NASA has postponed a planned repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope after a new problem developed with the orbiting observatory.
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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.
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A consortium of Northeast states has completed the first US cap-and-trade greenhouse gas auction. We'll find out how it went.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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From Ira's Desk: Our Podcasts: Reaching New Heights -- Our SciFri podcasts have reached a new peak: 250,000 downloads each! That makes for about a million downloads per month, over 10 milion per year! We are the second most downloaded Podcast on NPR, of all NPR programs... (more)

Annette on Energy: Liberal Fascist? Really? -- Summer is over, and so is the trial time-of-use pricing plan offered by my power company... (more)

On Sustenance: Down To Earth - Part 2 -- This summer urban agriculture got some good press and a financial boost... (more)

China Watching: Space Walk Boost for Traditional Chinese Medicine -- A few hours from now, between 9:07 a.m. EDT, and 10:27 a.m. EDT, China plans to launch its third manned space mission... (more)

A new study by researchers at the University of Ottawa suggests that honey helps kill the bacteria that cause chronic sinusitis. Read more about the study.
Trouble in the Tropics
Tropical species may be at greatest risk for extinction due to climate change.
Dogs Bark, Birds Chirp, Fish Grunt
The origin of vocal communication--like talking--may date back to prehistoric fish.
Color from Nature
Clothing could get their color—and germ-fighting properties—from a strain of marine bacteria