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What We Can Learn from Traditional People

January 16, 2013
What can we learn from indigenous cultures, who still live the same way that everyone did thousands of years ago? Geographer Jared Diamond points out that, for most of history, people lived in small groups as hunter-gatherers. Agriculture began 11,000... continued

One of the Worst Pollution Events in History

January 16, 2013
Reduced air circulation and cold winter temperatures have combined to create what is one of the most intense pollution events in history over China. Unhealthy polluted air blankets three fourths of a country the size of Europe. It’s as if... continued

Coffee Prevents Cancer

January 15, 2013
Oral cancer, anyway. People who drink more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day are at about half the risk of death of these often fatal cancers compared to those who only occasionally or who never drank coffee. There... continued

More Melt Than Ever

January 15, 2013
Climatologists have discovered that West Antarctica is warming TWICE as fast as they previously thought it was. This unexpectedly big increase adds to fears the ice sheet will thaw, causing the sea level to rise and drown coastal cities all... continued

Strange Sounds Haunt a Noisy World

January 15, 2013
We live in an increasingly noisy world, and a new study says that background noise (which we don't always notice) plays a major role in our unconscious learning and psychological health. The plane roaring overhead, our neighbor's TV set, the... continued

Can’t Hit ‘Em if You Can’t See ‘Em

January 14, 2013
How can we protect our soldiers? Make them invisible! The US military is developing "Quantum Stealth" camouflage uniforms that can make soldiers completely invisible by bending light waves around them. This fabric can even fool night vision goggles. In the... continued

One in Six Stars Has Earth-Sized Planet

January 14, 2013
Using NASA's Kepler spacecraft, astronomers are beginning to find Earth-sized planets orbiting distant stars. A new analysis of Kepler data shows that about 17% of stars have an Earth-sized planet in an orbit closer than Mercury. Since the Milky Way... continued

When Getting Sick is a Roll of the Dice

January 14, 2013
This year's flu season has been declared an "epidemic:" with 41 states reporting widespread and severe outbreaks of flu this season, researchers are wondering why less than half of the American population has gotten a flu shot. Due to the... continued

Internet Catches Criminals With Words

January 11, 2013
Covert agencies--as well as corporations--are searching email files for words and phrases that may reveal incipient (or ongoing) criminal activity. The 911 terrorists knew this, which is why they emailed one another in code. Aside from the words one might... continued

Can a Computer Tell Jokes?

January 11, 2013
As if they didn't have enough to study, scientists are now trying to figure out what makes something funny. One way to do this is to get a computer to create jokes--something a standup comedian (NOTE: Subscribers can still listen... continued