Nell Greenfieldboyce

Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 21:12:00 +0000

When workplace safety expert Eric Esswein got a chance to see fracking in action not too long ago, what he noticed was all the dust.

It was coming off big machines used to haul around huge loads of sand. The sand is a critical part of the hydraulic fracturing method of oil and gas extraction. After workers drill down into rock, they create fractures in that rock by pumping in a mixture of water, chemicals and sand.

To Keep Deadly Bird Flu In The Lab, Feds Set Rules For Scientists

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:13:00 +0000

Government-funded scientists here in the U.S. are a step closer to being able to resume some controversial experiments with lab-altered bird flu viruses.

Researchers in the Netherlands restarted their experiments a week ago, after scientists around the world declared an end in January to a year-long voluntary moratorium.

Close Shave: Asteroid To Buzz Earth Next Week

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 08:35:00 +0000

An asteroid the size of an office building will zoom close by Earth next week, but it's not on a collision course, NASA says.

Still, some people think this near-miss should serve as a wake-up call.

"It's a warning shot across our bow that we are flying around the solar system in a shooting gallery," says Ed Lu, a former astronaut and head of the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting humanity from asteroids.

The asteroid known as 2012 DA14 was first spotted last year by astronomers in Spain.

Silica Rule Changes Delayed While Workers Face Health Risks

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 08:31:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHwvKKQ5WtI

Scientists Put An End To Moratorium On Bird Flu Research

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:35:00 +0000

Controversial experiments on bird flu could resume within weeks because leading influenza researchers around the world have finally called a halt to an unusual moratorium that has lasted more than a year.

The voluntary pause in the research started back in January 2012.

Rules Would Retire Most Research Chimps

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 08:39:00 +0000

The National Institutes of Health should retire most of its chimps that are currently living in research facilities, according to a working group put together by the NIH to look at the future need for biomedical research on chimps.

The group did recommend keeping a small number of chimps in reserve in case they are needed for studies later on.

Figuring How to Pay For (Chimp) Retirement

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 08:36:00 +0000

Retirees flock to Florida — and the Sunshine State even has a retirement home for chimpanzees.

There, chimps live in small groups on a dozen man-made islands. Each 3-acre grassy island has palm trees and climbing structures, and is surrounded by a moat.

This is Save the Chimps, the world's biggest sanctuary for chimps formerly used in research experiments or the entertainment industry, or as pets. The chimps living here — 266 of them — range in age from 6 years old to over 50.

You Can't See It, But You'll Be A Different Person In 10 Years

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 23:08:00 +0000

No matter how old people are, they seem to believe that who they are today is essentially who they'll be tomorrow.

That's according to fresh research that suggests that people generally fail to appreciate how much their personality and values will change in the years ahead — even though they recognize that they have changed in the past.

Daniel Gilbert, a psychology researcher at Harvard University who did this study with two colleagues, says that he's no exception to this rule.

"I have this deep sense that although I will physic

Research Moratoriums And Recipes For Superbugs: Bird Flu In 2012

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 08:30:00 +0000

For scientists who study a dangerous form of bird flu, 2012 is ending as it began — with uncertainty about what the future holds for their research, but a hope that some contentious issues will soon be resolved.

Last January, dozens of flu experts around the world agreed to what was supposed to be a 60-day pause in controversial experiments on the H5N1 bird flu virus.

NIH Moving To Revamp Funding Process For Bird Flu Research

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 18:44:00 +0000

Flu researchers may be close to ending an unusual moratorium on some controversial scientific work that has lasted almost a year.

That's because officials at the National Institutes of Health say they will be moving swiftly to finalize a new process for deciding whether or not to fund proposed experiments that could potentially create more dangerous forms of the bird flu virus H5N1.

Such work has been on hold since January, when dozens of flu researchers around the world voluntarily agreed to a pause that was originally supposed to last 60 days.

NIH To Revisit Debate On Controversial Bird Flu Research

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 08:18:00 +0000

On Tuesday, the National Institutes of Health in Maryland is holding a second day of talks about whether and how to continue funding some controversial scientific experiments.

Back in January, virologists agreed to temporarily stop research that was creating new forms of bird flu because critics argued that the work was too dangerous.

50 Years After First Interplanetary Probe, NASA Looks To Future

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:26:00 +0000

Fifty years ago, on Dec.

Is Another Moon Mission Written In The Stars?

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 07:49:00 +0000

On Dec. 7, 1972, NASA launched its final human mission to the moon. Forty years later, Apollo 17 commander Eugene Cernan says he'd love to give up his claim to fame as "the last man on the moon."

"I'd like to be able to shake the hand of that young man or young woman who replaces me in that category," Cernan told NPR. "But unfortunately, the way things have gone and the way things are looking for the future, at least the near-term future, that won't happen in my lifetime.

Victory Or Defeat? Emotions Aren't All In The Face

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:04:00 +0000

Photos of athletes in their moment of victory or defeat usually show faces contorted with intense emotion.

Experiments That Keep Going And Going And Going

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 23 Nov 2012 21:13:00 +0000

A biologist who has been watching a dozen bottles of bacteria evolve for nearly a quarter of a century is hoping he can find someone to keep his lab experiment going long after he dies.

Meanwhile, just by coincidence, a botanist who works across campus is carefully tending an experiment that started before he was born, all the way back in 1879.

These two researchers, both at Michigan State University in East Lansing, represent different sides of an unusual phenomenon in science: experiments that outlive the people who started them.

Most researchers design studies to churn out results as

Ingredients For A Homestyle Thanksgiving, 200 Miles Above The Earth

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 22 Nov 2012 10:58:00 +0000

For Thanksgiving, NASA's space food experts always try to make sure astronauts get to enjoy traditional holiday fare, even if its not exactly home cooking. And being so far from home, astronauts can get pretty attached to their comfort foods.

This year, Kevin Ford, the commander of Expedition 34 and currently working at the International Space Station, says he has the ingredients to make one favorite Thanksgiving dish the NASA nutritionists may not have anticipated: Candied yams with marshmallows.

The yams are thermostablized and come in a plastic pouch.

When Fetuses Yawn In The Womb

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 22:03:00 +0000

Why people yawn is a mystery.

Move Over, Parrot: Elephant Mimics Trainer At Zoo

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 00:00:00 +0000

Scientists say an Asian elephant at a South Korean zoo can imitate human speech, saying five Korean words that are readily understood by people who speak the language.

The male elephant, named Koshik, invented an unusual method of sound production that involves putting his trunk in his mouth and manipulating his vocal tract.

"This is not the kind of sound that Asian elephants normally make, and it's a dead-on match of the speech of his trainers," says Tecumseh Fitch of the University of Vienna in Austria.

Many birds are excellent vocal mimics, but this isn't common among mammals.

Human

Feds Seek Comments On Bird Flu Safety Fears

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 17:38:00 +0000

Here's your chance to weigh in on mutant forms of bird flu that have been in the news — the U.S.

Two Americans Share Nobel Prize In Chemistry

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Two Americans have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Koblika were awarded the prize for their work on protein receptors that tell cells what's going on around the human body. Their research has allowed drug makers to develop medication with fewer side effects. The pair with share the $1.2 million award.

Nobel In Chemistry Announced Wednesday

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:32:00 +0000

Americans Robert Lefkowitz and Brian Kobilka have won the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited the two researchers Wednesday "for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors."

Debate Heats Up About Contentious Bird Flu Research

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:59:00 +0000

What was supposed to be a 60-day moratorium on certain experiments involving lab-altered bird flu has now lasted more than eight months. And there's no clear end in sight.

Researchers still disagree on how to best manage the risks posed by mutant forms of highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu. The altered viruses are contagious between ferrets, which are the lab stand-in for humans.

NASA's Curiosity Finds Water Once Flowed On Mars

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 28 Sep 2012 07:22:00 +0000

NASA's newest Mars rover, Curiosity, has snapped photos of rocky outcroppings that jut out from the alien soil, and scientists say they look like the remnants of an ancient stream bed where water once flowed on the surface of the red planet.

The exposed rocks look like broken slabs of concrete sidewalk, about four inches thick, and are made of rounded bits of gravel in a sandy matrix.

Mammalian Surprise: African Mouse Can Regrow Skin

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 17:14:00 +0000

Scientists have discovered that a mouse found in Africa can lose large patches of skin and then grow it back without scarring, perhaps as a way of escaping the clutches of a predator.

The finding challenges the conventional view that mammals have an extremely limited ability to replace injured body parts.

Government Officials Retire Chimpanzees From Research

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 21:00:00 +0000

One hundred ten chimpanzees will retire from biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health announced today. The move comes as some groups are pushing for a ban on all medical chimp research.

The NIH has been reviewing its chimp research since December.

Shuttle Endeavour Begins Long Voyage To New Home

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 07:42:00 +0000

Space shuttle Endeavour begins a kind of farewell tour this week. The shuttle will set off on a cross-country trip to its retirement home, flying from Florida to Los Angeles on the back of a modified jumbo jet.

Along the way, the spaceship will stop off in Houston, home of NASA's Mission Control and, weather permitting, fly over NASA centers and various landmarks in cities that include San Francisco and Sacramento.

If all goes as planned, the shuttle will take off from Kennedy Space Center at sunrise on Wednesday and land at Los Angeles International Airport on Friday.

After 35 Years, Voyager Nears Edge Of Solar System

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 20:15:00 +0000

The Voyager 1 spacecraft's 35th anniversary is proving to be unexpectedly exciting, as scientists gathered this week to examine new hints that the spacecraft is on the verge of leaving our solar system.

Voyager 1 is now more than 11 billion miles away from Earth. It blasted off in September 1977, on a mission to Jupiter and Saturn.

Subtracting Calories May Not Add Years To Life

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 07:19:00 +0000

Scientists have known for decades that lab rats and mice will live far longer than normal if they're fed a super-low-calorie diet, and that's led some people to eat a near-starvation diet in the hopes that it will extend the human life span, too.

But a new study in monkeys suggests they may be disappointed.

The long-awaited results of this study, which started back in 1987, show that rhesus monkeys fed a diet with 30 percent fewer calories than normal did not live unusually long lives.

The monkey study is about as close as it's possible to get to knowing how caloric restriction might

Zap! Cartoonist Raises $1 Million For Tesla Museum

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:50:00 +0000

The only remaining laboratory of one of the greatest American inventors may soon be purchased so that it can be turned into a museum, thanks to an Internet campaign that raised nearly a million dollars in about a week.

The lab was called Wardenclyffe, and it was built by Nikola Tesla, a wizard of electrical engineering whose power systems lit up the Chicago World's Fair in 1893 and harnessed the mighty Niagara Falls.

"He is the developer of the alternating current system of electrical transmission that we use throughout the world today," s

Swarming Up A Storm: Why Animals School And Flock

Nell Greenfieldboyce — Fri, 17 Aug 2012 06:57:00 +0000

By tricking live fish into attacking computer-generated "prey," scientists have learned that animals like birds and fish may indeed have evolved to swarm together to protect themselves from the threat of predators.

"Effectively, what we're doing here is we're getting predatory fish to play a video game," says Iain Couzin, who studies collective animal behavior at Princeton University.