Joe Palca
Stories
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National
70 years ago, two scientists changed the world by discovering DNA's structure
On Feb. 28, 1953, two scientists named James Watson and Francis Crick had a flash of insight that changed the world. They discovered the double helix structure of DNA.
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NASA's InSight Mars lander may shut down soon. Here's what it's achieved so far
NASA's InSight probe landed on Mars in 2018 to help scientists study the planet's interior. But Martian dust has been building up on InSIght's solar arrays, which could end its mission.
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Whatever happened to the new no-patent COVID vaccine touted as a global game changer?
The inventors of Corbevax said it was cheap, easy to make, effective and safe. They hoped it could bring vaccine equity to countries that can't access costlier shots. Has it lived up to its promise?
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Moderna sues Pfizer over Covid-19 vaccine patents
The vaccine maker alleges that its rivals Pfizer and BioNTech used some patented features of its mRNA technology to develop their COVID vaccines.
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The importance of sweat: We need it to keep cool
NPR begins a celebration of sweat — what it's made of, where it comes from and what it smells like. Spoiler alert: most of the time it doesn't have any smell at all.
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A NASA telescope will soon show us the universe as we've never seen it
NASA's $10 billion new telescope will show the world something remarkable today: an image of some of the first galaxies to form in the universe.
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How Deep Squeak, an A-I program with a weird name, is detecting whales
Artificial Intelligence is booming. And now an A-I program is being used to search for whales.
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World
A Texas team comes up with a COVID vaccine that could be a global game changer
Peter Hotez and Maria Elena Bottazzi used an oldie-but- goodie technology to devise a vaccine that's easy to make — and relatively cheap. India has already ordered 300 million doses.
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NASA's James Webb Space Telescope finishes deploying its sunshield amid cheers
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope successfully finishing tensioning its massive sunshield on Tuesday, marking a critical step in the powerful observatory's zero-gravity deployment.
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New Covid studies show promise for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine booster
Two studies that have not yet been peer reviewed indicate increased protection against the infectious omicron variant.