SSS 2009-12-03

Which came first, black holes or galaxies? Its been a bit of a conundrum for astrophysicists. Black holes are known to devour matter, but did they arise before or after, the galaxies in which they exist? Now, scientists say it looks like the black ho

SSS 2009-11-16

It seemed like a good ideabecause rivers and ponds in Bangladesh were contaminated with bacteria, Bangladeshis switched to wells. But soon after, in the early 80s, researchers realized those wells were harming Bangladeshis with a new poisonarsenic. T

SSS 2009-11-12

We all love getting something new. But then we have to move around our current clutter to find a place for it. Well, looks like things work the same way in the brain. Because according to a study published in the journal Cell, newborn neurons in the

SSS 2009-11-09

Evolution continues today, and sometimes we can watch it happening. Researchers in the November 6th edition of the journal Science say that they caught in the act a population of butterflies in Ecuador potentially diverging into two distinct species.

SSS 2009-09-01

It sounds paradoxical, but in wealthy countries, there's nothing like a recession to boost the population's health. According to a report in the September 1st Canadian Medical Association Journal, when our paychecks get lighter, we do more than tight

SSS 2009-11-02

The 12 million Americans with sleep apnea stop breathing for short periods during the night, sometimes hundreds of times. Now a new study finds that a good motivator for some apnea sufferers to get treatment could be improved athletic performance. Be

SSS 2009-10-19

In 1865, Pierre Paul Broca pinpointed the part of the brain responsible for language by autopsying brains of the language-impairedthe region is now called Brocas area. But more info has been hard to get. Because most brain research is done on animals

SSS 2009-10-15

One of the goals of regenerative medicine is to make tissue to replace our own damaged body parts. Thats still a ways off. But starting with mouse embryonic stem cells, researchers have succeeded in creating heart muscle that actually beats. The stud

SSS 2009-09-14

If scientists have their way, we may someday be tapping maplesnot for pancake fixins, but for power. Because researchers from the University of Washington in Seattle have found theres enough electricity flowing in trees to run an electronic circuit.

SSS 2010-07-12

Being beautiful has its advantages. It can make you more popular, even make you seem more competent. Now, University of Haifa researchers have found that, if youre a politician, good looks will also make you seem more newsworthy. Because better-looki

SSS 2010-07-02

Sometimes it seems theres only so much we can learn about dinosaurs. We cant know what their coloration looked like, we cant watch them interact with each other. We can only extrapolate from their remains. But now scientists say we can discern a hint

SSS 2010-09-15

This is Scientific Americans 60-Second Science, Im Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Glaciers slowly grind their way over mountains and plains, moving immense boulders and carving out fjords. Thats true in temperate regions, where glacier

SSS 2010-06-07

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science, I am Cynthia Graber. This will just take a minute. Counterfeiters and money minters constantly try to outsmart each other. But money could become much harder to forgethanks to butterfly wings. Butterfl

SSS 2011-01-10

This is Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Christopher Intagliata. Got a minute? The Apollo moon missions ended almost 40 years ago. But for lunar scientists, they're gifts that keep on giving. Researchers studying rocks brought back by ast

SSS 2012-07-11

Interesting sound. I would have guessed a Wild West performer was practicing with a bullwhip while also vacuuming. But no. That sound [SOUND] is apparently produced by the aurora borealis, the northern lights. [SOUND] Since 2000 researchers at Finlan

SSS 2012-04-10

This is scientific American 60 second Science, I am Christopher Intagliata, got a minute? Free smart phone apps might seem like a deal. But they can have a hidden cost: your phone's battery life. That's because free apps often serve up ads, which can

SSS 2012-03-06

This is Scientific American 60 Second Science, I am Cynthia Graber, this will just take a minute~ How can we search for life on exoplanets? Step one: examine the Earth as if it were an exoplanet. Thats the idea behind a recent look at earthshine. Res

SSS 2012-06-14

Plants that use animals to disperse their seeds can find themselves in a pickle: They need to make fruit tasty enough to entice the local fauna, but they also need to make sure that their animal asssistants don't digest the very seeds that are meant

SSS 2012-06-05

This is Scientific American's 60 seconds science. I'm Kellen Horgon. This will just take a minute. Have you ever wondered what happens to mosquitos in the rain, a raindrop is like 15 times heavier than those little suckers. So getting hit by one, he'

VOA慢速英语 2008 1104a

This is the VOA Special English Agriculture Report. Cotton plants Bollworms are a traditional threat to cotton crops. Young ones feed on the boll, the part of the cotton plant that contains the seeds. A bacterium known as Bt is able to kill bollworm