Science

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Let’s do the Entropic 2-step again!

Brian Greene says it’s why we’re here in our little pocket of order
- John O'Brien
Physicist And Iconoclastic Thinker Freeman Dyson Dies At 96

Dyson's ideas often occupied a space between science fiction and science. He helped design, among other things, a nuclear reactor that could be safely operated "even in the hands of an idiot."
- Geoff Brumfiel
Scientists Find Speech And Music Live On Opposite Sides Of The Brain

Canadian scientists have shown that brain scans of people listening to songs found that an area in the left hemisphere decoded words while one in the right hemisphere decoded the melody.
- Jon Hamilton
The Influence You Have: Why We're Blind To Our Power Over Others

Think about the last time you asked someone for something. Maybe you were nervous or worried about what the person would think of you. Chances are that you didn't stop to think about the pressure you were exerting on that person. This week, we explore a phenomenon that psychologists refer to as "egocentric bias," and look at how this bias can lead us astray.
- Thomas Lu
Daredevil 'Mad' Mike Hughes Killed In Crash Of Homemade Rocket

Mike Hughes promoted himself as believing that the Earth was flat. He launched in homemade rockets with the goal of eventually flying to the edge of space to see for himself.
- James Doubek
2 Of Paris Climate Negotiators Lay Out 2 Scenarios In Their New Book

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro speaks with climate scientists Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac about their new book, "The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis."
- Lulu Garcia-Navarro
The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

It's not as mean as it might sound (though it does involve a little electrocution) and the results can be both beautiful and, well, eye-opening.
- Sophie Haigney
Liar, Liar, Liar

We all lie. But what separates the average person from the infamous cheaters we see on the news? Dan Ariely says we like to think it's character — but in his research he's found it's more often opportunity. Dan Ariely is a professor at Duke University and the author of the book, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone — Especially Ourselves. We spoke to him in March 2017.
- Shankar Vedantam
'Ghost' DNA In West Africans Complicates Story Of Human Origins

Modern genomes from Nigeria and Sierra Leone show signals that scientists call "ghost" DNA — from an unknown human ancestor. That means that prehistoric humans likely procreated with an unknown group.
- Merrit Kennedy
Dates Like Jesus Ate? Scientists Revive Ancient Trees From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds

Researchers in Israel have grown date palm trees from ancient seeds found at the same site as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Those trees might soon produce fruit, re-creating the taste of antiquity.
- Dan Charles

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