Science Friday Archives - browsing recent stories

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

Climate Change And Tropical Habitats: As the world gets warmer due to climate change, some species may need to find cooler habitats to compensate. In this segment, we'll talk about the potential effects of warming temperatures on plants and insects in the tropics. (first broadcast Friday, October 10, 2008)

Deep Bacterium Goes it Alone: Researchers studying a sample of bacteria from water taken from a crack in a South African gold mine -- nearly 3 kilometers below the surface of the Earth -- have found that the ecosystem in the crack consists of only one organism. (first broadcast Friday, October 10, 2008)

Science Advice for Future Presidents: In this segment, Ira talks with Thomas Murray, head of the nonpartisan bioethics research institution The Hastings Center, about the role of science and technology in future presidential administrations, and about challenges involving bioethics facing the (first broadcast Friday, October 10, 2008)

Mental Health Gets Insurance Parity: Included in the economic rescue package signed into law last week were provisions that will, for the first time, require employers and insurance companies to give mental health issues parity with physical health issues. We'll talk about the new law, and i (first broadcast Friday, October 10, 2008)

Fall Gardening: The frost is on the pumpkin in some parts of the country -- how did your garden grow? In this segment, we'll talk about fall gardening, from crops that can be planted now, to what you can do now to prepare your garden for next year. (first broadcast Friday, October 10, 2008)

Hubble Repair Mission on Hold: NASA has postponed a planned repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope after a new problem developed with the orbiting observatory. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

Flash of Genius: In this segment, Ira talks with an author, movie director and actor about the new film 'Flash of Genius,' a story of patents and the intermittent windshield wiper. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

First US Cap-And-Trade Greenhouse Gas Auction: A consortium of Northeast states has completed the first US cap-and-trade greenhouse gas auction. We'll find out how it went. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

Looking at Magnetic Fields in a Distant Galaxy: We'll talk with one of the scientists behind a project that used a radio telescope to peer back millions of years in time and make observations of the magnetic field present in a distant proto-galaxy. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

SpaceX Launch Successful: Last weekend, private space transportation company SpaceX successfully launched a payload into orbit. We'll talk with Elon Musk, the company's founder, about the launch of the Falcon 1 and what's next for the company. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

Do You Want to Believe?: New research indicates that in situations in which a person is not in control, they're more likely to spot patterns where none exist, see illusions, and believe in conspiracy theories. We'll talk about the finding and what it means. (first broadcast Friday, October 3, 2008)

Trouble at the Large Hadron Collider: A breakdown in a magnet system during testing of the Large Hadron Collider last week may have the massive physics experiment off-line until next year. We'll find out what went wrong, and why it may take months to start up the LHC again. (first broadcast Friday, September 26, 2008)

Energy News: With energy prices a top issue this season, we'll get a roundup of current energy news. (first broadcast Friday, September 26, 2008)

Solar Energy Store: Looking to get energy from the sun? We'll hear about a new retail store for solar energy enthusiasts opening in Pennsylvania. (first broadcast Friday, September 26, 2008)