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Science

Thursday

Research News

Accidental Discovery Could Treat Memory Disorders

A professor's attempt to reduce a man's appetite by implanting electrodes in his brain didn't curb his appetite — but it did cause the man to experience vivid memories instead. Now that professor — Andres Lozano at the Toronto Western Research Institute — is testing the procedure on people suffering from Alzheimer's.

Accidental Discovery Could Treat Memory Disorders

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Report from a Conference on Bird Flu

Avian influenza was the subject of a recent international congress in Bangkok. Robert Webster, member of the Infectious Diseases Department at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, was there.

Report from a Conference on Bird Flu

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Wednesday

A Famous Hallucination: Ahab's Phantom Leg

The human brain can, indeed, make up things that aren't there — sights, sounds, feelings. Michele Norris has a literary reminder of a famous hallucination: Captain Ahab, from Herman Melville's novel Moby Dick. Ahab lost his leg but can feel it still.

A Famous Hallucination: Ahab's Phantom Leg

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Krulwich Wonders...

Blind Man 'Sees'

David Stewart went blind about 10 years ago, then something strange happened: He started "seeing" things. He saw a sailor, imaginary paintings, green curtains and a pink dress. What explains these visual hallucinations?

Blind Man 'Sees'

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Tuesday

Business

'Marketplace' Report: Cashing in on Britney

Britney Spears has been in and out of rehab, triggered a three-hour standoff with police and lost custody of her kids. For a growing number of media outlets and businesses, her real-life soap opera translates into money.

'Marketplace' Report: Cashing in on Britney

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Krulwich Wonders...

Hearing Things: When Sounds Come Unbidden

We are all, to some extent, human jukeboxes. And while hit tunes or ad jingles sometimes stick too long, for the most part we control what's inside our heads. But what happens when a person loses control?

Hearing Things: When Sounds Come Unbidden

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Monday

National

Prescription Drug Deaths Rise in West Virginia

For the first time in U.S. history, drug overdoses and other types of poisonings now kill more people than guns, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Record numbers of West Virginians are dying in the quiet epidemic, mostly from prescription painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin and methadone.

Prescription Drug Deaths Rise in West Virginia

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National

FBI Unravels the Stories Skulls Tell

There is an old saying that dead men tell no tales. But forensic experts at the FBI's special projects lab could write a book from the information they get from a simple skull. The reconstructions that forensic artists build on skulls can give the dead new life.

FBI Unravels the Stories Skulls Tell

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Adaptation

Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future

Architects in Holland are showing the rest of the world a way of turning adversity into opportunity. Instead of building around rising waters, they ask, why not build on water? Floating houses, gardens, even villages are the future vision of some Dutch planners.

Dutch Architects Plan for a Floating Future

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Steven Pinker on Morality as a 'Sixth Sense'

Is moral sense hardwired in the human brain? Psychologist Steven Pinker examines morality and evolutionary roots and discusses his article, "The Moral Instinct," published recently in The New York Times Magazine.

Listen to this 'Talk of the Nation' topic

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Solutions

Maldives Builds Barriers to Global Warming

When the 2004 tsunami hit, the Maldives islands were submerged for several minutes. Those waters retreated, but rising sea levels from global warming won't be so transient. Plans to adapt to a warmer world include a flood-resistant island.

Maldives Builds Barriers to Global Warming

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National

FBI's New Technology Revolutionizes DNA Analysis

At the FBI Crime Lab in Quantico, Va., experts are finding new and better uses for what many people see as a forensic sure thing — DNA. Cases unsolvable just a decade ago, are now ripe for reopening.

FBI's New Technology Revolutionizes DNA Analysis

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Friday

Environment

Are Hurricanes and Climate Change Connected?

Researchers from the American Meteorological Society are meeting in January in New Orleans, the site of the hurricane Katrina disaster in 2005. Guest host Joe Palca talks with a hurricane scientist about whether there is a clear link between climate change and hurricanes and tropical cyclones.

Are Hurricanes and Climate Change Connected?

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Space

NASA to Launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory

A satellite observatory designed to map the carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere will be launched in 2008. NASA hopes that it will allow researchers to generate precise global maps of the abundance of CO2 in the Earth's atmosphere and get a better understanding of the global carbon cycle.

NASA to Launch Orbiting Carbon Observatory

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