Articles in the Category: Podcast

The Growling Uncertainty of Science

The Growling Uncertainty of Science
One thing is for sure. Science doesn’t do certainty. No matter how close a researcher gets to complete certainty there is always room to know more. Therefore uncertainty is a scientific fact. And we need to get comfortable with it. From taxonomic tussles over classifying the giant panda to more...

The Real Grey’s Anatomy

The Real Grey’s Anatomy
The hit ABC television drama Grey’s Anatomy revolves around the fictional Seattle Grace Hospital and follows the lives of surgical residents. Portland, Oregon medical correspondent and author Andrew Holtz wondered where the line between fact and fiction is being drawn when it comes to training...

Pluto’s Icy Underdog Status

Pluto’s Icy Underdog Status
Composite image of Pluto, courtesy Eliot Young (SwRI) et al., NASA For three years, Pluto–the ninth planet–has been given the cold shoulder by the astronomy community, which demoted it to dwarf planet in 2006. What is it about Pluto that tugs at our heartstrings? MSNBC.com Science Editor...

Science Sticks its Head in the Cloud

Science Sticks its Head in the Cloud
Visualization of a river bed created using VisTrails, a system developed by University of Utah computer scientists Photo by: Juliana Freire and Claudio Silva, University of Utah A two-year experiment to build a framework to analyze the massive amount of data scientists are collecting will push research...

H1N1 Vaccine Brings Big Shot Program

H1N1 Vaccine Brings Big Shot Program
After months of speculation and waiting for the vaccine to grow, the new swine flu virus killer is ready and rolling out across the country this week. The CDC hopes that at least 150 million Americans will get the shot or nasal spray to fight the H1N1 flu virus that began its worldwide rampage in April. Some...

Backyard Science: Lava Lamp 101

Backyard Science: Lava Lamp 101
As the school year begins, many Freshmen dorm rooms will have the perennial lava lamp gracing a bookcase or desk. With more students tightening their budgets here is an easy and cost-effective way to build your own lava lamp. See the world’s biggest lava lamp in Soap Lake, Washington.

Monkey Music

Monkey Music
Cotton-top Tamarin, courtesy of University of Wisconsin, photo by Bryce Richter Music is an important part and key ingredient of our culture. But it might also extend to the animal kingdom. New research by University of Wisconsin-Madison psychology professor Charles Snowdon has found that while monkeys...

Retractions on the Rise

Retractions on the Rise
Hwang Woo Suk's Fake Cloned Human Embryonic Stem Cells Scientific papers are the hallmark of any scientist’s career and achievements. And having a published paper retracted spells trouble. Do rising retraction rates hurt the public trust in science? Or does closer scrutiny signal improved safeguards...

Confounded by Conficker

Confounded by Conficker
Just as we have to monitor our own health, now we have to be more aware of our computer’s health. While high cholesterol and blood pressure aren’t issues for our machines, keeping them free of viruses and worms are. A new piece of malware, known as the Conficker worm, that has been worming...

Stories in Stone

Stories in Stone
Urban geologist David Williams is a big stone kinda guy. He is not one to shy away from a nice chunk of gneiss. Nor will he wilt at the sight of weathered brownstone–one of his favorites. Now, the author of Stories in Stone: Travels in Urban Geology, Williams shares his passion for rocks–from...

Lucy’s Luck

Lucy’s Luck
Kelly Frederick with Lucy The the most famous hominid ever found just returned to her home in Ethiopia after a two-year trip to the U.S. She spent five months at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, where she wowed over 100,000 visitors with her tiny size and bipedal nature. She left many scratching...

Science of…a Recession

Science of…a Recession
The United States is in a recession. The signs are all around. But how is an official recession calculated or determined? The National Bureau of Economic Research announced that a recession began in December 2007. It took a year of housing foreclosures, bank failures and massive layoffs to slow economic...

Science of…a Recession

Science of…a Recession
The United States is in a recession. The signs are all around. But how is an official recession calculated or determined? The National Bureau of Economic Research announced that a recession began in December 2007. It took a year of housing foreclosures, bank failures and massive layoffs to slow economic...

Anthrax Case Rests on Science

Anthrax Case Rests on Science
Bruce Edwards Ivins was the man behind the anthrax terror scare in 2001, according to an FBI task force. The agency, working for seven years with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, says the evidence shows that Dr. Ivins, a respected government microbiologist acted alone when he mailed the deadly substance...

Personlized Genome: A Discussion with Leading Minds

Personlized Genome: A Discussion with Leading Minds
Cells from children with genetic disease Progeria, photo by Brian C. Capell, NHGRI Some of the top scientific minds met at University of Washington last spring. Their purpose–to discuss the future of personal genomics. They met on the eve of the passage of the Genetic Information Non-Discrimination...

The Beauty of E. coli

The Beauty of E. coli
New York Times science writer and author, Carl Zimmer shows how important bacteria can be. That little bug that makes people sick from undercooked meat is an elegant and very useful little creature. In his new book, Microcosm, Zimmer explains how E. coli has been aiding science for a hundred years....

Clinton, Obama Campaigns Talk Science

Clinton, Obama Campaigns Talk Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) national meeting invited the major presidential candidates to participate in a forum on science policy. The event happened spontaneously and because of the short time frame only two campaigns sent advisers to tell the scientists how they...

The Science of…Leap Year

The Science of…Leap Year
courtesy of ASU deptarments of Geography and Computer Science This year, February 29 appears on the calendar. That’s because 2008 is a leap year. It’s just an easy way to keep our calendars clear and consistent. Why do we get an extra day every four years? The answer is in the way the Earth...

Pacific Walrus on the Brink

Pacific Walrus on the Brink
courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service First the polar bears and now the Pacific Walrus are being squeezed off the melting ice and onto the brink of extinction. Could listing the walrus under the Endangered Species Act save the tusked mammal or is global warming making it too hot for the walrus to...

Ocean-Going Hybrid Vehicle

Ocean-Going Hybrid Vehicle
courtesy of Webb Research, photo by David Doubilet Taking a page out of a science fiction story, a group of scientistshave successfully flown the first environmentally powered robotic vehicle through the ocean. pp_flashembed( 'powerpress_player_8349', {src: 'http://www.realscience.us/blog/wp-content/plugins/powerpress/FlowPlayerClassic.swf',...

High Fat Health Food

High Fat Health Food
courtesy of University of Massachusetts Amherst Soon the greasy goodness of fat might make low-fat foods taste a lot better without adding calories. Researchers have pioneered a new technique for wrapping fats so the body can’t digest them as easily. This may have applications for drug delivery...

Fish Booms (and Busts) Solved

Fish Booms (and Busts) Solved
courtesy of Scripps Institue, UC San Diego Cycles of booms and busts have plagued the fishing industry forever. Fish suddenly disappear in one area and turn up in another. Now scientists think they have figured out part of the mystery — at least when it comes to sardines and anchovies. pp_flashembed( 'powerpress_player_8351', {src:...

Duckie Danger

Duckie Danger
courtesy of Royalty free stock photography Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the bathtub. Rubber ducks could contain a toxin that interferes with reproduction. New research also finds that these chemicals called pthalates is found in many popular baby products. pp_flashembed( 'powerpress_player_8352', {src:...

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