Jan 16 300 million years ago, our ancestors walked tall. This robot shows you how By Vicky Stein The fictional Sherlock Holmes could read footprints — in soil, snow, carpet, dust and even blood. Researchers today are similarly using tracks caught in stone — plus a robot — to recreate a creature that lived 300 million years ago. Continue reading
Jan 10 Why these sea slugs look so much like David Bowie By Vicky Stein By drawing comparisons between sea slugs and Ziggy Stardust, the Bowiebranchia blog exposes the wild, beautiful and competitive evolution of both. Continue reading
Jan 09 Watch 3:42 With the government shutdown, American scientific progress is disrupted Even scientists who don’t work for the government, but receive federal money for research and grants, are among the hundreds of thousands of Americans affected by the government shutdown, now in its 19th day. That means important work and research… Continue watching
Jan 09 Watch 6:44 Virtual reality allows neurosurgery patients to ‘tour’ their own brains By Cat Wise Over the past year, UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital has been pioneering a virtual reality technology that enables pediatric patients, and their parents, to “tour” their brains before surgery. Special correspondent Cat Wise reports on how this 3-D platform may help… Continue watching
Jan 09 Why we still need paper maps By Vicky Stein "Maps can take you places that you wouldn’t think to go," said Betsy Mason, coauthor of the book "All Over the Map: A Cartographic Odyssey."… Continue reading
Jan 06 Watch 11:46 Midwest battles to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes By Megan Thompson, Mori Rothman, Michael D. Regan Asian carp are invasive fish that grow fast, jump high and have taken over large swaths of the Mississippi watershed. And now, state and federal governments are worried the Great Lakes are next. On everything from electric fences to contracted… Continue watching
Jan 06 A deep dive into newborns’ DNA may reveal potential disease risks — but is the testing worth it? By Andrew Joseph, STAT Looking for diseases in newborns’ DNA that could arise during adulthood is more ethically fraught than focusing on childhood conditions. Continue reading
Jan 05 Watch 9:57 As seas continue to rise, New Jersey buys residents out of flood zones By Ivette Feliciano, Zachary Green Hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents live in flood zones that can become inundated with storm water. But the state is trying to move some of them out of harm's way in one of the biggest home buyout programs… Continue watching
Jan 05 Reclaiming lost calories: Tweaking photosynthesis boosts crop yields By Amanda Cavanagh, The Conversation Many of the crop plants that feed us waste 20 percent of their energy, especially in hot weather. Plant geneticists prove that capturing this energy could boost crop yields by up to 40 percent. Continue reading
Jan 04 Cities could be teeming with more rats, thanks to the shutdown’s festering trash By Jamie Leventhal Rats could get access to an all-you-can-eat buffet of garbage during the government shutdown as uncollected trash piles up. Continue reading