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11:57am

Fri February 1, 2013
NPR Story

How Owls Turn Heads

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 1:03 pm

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Up next, Flora Lichtman is here with Video Pick of the Week, fresh from being the recent winner of the Cyberscreen Film Festival. Well, congratulations, Flora.

FLORA LICHTMAN, BYLINE: Oh, thank you, Ira.

FLATOW: It was for optical illusion piece.

LICHTMAN: Yes. Step into an optical illusion was the winner. Thank you. But, really, I mean, I'm still stuck on dung beetles.

(LAUGHTER)

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11:57am

Fri February 1, 2013
NPR Story

Dung Beetles Use Cosmic GPS to Find Their Way

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 1:03 pm

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

Now for a surprising find from the insect world. The dung beetle, that insect known for sculpting little balls of animal feces that they roll around and later feast on. Well, it turns out that these beetles have a built-in cosmic GPS that helps them navigate around. Dung beetles use light - listen to this - use light from the Milky Way to orient themselves at night. It's all in a paper published earlier this month in the journal Current Biology.

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11:57am

Fri February 1, 2013
NPR Story

Preserving Science News in an Online World

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 1:49 pm

Transcript

IRA FLATOW, HOST:

This is SCIENCE FRIDAY, I'm Ira Flatow. When you read a news article online, how much attention do you pay to the comments that follow at the bottom? What about how many times the story has been re-tweeted or how many Facebook likes it has? Do you pay attention to those?

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3:27pm

Thu January 31, 2013
Shots - Health News

How Owls Spin Their Heads Without Tearing Arteries

Originally published on Mon February 4, 2013 7:56 am

The human neck is a delicate stem. Torque it a bit too much, and the carotid and vertebral arteries can rip, causing deadly strokes. People have torn their neck arteries riding roller coasters, doing yoga, going to the chiropractor, being rear-ended in the car – even leaning back for a beauty-parlor shampoo.

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12:37pm

Thu January 31, 2013
The Two-Way

Portugal's Monster: The Mechanics Of A Massive Wave

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 11:07 am

11:48am

Thu January 31, 2013
13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Stop Ignoring Head Trauma: Turn Off The Super Bowl

Originally published on Thu January 31, 2013 12:44 pm

Credit Elsa / Getty Images

The grim headlines just keep coming. This week it's former NFL kicker Tom Dempsey. Age 66, Dempsey suffers from dementia. During his football career he endured three diagnosed concussions and, almost certainly, several undiagnosed ones. As The New York Times notes, his neurologist was "astonished by the amount of damage" visible on Dempsey's brain scans.

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5:36pm

Wed January 30, 2013
Shots - Health News

Gut Microbes May Play Deadly Role In Malnutrition

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 4:19 pm

There's a part of our body that's only now getting mapped: the trillions of microbes, mostly bacteria, that live in our guts.

Some scientists describe this community as a previously unnoticed vital organ. It appears to play a role in how quickly we gain weight and how well we fight off disease.

A study published in the journal Science suggests that changes in this community of microbes also may cause kwashiorkor, a kind of deadly malnutrition.

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4:01pm

Wed January 30, 2013
13.7: Cosmos And Culture

Big Science Paves The Way Forward

Credit NASA

Arguments are often heard against big (read: expensive) scientific projects, especially those without an immediate pay off. "Why spend so much money building this machine or spacecraft, when there are so many pressing social issues we must deal with?"

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2:11pm

Wed January 30, 2013
Krulwich Wonders...

Pale Blue Blobs Invade, Freeze, Then Vanish

2:59am

Wed January 30, 2013
Science

When Crime Pays: Prison Can Teach Some To Be Better Criminals

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 1:09 pm

Credit iStockphoto.com

In popular lore — movies, books and blogs — criminals who go to prison don't come out reformed. They come out worse.

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