Cell Phone Air Sensors
Installing chemical sensors in cell phones could create a worldwide system for identifying dangerous airborne toxins.
Artificial Pancreas
A prototype artificial pancreas automatically regulates blood sugar in diabetic patients.
Podcast
TECHNOLOGY UPDATE: Ecologically-friendly plastic, a cleaner way to produce hydrogen fuel, cell phone air sensors, the perils of spaceflight, the ethical implications of synthetic life, and more.
Diabetes Roundup
Good dental hygiene can result in improved blood sugar levels in diabetics.
Mammoth Hemoglobin
Scientists have resurrected a blood protein of the extinct woolly mammoth.
Brain Master Switch
Scientists have identified a protein that serves as the brain's master switch.
Podcast
Why near misses keep problem gamblers coming back for more, doing good could make you stronger, an artificial pancreas to control diabetes, debunking the "Mozart" effect, and the brain's master switch.
Air Pollution & Pregnancy
Exposing pregnant women to a common air pollutant may impact their children's intelligence.
Chronic Pain
People with chronic pain experience pain differently than other people.
Podcast
GENETIC HISTORY - Scientists complete a draft sequence of the Neandertal genome, reconstructing the woolly mammoth's bloody past, and genes that jump from species to species. Also: a low-tech solution to a public-health dilemma in the developing world.
Knuckle Cracking
A 60-year-long experiment shows that knuckle cracking does not cause arthritis.
Cancer Cell Electricity
Tiny tumors could be detected by the electricity given off by cancer cells.
Podcast
THE BRAIN: Empathy and aggression share the same neural circuitry, chronic pain sufferers process acute pain differently, how a brain implant made of silk could help epilepsy patients, the effects of pre-natal air pollution exposure on children's cognitive performance, and the psychology behind the Ouija board.
CO2 & Near-Death Experiences
Scientists discover a possible physiological explanation for near-death experiences.
Personalized Cancer Test
A new test that sequences a patient's entire genetic code could help doctors treat cancer more effectively.
Shower Pollution
Bathing and showering could be washing drugs into our waterways.
Podcast
WEIRD SCIENCE: Behind the legend of the chupacabra, does cracking your knuckles cause arthritis? A physiological explanation for near-death experiences, and animals that live without oxygen.
Health Nanotech Roundup
Tiny gold-plated probes inside cells could monitor the progress of a disease.
Medicated Contacts
Contact lenses impregnated with vitamin E can deliver glaucoma medicine directly to the eye.
Podcast
The world's strongest insect, why showering could pollute, tests that fail the grade and sampling the early solar system.
Sizing Up Dogs II
A listener asks whether it's true that large dogs don't live as long as small dogs.