Health &#038; Science

SpaceX launches NASA satellite to search for alien worlds

Tess — short for Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — will spend two years searching for planets.

8 years ago

Meghan Adorno squeezes some lemons for almost-instant chickpea-tomato soup, from her favorite cookbook, Vegan on the Cheap. (Emma Lee/WHYY)

Chickpea soup for the planet

Thirty-four-year-old Meghan Adorno says being vegan is about keeping herself healthy, protecting animals, and saving the planet.

8 years ago

Listen 2:40

Carrie Feibel only had one child, her daughter Joni, and was able to ease her eco-anxiety. (Courtesy of Carrie Feibel)

Only Joni: Choosing one child

Living in Houston with flaring smokestacks in the distance stoked Carrie Feibel’s eco-anxieties. Still, she decided to have a kid... but just one.

8 years ago

Listen 5:31

Many communities rely on inefficient and dirty wood fired stoves to cook. A common carbon offset project is to supply communities with cleaner, more efficient stoves. For recipients, like this family in Honduras, it saves time and money, as well as carries health benefits. (Courtesy of Cool Effect)

Carbon indulgences: Pay to lighten your carbon footprint

Some companies offer you the chance to “erase” your carbon sins without making big changes to your lifestyle.

8 years ago

Listen 7:57

A mosquito's antenna responds to odors. Scientists are trying to figure out how the malaria parasite might trigger a change in body odor that draws in mosquitoes that carry the disease, like the Anopheles skeeter pictured above. (BSIP/UIG/Getty Images)

NPR

What brings a mosquito in for the bite?

Here's what you learn when you put smelly socks in front of mosquitoes.

8 years ago

This undated microscope image provided by the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in January 2018 shows a trophectoderm biopsy, in which cells from the outer layer of an embryo that develop into the placenta and amniotic membranes are removed and can be used for genetic testing. When a couple is known to be at risk for having a child with a specific genetic disorder, the woman undergoes a procedure to remove some of her eggs. After fertilization, some cells can be plucked from the embryos and examined to identify those without carry the disease-causing abnormality. (ASRM via AP)

Parenting of the future: Many embryos, each with DNA profile

You've probably read about concerns over "designer babies," whose DNA is shaped by gene editing.

8 years ago

Evan and Darlene love each other. But they do not see eye to eye on safe injection sites.

NewsWorks Tonight

Debate over Philly’s safe injection site plan gets personal

Evan and Darlene love each other. But they do not see eye to eye on safe injection sites. The debate has infused their conversations, in all hours of the day and night.

8 years ago

Listen 5:26

Penn study finds most black men with trauma aren’t getting treatment

Among black men in Philadelphia who’ve suffered traumatic injuries, most psychological symptoms are not treated.

8 years ago

Skytalk

Shedding Light on Dark Matter

Scientists at the University of Washington have developed the tech to ‘see’ what could be a low-mass particle responsible for ...

Air Date: April 17, 2018

Listen 05:57

Pa. medical marijuana rule change will let patients vape

Soon, medical marijuana patients in Pennsylvania won’t just be limited to taking oils, pills, and liquid forms of the drug.

8 years ago

Speak Easy

Safe injection sites are one answer to the opioid crisis

With 1,200 overdose-related deaths in 2017, Philadelphia is suffering some of the worst effects of the nation’s opioid crisis.

8 years ago

The Greenland ice sheet, the second largest body of ice in the world which covers roughly 80 percent of the country, has been melting and its glaciers retreating at an accelerated pace in recent years due to warmer temperatures. (David Goldman/AP)

NPR

Atlantic Ocean current slows down to 1,000-year low, studies show

While scientists disagree about what's behind the sluggish ocean current, the shift could mean bad news for the climate.

8 years ago

This March 2018 photo shows Kristina Olson in her laboratory in Seattle. She is the creator and leader of the TransYouth Project, which is considered the first large-scale long-term study of transgender children in the U.S. On Thursday, April 12, 2018, Olson was named winner of the NSF's annual Alan T. Waterman Award, the government's highest honor for scientists still in the early phases of their careers. (Dennis Wise/University of Washington via AP)

$1 million federal grant will help study of transgender kids

The first large-scale, national study of transgender children, including some as young as 3, is poised to expand.

8 years ago