Mar 07 Study: ‘Exergames’ Provide Some Real Exercise Playing a video game used to mean sitting, sedentarily, in front of a screen. But more recently, "exergames" such as Dance Dance Revolution and the Wii Fit have gotten game players off the couch. A study published Monday… Continue reading
Mar 07 Stellar Wormholes, Space Data and Supercooling Sodawater One Scientist's Dramatic Exodus from Libya The skull of a valuable ancient elephant-like animal is housed in the Sarayy al-Hamra fort in Tripoli, the former site of the Libyan Museum of Natural History. This piece includes the tale… Continue reading
Mar 04 Glory Rocket Mission Launch Failure as Told in Tweets The story of the Taurus XL rocket -- which launched from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base early Friday morning, failed to reach orbit and then crashed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean -- can perhaps be best told from this… Continue reading
Mar 03 Spider-like Brain Cells May Be Active in Memory Making This image shows the interaction of astrocytes and neurons in the hippocampus of a rat. Astrocytes are stained green, neurons are shown in red, and cell nuclei in blue. (Mount Sinai School of Medicine) A lesser-known brain cell may… Continue reading
Mar 02 Watch Go Fish? Not in Pacific Ocean Sanctuaries off California’s Coast The battle over dozens of no-fishing zones off the California coast. Continue watching
Mar 01 Congressman vs. the Machine: Rocket Scientist Rep. Rush Holt Bests Watson Two weeks after IBM's computer Watson trounced Jeopardy! masterminds Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter, Rep. Rush Holt dealt the upstart trivia champion computer a defeat on Monday. The New Jersey Democrat beat the scrappy computer $8,600 to $6,200,… Continue reading
Mar 01 Superfluids, Dolphin Deaths and Dinosaur Thighs Dinosaur-Hunting Hobbyist Makes Fresh Tracks for Paleontology Read about a 42-year-old British computer programmer-turned-paleontologist and his latest discovery: "a new dinosaur called Brontomerus mcintoshi, a sauropod with uncommonly large, powerful thighs." (Sindya Bhanoo, New York Times) Video:… Continue reading
Feb 28 Shuttle Debris, Explained By Jenny Marder Viewer question: Was there any comment on the two pieces of debris that came off about 5:48 into the video? (Watch the Discovery launch here). Updated: 4:40 pm EST | By 10:47 am EST Monday morning, astronaut Steven Bowen… Continue reading
Feb 25 ‘King’s Speech’ Draws Attention to New Stuttering Research Editor's note: "The King's Speech" won Oscars for best picture, best actor, best director and best original screenplay Sunday evening. "The King's Speech" is leading the Oscar buzz this year with 12 nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actor. The… Continue reading
Feb 24 Watch Discovery’s Launch Marks Beginning of End for NASA Shuttle Program The final mission for Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Fla., after several months of delays. Hari Sreenivasan talks with science correspondent Miles O'Brien about the legacy of Discovery and the space shuttle program. Continue watching