Oct 13 ‘You can’t just hold your breath.’ Toxic smoke, fueled by wildfires, chokes California By Cresencio Rodriguez-Delgado A new analysis of air quality in the United States clears up just how far smoke from wildfires burning in the western part of the nation can travel, as the fires continue to pose significant health risks to nearby communities. Continue reading
Oct 06 Watch 7:44 Florida has a dengue problem. The solution may be more mosquitoes By Miles O'Brien In a major milestone, the World Health Organization endorsed widespread use of a vaccine aimed at stemming the effects of the parasitic disease malaria, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. Miles O'Brien looks at efforts to tackle other diseases carried by mosquitoes… Continue watching
Oct 04 WATCH: Nobel Prize in physics awarded to Syukuro Manabe, Klaus Hasselmann and Giorgio Parisi Manabe and Hasselmann “laid the foundation of our knowledge of the Earth’s climate and how humanity influences it." Parisi “built a deep physical and mathematical model” that made it possible to understand complex systems in fields as different as mathematics,… Continue reading
Oct 02 European-Japanese space mission gets 1st glimpse of Mercury By Associated Press A joint European-Japanese spacecraft got its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025. Continue reading
Oct 01 Cavers descend into the ‘Well of Hell,’ new clues about humans’ arrival in North America and other stories you missed By Deema Zein, Julia Griffin One in two children in the U.S. have detectable levels of lead in their blood, cavers descend to the bottom of Yemen’s ‘Well of Hell’ for the first time and newly discovered fossil footprints show earlier human arrival in North… Continue reading
Oct 01 WATCH: Nobel Prize in medicine awarded to David Julius, Ardem Patapoutian By Associated Press They were cited for their discovery of receptors for temperature and touch. Continue reading
Sep 30 Watch 7:33 Why discovery of DNA’s double helix was based on ‘rip-off’ of female scientist’s data By William Brangham, Jason Kane, Claire Mufson It is the famous lightbulb-going-off story every school kid learns: How James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA, cementing their place in scientific history. But as William Brangham explains, a new book titled "The Secret of Life"… Continue watching
Sep 29 Watch 8:30 California’s giant sequoias are pillars of living history. Climate change may kill them By Cat Wise, Leah Nagy California's famous giant sequoias can live for thousands of years. But the KNP Complex Fire is just 11 percent contained, and is burning across nearly 50,000 acres, including treasured groves in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. Another fire is… Continue watching
Sep 29 Watch 5:06 Here’s what contributed to the extinction of ivory-billed woodpecker, 22 other species By John Yang, Ryan Connelly Holmes The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed moving 23 animals and plants off the endangered species list, declaring them extinct. Perhaps the most well-known of the species deemed gone forever is the ivory-billed woodpecker. These extinctions are part of an… Continue watching
Sep 29 U.S. declares 23 species extinct By Matthew Brown, Associated Press It’s a rare move for wildlife officials to give up hope on a plant or animal. But scientists say climate change threatens to make extinctions more common as it adds to the pressures facing imperiled species. Continue reading