Search Results

In the last years of World War II a group of American scientists and soldiers raced to capture enemy physicists, sabotage Hitler’s nuclear ambitions, and do it all before their Soviet allies were any the wiser.

Historian of science and media Ingrid Ockert discusses the exact moment Carl Sagan began wearing turtlenecks, how NOVA changed television, and the key to any successful show: respect the audience.

India’s vultures have been driven to the brink of extinction in a matter of decades. Their loss threatens the well-being of the country’s human population.

You recognize the important role played by rare earth elements in the global economic infrastructure but are concerned that the costs may outweigh the benefits.

Your main concern is the threat of restrictions that could adversely affect a stable supply needed to make a variety of products.

In the 1980s workers in an English peat bog started unearthing bodies, the apparent victims of violence.

The biomedical researcher talks about her work using nanotechnology to detect and treat disease.

We are committed to ensuring that everyone can experience our collections, research, and facilities.

Rare earth elements are essential to modern life. Luckily the world has plenty of them; unfortunately, getting them out of the ground leaves behind massive environmental damage.

Humans have a masochistic love of capsaicin, a molecule responsible for the burn in hot peppers. That connection could be a key to pain relief.

The blaze that sparked the modern environmental movement . . . or did it?

Distillations talks to the biochemist about the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9, the tool’s promise, and dangers of its misuse.

How did a Philadelphia chemist wind up a Soviet spy?

When the United States and Mexico resolved their beef.

This is not just another sappy love story from science’s past.

Around the world a network of detectives searches for evidence of illicit nuclear activity. Is it enough to keep us safe from a nuclear catastrophe?

We know migraines have afflicted people for at least three thousand years. Still, the condition continues to mystify us today.

A tiny animal with a big story.

Drought drove American pursuit of desalination in the mid-20th century. Now a changing climate has compelled nations around the world to embrace the double-eged technology.

Part 3: Searching for Meaning in Kensington.

Part 1: The Narcotic Farm and the Promise of Salvation.

The strange, sometimes sickening things we’ve done to understand what goes on inside our guts.

The latest painkiller revival has left a trail of bodies, with no end in sight.

A long-running genetics project in Siberia helps us understand how we made man’s best friend.

And how California’s car emission standards continue to influence the rest of the country.

It’s complicated.

Warfarin started life as a rat poison, and for all its success the anticoagulant remains as dangerous as its origin suggests.

Tattoos are more than decoration. But what do you do when the way you look no longer matches who you are?

Do cats mess with your brain?

A cautionary tale of technology run riot.