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Saturday

Back To Tradition, Bringing Home The Bison

A solitary bison in Yellowstone National Park. Amelia Templeton/NPR hide caption

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Amelia Templeton/NPR

Back To Tradition, Bringing Home The Bison

For the first time in more than a century, Umatilla tribe members from northeast Oregon go on a hunt for bison. It's part of an effort to revive traditions that were once the heart of the tribe's religion and economy.

Back To Tradition, Bringing Home The Bison

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Friday

Ripple In Libyan Oil Markets Make Waves Worldwide

A production plant on the short of Mellitah, Libya, opened in 2004. Owned by Eni, the Italian oil and gas company, the facility is part of a pipeline that connects Libya to Sicily. Political unrest in the African nation is having effects in the worldwide oil market. Eni Press Office/AP hide caption

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Eni Press Office/AP

Middle East

Ripple In Libyan Oil Markets Make Waves Worldwide

The unrest in Libya has caused a spike in prices even though its oil hasn't stopped flowing. One reason: All oil isn't created equal, and Libya's sweet crude might not be easily replaced by merely boosting production of Saudi Arabia's sour crude, experts say.

Ripple In Libyan Oil Markets Make Waves Worldwide

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Bilingual Babies More Perceptive To Nonnative Tongues

A study of bilingual infants suggests that a bilingual upbringing outfits infants with more sensitive language perception abilities, even for languages other than the two spoken at home. Psychologist Janet Werker discusses the findings, and whether the trend may hold true through the years.

Bilingual Babies More Perceptive To Nonnative Tongues

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Research News

Looking At What The Eyes See

We move our eyes three times a second, over 100,000 times each day. Why isn't life blurrier? Reporting in Nature Neuroscience, psychologist Martin Rolfs and colleagues found that our mind seems to prepare for our eye movements before they occur, helping us keep track of objects in the visual field.

Looking At What The Eyes See

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Research News

Creating The Illusion Of A Different Body

Scientists have used tricks of the brain to change how people see themselves, even getting research subjects to accept a third arm as a "real" part of their bodies. Henrik Ehrsson, author of an article about the work in the journal PLoS One, discusses why.

Creating The Illusion Of A Different Body

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Research News

Tracing Signals In The Brain

In the traditional view of how signals travel in the brain, a portion of a neuron known as a dendrite acts as an input for stimuli, while the neuron's axon serves as a signal output. Nelson Spruston, author of an article in the journal Nature Neuroscience, says that the reality may be more complicated.

Tracing Signals In The Brain

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Technology

Have We Grown Too Fond Of Technology?

In her book Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other, Sherry Turkle examines our proclivity for robots, smart phones and social networks, and though far from suggesting we ditch technology, she wonders if we aren't losing out on human contact in the process.

Have We Grown Too Fond Of Technology?

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Health

Cell Phone Radiation Affects Brain, Study Says

Extended use of a cellular telephone causes increased activity in parts of the brain next to the phone's antenna, according to a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. However, Nora Volkow, author of the paper, says it's unclear what the clinical significance of that finding is.

Cell Phone Radiation Affects Brain, Study Says

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Research News

Debating The Potential Danger Of Transgenic Weeds

If a genetically engineered crop crosses with a wild relative, could a more robust, herbicide-and-insect-resistant weed result? Biologist Nina Fedoroff and ecologist Allison Snow discuss past instances of genetically engineered plants migrating beyond farm borders, and whether that poses a threat to ecosystems.

Debating The Potential Danger Of Transgenic Weeds

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Child's 11,500-Year-Old Remains Unearthed In Alaska

Teeth from a cremated child were excavated from a site believed to be 11,500 years old. The color differences show uneven burning. The scale is in millimeters. Science/AAAS hide caption

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Science/AAAS

Child's 11,500-Year-Old Remains Unearthed In Alaska

Archaeologists made the discovery in a settlement that housed some of the very first North Americans. Researchers have been studying the region for more than 70 years, but until now have not found anything from that time period.

Child's 11,500-Year-Old Remains Unearthed In Alaska

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Thursday

Fungus Knocks Out Malaria In Mosquitoes

Scientists hope to use a fungus to keep malaria-carrying mosquitoes like the Anopheles gambiae species from growing resistant to insecticides. Courtesy of James Gathany/CDC hide caption

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Courtesy of James Gathany/CDC

Fungus Knocks Out Malaria In Mosquitoes

The malaria parasite remains one of the most complex and fast-evolving organisms on the planet, forcing scientists to look in unconventional places for ways to defeat it. The latest technique: Stuff the mosquito full of a particular type of fungus, killing the parasite inside before it infects humans.

Fungus Knocks Out Malaria In Mosquitoes

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We Have Liftoff! Discovery Blasts Off One Last Time

Space shuttle Discovery lifts off at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday for the final time. The world's most traveled spaceship is heading toward the International Space Station with a crew of six on a journey that marks the beginning of the end of the shuttle era. Chris O'Meara/AP hide caption

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Chris O'Meara/AP

Space

We Have Liftoff! Discovery Blasts Off One Last Time

Discovery, NASA's oldest surviving space shuttle and the beloved workhorse of the fleet, rocketed up into the sky on Thursday afternoon for a bittersweet final voyage. After this mission, the shuttle, which has carried 194 astronauts since 1984, will become a museum exhibit.