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Biotech
12:07 pm
Thu March 14, 2013

Bionic Bulldogs And Spider Goats: The Future Of Biotech's New Beasts

Credit Flickr Photo/Adam Brandejs
Artistic interpretation of the future of pets, the Genpet by Adam Brendejs.
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How is biotechnology changing our pets, our livestock and other wild things? Ross Reynolds talks with Emily Anthes, the author of "Frankenstein’s Cat: Cuddling up to Biotech’s Brave New Beasts," about how biotech will change our pets and livestock.

Scientific Discoveries
2:04 pm
Thu March 7, 2013

If Caffeine Can Boost The Memory Of Bees, Can It Help Us, Too?

Credit Adam Cole/NPR / iStockphoto.com
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Originally published on Thu March 7, 2013 3:13 pm

Who knew that the flower nectar of citrus plants — including some varieties of grapefruit, lemon and oranges — contains caffeine? As does the nectar of coffee plant flowers.

And when honeybees feed on caffeine-containing nectar, it turns out, the caffeine buzz seems to improve their memories — or their motivations for going back for more.

"It is surprising," says Geraldine Wright at Newcastle University in the the U.K., the lead researcher of a new honeybee study published in the journal Science.

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Natural History
2:29 pm
Wed March 6, 2013

Fossils Suggest Giant Descendants Of Modern Camels Roamed The Canadian Arctic

Credit Julius Csotonyi
Illustration of the High Arctic camel on Ellesmere Island during the Pliocene warm period, aboutthree-and-a-half million years ago. The camels lived in a boreal-type forest. The habitat includeslarch trees and the depiction is based on records of plant fossils found at nearby fossil deposits.
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Originally published on Thu March 7, 2013 8:49 am

Camels belong in the desert. That's what we've learned since grade school.

Today, NPR's Melissa Block talked to Natalia Rybczynski, a paleobiologist at the Canadian Museum of Nature, who tells Melissa that fossils she has unearthed tell a different story.

The fossils, found on a frigid ridge in Canada's High Arctic, show that modern camels actually come from giant relatives that roamed the forests of Ellesmere Island 3.5 million years ago.

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Science & Space
9:00 am
Wed March 6, 2013

Neil deGrasse Tyson: Let's Think Big About Space

Credit Courtesy/Neil deGrasse Tyson Facebook Page
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.
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What does the future hold for America’s space program? Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson argues that space exploration is vital for our economy, our security — and our morale. "Audacious visions... have the power to change assumptions about what is possible," he says. In his most recent book, "Space Chronicles," Tyson challenges lawmakers to invest in NASA and once again put a priority on the nation's space program. Neil deGrasse Tyson joins us to talk meteors, aliens and thinking big about exploring the universe.

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Competition
11:41 am
Tue March 5, 2013

The Science Of Winning And Losing

Credit Flickr Photo/David Biesack
Do you perform better when a trophy is on the line?
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Does competition make us perform better? What does the science say? Ross Reynolds sits down with New York Times best-selling authors Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman to discuss the science of winning and losing, and what it takes to become the "Top Dog."

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