Accessibility links
Science The latest health and science news. Updates on medicine, healthy living, nutrition, drugs, diet, and advances in science and technology. Subscribe to the Health & Science podcast.

Science

Monday

Gulf Oil Spill: Containment And Clean Up

Florida Fishing Town On Edge Over Gulf Oil Spill

No oil has yet been found on any Florida beaches. But the huge spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking a toll on tourism and the seafood business. Concerns are rising in Apalachicola, a fishing town on Florida's Panhandle, just as the summer vacation season begins.

Florida Fishing Town On Edge Over Gulf Oil Spill

Listen · 4:50
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127246469/127286902" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
With Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens' Choices

New research finds that socializing kids to drink at the family table -- often referred to as the "European drinking model" -- doesn't necessarily translate to more responsible drinking patterns. Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Marco Di Lauro/Getty Images

Children's Health

With Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens' Choices

Research suggests that parents have a great deal of influence over when and how their teens start drinking alcohol. Parents who disapproved completely of underage drinking tended to have students who drank less.

With Drinking, Parent Rules Do Affect Teens' Choices

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127222042/127286849" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Study: A Cigarette A Month Can Get A Kid Hooked

Teens who bum cigarettes every now and then find that addiction can happen before they know it. iStockphoto.com hide caption

toggle caption
iStockphoto.com

Children's Health

Study: A Cigarette A Month Can Get A Kid Hooked

Occasional smoking among middle-schoolers can lead to tobacco addiction, according to a study in the journal Pediatrics. Of the young people in the study who said they had inhaled from a cigarette, nearly two-thirds said they smoked at least once a month. Half experienced symptoms of dependence.

Study: A Cigarette A Month Can Get A Kid Hooked

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127241145/127286850" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Saturday

Geoengineering: 'A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come'

Geoengineering: 'A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come'

Driving a Prius and putting up solar panels aren't the only options for cooling the earth's climate. More radical ideas include brightening clouds, creating giant algae blooms in the ocean and launching spacecraft to deploy giant sunshades. It might sound a bit far-fetched, but scientists are considering ideas like these — known as geoengineering — to alter the climate.

Geoengineering: 'A Bad Idea Whose Time Has Come'

Listen · 7:56
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127245606/127263468" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

Aliens Found In Ohio? The 'Wow!' Signal
Image courtesy of the OSU RO and NAAPO

Krulwich Wonders...

Aliens Found In Ohio? The 'Wow!' Signal

Think we've never heard from an alien? A radio transmission recorded in Ohio and translated into six little numbers and letters suggests there's a chance we have.

Listen To A Possible Signal From E.T.

Listen · 8:02
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/126510251/127257194" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Television

The Struggles of 'Life' Unfold On Screen

An 11-part television documentary series highlights the tactics plants and animals use to survive in nature. Mike Gunton, executive producer for the Life series describes how his team got the shots -- from cheetahs taking down an ostrich, to the mating run of humpback whales.

The Struggles of 'Life' Unfold On Screen

Listen · 12:29
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240665/127240650" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Technology

Oil Spill Cleanup Technology Stuck In 20th Century

Thirty-one years ago, the Ixtoc I well blew out in the Gulf of Mexico after its blowout preventer failed. Cleanup crews responded with oil booms, skimmers and detergents. Ira Flatow and guests discuss why, three decades later, oil cleanup crews still rely on the same technology.

Oil Spill Cleanup Technology Stuck In 20th Century

Listen · 36:13
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240657/127240648" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Animals

Nesting With A Naturalist

Bernd Heinrich started collecting birds and eggs when he was a child. The Nesting Season is a collection of his observations of nests, eggs and the birds that make them, illustrated with his watercolors and photographs. Heinrich describes his life-long interest in nature.

Nesting With A Naturalist

Listen · 17:12
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240669/127240651" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Gardening

Vegetable Gardening On A Budget

Wondering what to do with that old PC case? You could turn it into a planter, and grow strawberries in winter. "Cheap vegetable gardener" Shawn Verrall describes how he gardens in his limited backyard space, in a less-than-ideal climate, without spending a lot of money.

Vegetable Gardening On A Budget

Listen · 17:48
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240673/127240652" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Technology

Ahoy: Meet The Navy's Humanoid Robot

This year, the Navy brought more than ships and sailors to Fleet Week in New York City. Octavia, the Navy's "MDS" robot (for mobile, dexterous, social), is on display. Science Friday spoke with Greg Trafton, section head of intelligent systems at the Naval Research Laboratory, about the challenges of designing a robot that acts like a person.

Ahoy: Meet The Navy's Humanoid Robot

Listen · 4:25
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240661/127240649" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Space

Solving The Riddle Of Why Matter Exists

Throughout the millenia, philosophers, theologians and scientists have pondered the simple question: Why are we here? Science News writer Ron Cowen discusses results from the Fermi Lab's particle collider which may help explain the preponderance of matter, not anti-matter, in the universe.

Solving The Riddle Of Why Matter Exists

Listen · 7:22
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127240653/127240647" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Opinion

Faith Matters

Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider

For centuries, African-American culture has been significantly influenced by the black church and the Christian faith. So being both black and atheist can be a lonely and isolating experience for some. But, the largest-ever gathering of African-American atheists was recently held in Washington, D.C. Participant and journalist Jamila Bey shares her experience, and is joined by Norm Allen, executive director of African Americans for Humanism, which hosted the conference. Bey recently wrote about being an atheist for the online magazine TheRoot.com.

Black Atheists Say Non-Belief Means Cultural Outsider

Listen
Transcript
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/127239913/127239906" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Obama Gets Firsthand Look At Spill Devastation

A worker walks along a pipeline used to convey sand pumped from 20,000 feet offshore to build barriers to keep oil from entering wetlands near Grand Isle, La. Jae C. Hong/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Jae C. Hong/AP

Gulf Oil Spill: Containment And Clean Up

Obama Gets Firsthand Look At Spill Devastation

The president traveled to Louisiana for his second trip to the Gulf Coast since the Deepwater Horizon disaster, as Coast Guard officials said heavy mud injected into the blown-out Gulf wellhead has stopped the flow of oil and gas — at least temporarily. BP said it could take 48 hours to know whether the top kill procedure worked.