Accessibility links
Science The latest health and science news. Updates on medicine, healthy living, nutrition, drugs, diet, and advances in science and technology. Subscribe to the Health & Science podcast.

Science

Saturday

By Hiring Gulf Scientists, BP May Be Buying Silence

Pelicans rest on an oil retention boom near Grand Isle, La. Mario Tama/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Mario Tama/Getty Images

By Hiring Gulf Scientists, BP May Be Buying Silence

For months now, local scientists have been out on Gulf waters, advising the cleanup and measuring the damage. But there is growing concern that some of the best minds are being sidelined, since they've signed on as paid consultants to BP.

By Hiring Gulf Scientists, BP May Be Buying Silence

Listen · 4:56
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128892441/128892430" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
This IS His Grandfather's Bug, But Now It's Electric

Ashton Stark stands next to his 1972 Volkswagen Beetle, which he converted into an electric car. Courtesy Noel Stark hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy Noel Stark

Technology

This IS His Grandfather's Bug, But Now It's Electric

If the Chevy Volt's $40,000 price tag sounds a bit too steep, you could always go the do-it-yourself route of Oregon teenager Ashton Stark. He just finished a yearlong conversion of his grandfather's 1972 Volkswagen Beetle into an electric car.

This IS His Grandfather's Bug, But Now It's Electric

Listen · 2:16
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128892473/128893810" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Friday

High-Tech 'Band-Aids' Call Doctors

Smart bandages, including this one from Corventis, can transmit cardiac data in real time from a patient's body to a doctor. Courtesy of Mark Dastrup hide caption

toggle caption
Courtesy of Mark Dastrup

Your Health

High-Tech 'Band-Aids' Call Doctors

CPR News

A new generation of wireless medical sensors mounted on an adhesive strip can call a doctor and transmit key data when they detect a problem. But federal regulators, who want to make sure the technology is safe, have yet to iron out regulations for these devices.

High-Tech 'Band-Aids' Call Doctors

Listen · 4:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128877308/128878794" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Environment

With Well Capped, How Long Will The Oil Linger?

The Gulf of Mexico has a few ways of cleansing oil from its waters: it hosts legions of microbes adapted to dine on natural oil seepages, and its warm water temperatures favor the evaporation of oil. But scientists say it's still too early to know how long it will take the Gulf to recover.

With Well Capped, How Long Will The Oil Linger?

Listen · 23:43
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128876055/128875896" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Spinning Some Silken Science

Spiders and silkworms make silk by the yard. Why can’t we copy them? Silk is strong, light and flexible and is being examined for use in everything from medical sutures to advanced electronics. Silk researcher David Kaplan explains the challenges in bioengineering silk.

Spinning Some Silken Science

Listen · 17:40
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128875901/128875894" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Health Care

Will Reading The Doc's Notes Improve Your Health?

The Open Notes project connects some 25,000 patients with their doctors' medical notes through secure online portals. Participating doctors Tom Delbanco and Sara Fazio of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discuss the program, and why it has some doctors worried.

Will Reading The Doc's Notes Improve Your Health?

Listen · 23:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128875909/128876054" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Research News

Vertebrate Genomes Hide Ancient Viruses

Reporting in the journal PLOS Pathogens, researchers write opossums have bits of the Ebola virus mixed into their genetic code and human genomes contain snippets of the Borna virus. Study author Anna Skalka says some of the virus genetic code was inserted 40 million years ago.

Vertebrate Genomes Hide Ancient Viruses

Listen · 17:14
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128875905/128875895" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

How Scientists Can Police Themselves

How do scientists deal with sloppy or shoddy science? A survey found that researchers were often able to deal with minor misconduct informally. Gerald Koocher, one of the scientists behind the survey and co-author of a handbook for dealing with research misconduct, explains.

How Scientists Can Police Themselves

Listen · 12:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128875897/128875893" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Just Buy It: Impulsiveness Tied To Brain Chemical

This composite image of brain scans shows two traits of a highly impulsive individual. The cool colors in the midbrain are indicative of a decrease in dopamine receptor levels while the warm colors show elevated levels of dopamine in a different part of the brain called the striatum. Joshua W. Buckholtz and David H. Zald hide caption

toggle caption
Joshua W. Buckholtz and David H. Zald

Health

Just Buy It: Impulsiveness Tied To Brain Chemical

From proposing to a loved one to going on a shopping spree, many of life's decisions are guided by the brain chemical dopamine. Scientists now say dopamine might explain why some people are more impulsive than others when it comes to planning and thinking.

Just Buy It: Impulsiveness Tied To Brain Chemical

Listen · 3:57
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128854688/128865918" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Thursday

During CPR, Locking Lips May Not Be Necessary

A woman performs chest compressions on a mannequin while learning CPR on the steps of San Francisco City Hall. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Health

During CPR, Locking Lips May Not Be Necessary

Many people are uncomfortable with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, so they don't attempt CPR at all. Two big studies show that a streamlined, hands-only CPR method could be just as good. Experts hope the findings will get more bystanders to try CPR -- and, in the end, save more lives.

During CPR, Locking Lips May Not Be Necessary

Listen · 3:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128826057/128839190" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Wednesday

The Food Chain's Weak Link: Tiny Ocean Plants Dying

A Pleurosigma, a type of phytoplankton in the ocean. Phytoplankton generate more than half of the Earth's oxygen. Harry Taylor/Nikon Small World hide caption

toggle caption
Harry Taylor/Nikon Small World

Environment

The Food Chain's Weak Link: Tiny Ocean Plants Dying

Microscopic plants in the ocean are among the most important creatures on Earth and produce half of the planet's oxygen. But they are in trouble. A new study finds that since 1950, the amount of phytoplankton in the ocean's surface waters has declined by 40 percent.

The Food Chain's Weak Link: Tiny Ocean Plants Dying

Listen · 4:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128823662/128828498" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Impact Of Childhood Obesity Goes Beyond Health

A group of teenagers take a morning jog at the Wellspring Academy in Reedley, Calif., in 2009. The school specializes in helping teens and college students lose weight. A new study shows teens who remain obese risk a lifetime of chronic health problems and poverty. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Health

Impact Of Childhood Obesity Goes Beyond Health

Adults who have been overweight since high school risk a lifetime of disease, discrimination and poverty. A new study of obese 40-year-olds found those who were overweight teens were three times more likely to suffer chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes and hypertension. They were also much more likely to be unemployed or receiving welfare.

Impact Of Childhood Obesity Goes Beyond Health

Listen · 3:35
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128804121/128815128" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Tuesday

Opinion

Politics

Former Green Jobs Czar Identifies With Shirley Sherrod

Van Jones, the former White House adviser for green jobs, says he can personally relate to Shirley Sherrod, the former USDA official who was forced to resign last week after her comments about overcoming racial prejudice were taken out of context. Both individuals resigned from the Obama administration amid strong political pressures. Host Michel Martin talks to Jones about the parallels he sees between his highly publicized resignation in 2009 and Sherrod's, and what he's learned since leaving the White House.

Former Green Jobs Czar Identifies With Shirley Sherrod

Listen · 10:05
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128795294/128795290" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Experts Fuss Over Cost Of Nuclear Fusion Research

Nuclear fusion, the process that powers our sun, could power the world almost indefinitely. SOHO (ESA & NASA) hide caption

toggle caption
SOHO (ESA & NASA)

Energy

Experts Fuss Over Cost Of Nuclear Fusion Research

A group of nations, including the U.S., wants to invest in nuclear fusion as a source of energy. But adopting the process that fuels our sun to create power on Earth won't be easy -- or cheap. On Tuesday, the group called ITER will decide whether to spend another $17 billion on a lengthy experiment.

Experts Fuss Over Cost Of Nuclear Fusion Research

Listen · 4:37
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/128778289/128789506" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript