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Friday

Analysis

Analysis

Slate's Explainer: Burning Cocaine

More than a ton of cocaine seized in Kenya in 2004 is still awaiting disposal. Officials there plan to burn the drugs. Andy Bowers of Slate offers this "explainer" about what's involved in burning that much coke.

Slate's Explainer: Burning Cocaine

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Thursday

Environment

Interior Department Claims Wetlands Gain

Interior Secretary Gale Norton announces that after decades of trying to stop the loss of wetlands, the country has finally succeeded. But Norton's wetlands report has been criticized as misleading; it counts manmade reservoirs and ponds created for storm runoff.

Interior Department Claims Wetlands Gain

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Wednesday

National

For Tammy Duckworth, War Injury Leads to Politics

Tammy Duckworth, a former Army helicopter pilot who lost both legs in a 2004 attack in Iraq, is running for the Illinois House seat occupied by retiring GOP Rep. Henry Hyde. Duckworth comes from a long line of veterans with serious war injuries who wind up in politics.

For Tammy Duckworth, War Injury Leads to Politics

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Farai's Fitness Challenge

Week 2: Dr. Ro's Diet and Exercise Advice

Nutritionist Rovenia Brock, aka. Dr. Ro, knows that eating well is easier said than done. She's an authority on fitness and diet, and her advice to those starting out on a new fitness regimen is simple: Adopt a meal plan and a movement plan that you can live with, right now.

Week 2: Dr. Ro's Diet and Exercise Advice

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Tuesday

Krulwich Wonders...

The Little Coffee Plant that Wouldn't Die

Rodrigues island's "cafe marron" plant has been presumed extinct for scores of years. Then, one day, a little boy told his teacher that the plant lived, near his house. Suddenly, an obscure, skinny little bush that nobody had noticed became an international treasure and the focus of a 20-year effort to preserve it.

The Little Coffee Plant that Wouldn't Die

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Monday

Environment

Wind Farms Draw Mixed Response in Appalachia

Huge windmills -- promoted as a source of clean, renewable power -- are sprouting up on mountaintops in the Appalachian states. But some local opponents say the tall turbines blight the rural landscape.

Wind Farms Draw Mixed Response in Appalachia

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Environment

The Coming Crisis: Water, Not Oil

Fresh Air

Concerns over energy resources aside, economists say a global shortage of water would curtail the world's ability to raise food — perhaps by 2025. Fred Pearce is an environmental and development consultant at New Scientist. His new book is When the Rivers Run Dry.

The Coming Crisis: Water, Not Oil

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Sunday

Making Bacon That's Healthier for You

If you think scientists never do anything useful, consider this: A team of researchers may have found a way to make bacon that's good for your heart. This stunning achievement comes from a mixture of molecular genetics, cloning, and good old American know-how.

Making Bacon That's Healthier for You

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Saturday

Friday

Law

Controversy Brews over Patenting Laws of Nature

The Supreme Court hears a rare patent case this week. It involves the patenting of a common medical test, and has some asking whether the patent office has gone too far.

Controversy Brews over Patenting Laws of Nature

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Exhibits Promote Human Remains as... Art

Exhibitions of dissected human cadavers continue to draw crowds and controversy. The chief medical adviser for "Bodies: the Exhibition," a show currently running in New York City, talks about the tension between art and anatomy.

Exhibits Promote Human Remains as... Art

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Space

Cosmologists Reveal Evidence of Inflationary Universe

Scientists don't know just how our universe was formed at that first instant, but they have some theories about what happened in that tiny fraction of a second later. These ideas go beyond the big-bang theory. Inflation suggests that in its first few moments, the universe underwent a massive growth spurt, inflating space from a tiny speck to a universe in under a trillionth of a second.

Cosmologists Reveal Evidence of Inflationary Universe

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Thursday

Environment

Drought Threatens Nomads in Horn of Africa

A widespread drought is killing the livelihoods of pastoral nomads in the region known as the Horn of Africa. Cows, goats and other livestock have all died due to the water shortage. The devastation poses the question of whether the lifestyle of pastoralists -- who move between Somalia, Kenya and Ethiopia foraging for food and water for their herds -- can be sustained.

Drought Threatens Nomads in Horn of Africa

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Research News

Huge Meteorite Crater Discovered in Sahara

A Boston University researcher has discovered a huge crater created by a meteorite strike in the Sahara Desert that measures 19 miles across. The discovery could answer some questions about a major geological mystery.

Huge Meteorite Crater Discovered in Sahara

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