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After 25 Years In Woman’s Stomach, A Pen Still Writes

You might have heard about the case on Wednesday’s Morning Edition. Twenty-five years ago, a British woman who saw a spot on a tonsil tried to get a better look using a pen and a mirror. She slipped and the pen went down her throat. Neither the woman’s husband nor her doctor believed her. X-rays [...]

U.S. Says Details Of Flu Experiments Should Stay Secret

A committee that advises the government says that details of two controversial experiments on bird flu virus should not be made public, because of fears that the work could provide a recipe for a bioweapon. The government-funded experiments were done by researchers who wanted to understand if bird flu virus might change in the future [...]

When Bubbles Get Comfortable

Me: Manu, you’re a bubble man, no? Manu: I’m all about bubbles. I study soft matter physics. Me: Just the guy I was looking for. I’ve got some soap bubbles to show you. Manu: OK, show me. Where are they? Me: Well, I found them in a video, a beautiful, but slightly troubling video, shot [...]

How Short Can A Very Short Story Be?

The other day, a book arrived here called The Tiny Book Of Tiny Stories and I thought, “Oooh, how tiny will they be?” Very short stories can get very, very short and still be good. The most famous example (supposedly written by Ernest Hemingway) draws a little sigh with only six words; it’s a sales [...]

Biomedical Research Using Chimps Should Be Curtailed

Most of the biomedical research currently being done on chimpanzees is unnecessary and the need for chimps in medical studies will soon decline even further, according to a highly-anticipated new report from an independent panel of experts. The report says that the National Institutes of Health should only allow experiments on chimps if a new [...]

How The Army Made A Sandwich That Stays Fresh For Two Years

For the U.S. military around the world, the enemy can be hard to pinpoint and even harder to defeat. But back at home, the Army has a tiny and vexing foe in its sights: the bacteria that cause food to rot. In this bacterial battle, though, it’s clearer who’s winning, and the evidence is a [...]

Of Bosons And Disappearing Spoons

This week, physicists in Geneva say they turned up evidence that something that they imagine exists might actually exist. It’s called a Higgs boson, and for the moment it’s a hypothetical particle. No one has ever seen one, but this week the scientists suggested, “We’re not sure, but maybe we caught a glimpse.” Welcome to [...]

No ‘God Particle’ Yet, But Scientists Say Stay Tuned

Physicists have a grand theory that describes how tiny particles interact to form all the stuff we see in the universe — everything from planets to toasters to human beings. But there is one particle predicted by this theory that has never been detected in experiments. It’s called the Higgs boson. Scientists are dying to [...]

Who Are The Young Farmers Of ‘Generation Organic’?

For decades, as young people have been leaving farms behind, the average age of the American farmer keeps rising. The last time the government counted farmers, in 2002, the average farmer was 55 years old. But there’s a new surge of youthful vigor into American agriculture — at least in the corner of it devoted [...]

Scary Geology: Mountains In Motion

Here’s the thing about mountains: You can, if you are totally insane, jump off them. Or, under the right circumstances, they — the mountains — can jump off you. I’ve got pictures of both happening. First, the jumper. His name is Espen Fadnes. He’s Norwegian. Last Sept. 16, he climbed up a gorge in Stryn, [...]