Science Update
Sharing Science | Satisfying Curiosity | Debunking BS
Are cyclones and earthquakes related? Why recent bad winters may be the result of global warming. And what life might be like on a planet with two stars. Also: we answer a listener's question about the temperature of the sun.
A listener asks: How hot is the surface of the sun?
Magnetically levitated flies may help researchers study the effects of weightlessness.
ANIMALS & PEOPLE - Levitating flies, what dogs and babies have in common, how oxytocin makes kinder, gentler monkeys, a fish that mimics an octopus that mimics a fish, and how bats hear with both sides of the brain.
A powerful telescope has detected the fastest rotating star yet.
The planet Mercury seems placid compared to others in the solar system. But the MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing a more tumultuous past.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing new details about the tiny planet’s chemical composition.
If you’re wearing a gold ring, it began as a meteeorite that struck the earth billions of years ago, but vast deposits of precious metals are also hidden deep in the earth’s core.
MERCURY SPECIAL REPORT - The MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing new discoveries about the planet closest to our Sun.
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft has identified mysterious hollows on the planet's surface.
The MESSENGER spacecraft is revealing surprising details about the origins of the planet Mercury.
PLANETS & PATHOGENS - Gardening for Mars, the darkest planet, a parasite that turns rats against themselves, telling the viruses from the bacteria, and the link between caffeine and skin cancer prevention.
NASA nutritionists face a delicious challenge when planning what astronauts will eat on a mission to Mars.
Scientists have identified the darkest known extrasolar planet.
WATER EVERYWHERE - Astronomers have discovered the largest cache of water ever, and researchers are developing new software for detecting contamination of municipal water supplies. Also: Round robots to help safeguard nuclear power plants.
Water was abundant in the universe just 1.6 billion years after the Big Bang - in one of the most inhospitable places imaginable.
Climate scientists who want to know how airplanes might affect the climate are gaining new insights by looking nearly seventy years into the past.
Climate modeling has identified the first exoplanet that really could support life.
Astronomers are listening for radio signals from star systems that are most likely to harbor life.
Astronomers are using new tools to look for life in outer space. And, the search for intelligent life in the universe is targeting the best candidate planets. Also: how tsunamis impact sealife.
Using light from quasars, scientists are mapping the distant universe.
Astronomers calculate the distance to the furthest stars by comparing them to stars they know.
