Feb 25 Will the West’s ‘Great River’ run dry? By Jim Robbins, Yale Environment 360 As the Southwest faces rapid growth and unrelenting drought, the Colorado River is in crisis. Now those who depend on the river must confront the hard reality that their supply of Colorado water may be cut off. Continue reading
Feb 24 In search of life’s origins, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 spacecraft lands on an asteroid By Jonathan O'Callaghan, Scientific American The mission to Asteroid Ryugu could return samples of the space rock to Earth in 2020. Continue reading
Feb 23 Watch 9:45 New York moves to regulate a ‘likely human carcinogen’ in drinking water By Hari Sreenivasan, Sam Weber, Connie Kargbo New York state is proposing the country’s first firm limit on a chemical found in drinking water in heavy concentrations in some Long Island, New York communities. 1,4-dioxane has been labeled a “likely human carcinogen” by the EPA, but is… Continue watching
Feb 23 How smallpox devastated the Aztecs – and helped Spain conquer an American civilization 500 years ago By Richard Gunderman, The Conversation Epidemics are nothing new, and some widespread infectious diseases have profoundly changed the course of human history. Continue reading
Feb 20 Can too much salt lead to bad skin? By Nsikan Akpan A new German study suggests eczema, one of the most common skin diseases, may be so prevalent because of too much table salt in our diets. Continue reading
Feb 17 Is this the footprint of one of the last Neandertals? By Kate Wong, Scientific American The fossilized print, found in Gibraltar, is said to date to 28,000 years ago, which might mean it belonged to a Neandertal. But not everyone agrees with that interpretation. Continue reading
Feb 14 Why that one song will always remind you of your ex By Nsikan Akpan This Valentine’s Day, three neuroscientists explain why music-evoked memories are so potent -- and whether we can let them go. Continue reading
Feb 13 After a 15-year odyssey, NASA loses its trailblazing Opportunity By Rebecca Boyle, Scientific American Mired in dust on the afternoon of June 10, 2018, NASA’s Opportunity rover received a final command from Earth. The reply was grim. Continue reading
Feb 11 Opinion: Every student can be an inventor By Doug Scott On National Inventors Day, learn how one Massachusetts educator is teaching his students about the power of invention. Continue reading
Feb 06 Watch 6:55 How cutting-edge engineering borrows nature’s innovations By Miles O'Brien In the never-ending hunt for new designs that jump, pump, or run faster and better, scientists are finding inspiration in nature. The field of biomimicry blurs boundaries between living things -- like the butterfly’s proboscis or the flea's powerful legs… Continue watching