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Thursday, February 07, 2013

Blocking Iran With A Global Game Of Nuclear 'Keep Away'

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (center) visits a uranium enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, in 2008. Enriching uranium requires many fast-spinning centrifuges, arranged in what's called a cascade.

February 7, 2013 Obtaining the materials to make weapons-grade uranium or separated plutonium is harder than making a nuclear weapon, experts say. That's why the U.S. is engaged in a global effort to try to keep the specialized products out of hands it deems dangerous, like Iran.

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Fresh Clues In Dinosaur Whodunit Point To Asteroid

Scientists have confirmed that the impact of a giant asteroid and the mass extinction of the dinosaurs happened at the same time.

February 7, 2013 What killed the dinosaurs? It's history's ultimate murder mystery, and for decades the prime suspect has been a giant asteroid. New data suggest that it struck right before the extinction. But scientists say it still may not tell the full story of what happened to the dinosaurs.

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Animals

Penguin Poop Leads Ice Researchers To Unknown Colony

A few members of the newly discovered 9,000-strong emperor penguin colony on Antarctica's Princess Ragnhild Coast.

February 7, 2013 A team of researchers from the British Antarctic Survey stumbled upon some interesting satellite images in 2009: a trail of penguin poop that showed signs of a huge colony of emperor penguins. A team of researchers finally made it out to visit the 9,000-strong colony last December, marking the first human contact the animals had experienced.

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On Talk of the NationPlaylist

Krulwich Wonders...

Next Time Your Mom Says Don't Go Out in The Rain, Spray Yourself With This

Ultra Ever Dry

February 7, 2013 Take a boot, take a glove, take a brick, take a pan, take a car roof, spray it with this new nano-tech substance and strange things will happen. Very strange things.

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Shots - Health News

Silica Rule Changes Delayed While Workers Face Health Risks

A worker makes a cut in the side of a sandstone block at the Cleveland Quarries facility in Vermilion, Ohio, earlier this month. The legal limit on the amount of silica that workers can inhale was set decades ago.

February 7, 2013 Regulations to restrict the amount of silica dust that workers can inhale were set decades ago, and workplace safety experts say that limit needs to be cut in half. A proposal for new rules was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget for a 90-day review, but almost two years later, it's still under review.

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Wednesday, February 06, 2013

Shots - Health News

Debate Rages On Even As Research Ban On Gun Violence Ends

More than 400 guns, including these three, were turned in during a Dallas gun buyback program in January. But determining the effectiveness of such programs is difficult due to limits on gun-related research.

February 6, 2013 President Obama has ordered an end to a 16-year-old ban on federal funding of research on guns and health. But the political controversy that led to the ban in the first place is far from over.

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The Salt

Stone Age Stew? Soup Making May Be Older Than We'd Thought

The tradition of making soup is probably at least 25,000 years old, says one archaeologist.

February 6, 2013 There's nothing better on a cold day than a warm bowl of soup. But when did our ancestors first brew up this tasty broth? New archaeological evidence suggests that soup making could be tens of thousands of years old.

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World

Tsunami Debris On Alaska's Shores Like 'Standing In Landfill'

Trash, much of it believed to be debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami, litters the beach on Montague Island, Alaska, on Jan. 26.

February 6, 2013 APRNWreckage believed to be from the 2011 Japanese tsunami is washing up thousands of miles away in Alaska. The debris isn't just unsightly — it poses environmental worries for the landscape and animals. One conservationist says the problem may be worse than the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

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Research News

Why You Love That Ikea Table, Even If It's Crooked

Building your own stuff boosts your feelings of pride and competence, and also signals to others that you are competent.

February 6, 2013 Building your own stuff boosts your feelings of pride and competence, and also signals to others that you are competent. As a result, most of us believe we labor on things we love. Now, psychologists are asking if it is the other way around — is it labor that leads to love?

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Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Shots - Health News

Exercise Can Be Good For The Heart, And Maybe For Sperm, Too

Human sperm race to fertilize an egg.

February 5, 2013 A study finds that guys who watched a lot of TV had lower sperm counts than more active fellows. The effect held true even when other factors, such as body weight and diet, were taken into account.

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Krulwich Wonders...

Dinosaurs With Attitude

Tianyulong

February 5, 2013 Spielberg's were big, green and scaly. The real ones? They were often rosy, yellow, orange, iridescent, covered with fuzz, plumes, or feathers. Take a look at this latest take on the Jurassic, when reptiles, we think, looked more like rainbows.

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Monday, February 04, 2013

Shots - Health News

Aging Poorly: Another Act Of Baby Boomer Rebellion

Health researchers say the proportion of people in their late 40s to 60s with diabetes, hypertension or obesity has increased over the past two decades.

February 4, 2013 Many of them have cut out smoking, and rates of heart attack and emphysema have declined. But baby boomers are burdened with diabetes, hypertension and many other chronic conditions. Researchers say too little exercise and a rise in obesity threaten baby boomers' golden years.

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Shots - Health News

What Makes You Feel Fear?

Movies like The Shining frighten most of us, but some brain-damaged people feel no fear when they watch a scary film. However, an unseen threat — air with a high level of carbon dioxide — produces a surprising result.

February 4, 2013 Some people with damage to a specific region of the brain called the amygdala do not feel fear. If you make them handle a snake or show them a scene from a scary movie such as The Shining, they won't be affected. But breathing in air with high levels of carbon dioxide can send them into a panic.

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Education

African Americans Fly High With Math And Science

Barrington Irving , a 23-year-old Jamaican-born pilot, at a news conference at Opa-locka Airport Wednesday, June 27, 2007, ending a three-month journey he said would make him the youngest person to fly around the world alone.

February 4, 2013 At the age of 23 and with only $30 in his pocket, Barrington Irving became the youngest person to fly around the world. Host Michel Martin talks to Irving about getting kids on board with math and science from a 'flying classroom.'

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Krulwich Wonders...

Irresistible Meets Unstoppable. Who Wins?

Unstoppable Force

February 4, 2013 I know you've wondered: What would happen if an irresistible object is launched at an immovable object? Who wins? What happens? Well, here's the answer. It's not what you'd expect.

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