Science
Greenland, Antarctic Ice Is Melting Faster
()The good news: Sea level has risen by just a half-inch in the past 20 years as a result of shrinking ice. The bad news: The melting is now speeding up. Over the next century, this could contribute to another 2- to 3-foot rise in sea level — enough to flood New York City every few years.
Special Series
Joe's Big Idea
How do ideas become inventions and innovations? An NPR experiment explores.
Krulwich Wonders...
The Rubik's Cube That Isn't()
Have a look at this Rubik's Cube. Now turn it slightly. Still there?
The Salt
Key To E. Coli-Free Spinach May Be An Ultrasonic Spa Treatment()
A new way to clean spinach combines an old technique and a new one to get the disease-causing bacteria. But there aren't any commercial orders for the ultrasonic spinach spa just yet.
Research News
A Short Fuse For Fusion As Ignition Misses Deadline()
November 28, 2012 The $5 billion National Ignition Facility has been called a modern-day moonshot, a project of "revolutionary science." But the massive experiment that aims to generate nuclear fusion has failed to do so by a key deadline.
Krulwich Wonders...
Is Life A Smoother Ride If You're A Chicken? ()
November 28, 2012 Imagine a pothole-filled road. Imagine riding that road on a bicycle. Imagine the bumps. Imagine you have a chicken with you. Who has the smoother ride, you or the chicken?
Deceptive Cadence
Do Orchestras Really Need Conductors? ()
November 27, 2012 A computer science study shows that when an orchestra's musicians closely follow the lead of the conductor, rather than one another, they produce better music.
Shots - Health News
To Fight Tick-Borne Disease, Someone Has To Catch Ticks()
November 27, 2012 RIPRA Rhode Island researcher is a master at collecting deer ticks where other people overlook them. He caught 15,000 of them last year, and his success is a sign of a growing problem. Tick-borne diseases are on the rise.
U.S.
Will Florida Pythons Slither To Rest Of The U.S.?()
November 26, 2012 Researchers from the University of Florida, National Geographic and other groups say Burmese pythons may not be as likely to spread across the Southeast U.S. as previous researchers have warned. Cold weather may beat them back.
Ask A NASA Astrobiologist About Dec. 21 'Doomsday'()
November 26, 2012 NASA astrobiologist David Morrison has taken it upon himself to answer hundreds of questions about the science of doomsday predictions. At NASA's Ask an Astrobiologist site, Morrison thoughtfully responds to questions like: Will we have Christmas this year?
Experiments That Keep Going And Going And Going()
November 23, 2012 Some scientific research can't be completed in days or months — projects can take years, or even decades or centuries. This poses a challenge for scientists who must make plans for experiments that often outlive the experimenter.