Science Friday Archives - browsing recent stories

A full-scale mockup of NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle on display in August 2009. Image credit: NASA/SSC

Science and the Budget: This week, President Obama unveiled his proposed budget for 2011. We'll talk about how the proposed budget might affect science. (first broadcast Friday, February 5, 2010)

'Manufacturing Depression': Millions of Americans take antidepressant medications. But how did that come to be, and does such widespread use of antidepressants serve a real medical need? (first broadcast Friday, February 5, 2010)

Gene Doping in Sports: With the Winter Olympics just a week away, we'll talk about a new potential threat to fair competition -- gene doping. (first broadcast Friday, February 5, 2010)

Mars Rover to Rove No Longer: This week, NASA announced that Spirit, one of the twin Mars Exploration Rovers, appears to be permanently stuck in Martian soil, and that the rover would now be used only as a stationary observation platform. (first broadcast Friday, January 29, 2010)

In 2010, A Space Opera: For the past week, the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York has been home to an unusual sight -- performances of a Haydn opera about the moon. (first broadcast Friday, January 29, 2010)

Rotifers, Reproduction, and the Red Queen: New research tackles the question of how one species of aquatic microorganism has managed to survive without the benefit of sexual reproduction for millions of years. (first broadcast Friday, January 29, 2010)

Tracking Near-Earth Objects: The US spends $4 million each year to search for comets or asteroids that could threaten the planet. That's not enough to get the job done, according to a new report from the National Research Council. (first broadcast Friday, January 29, 2010)

Time, Space, and Other Big Questions: Ira talks with theoretical physicist Sean Carroll about his new book about the nature of time. Did time and space exist before the Big Bang? (first broadcast Friday, January 29, 2010)

Texting Aid Dollars: Much of the financial support for earthquake-stricken Haiti has a high-tech source -- the text message. (first broadcast Friday, January 22, 2010)

Michael Specter's 'Denialism': We'll talk with author Michael Specter about his book 'Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives.' (first broadcast Friday, January 22, 2010)

BPA and the FDA: Last Friday, the Food and Drug Administration announced that it was seeking further information about the potential health effects of bisphenol-A, a common ingredient in some plastics. (first broadcast Friday, January 22, 2010)

Rewiring the Brain With Stem Cells: New research finds that in mice, transplanted neurons grown from embryonic stem cells can form proper connections with other brain parts. (first broadcast Friday, January 22, 2010)

Facial Recognition: Photo management programs such as Picasa and iPhoto can pick out a snapshot of your cousin Dave from a stack of party pictures -- but what about more complex uses of facial recognition in less controlled situations? (first broadcast Friday, January 22, 2010)

Adjusting the Doomsday Clock: Thursday, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists adjusted the minute hand of its Doomsday Clock, a measure of the world's vulnerability to catastrophe. (first broadcast Friday, January 15, 2010)