PRI: Public Radio International - Science and Technology

Science and Technology

Home | Stories | Science and Technology

Businesses prepare for explosion in deep sea mining activities

image
Increases in prices for natural resources and advances in technology have conspired to make deep sea mining a commercially viable endeavor. But the prospect of large undersea vacuums sucking up minerals and animals at the same time has some environmentalists more than a little concerned.
Full story
image

Scientist finds beauty in search for elusive dark matter

Dark matter makes up some 95 percent of our universe, according to physicists, but its proven elusive. Scientists at Columbia University are part of the team looking for this elusive component of the universe -- and creating unintentional art along the way....
Full story
image

U.K. researchers develop new grass type to better capture water runoff

A warming climate is likely to mean rising rainfall totals in part of the world -- which could lead to flooding. But scientists in the United Kingdom are hoping to ameliorate that somewhat, by producing a new kind of grass that helps the soil absorb more water....
Full story
image

Supreme Court grapples with question of whether human genes can be patented

The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to decide whether a company can be issued a patent for a human gene. The company says it needs the patent to protect the genetic tests its developed; a group of doctprs says human genes are nature in action and should be ineligible for patent protection....
Full story
image

Australia's 'magnetic' termites interesting to study, tough to understand

Scientists who study insects are fascinated by a little-known species in Australia called "magnetic" termites. They won't stick to your refrigerator, but they do build their homes, mounds, in a particular orientation, seemingly based on the Earth's magnetic field....
Full story
image

New research seeks to determine what dreams mean

Researchers at Brown University are putting people to sleep -- in the name of research. They're trying to determine what people dream, and what it means, by subjecting people to MRI scans as they dream, and then waking them up and asking what they were dreaming about....
Full story
image

Planck satellite scientists release picture of early universe

Scientists from the European Space Agency's Planck Surveyor satellite have mapped cosmic imprints from the earliest moments in the universe. The findings help explain what the universe was like seconds after the Big Bang....
Full story
image

Science Hack Day promotes creative collaboration through hacking

Scientists and those without a science background are finding creativity through collaboration at Science Hack Day events all over the world. But for some participants, these events are impacting their professional careers in unimaginable ways....
Full story
image

Meteorite explodes over Russia, hundreds injured in blast wave

Russians in western Siberia captured video of a visible meteorite that streaked across the sky, early Friday morning. The meteorite caused a shockwave strong enough to shatter glass in a wide area, causing hundreds of injuries....
Full story
image

Scientists, naturalists finding increasingly large number of undiscovered species in unexpected place

Europe has a long history of searching for and cataloging its indigenous species. But, surprisingly, a number of species still went undiscovered. Now, there's a renewed effort to find the insects and other small creatures previously unknown — before humans unknowingly force them into extinction....
Full story
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 next last total: 183 | displaying: 1 - 10

JOIN PRI COMMUNITIES: