The blue LED just won the Nobel Prize, but we've been reaping its benefits...
This year's Nobel Prize for Physics went to some guys who invented a light. Really.Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano of Japan, along with US citizen Shuji Nakamura, snagged the prize for developing blue...
View ArticleThis year's October sky should be pretty cool — starting this morning
October features not one, but two eclipses this year — and the first one was this morning.The total lunar eclipse occurred at a unique time for Americans — as the sun rose.Dean Regas, Outreach...
View ArticlePig-nosed turtles are adorable — and that's made them the target of traffickers
They aren’t teenaged, mutant or ninja-like, but pig-nosed turtles are still pretty cute.The unique freshwater turtles have pig-like snouts and flippers like marine turtles, and their cuteness has made...
View ArticleHow small is small? Try looking at the nano-dimension
Back in the 16th century, when Dutch lens-maker Zacharias Jansen and his father began experimenting with magnifying glasses, they had no idea that we might be able to see the world at a molecular level...
View ArticleWhat your sense of smell tells you about your health
Researchers at the University of Chicago say a decreased sense of smell is one of the strongest predictors of five-year mortality — stronger even than a diagnosis of heart or lung disease. According to...
View ArticleHere's how cutting down West African trees made us vulnerable to Ebola
If you're sick, you might well have an animal to blame.Scientists say that more than six out of 10 infectious diseases in humans were transmitted from animals. And that transmission, or "disease...
View ArticleChimps can learn behavior from one another, a new study shows
A new study documents for the first time that chimps in the wild can learn new behaviors from one another.Catherine Hobaiter, one of the authors of the study and a lecturer in psychology and...
View ArticleThe 'green conservative' movement has some big players — and an uphill battle...
“I'm a staunch, right-wing, radical conservative, and I believe conservation is a conservative principle.”If you follow American politics, you'll probably find these words surprising. Conservatives...
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'Professor Dumpster' has turned a big trash bin into a tiny home
Dr. Jeff Wilson is taking a novel approach to teaching sustainability: he's living in a dumpster.The Dumpster Project is not a gimmick: it's a serious experiment in sustainable living. “The main point...
View ArticleA former EPA director is pushing for wider use of nuclear power in the US
All the waste from America’s nuclear power could fit in a city block, and nuclear power plants don't release greenhouse gas emissions. Yet the US hasn’t completed construction of a nuclear reactor in...
View ArticleHarvard researchers went undercover to reveal Chinese censorship tactics on...
The world knows that the Chinese government censors free speech. It's not a well-kept secret. But it turns out the Chinese government is much less concerned with what people say than with what they...
View ArticleHow a century of infrastructure is holding back renewable energy supplies
Imagine a leaf — but not your standard, sugar maple variety. Instead, this leaf is a small wafer that generates energy by mimicking the process of photosynthesis.This "artificial leaf" could create...
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Not everyone wants the clean-up in Fukushima to be over
The only retail shop that's open in the Japanese town of Tomioka is a hardware store. It has that hardware store smell — old dust, garden mulch, machine oil. But there are no shoppers.There is one man...
View ArticleWhat's the difference between a drone and a toy? The pilot
Drones seems to be everywhere now, even in the sports world. Check out the one that just invaded a soccer match between Serbia and Albania — and sparked a riot.If you look at, it seems more like a toy....
View ArticleWith no time to find a cure, Ebola could be contained faster with a quicker test
If the world does not get Ebola under control in the next few weeks, we can expect as many as 1.4 million cases by February 1, 2015, according to the CDC. A deployable, proven cure or a vaccine is...
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This backcountry cook you've never heard of is a legend at Yosemite National...
No one really hears about Yosemite National Park's immigrant history.Or at least Yenyen Chan hadn't. A park ranger at the famed national park, she grew up in Los Angeles with her Chinese parents. When...
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A couple returns to their 'heaven' near the Fukushima nuclear disaster
Most Japanese towns have a Bosai Musen, an emergency broadcast system. In the town of Kawauchi, 15 miles southwest of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactors, it gets tested every day at noon with a...
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Rescuers airlift hikers to safety after a deadly blizzard hits the Himalayas
At least 25 hikers were killed on Nepal's Annapurna Circuit trail this week after a freak blizzard blew through the Himalayas during the height of the climbing season, dumping more than six feet of...
View ArticleScientists dig into booming coal exports and their effects on wetlands
The US Geological Survey is wading into an environmental controversy in Washington State — literally.Port operators in Washington have proposed building two new large coal terminals that would export...
View ArticleTrick or treat? Not in a northern Canadian town where it's polar bear season
There won't be ghosts, goblins or Ninja Turtles roaming the streets of Arviat this Halloween, but there might be some polar bears — just not in costume.Arviat is a hamlet on the western shore of Hudson...
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