Science Friday Archives - browsing recent stories

International Space Station following most recent upgrade. Credit: STS-119 Shuttle Crew, NASA.

Creating Memories: Researchers have used pulses of light to store the memory of a bad event that never actually happened into the brains of fruit flies. We'll talk about how, and why. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Moon in Review: Last week, NASA crashed a probe into the surface of the moon in search of water, just weeks after two other teams reported finding their own clues to the presence of water in the lunar soil. We'll get a wrapup on the hunt for water on the moon. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

A Virus and Chronic Fatigue?: Researchers have identified a link between the presence of a virus known as XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome -- but what does the presence of such a link mean? (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Surveying the Heliosphere: A series of journal articles published this week draw a new picture of our solar system's heliosphere, the bubble carved out in the interstellar medium by the solar wind. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Climate Policy Who's Who: We get the forecast for domestic climate change policy in the months ahead. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Rare Mother-to-Fetus Cancer Transmission Described: Researchers have identified an instance of a pregnant mother transmitting cancer cells to her offspring. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Kids' Science Challenge: We'll talk about the Kids' Science Challenge, a NSF-funded competition that challenges kids to come up with problems that can be solved via science. (first broadcast Friday, October 16, 2009)

Tracking Bird Migration: Geese head south for the winter, and the swallows return to Capistrano - but how? In this hour, we'll talk about how birds make their migratory journeys, and how scientists are trying to study their travels. (first broadcast Friday, October 9, 2009)

Being a Veterinarian: If you're a doctor, how do you take care of patients that can't tell you where it hurts? In this hour of Science Friday, we'll take a look at what vets do. From large animal-, to small animal-, to research vets, we'll get an inside look at the practice of (first broadcast Friday, October 9, 2009)

Early Hominid Fossil Find: Researchers unveiled several studies of an early hominid known as Ardipithecus ramidus. We'll find out how those studies affect our understanding of human evolution. (first broadcast Friday, October 2, 2009)

Can Bats and Wind Power Get Along?: New research finds that an adjustment to wind turbines could allow bats and wind power generation to better co-exist. (first broadcast Friday, October 2, 2009)

Lester Brown: Plan B 4.0: Ira talks about global sustainability with Lester Brown, head of the Earth Policy Institute. (first broadcast Friday, October 2, 2009)

Green Your Lawn: Many home gardeners love a green lawn -- but how can you be grow green grass in the environmental sense as well? (first broadcast Friday, October 2, 2009)

'The Strangest Man,' Paul Dirac: Ira talks with Graham Farmello, author of a new biography of physicist Paul Dirac. (first broadcast Friday, October 2, 2009)