Stories tagged "science"

When the U.S. Bureau of Land Management auctioned off oil and gas drilling leases in Salt Lake City, Utah last month, some activists stood outside and protested. But Tim DeChristopher, a student at the University of Utah, went one step further. He bid on, and won, $1.7 million dollars worth of land rights. The problem is that he never had any means or intent of paying for it. Some are calling him an environmental hero, others, a criminal. The Takeaway talks to DeChristopher himself about his peculiar act of civil disobedience.

For more, watch this interview with Tim DeChristopher courtesy of YouTube.

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When the Mars rovers were deployed to the red planet in 2003, they were only expected to last three months. But here we are, five years later celebrating Spirit and Opportunity's anniversary. During their adventure, what have the Rovers discovered? How much longer can we expect Spirit and Opportunity to be with us? Ray Arvidson, Deputy Principal Investigator on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, joins us as we look back at the last five years and forward into the next.

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If you know anything about Macintosh computers, you know that the annual Macworld trade show that kicks off today in San Francisco is one of the biggest events for the Apple community. But in December, Apple stunned its followers when it announced that Apple CEO Steve Jobs would not giving his traditional keynote speech. Not only that, Apple announced that after 2009, they will no longer be part of the expo. Questions abound: Why is Apple going AWOL? And is Jobs sick, again? WIRED magazine journalist Steven Levy joins The Takeaway from Macworld to discuss.

Steve Jobs' 2008 keynote address in 60 seconds

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It's a good thing astronauts are rocket scientists, because President-elect Barack Obama has sent some some very puzzling messages about the future of NASA under his administration. First he was for cutting the space budget, then he was on record supporting NASA. Joining The Takeaway to discuss what NASA may be in for is Phil Plait an astronomer and writer of the blog, Bad Astronomy.

Explore the pages of America's Briefing Book, a set of audio primers from experts on important issues President-elect Barack Obama will face when he takes office in January 2009.

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Gained five pounds when you wanted to lose ten? Started smoking again after swearing you wouldn't? Not eat vegetables at every meal? Forget to not watch television? Who hasn’t had a New Year's resolution fail? The Takeaway’s science contributor Jonah Lehrer joins the show to tell us why our brain actually prevents us from changing everything at once.

Want more Jonah Lehrer? Read his book Proust Was a Neuroscientist. Guaranteed to make you smarter!

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In 2003, the Columbia space shuttle disintegrated in the skies above Texas. All seven astronauts were lost. A 400-page NASA report released yesterday investigates the equipment failures during the final moments aboard the shuttle. New York Times science journalist John Schwartz joins The Takeaway to discuss.

For more John Schwartz, read his article in today's New York Times. He also has an article covering the future of NASA.

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Most pharmaceutical drugs only work for about half the people who take them. Why? Because our DNA can inhibit them from functioning in our bodies. But personalized medicine -- in which each person's individual genes are matched with appropriate pharmaceuticals -- might offer a solution. Joining The Takeaway to explain more is Andrew Pollack, a reporter for the New York Times and author of today's front page story on the topic.

For more on this fascinating subject, read Andrew Pollack's article.

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Today people across the country are overwhelmed with the fear of loss: fear of losing one’s job, fear of losing one’s life savings, fear of losing all our money in a Bernie Madoff-style ponzi scheme. Can all of this anxiety be bad for our brains? Of course! Dr. Gregory Berns is the Director of the Center for Neuropolicy at Emory University and author of the book "Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently." He joins John and Adaora for a talk on how fear can impair our brain functions.

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Scientists have long suspected that poverty affects children’s brains. In recent years they’ve begun to use sophisticated imaging tools and other methods to understand exactly how the process works. Professor Martha Farah, director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, has just written an article for a scientific journal reviewing recent research on poverty and brain development.

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Has the urgency of climate change dimmed since the global economic crisis? Or is it a potential economic stimulus? Environomental engineer David Greene from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory discusses the other global concern that will dominate Barack Obama's administration in the coming years.

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Feeling a little sheepish because you got your sister socks, and she got you a new purple iPod? Evolution can be blamed for the guilt — if not your poor taste in gifts. Jonah Lehrer, author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist," gives us the dirt on why we feel the need to give as much as we receive.

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Researchers at Georgia Tech have developed technology that uses tracks movements of fish in a tank by corresponding their movement with musical notes The end result is a polyphonic pleasure that will allow visually impaired people to enjoy aquariums, zoos, and other places of informative learning. What would you call this new instrument and what does it sound like? Bruce Walker of the Georgia Tech Sonification lab joins John and Adaora.

Watch video of the Accessible Aquarium Project (the Associated Press via ajc.com) »

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With a fixed amount of water on earth, a growing population means the competition for water is increasing.

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Psychiatry's number one diagnostic manual is being re-written -- and it's making everyone crazy. Gender identification disorder may be in, while sleepwalking disorder is on the outs. By 2012, the American Psychiatric Association hopes to have published a new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) -- the diagnostic manual used to determine if a patient has a mental disorder. Proposed changes are already being challenged by patients, insurance companies, and the pharmaceutical industry. The New York Times science journalist Benedict Carey explains.

For more information, read Benedict Carey's article in today's New York Times.

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It has long been rumored that colonoscopy screening tests are 90 percent effective at locating cancer in your colon. Yet a new study published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine indicates that the screening method is not as effective as doctors thought, often missing cancers located on a person's right side. New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata explains the study and how it might affect your next doctor's visit. To find out more, read Gina Kolata's article, "Colonoscopies Miss Many Cancers, Study Finds," at the New York Times.

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We were all taught to "Just Say No," but when it comes to performance enhancers, is it okay to say yes?

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A man known only as H.M. is the reason we know as much as we do about the brain.

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For most Americans, Thanksgiving Day conjures up the collective memory of millions of homes, filled with the warm smells of the holiday feast: turkey, stuffing and pumpkin pie. Jonah Lehrer, author of "Proust Was a Neuroscientist" and editor at large at Seed Magazine, talks with John Hockenberry about the science behind our nostalgia, mutant mice, and why gravy should be a disgusting addition to the table... but isn't.

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Now that it's possible to program unmanned combat vehicles to make decisions about where (and who) to strike in war situations, new questions of ethics have risen: In which situations can we allow robots to make their own decisions? Can we program robots to follow the Geneva Conventions? There is a more basic question, too: Do we even want robot soldiers?

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