Science: NPR

Welcome to the “Science: NPR” update from Hawaii Science Digest.

Views expressed in this science and technology news summary are those of the reporters and correspondents.

Content provided by National Public Radio (NPR), 09 April 2019.

Accessed on 09 April 2019, 1545 UTC.

Source:

https://www.npr.org/sections/science/

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Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Big Cities, Bright Lights And Up To 1 Billion Bird Collisions

April 7, 2019 • When birds migrate, they can become attracted to and disoriented by artificial lights. The result: they end up colliding with skyscrapers and other buildings.

Sara Stathas for NPR

A Math Teacher’s Life Summed Up By The Gifted Students He Mentored

April 7, 2019 • A biologist at Harvard was chatting with a colleague about a mentor who pushed him to do harder math problems. It turns out the colleague had the same mentor — and so did many others.

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Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters

HISTORY

Mummified Mice And Falcons Found In Newly Unveiled Egyptian Tomb

April 6, 2019 • More than 50 animals were found in the tomb, along with mummies of a woman and a young boy. It’s “one of the most exciting discoveries ever,” Mostafa Waziri of the Supreme Council of Antiquities said.

Joe Daniel Price/Getty Images

OPINION

SIMON SAYS

Opinion: Can Stonehenge Offer A Lesson For Brexit?

April 6, 2019 • As the U.K. continues to debate the state of Brexit, NPR’s Scott Simon looks at how a new discovery at Stonehenge might offer a lesson in coming together.

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JAXA/Akihiro Ikeshita

SPACE

Japan (Very Carefully) Drops Plastic Explosives Onto An Asteroid

April 5, 2019 • The device was detonated as part of a mission to better understand the origins of planets.

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Hasan Jamali/AFP/Getty Images

ANIMALS

Cats Might Not Act Like It, But They Know Their Names As Well As Dogs, Study Says

April 4, 2019 • In the study by Japanese researchers, cats reacted to their own name. Researchers say it’s the first evidence showing cats can understand spoken words.

John Moore/John Moore/Getty Images

HIDDEN BRAIN

Stop The Presses! Newspapers Affect Us, Often In Ways We Don’t Realize

April 4, 2019 • This week we consider what we misunderstand about newspapers – from their long history of hype, to the hidden price we pay when they close.

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John D. Buffington/Getty Images

THE SALT

Bad Diets Are Responsible For More Deaths Than Smoking, Global Study Finds

April 3, 2019 • Some 11 million deaths annually are linked to diet-related diseases like diabetes and heart disease, a study finds. Researchers say that makes diet the leading risk factor for deaths around the world.

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USDA photo obtained through a FOIA request/White Coat Waste Project

USDA Terminates Deadly Cat Experiments, Plans To Adopt Out Remaining Animals

April 2, 2019 • Scientists infected the cats with toxoplasmosis and later killed them. Bipartisan members of Congress complained about the practice, and the agency ended the program.

Handout /Reuters

SPACE

NASA: Debris From India’s Anti-Satellite Test Raised Threat To Space Station

April 2, 2019 • “That is a terrible, terrible thing to create an event that sends debris in an apogee that goes above the International Space Station,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said.

Ryan Kellman/NPR

ENVIRONMENT

Step 1: Build A House. Step 2: Set It On Fire

April 2, 2019 • After back-to-back hurricanes and wildfires, insurers are looking for more-resilient construction materials. That means building model homes and then blowing off their roofs or setting them on fire.

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John Moore/Getty Images

HIDDEN BRAIN

Don’t Panic: Stories Of Coping Amidst Chaos

April 1, 2019 • Chaos is a part of all of our lives. Sometimes we try to control it. And other times, we just have to live with it. On this week’s Hidden Brain, we bring you two of our favorite stories about coping with chaos. They come from our 2016 episodes “Panic in the Streets” and “Embrace the Chaos.”

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NASA via AP

JOE’S BIG IDEA

Young Astronomer Uses Artificial Intelligence To Discover 2 Exoplanets

April 1, 2019 • A team led by an undergraduate student at the University of Texas, Austin has found two new planets by using artificial intelligence to sift through data from NASA’s planet-hunting Kepler telescope.

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Courtesy of Russell Barber

SPACE

How A Cosmic Collision Sparked A Native American Translator’s Labor Of Love

March 31, 2019 • On April 1, astronomers will start two huge machines and continue hunting for ripples in space-time. One scientist gets his mom to translate news of each discovery into her native language, Blackfoot.

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George Frey/Getty Images

ENVIRONMENT

EPA Science Panel Considering Guidelines That Upend Basic Air Pollution Science

March 28, 2019 • Some panel members said they don’t agree that breathing sooty air can cause premature death. The panel’s draft recommendations to the EPA would change how it assesses the dangers of air pollution.

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Courtesy of Jim Carlton

ENVIRONMENT

Dozens Of Nonnative Marine Species Have Invaded The Galapagos Islands

March 28, 2019 • The number of alien species, likely brought by ship traffic, stunned scientists. And they suspect that the foothold of such creatures may have been underestimated in other tropical habitats, too.

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Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images

SHOTS – HEALTH NEWS

How Mosquitoes Sniff Out Human Sweat To Find Us

March 28, 2019 • Female mosquitoes searching for a meal of blood detect people partly by using a special olfactory receptor to home in on our sweat. The finding could lead to new approaches for better repellents.

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