Nell Greenfieldboyce

Nell Greenfieldboyce appears in the following:

The biggest whales can eat the equivalent of 80,000 Big Macs in one day

Wednesday, November 03, 2021

Scientists have gotten the best estimates yet of exactly how much baleen whales, the largest animals on the planet, can consume in one day. Their caloric intake is mind-boggling.

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If NASA greenlights this interstellar mission, it could last 100 years

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Scientists who want to understand what's beyond our solar system have designed an interstellar spacecraft that could go out farther and faster than the famous Voyager probes.

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William Shatner is bound for space, but the rest of us will have to wait

Monday, October 11, 2021

New space companies are touting space tourism. But so far the final frontier has been the playground of the rich or famous, plus a few everyday folks who had a bit of luck.

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Two scientists win Nobel Prize in chemistry for new way of building molecules

Wednesday, October 06, 2021

Benjamin List and David MacMillan were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in chemistry for coming up with a new tool for constructing molecules that has advanced pharmaceuticals and green technology.

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As he steps down as the head of NIH, he has a warning about future pandemics

Tuesday, October 05, 2021

Francis Collins has served longer than any other director of the National Institutes of Health since 1971. He tells NPR he did not anticipate the culture wars taking over scientific fact.

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Shadowed by controversy, NASA won't rename its new space telescope

Thursday, September 30, 2021

Some scientists say discrimination against gay and lesbian government employees during James Webb's tenure as NASA administrator should preclude him from having a telescope named in his honor.

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NASA's Got A New, Big Telescope. It Could Find Hints Of Life On Far-Flung Planets

Thursday, September 23, 2021

The James Webb Space Telescope will let scientists study small, rocky planets around distant stars in more detail than ever before. After decades of work, it could head into orbit later this year.

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NASA Is Launching A New Telescope That Could Offer Some Cosmic Eye Candy

Thursday, September 16, 2021

Hubble's iconic images captured the public's imagination. Will NASA's next big space telescope, which sees infrared light, produce astronomy scenes that pack a similar punch?

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Your Dog May Know If You've Done Something On Purpose, Or Just Screwed Up

Wednesday, September 01, 2021

An experiment involving dog treats suggests our canine pals may understand the difference when a human withholds a treat by accident and when they do so on purpose. But don't press your luck.

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Got Plans For Sept. 24, 2182? This Big Asteroid Might, Too

Wednesday, August 11, 2021

A NASA mission to a potentially dangerous asteroid has let researchers map out its future trajectory like never before.

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This Sweet White Flower Is Actually A Sneaky Carnivore, Scientists Discover

Monday, August 09, 2021

Carnivorous plants are rare, but now botanists say they've found one that's long been overlooked. It lives just outside Vancouver, British Columbia, and in other parts of the Pacific Northwest.

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To Save A Huge, 24-Armed Sea Creature, Scientists Become Loving Foster Parents

Wednesday, August 04, 2021

A mysterious disease is killing off the West Coast's enormous sunflower sea star, so researchers have launched an ambitious effort to breed this species in captivity.

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It's Summer, And That Means The Mysterious Return Of Glacier Ice Worms

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

On mountaintop glaciers of Alaska, Washington and Oregon, billions of tiny black worms are tunneling upward to the barren, icy surface. What lures them, and how do they survive the frozen depths?

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When A City-Size Star Becomes A Black Hole's Lunch, The Universe Roils

Tuesday, June 29, 2021

It's a smackdown of one space monster by another: Scientists have made unprecedented observations of two black holes gobbling two neutron stars — among the weirdest space collisions ever detected.

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Alien Planet-Hunters In Hundreds Of Nearby Star Systems Could Spot Earth

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Potentially, observers in plenty of star systems could have detected Earth sometime in the last 5,000 years. More stars will soon move into positions that would let them see our planet.

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NASA Picks Twin Missions To Visit Venus, Earth's 'Evil Twin'

Wednesday, June 02, 2021

The two space probes will study Venus, a scorching hot world that may have once been like Earth. NASA chose the Venus missions over other candidates, such as trips to the moons of Jupiter and Neptune.

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Why Jumping Spiders Spend All Night Hanging Out — Literally

Tuesday, June 01, 2021

Little is known about the night-time habits of tiny creatures all around us. Take the jumping spider--it mysteriously can spend much of the night suspended in mid-air, hanging by a thread.

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Brood X Cicadas Are Busy And So Are The Scientists Who Study Them

Tuesday, May 25, 2021

When a critter spends 17 years underground, it's not easy to study. So as Brood X cicadas break out, they're followed closely by researchers who must cram a lot of work in about six weeks.

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Freshly Made Plutonium From Outer Space Found On Ocean Floor

Thursday, May 13, 2021

Something went boom in outer space and sent radioactive stardust our way, and it's just been found at the bottom of the ocean.

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Cats Take 'If I Fits I Sits' Seriously, Even If The Space Is Just An Illusion

Monday, May 10, 2021

If you've spent any time around cats, you've seen them curl up in cozy spaces. A new study on feline cognition shows that they also like to sit in snug squares created by a kind of optical illusion.

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