Science Friday, as heard on NPR, is a weekly discussion of the latest news in science, technology, health, and the environment hosted by ...
Science & Medicine
When marine biologist Roger Hanlon captured the first scene in this video he started screaming. He studies camouflage in cephalopods--squid, octopus and cuttlefish...
[LESS INFO] 626 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 08/05/11
When marine biologist Roger Hanlon captured the first scene in this video he started screaming. He studies camouflage in cephalopods--squid, octopus and cuttlefish. They are masters of optical illusion and these are some of Hanlon's top video picks of the animals going in and out of hiding.
Tending Crops On A ...
458 Views 15:10:00 07/29/11
A rooftop farm in Brooklyn grows vegetables and doubles as a green roof, insulating the warehouse below. Green roofs save money on cooling and heating costs and al...
[LESS INFO] 458 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 07/29/11
A rooftop farm in Brooklyn grows vegetables and doubles as a green roof, insulating the warehouse below. Green roofs save money on cooling and heating costs and also retain water, reducing the load on sewer systems. Annie Novak, head farmer and co-founder of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm gives us a tour.
Cilia--the little hairs that propel a paramecium--flap spontaneously, and will synchronize their movements with neighboring cilia. But exactly why they do this has...
[LESS INFO] 553 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 07/22/11
Cilia--the little hairs that propel a paramecium--flap spontaneously, and will synchronize their movements with neighboring cilia. But exactly why they do this has been hard to pinpoint because cilia are complicated structures. So researchers fabricated knockoffs, with fewer components, to see if they could figure out what drives the waving.
CFL: Eyesore Or Sig...
516 Views 15:10:00 07/15/11
Just Bulbs, on New York City's Upper East Side, sells just bulbs. There are 36,000 different kinds of lightbulbs in the store, says owner David Brooks. And althoug...
[LESS INFO] 516 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 07/15/11
Just Bulbs, on New York City's Upper East Side, sells just bulbs. There are 36,000 different kinds of lightbulbs in the store, says owner David Brooks. And although customers regularly rail about how compact fluorescent bulbs are ugly, Brooks argues that they've been unfairly maligned. They come in six color temperatures and a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
A Compost Guru Shar...
414 Views 15:10:00 07/08/11
Malcolm Beck was farming organically in the 1950s, and that's how he got into compost. What started out as a little manure pile on his farm became a 40-acre compos...
[LESS INFO] 414 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 07/08/11
Malcolm Beck was farming organically in the 1950s, and that's how he got into compost. What started out as a little manure pile on his farm became a 40-acre compost-processing business five decades later. Beck sold his company, Garden Ville, but still works there and is constantly experimenting with different fertilizer formulas--from bat guano to earthworm tea.
How Humpbacks Hunt ...
469 Views 15:10:00 07/01/11
Humpbacks whales blow bubbles around schools of fish to concentrate them for easier capture. Although this hunting technique, called bubble-net feeding, has been d...
[LESS INFO] 469 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 07/01/11
Humpbacks whales blow bubbles around schools of fish to concentrate them for easier capture. Although this hunting technique, called bubble-net feeding, has been documented for decades, just how whales make the nets wasn't well-understood until now, says biologist David Wiley.
Young Inventors Sou...
521 Views 15:10:00 06/24/11
In the basement of Staten Island Technical High School, a group of students meets regularly to build and invent. Their award-winning wheelchair prototype can spin ...
[LESS INFO] 521 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 06/24/11
In the basement of Staten Island Technical High School, a group of students meets regularly to build and invent. Their award-winning wheelchair prototype can spin in circles and has a built-in massage function.
Lab-Grown Heart
629 Views 15:10:00 06/10/11
Build them the right home and cells will organize themselves into a tissue, says bioengineer Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. We stopped by the lab to see a little piece ...
[LESS INFO] 629 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 06/10/11
Build them the right home and cells will organize themselves into a tissue, says bioengineer Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. We stopped by the lab to see a little piece of beating heart muscle they grew in the lab and keep in an incubator in the corner.
Sun Spotting
561 Views 15:10:00 06/03/11
Using the Swedish Solar Telescope, a ground-based observatory, Goran Scharmer and colleagues probe the penumbra--that's the stringy structure around the perimeter ...
[LESS INFO] 561 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 06/03/11
Using the Swedish Solar Telescope, a ground-based observatory, Goran Scharmer and colleagues probe the penumbra--that's the stringy structure around the perimeter of the dark part of a sunspot.
Tale Of Two Tongues
506 Views 15:10:00 05/27/11
Tongues are important, biologists say. Two recent studies explore tongue design and function--how they are used for lapping by dogs and for nectar retrieval by hum...
[LESS INFO] 506 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 05/27/11
Tongues are important, biologists say. Two recent studies explore tongue design and function--how they are used for lapping by dogs and for nectar retrieval by hummingbirds.
Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku takes us on a tour of his office, where he writes his bestsellers and records his radio shows. The futuristic 1950s ...
[LESS INFO] 491 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 05/20/11
Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku takes us on a tour of his office, where he writes his bestsellers and records his radio shows. The futuristic 1950s TV show Flash Gordon jump-started his interest in science. Watching it as a kid, Kaku realized that it was the problem-solving scientist, not the chiseled crimefighter Flash, who was really the hero.
Magnified Sun Burns
472 Views 15:10:00 05/13/11
A magnifying glass looks harmless. But combine it with a nice sunny day and you have a weapon of ant destruction and a fire hazard. Even if cheap pyrotechnics isn'...
[LESS INFO] 472 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 05/13/11
A magnifying glass looks harmless. But combine it with a nice sunny day and you have a weapon of ant destruction and a fire hazard. Even if cheap pyrotechnics isn't your thing, the optics of how this works is relevant to anyone with eyes.
Rock Stars
522 Views 15:10:00 05/06/11
In 1968, the New Jersey Senate decreed the town of Franklin a geological wonder: "The Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World." Over 350 different minerals have b...
[LESS INFO] 522 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 05/06/11
In 1968, the New Jersey Senate decreed the town of Franklin a geological wonder: "The Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World." Over 350 different minerals have been found in the area, ninety of which glow brilliantly under ultraviolet light.
Ant Rafts And Cater...
446 Views 15:10:00 04/29/11
Drop a clump of fire ants into water and they will assemble into a raft that stays afloat for weeks, according to a new study. In other breaking bug news, research...
[LESS INFO] 446 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 04/29/11
Drop a clump of fire ants into water and they will assemble into a raft that stays afloat for weeks, according to a new study. In other breaking bug news, researchers are investigating how caterpillars roll away from prey as inspiration for the design of a jointless, soft-bodied robot.
Candy Corn In Space
432 Views 15:10:00 04/22/11
Astronauts are allowed to bring special “crew preference” items when they go up in space. NASA astronaut Don Pettit chose candy corn for his five and a half month ...
[LESS INFO] 432 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 04/22/11
Astronauts are allowed to bring special “crew preference” items when they go up in space. NASA astronaut Don Pettit chose candy corn for his five and a half month stint aboard the International Space Station. But these candy corn were more than a snack, Pettit used them for experimentation.
Water Balloons In S...
144 Views 15:10:00 04/22/11
About ten years ago, two scientists had a little extra time on board NASA's low gravity aircraft and came up with the idea of popping water balloons. Mechanical en...
[LESS INFO] 144 VIEWS | ADDED 15:10:00 04/22/11
About ten years ago, two scientists had a little extra time on board NASA's low gravity aircraft and came up with the idea of popping water balloons. Mechanical engineers Seth Lichter, of Northwestern University, and Mark Weislogel, of Portland State University, use the floating water balls to explain some basic principles of physics.
Schwendeman's Taxidermy Studio has been mounting animals for sportsmen, museums and nature centers, for nearly ninety years. Take a tour of the studio and learn how to flesh a bear, mount a rack and split an ear.