Science, Tech & Environment
Our stories cover science, technology, engineering, mathematics, the natural world and the environment
Science, Tech & Environment
Science Friday
September 23, 2017
With its silky fur and bandit-masked face, the black-footed ferret cuts a cute, if lethal figure on the American plains. It’s also the star of a great comeback story.
Science, Tech & Environment
GlobalPost
September 23, 2017
Updated
09/23/2017 - 12:30pm
An estimated 40 buildings collapsed in Tuesday's earthquake, but hundreds more sustained serious damage, leading many residents to evacuate.
Science, Tech & Environment
PRI's The World
September 22, 2017
Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday announced a plan aimed at "protecting election integrity." The announcement comes just two weeks after the company revealed that a Russian company purchased roughly $100,000 in political advertisements during the 2016 US presidential campaign.
Science, Tech & Environment
PRI's The World
September 22, 2017
With so much destruction from this season's hurricanes in the Caribbean, there are going to be a lot of people on the move, looking to start their lives in new places. Casually, we often call these people "climate refugees." But the term is problematic.
Science, Tech & Environment
Agence France-Presse
September 22, 2017
Puerto Rico is particularly damaged: The southeast coast suffered the worst, but no part of the island escaped Maria's wrath, including the capital San Juan where there was widespread flooding.
Science, Tech & Environment
PRI's The World
September 21, 2017
The Department of Homeland Security has waived environmental laws to move forward on wall projects in California and Texas. Scientists and conservation advocates wonder if this national monument is next.
Science, Tech & Environment
GlobalPost
September 21, 2017
Ugandans in the drought-stricken northern part of the country have lost crops and livestock. Now they're resorting to disguising themselves as South Sudanese refugees to gain access to grain, flour and high-energy biscuits distributed at camps.
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Science, Tech & Environment
This Muslim purge in Myanmar is so awful you can see it from space
GlobalPost
November 15, 2016
Along Myanmar’s marshy coastline, villages keep going up in flames.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Your paper brain and your Kindle brain aren't the same thing
The Takeaway
September 18, 2014
If you've given up on reading paper books for the ease of your e-reader's screen, you may want to step back a bit. Neuroscience confirms that our brains use different areas to read on paper and screens, and you need to exercise both.
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Science, Tech & Environment
New research on plant intelligence may forever change how you think about plants
Science Friday
January 10, 2014
Plants have senses that put humans to shame. Not only do they hear (yes, it's true) and smell, they can also sense the presence of water, and even an object in their space. Now new research suggests that plants can actually learn and remember.
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Science, Tech & Environment
El Niño is back, and global temperature records are in danger
PRI's The World
May 13, 2015
Updated
El Niño is back. That could mean trouble for crops from Africa to Australia, drought relief for Brazil and California — and new record global temperatures as the Pacific Ocean warms up and brings the heat along with it.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Seeking the long-lost 'City of the Monkey God' in dense Honduras jungle
PRI's The World
January 04, 2017
A new book tells the story of the treacherous scientific expedition that re-discovered a lost civilization.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Victims of online romance scams, there's a place you can go for help
PRI's The World
January 12, 2017
Victims of online romance scams suffer some of the highest financial losses of any internet-based crimes, the FBI says.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Here’s why new EPA chief Pruitt is ‘absolutely wrong’ about CO2 and climate change
PRI's The World
March 12, 2017
Scott Pruitt says there's no proof that carbon dioxide pollution is causing the Earth to heat up. Well-established science — and a scientist who's a fellow Republican — says that's flat-out wrong.
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Science, Tech & Environment
One of the six US immigrant Nobel winners is 'totally speechless' over the push to limit immigration
PRI's The World
October 11, 2016
Sir J. Fraser Stoddart won a Nobel Prize in chemistry this year. Like the five others who won in the US, he is an immigrant.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Welcome to the 'Double El Niño' — and more extreme weather
Living on Earth
March 22, 2015
Updated
A second helping of El Niño could help usher in the next phase of global warming. When it comes, the consequences could be devastating.
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Science, Tech & Environment
Are we witnessing the death of 'uh'? Um, maybe — and not just in English
The World in Words
February 05, 2015
We humans have been dropping "um," "uh" and other expressions of hesitation into our speech for a long time — maybe for as long as we've had language. More recently, linguists are noting a shift in usage across a number of Germanic languages from "uh" to "um."