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Story Archives of 'Science'
An Astronomical Update
By Laura Knoy on Monday, November 23, 2009.American scientists recently crashed a probe into the moon and found lots of frozen water, a discovery that could have major implications for future space exploration. Also, the end is in sight for the shuttle program, and new images from a souped-up Hubble telescope give us the best pictures ever of the birth of a star. We’ll talk about these and other ‘out of this world’ news from space.
Guest
- John Gianforte, astronomy instructor for Granite State College and co-founder of the Astronomical Society of Northern New England
Idea Smackdown: Round III
By Jen Nathan on Thursday, November 19, 2009.
Ding! Another round of Championship Ideas Smackdown has begun.
In the right corner: a slew of clever ideas.
In the left corner: overwhelmed producers who can't decide what to schedule first.
YOU are the referee. Let us know what you want to hear on Word of Mouth next week:
- Health Care in the People's Republic
- Death to Receipts
- Muslim Teen Handbook
- How Green is Your Pet?
- Psychology of Terrorism
Butterflies in Space
By Jen Nathan on Monday, November 16, 2009.
In just a few hours, the shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center. Atlantis will deliver parts to the international space station, with a few creatures stowed among the cargo. No, not pigs, but butterflies. One hundred K-12 schools will receive “habitat kits” to observe butterflies develop in earthly classrooms while simultaneously watching larvae in outer space.
The Sounds of Science
By Avishay Artsy on Monday, November 16, 2009.Here’s another way to make science appeal to kids – put it to song. Take one part Mr. Wizard and two parts High School Musical, shake vigorously, and you get The Sounds of Science.
Physics With a Side of Fun
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, November 16, 2009.
On Saturday, hundreds of middle and high school students gathered for a lesson in math and science at the first annual New Hampshire TechFest held at Pinkerton Academy in Derry. The all-day event wasn’t your typical science fair with shoebox dioramas and glue-gun and styrofoam planets.
Instead, students spent the day investigating crime scenes alongside police detectives, charting airplane paths with the National Air Traffic Controller’s Association, and resuscitating a simulation baby mannequin with its own pulse and blood pressure. Professional engineers joined in to show kids the technology they use, and explain why their jobs are more fun than anything they’ll find in a textbook.
Word of Mouth correspondent Robin Respaut covered the festival for us. She’s joins in the studio to tell us about technology and trebuchets.
Derry News: Pinkerton to host first TechFest event
(Photo by Robin Respaut)
Your Brain on GPS
By Virginia Prescott on Thursday, November 12, 2009.
For a lot of us, punching an address into a GPS device is a standard routine, right between putting on your seat belt and turning the key. GPS has made paper maps – and remembering directions – feel obsolete.
While that’s a huge convenience, researchers worry that we’re not using the part of our brains that form maps, and that might be permanently affecting our ability to find our way around without the electronic devices.
Joining us with more is Alex Hutchinson. He writes for the Canadian magazine The Walrus, and divides his time between Toronto and Sydney, Australia. That’s where we reached him earlier this week.
The Walrus: Global Impositioning Systems
Alex ponders the effect of GPS technology on human sense of direction:
(Photo by Premshree Pillai via Flickr/Creative Commons)
Idea Smackdown: Round II
By Jen Nathan on Wednesday, November 11, 2009.
Ding! Another round of Championship Ideas Smackdown has begun.
We had a killer ideas meeting yesterday and now we need YOU to tell us what you want to hear on Word of Mouth next week:
- Death to Receipts
- Microcinemas
- Tech Crafting
- The 2012 Industry
- Private Prisons
- Carbon Footprint of Pets
- School House Rock for Science
- DIY Video Game Designers
- Is NBC Too Big To Fail?
- A Mixtape for your Kitchen
Idea Smackdown
By Jen Nathan on Friday, November 6, 2009.
Word of Mouth has more ideas than it knows what to do with, so let us know what you'd like to hear next week.
Here's a list of things we're considering. Add a comment with the idea(s) you think should win this grueling match. Let the best ideas win.
- Female mobsters
- Health care in China
- Online-only churches
- The subprime student loan crisis
- Why boldness is bad for science
- Paul Bunyan chic
- Census conspiracy theorists
Inside The Minds of Smart Mice
By Virginia Prescott on Tuesday, November 3, 2009.Imagine a surgery that could triple your IQ with the nick of a scalpel. That’s what happens to Charlie Gordon, the developmentally-disabled protagonist of the 1958 novel Flowers for Algernon.
A lab mouse named Algernon is the first to get the experimental surgery. Suddenly he can wind his way through intricate mazes in seconds. Algernon easily beats charlie, leaving him to wonder why this mouse is smarter than he is. Then Charlie’s teacher secretly tells him that the mouse he’s been pitted against is no ordinary rodent.
In labs across the country, researchers are experimenting with smart mice that learn more quickly using neuroenhancing drugs. But these same mice get scared more easily, have higher rates of cancer, and can’t seem to solve some simple problems.
As pharmaceutical companies race to develop the next generation of neuroenhancing drugs for humans, scientists are discovering what can get lost when using pills to learn faster and think more clearly.
Science writer Jonah Lehrer delved into the world of cognitively enhanced mice for Nature News. He’s contributing editor at Wired and author of Proust Was a Neuroscientist and How We Decide, and he joins us with more.
The Frontal Cortex: Smart Mice
(Photo by Michail Pishchagin via Flickr/Creative Commons)
