Science & Health

Shrimp Trawling Comes With Big Risks

Scott Hensley — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 21:44:00 +0000

Think your job is bad? Quit whining, unless you're a shrimper in the Gulf of Mexico.

Commercial fishermen have the highest rate of on-the-job fatalities of any occupation in the country — 116 deaths per 100,000 workers in 2010. A majority of the deaths happen when a fishing vessel sinks. About a third occur when someone goes overboard.

But 10 percent of the more than 500 deaths of commercial fishermen between 2000 and 2009 involved entanglement with machinery on deck, according to government figures.

Are NFL Football Hits Getting Harder And More Dangerous?

editor — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Super Bowl XLVII will kick off Sunday with its typical bombastic fanfare: Beyonce will wow us with her live halftime show, and "space baby" commercials will overload us with cuteness.

But this year, there's a gray cloud hanging over the Super Bowl: the mounting anger about devastating injuries to players' brains and bodies.

Thousands of former NFL players A University of New Orleans faculty member has been awarded a state grant to develop a device to test testosterone levels in real time.

In Second Inaugural, Obama Makes Climate A Priority

Elizabeth Shogren — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 22:52:00 +0000

President Obama pulled out a surprise in his inaugural address on Monday. After barely mentioning climate change in his campaign, he put it on his short list of priorities for his second term.

"We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations," he said.

Explorers Reflect On 125 Years Of National Geographic

editor — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:12:00 +0000

January 2013 marks the 125th birthday of the National Geographic Society. Over the decades, the magazine has transported readers to faraway places, introduced the world to new species and provided a window into a world of exploration and discovery.

Nature Has A Formula That Tells Us When It's Time To Die

Robert Krulwich — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 16:45:00 +0000

Editor's Note: Robert has added a postscript to this post. Scroll down or click here to read it.

We wax, we wane. It's the dance of life.

Every living thing is a pulse. We quicken, then we fade.

To Catch A Marten: Seeking Clues In Olympic National Forest

Ashley Ahearn — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 21:07:00 +0000

It's about 25 degrees on a clear Saturday morning when Gregg Treinish — executive director of Adventurers and Scientists for Conservation, a nonprofit that puts volunteers to work gathering data for scientists around the world — gathers a small group of outdoor adventurers around him near the Duckabush River in the Olympic National Forest in Washington state.

The mission for this group: help biologists figure out whether there are any martens left

Former Anti-GMO Activist Says Science Changed His Mind

NPR Staff — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 22:01:00 +0000

For years, British environmental activist Mark Lynas destroyed genetically modified food (GMO) crops in what he calls a successful campaign to force the business of agriculture to be more holistic and ecological in its practices.

His targets were companies like Monsanto and Syngenta — leaders in developing genetically modified crops.

Earlier this month he went in front of the world to reverse his position on GMOs.

At the Oxford Farming Conference in Britain, Lynas apologized for helping "to start the anti-GMO movement" and told his former allies to "get out of the way, and let the rest o

Miss Piggy's Version Of Global Warming: What About Me?

Robert Krulwich — Sat, 19 Jan 2013 10:54:00 +0000

Here's a new, sly (and frankly selfish) way to think about global warming: Instead of worrying about the whole planet and all its oceans, how about asking a more personal question ...

What about me? What about where I live? Or where my grandma lives? Or the North Pole? Or Siberia? What if I could take my cursor, plop it onto any place on Earth and find out what's happened to temperatures right there.

Click! And a graph instantly registers how much temperatures have changed in that very region since the early 1950s.

Powerful But Fragile: The Challenge Of Lithium Batteries

Christopher Joyce — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 22:24:00 +0000

Boeing announced late Friday that it is postponing deliveries of its new 787 Dreamliner because of problems with its big batteries. Aviation authorities in the U.S. and abroad grounded the new jetliners after those batteries failed in two planes operated by Japanese airlines, including one battery that burned while the plane was on the ground.

These lithium-ion batteries are new to jetliners.