Jun 28 Behind the Scenes: Attacking Science Jargon in ‘Flame Challenge’ EmbedVideo(3742, 482, 304); In 1947, when film star Alan Alda was 11-years-old, he asked a teacher the seemingly innocuous question, "What is a flame?" The answer, "oxidation," was thoroughly unsatisfying to young Alda. Fast forward… Continue reading
Jun 07 Where Have All the Stars Gone? EmbedVideo(3578, 482, 304); The thrill of gazing into a night sky packed with stars, constellations and a stretch of our Milky Way galaxy is primal and timeless -- and it's become increasingly rare. Skyglow from city… Continue reading
May 31 Louisiana Islander: Water Is ‘Closing in on Us’ By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy // On Friday, the NewsHour will report on how subsidence, rising seas and storms have battered coastal Louisiana's Isle de Jean Charles, an island that has been home to Native tribes since the 1800s. As a preview to the… Continue reading
May 24 How the Nuclear Bomb Gave Us the Computer EmbedVideo(3476, 480, 320); At the close of World War II, in Princeton, N.J.'s Institute for Advanced Study, an extension of the Manhattan Project was busy building a bomb that would be a thousand times more powerful than the… Continue reading
May 03 Are You Smarter Than a 10th Grader on Climate Change? By Rebecca Jacobson, Inside Energy Think you understand climate science better than the average American teen? On the PBS NewsHour this week we've been focusing on how climate change is taught in the classroom. But you can test your knowledge with this climate quiz:… Continue reading
Apr 26 What We Lose by Losing Women in the Hard Sciences EmbedVideo(3255, 482, 304); Is it inherent gender differences, subtle discrimination, the overwhelming "maleness" of the hard science fields? Experts have struggled for years to understand what's keeping more women from entering physics, engineering and computer science. Continue reading
Apr 19 Infrared Camera Sees Through Stardust to the Edge of the Universe Space tornadoes, stellar nurseries, primitive galaxies - these are just a few of the dazzling images captured by the Spitzer Space Telescope since its 2003 launch. This week, NASA posted a collection of image highlights online. View the images… Continue reading
Apr 05 Slime Molds: No Brains, No Feet, No Problem In a study released last week, computer scientist Selim Akl of Queens University demonstrated that slime mold is fantastically efficient at finding the quickest route to food. When he placed rolled oats over the country's population centers and… Continue reading
Mar 22 Introducing the PBS NewsHour’s Coping With Climate Change Page By Jenny Marder As global temperatures increase and weather patterns shift, the PBS NewsHour will explore how American communities are dealing with climate change. On our new Coping with Climate Change page, you'll be able to find video reports,… Continue reading
Mar 08 Endangered Animals Say ‘Cheese’ for Nature Photographer EmbedVideo(2856, 482, 304); For most portrait photographers, odds that their subjects will defecate in front of them, rip their backdrops or charge at the camera tend to be low. But that's just a day's work for Joel… Continue reading