Accessibility links
David Kestenbaum David Kestenbaum is a science correspondent for NPR. His job allows him to combine his extensive background in physics with his love of broadcast journalism.
David Kestenbaum
Stories By

David Kestenbaum

Katrina & Beyond

Engineers Blamed in New Orleans Levee Failure

After Katrina, sections of wall holding back water in New Orleans canals failed when they should have held. In a letter released Friday, an independent panel says engineers who designed the canal walls should have included a larger safety margin.

Engineers Blamed in New Orleans Levee Failure

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5300344/5300345" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Katrina & Beyond

Panel's Report Assigns No Blame in Levee Failures

A government panel issues preliminary findings about why New Orleans' levees failed after Hurricane Katrina. The 800-page report concludes that the disaster wasn't due to faulty work by the Corps or anyone else. That's at odds with conclusions reached by two other independent teams.

Panel's Report Assigns No Blame in Levee Failures

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5257037/5257038" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Katrina & Beyond

Army Builds Mini New Orleans to Study Levees

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will release a report Friday detailing its version of how the New Orleans levees failed. As part of the study, engineers built a miniature scale model of the city at a Mississippi laboratory to simulate events of the flood.

Army Builds Mini New Orleans to Study Levees

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5254827/5254828" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Katrina & Beyond

Model Attempts to Recreate New Orleans Levee Failure

A team of engineers assembled in a Vicksburg, Miss., laboratory on Sunday to watch a centrifuge spin a tiny model of a New Orleans canal. The experiment was an attempt to recreate, on a smaller scale, the failures of the city's levee system during Hurricane Katrina.

Model Attempts to Recreate New Orleans Levee Failure

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5246853/5246854" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Economy

Economists Learn from Game Show 'Deal or No Deal'

The highly-rated game show Deal or No Deal, with its scantily clad women and mystery suitcases, returns to NBC this week. An economist from the Netherlands, where the show originated, uses the game show to study how people assess financial risk.

Economists Learn from Game Show 'Deal or No Deal'

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5244516/5244517" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Utah Site Gets License for Nuclear Waste Repository

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues a license for the operation of a temporary nuclear-waste repository that could hold much of the nation's spent fuel from reactors. The repository will be on the land of the Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians in Utah, which agreed to lease the property.

Utah Site Gets License for Nuclear Waste Repository

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5228648/5228649" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Technology

E-Mail Encryption Rare in Everyday Use

Many Americans have expressed concern over the Bush administration's eavesdropping program. But there's a simple solution for anyone concerned with prying eyes, at least when it comes to e-mail: encryption.

E-Mail Encryption Rare in Everyday Use

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5227744/5227745" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Report: Nuclear Waste Transport Poses Few Risks

A new National Academy of Sciences report finds that transportation accidents involving nuclear waste pose minimal risks. The academy recommends further study of scenarios involving long-duration fires or terrorist attack, and it points out another issue the government needs to address: public fear.

Report: Nuclear Waste Transport Poses Few Risks

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5199167/5199168" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Katrina & Beyond

Stopped Clocks Tell Tale of Katrina Flooding

After the levees broke in New Orleans, investigators went around looking for stopped clocks. By plotting clock times and locations, investigators are piecing together how and when parts of the city had flooded.

Stopped Clocks Tell Tale of Katrina Flooding

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5175772/5175779" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

The Challenger Disaster Anniversary

The Challenger Shuttle Tragedy, 20 Years Later

Saturday marks the 20th anniversary of the space shuttle Challenger disaster. David Kestenbaum looks back on what went wrong on January 28, 1986, and how the incident has affected NASA in the years since.

The Challenger Shuttle Tragedy, 20 Years Later

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5174355/5174356" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Environment

DuPont Agrees to Reduce Use of Teflon Chemical

The Environmental Protection Agency has reached an agreement with DuPont, which makes Teflon for pans and other products. The company will reduce emissions of PFOA, a long-lived chemical used in the Teflon manufacturing process. An EPA advisory committee called it a "likely” carcinogen, but there no data definitively showing it is harmful for humans. The EPA is trying to get seven other companies that use the chemical to sign on as well.

DuPont Agrees to Reduce Use of Teflon Chemical

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5172195/5172196" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Politics

U.S. Grapples with Solution to Nuclear Waste Disposal

A bill before Congress offers a temporary solution to U.S. nuclear waste problems: Leave the waste where it is -- at power plants around the country. The government is required by law to dispose of the waste. Now it's facing more than 60 lawsuits for failing to do so.

U.S. Grapples with Solution to Nuclear Waste Disposal

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5168819/5168820" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Technology

The Quest for Reliable Directions

As the world grows more complicated, so do methods for navigating through it. Often, the Internet is more reliable than a human when it comes to giving directions. But in some areas, that's not the case.

The Quest for Reliable Directions

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5140674/5140679" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

National

Government Issues Dirty-Bomb Cleanup Rules

The Department of Homeland Security has released safety guidelines for responding to a dirty bomb attack. Critics say that the section of the guidelines pertaining to cleanup is dangerously weak.

Government Issues Dirty-Bomb Cleanup Rules

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5125754/5125755" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript