Feb 17 Hibernating Bears Slow Down More, Cool Down Less A hibernating black bear in a manmade "hibernaculum," a wooded area with straw for bedding, which mimicked a natural bear's den. Photo courtesy University of Alaska Fairbanks. Understanding the strange hibernation patterns of American black bears may give scientists… Continue reading
Feb 17 NPR's Andy Carvin on Tracking and Tweeting Revolutions We caught up with NPR's Senior Strategist Andy Carvin between his 400+ tweets a day for a chat about his Twitter stream. It has become a must-follow wire service of sorts for people interested in the latest developments in… Continue reading
Feb 16 Watson Wins: IBM's Machine Rages Against Jeopardy! Champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter -- the least-likely Jeopardy! underdogs ever -- found themselves no match Wednesday night for Watson -- IBM's Frankenstein of trivia. I haven't watched Jeopardy in more than a decade, but in what may be… Continue reading
Feb 16 Study: Dwarfism Gene May Offer Protection From Cancer, Diabetes By Lea Winerman Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre, with members of an Ecuadorian family with Laron syndrome (photo courtesy Dr. Jaime Guevara-Aguirre) An extended family in the remote Ecuadorian Andes has been blessed, and cursed, with a rare genetic tradeoff. Members of the family carry… Continue reading
Feb 16 Helium 3 Shortage Affects National Security, Medicine Inside a storage room at Andrew's Air Force Base is a cluster of neutron radiation detectors, and alongside them, a tiny amount of plutonium, used for training drills. One detection device fits into a backpack. One is designed for… Continue reading
Feb 16 Restoring Ancient Artifacts: What Does it Take? As the dust settles on Egypt's recent protests, one less-discussed outcome of the uprising is the damage done to some of the country's ancient artifacts. After would-be looters broke into the famous Egyptian museum in Cairo in search of… Continue reading
Feb 15 Science Alone Won't Close the Case on Anthrax, Committee Says In September 2001, letters containing anthrax were mailed to two senators and several news media outlets. Five people died and at at least 17 fell ill. Fear of anthrax gripped a nation already rocked by the 9/11 attacks. Continue reading
Feb 14 What We're Reading: Foot Bones, Color Decay and the Science of Obesity X-rays Show Why Van Gogh's Yellows Have Darkened A particle accelerator helps to explain why the bright yellows in Van Gogh paintings fade to brown over time. This piece uses an animated video to explain the chemical reaction… Continue reading
Feb 14 Watch Debate Continues Over Social Media's Role in Egyptian, Arab World Protests How Did Social Media Factor Into Egypt's Uprising?… Continue watching
Feb 14 Mars500 'Lands' on the Red Planet On Monday, an international crew of six men landed on "Mars." They stepped onto a wide plane of red dust, sand and rock beneath a black and starry sky, where they will conduct experiments for the next week. The… Continue reading