science behind these fermented foods.

Food Fermentation: The Science of Sausage and Cheese

Listen · 17:28
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/226837810/226837800" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript