Law
Will The Court's Gene Ruling Stifle Bio Innovation?
5:19
Science
Happy Birthday: Cake, candles and cone-shaped hats make regular appearances at birthday parties. What gives?
What Makes Rituals Special? Join Us For A Google+ Conversation
()From savoring a morning coffee to lighting a candle each night, people employ rituals all over the world. NPR science correspondent Shankar Vedantam speaks with behavior scientist Francesca Gino and Slate columnist William Saletan about the role of rituals in human life.
Special Series
Joe's Big Idea
How do ideas become inventions and innovations? An NPR experiment explores.
Krulwich Wonders...
The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name, Of A Beetle For A Beer Bottle()
June 19, 2013 What's that beetle doing to that beer bottle? The beetle dropped down from the sky, grabbed the bottle's bottom, keeps hugging and hugging it, even when being attacked by ants, and it won't — refuses to — let go. It can't be the beer it's after. The beer is at the other end. What's going on?
Animals
Animal CSI: Inside The Smithsonian's Feather Forensics Lab()
June 19, 2013 A keen eye and extensive knowledge of feathers allows forensic ornithologist Carla Dove (yes, that's her name) figure out from feather and bone fragments which type of bird crashed into a plane or was eaten by a snake. But the expertise has an uncertain future.
Shots - Health News
How To Make Museums More Inviting For Kids With Autism()
June 18, 2013 A day at a museum promises fun for parents and kids alike. But for children who are on the autism spectrum, a seemingly simple museum exhibit may be too overwhelming to enjoy. Now, museums are coming up with ways to accommodate these visitors.
Krulwich Wonders...
Isn't That King David? Nope, It's Just Dave()
June 18, 2013 Take something old, familiar and classical, add denim, polyester and glasses, and watch what happens! Two French artists create a new form of time travel.
Shots - Health News
How Men's Choice Of Mates May Have Led To Menopause ()
June 18, 2013 Conventional wisdom holds that men prefer younger women as mates because they're more fertile than older women. But a mathematical analysis suggests that this preference may be the cause of menopause rather than a consequence of it.
Shots - Health News
3-D Printer Brings Dexterity To Children With No Fingers()
June 18, 2013 An enterprising carpenter and a creative puppeteer teamed up on a do-it-yourself project to build a mechanical hand for a little boy. They created an inexpensive prosthetic and published their designs on the Internet. So far, over 100 children have been outfitted.
Shots - Health News
The Human Voice May Not Spark Pleasure In Children With Autism()
June 17, 2013 Scientists and parents have long been baffled by the fact that children with autism often don't pay attention to human voices. Researchers say that may be because speech doesn't activate a reward system in the brain for those children the way it does for typical children.
Krulwich Wonders...
Why Men Die Younger Than Women: The 'Guys Are Fragile' Thesis()
June 17, 2013 Death, it appears, prefers gentlemen to ladies. Women don't just outlive men, they consistently outlive men at every stage of life. More boys die in utero, in infancy, in adolescence, in middle age, at every stage. That's why nature makes more of them. But why? What's so fragile about guys?
Shots - Health News
Rule Would List All Chimps As Endangered, Even Lab Animals()
June 14, 2013 Though the regulation proposed by the Fish and Wildlife Service would make it more difficult to use chimpanzees for research purposes, that may not be a problem, some scientists say. Scientific advances show the animals are less medically useful than previously thought.
The Two-Way
Archaeologists Discover Lost City In Cambodian Jungle()
June 14, 2013 The Australian researchers found a jungle-covered metropolis that predates the country's famous Angkor Wat complex by some 350 years.
