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Tuesday December 4, 2018

VIDEO: To Save A Fox, Scientists Took To Land, Air And Sea

Ryan Kellman/Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

VIDEO: To Save A Fox, Scientists Took To Land, Air And Sea

December 4, 2018 • When the population of Channel Islands foxes started to vanish in the '90s, no one knew why. Bringing them back from near-extinction has meant unraveling a mystery that started with World War II.

Tuesday September 18, 2018

This Rapper Tried To Use Neuroscience To Get Over Her Ex

NPR's Skunk Bear / Brain scan images are courtesy of Center for Magnetic Resonance Research at the University of Minnesota

Shots - Health News

This Rapper Tried To Use Neuroscience To Get Over Her Ex

September 18, 2018 • Dessa is a singer and writer from Minneapolis who spent years trying to fall out of love and get over her ex. Nothing seemed to help — until she visited a research lab for a brain scan.

Tuesday June 26, 2018

How To Find The Summer Constellations (360° Video)

Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

How To Find The Summer Constellations (360° Video)

June 26, 2018 • Have you ever wanted to casually point out Cygnus, Leo and Cassiopeia? Just in time for summer, this panoramic video shows you some tricks to help you navigate the night sky.

Tuesday April 17, 2018

Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

How Birds-To-Be Get Oxygen Inside Eggs

April 17, 2018 • Unlike humans, bird embryos don't have an oxygen pipeline from their mothers. They develop inside eggs in a nest. Skunk Bear's latest video explains why these pre-hatchlings don't suffocate.

Tuesday March 20, 2018

Classroom Skeleton: Whose Bones Are These?

Skunk Bear/Skunk Bear

NPR Ed

Classroom Skeleton: Whose Bones Are These?

March 20, 2018 • Remember that skeleton hanging in the front of your classroom? In some schools, those were actual human remains. We used science to figure out the story behind one of them.

Classroom Skeleton: Whose Bones Are These?

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Thursday March 1, 2018

The Oscar For Best Snack Goes To ... Popcorn, The 6,000-Year-Old Aztec Gold

Adam Cole/Murry Gans

The Salt

The Oscar For Best Snack Goes To ... Popcorn, The 6,000-Year-Old Aztec Gold

March 1, 2018 • Zoom in and behold the science secrets behind popcorn's airy crunch — and learn about the snack's ancient origin — in this bite-sized video.

The Oscar For Best Snack Goes To ... Popcorn, The 6,000-Year-Old Aztec Gold

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Tuesday January 30, 2018

Why Dogs Have Floppy Ears: An Animated Tale

Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

Why Dogs Have Floppy Ears: An Animated Tale

January 30, 2018 • Why do dogs look different from wolves? The question bedeviled Charles Darwin. Now scientists have a fascinating theory that links droopy ears and splotchy coats with domestication.

Wednesday September 13, 2017

Saturn's Strangest Sights, As Captured By A Doomed Spacecraft

Adam Cole/NASA/JPL

Skunk Bear

Saturn's Strangest Sights, As Captured By A Doomed Spacecraft

September 13, 2017 • NASA's Cassini spacecraft will crash into Saturn in a few hours, but we'll always have the shots it took of icy volcanoes, hexagonal storms, ethane lakes and ripples in Saturn's rings.

Thursday August 17, 2017

Watching the eclipse? Save your eyeballs — rig up a sweet viewing set-up with some help from this video. Ryan Kellman/NPR's Skunk Bear hide caption

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Ryan Kellman/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

Make Your Own Eclipse Viewer

August 17, 2017 • No eclipse glasses? No problem. Make your own solar viewer; (almost) no tools required.

Wednesday August 16, 2017

Eclipses aren't just natural marvels - they're still teaching us a lot about the universe. Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear hide caption

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Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Skunk Bear

How Eclipses Changed History

August 16, 2017 • Newton and Einstein had big ideas, but needed an eclipse to prove them. And scientists are still pursuing secrets of the universe one eclipse at a time.

Tuesday July 25, 2017

What Are The Planet's Real 'Talking' Chimps And Gorillas Saying?

Adam Cole/NPR

Shots - Health News

What Are The Planet's Real 'Talking' Chimps And Gorillas Saying?

July 25, 2017 • Movies are full of loquacious chimps, but could nonhuman apes really use language? NPR's Skunk Bear sorts through the disturbing history of research on ape language to sort fact from wishful thinking.

Monday July 3, 2017

You're A Firework (Scientifically Speaking)

Adam Cole/NPR

Skunk Bear

You're A Firework (Scientifically Speaking)

July 3, 2017 • You have more in common with pyrotechnics than you might think. The same basic process that makes fireworks explode is happening inside your cells (in a slow-motion, controlled way) right now.

Tuesday June 20, 2017

Skunk Bear/NPR

The Salt

How Your Sandwich Changed The World

June 20, 2017 • What road did your lunch travel before it reached your plate? NPR's latest animated video follows a BLT from the fields where it began its journey.

Tuesday June 6, 2017

Why It Might Not Be A Good Idea To Wipe Out Vampire Bats

Adam Cole/NPR's Skunk Bear

Goats and Soda

Why It Might Not Be A Good Idea To Wipe Out Vampire Bats

June 6, 2017 • They drink the blood of big animals and spread rabies. Cows die. People die. Ranchers want them killed off. But scientists say they form human-like friendships. Does that mean we should protect them?

Why It Might Not Be A Good Idea To Wipe Out Vampire Bats

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Monday April 17, 2017

Peep Show: Watch Us Calculate The Speed Of Light With Stale Easter Treats

Adam Cole/NPR

The Salt

Peep Show: Watch Us Calculate The Speed Of Light With Stale Easter Treats

April 17, 2017 • NPR's Adam Cole demonstrates a science experiment that offers a new use for old Peeps. All you need is a ruler and a microwave.

Peep Show: Watch Us Calculate The Speed Of Light With Stale Easter Treats

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Tuesday March 14, 2017

Science

Send Us Your Science Questions For 'Skunk Bear'

March 14, 2017 • NPR's YouTube channel, "Skunk Bear," answers science questions in surprising, artsy videos. What mystery should they tackle next?

Send Us Your Science Questions For 'Skunk Bear'

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Tuesday January 10, 2017

Photo Illustration by NPR's Skunk Bear/David Bowie Image by Ron Fraizer

Skunk Bear

See Panoramic Views Of A Space Walk

January 10, 2017 • See panoramic views of a trip to the moon in Skunk Bear's latest video. It's a journey that spans David Bowie's long career — and his greatest hits serve as the soundtrack.

Wednesday December 21, 2016

Why Does A Frozen Lake Sound Like A Star Wars Blaster?

Cory Williams/LiveEachDay

Skunk Bear

Why Does A Frozen Lake Sound Like A Star Wars Blaster?

December 21, 2016 • Visitors to icy lakes are sometimes treated to the sounds of a space age battle. Why? NPR's Skunk Bear takes on the cold case in their latest video.

Why Does A Frozen Lake Sound Like A Star Wars Blaster?

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Tuesday November 22, 2016

Watch Earth's History Play Out On A Football Field

Maia Stern, Adam Cole/NPR

Skunk Bear

Watch Earth's History Play Out On A Football Field

November 22, 2016 • If our planet's 4.5 billion-year existence were laid out on a 100-yard timeline, when and where would humans first show up? Good question. NPR's Skunk Bear hits the gridiron for a reality check.

Watch Earth's History Play Out On A Football Field

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Tuesday October 25, 2016

What's In It For The Corpse Flower To Smell Like Death?

Hundreds of people flocked to the United States Botanic Garden to see (and smell) a corpse flower in full bloom. Ryan Kellman/NPR hide caption

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Ryan Kellman/NPR

Skunk Bear

What's In It For The Corpse Flower To Smell Like Death?

October 25, 2016 • The corpse flower is a botanical rock star — prized by botanic gardens around the globe. In a new video, NPR's Skunk Bear explores the biology of the stinky giant, which thrives by playing dead.

Tuesday October 11, 2016

Trace The Remarkable History Of The Humble Pencil

Ryan Kellman/NPR's Skunk Bear

NPR Ed

Trace The Remarkable History Of The Humble Pencil

October 11, 2016 • The classroom writing implement has roots in exploding stars, the French Revolution, the British crown jewels and Walden Pond.

Trace The Remarkable History Of The Humble Pencil

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Monday August 8, 2016

Trading Cards: The Who's Who Of #NPRWormWeek

Morgan McCloy/NPR

Goats and Soda

Trading Cards: The Who's Who Of #NPRWormWeek

August 8, 2016 • There are hundreds of thousands of species of worms wriggling around the world. We made trading cards about six of them.

Tuesday June 28, 2016

Does Your Body Really Refresh Itself Every 7 Years?

Skunk Bear/NPR

Shots - Health News

Does Your Body Really Refresh Itself Every 7 Years?

June 28, 2016 • Almost all of the cells in a human body get replaced over the course of a life. NPR's Skunk Bear Team sets off on an imagined video tour inside the body to find out which body parts never change.

Thursday May 26, 2016

World

Father And Daughter Circumnavigate The Globe Using A Mental Compass

May 26, 2016 • Hokule'a — a voyaging canoe based on ancient Polynesian craft — is travelling around the world. Its navigators have learned to traverse the open ocean relying the sun, stars, and waves.

Father And Daughter Circumnavigate The Globe Using A Mental Compass

Listen · 4:19 4:19

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