From color to crunch, there are subtle cues that make our food taste better. Plus, a new autonomous system lets the Mars rover conduct research even while offline. And an experimental vaccine patch would deliver influenza vaccine via an array of dissolvable, microscopic needles.

USGS wildlife biologist Karyn Rode monitors how populations of polar bears are affected by shrinking sea ice and other changing conditions in the Arctic. Plus, how safety lapses at national nuclear weapons labs are making dangerous work even more hazardous.