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Story Archives of 'Science'
Cleaning Up the Mess By Going 200 Miles Upstream
By John Dillon on Tuesday, March 16, 2010.The US Environmental Protection Agency has worked for decades with New York and Connecticut to clean up Long Island Sound.
Too much nitrogen in the water has led to “dead zones” where fish and shellfish can’t survive.
Now the federal agency is asking sewage treatment plants nearly 200 miles away in other states to help reduce pollutants that are hurting the sound.
As part of a collaboration with Northeast stations, Vermont Public Radio's John Dillon reports.
The Cold Hard Truth About Hand Sanitizers
By Elaine Grant on Thursday, March 11, 2010.
The new battleground in germ warfare is taking place on your palms. Since the outbreak of H1N1, or swine flu, sales of hand sanitizers have skyrocketed. Dispensers have popped up everywhere, from workplaces to grocery stores. Hospital workers, restaurant employees and politicians on the campaign trail are encouraged to use the alcohol-based gell excessively to remain germ-free.
But an array of new research questions the effectiveness of hand sanitizers, showing in some cases, the disinfections are nothing more than a paranoia-stirring marketing ploy. To tell us why is Darshak Sanghavi, chief of pediatric cardiology and assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He is also a healthcare columnist for Slate.
Slate: How To Sell Germ Warfare
(Photo by Dave77459 via Flickr/CreativeCommons)
An Ant Hunter's Search for Bacteria in Cape Forests
By Sarah Reynolds on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.
Nearly every day myrmecologist Adam Lazarus treks through the Cape Cod woods hauling a chainsaw and a hatchet. He’s not looking for firewood, but instead is more curious about the carpenter ants living inside the Cape’s forests. From Cape Cod, independent radio producer Sarah Reynolds brings us this story.
Listen to this piece at Public Radio Exchange
Moscow Meteorologists Look to Prevent Snow From Falling
By Katia Moskvitch on Monday, March 8, 2010.
While it’s still chilly in New Hampshire, average temperatures in Moscow are below freezing - all day every day. Authorities in the Russian capital there spend millions of dollars every winter trying to clear snow. Now they’re looking at a radical alternative: getting rid of clouds over the capital so that it simply doesn’t snow.
Here's What's Awesome: All-Animal Edition
By Brady Carlson on Sunday, March 7, 2010.A lot of what this column (and Word of Mouth as a whole) does is tracking trends as they emerge - green technology, for one. Or new ways of looking at how our brains interpret the world. One I've spotted a lot lately is the trend of modeling new technologies off of unique features of animals. This isn't new in and of itself, but animal-inspiration seems to be more and more at the forefront of really creative and outside-the-box technology.
The Usefulness of Depression
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, March 1, 2010.
Now to a subject most humans would rather avoid: depression. Each year, about seven percent of Americans show signs of depression, a mental state the writer William Styron described as a “gray drizzle of horror... a storm of murk.” That ranks up there with the common cold, according to science writer Jonah Lehrer, yet we understand little about its origins.
In a controversial new theory, researchers propose that depression could have a useful purpose in the evolution of the human brain. The hypothesis states that the miserable condition could be an adaptive response, forcing us to focus on our dilemmas and face down our problems.
The New York Times Magazine: Depression’s Upside
(Photo by davidz via Flickr/CreativeCommons)
Earthquake Preparedness
By Virginia Prescott on Monday, March 1, 2010.
Chile is just beginning to recover from a devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and a resulting tsunami that flooded coastal towns. At least 700 people are dead, two million are homeless, and three aftershocks this morning are just complicating rescue efforts.
But it’s informative to compare this tragedy to the one that struck Haiti seven weeks ago. Saturday’s quake was thirty times more powerful than the one that leveled Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. Yet the death toll in Haiti could reach as high as 300,000.
Why the sharp discrepancy? To help us answer that question we’re turning to Brian Tucker. He’s president and founder of Geohazards International. In 19 years, the group has worked in twenty countries to raise awareness of earthquake preparedness. He joined us from Palo Alto, California.
Huffington Post: Chile-Haiti Earthquake Comparison- Chile Was More Prepared
(Photo by Luis Iturra via Flickr/CreativeCommons)
Not-So-Secret Science Confessions on Twitter
By Avishay Artsy on Tuesday, February 23, 2010.
Now for an irresistibly geeky topic that's trending on Twitter. For those unfamiliar with the microblogging site, users post updates, or "tweets," and can tag their tweets with hash marks followed by topic titles. And anyone can search for tweets about a trendy topic, be it "Tiger Woods" or "Iran Election."
False Reports About Hiroshima
By Avishay Artsy on Monday, February 22, 2010.
Charles Pellegrino joined us last month to discuss The Last Train From Hiroshima: The Survivors Look Back, a book detailing what happened after atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. The book earned critical acclaim and attention from blockbuster director James Cameron, who bought the film rights.
