Rae Ellen Bichell

Rae Ellen Bichell appears in the following:

No More Standing By The Spigot: Messaging App Alerts Water Availability

Saturday, August 29, 2015

You need some water. You open the faucet. And you wait. And wait.

You twiddle your thumbs. You wait for the first drop to come out of the tap so you can get water for drinking, cooking and cleaning. You wait for hours so that when the water comes, you're ...

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Women, There's A Reason Why You're Shivering In The Office

Tuesday, August 04, 2015

He was probably about 40 years old, 155 pounds, white and wearing a suit. And he's the reason why women are shivering at their desks in air-conditioned buildings.

At some point in the 1930s, someone defined "metabolic equivalents" — how much energy a body requires while sitting, walking and running. ...

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How Finns Make Sports Part Of Everyday Life

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

In Finland, 90 percent of adults take part in sports or exercise at least twice a week. The Nordic nation far outpaces the U.S. in adult sports participation. Free and easy access to facilities helps.

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A 3-D Food Lab And Restaurant Wants To Turn Yuck Into Yum

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Dorothée Goffin's lab in Belgium is outfitted with 3-D printers and digital milling machines. It's also a kitchen. And, one day a week, the doors open to anyone who feels like walking in to mess around with the equipment. These days, the tech geeks, chefs and curious folk that inhabit ...

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'Into The Wild' Author Tries Science To Solve Toxic Seed Mystery

Friday, May 01, 2015

In August 1992, Christopher McCandless died in an abandoned bus in the Alaska wilderness after living mostly on squirrels, birds, roots and seeds for 113 days. Hunters found his body months later. Alaska state coroners declared starvation as the cause of death.

But a mystery lingered: What exactly did him ...

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How Animals Hacked The Rainbow And Got Stumped On Blue

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

There's more than one way to make color, nature tells us. And more than one way to use it to your own advantage.

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After Losing Parents To Ebola, Orphans Face Stigma

Friday, October 03, 2014

UNICEF estimates that thousands of children in West Africa have lost parents to Ebola. Convincing communities to accept and care for these children isn't always easy.

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Fair-Trade Condoms: Latex That Lets You Love The World

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Finding the right condom just got a little bit more like finding a good cabbage.

Picky shoppers might notice labels on condom boxes these days that say fair trade, non-GMO and all natural.

Condoms don't just fall off trees, but most of them do start there. The major ingredient in ...

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In Sierra Leone, A Lockdown ... Or A Time To Reflect?

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Sierra Leoneans scramble for supplies as a three-day, countrywide lockdown approaches. International medical professionals doubt the move will do much to halt the spread of Ebola.

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Why The U.S. Chills Its Eggs And Most Of The World Doesn't

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Go in search of eggs in most foreign countries and you might encounter a strange scene: eggs on a shelf or out in the open air, nowhere near a refrigerator.

Shock and confusion may ensue. What are they doing there? And are they safe to eat?

We Americans, along with ...

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Butterfly Shifts From Shabby To Chic With A Tweak Of The Scales

Thursday, August 07, 2014

By playing with the physics of wing color, scientists get a glimpse into how butterflies get their colors, and how quickly they can evolve from brown to brilliant.

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Shades Of The Middle Ages: The Plague Popped Up In China And Colorado

Thursday, July 24, 2014

The plague isn't just something you read about in medieval history books.

This past week, five cases were reported: four in Colorado and one in China.

The Colorado residents were diagnosed after coming into contact with an infected dog.

According to Chinese officials, parts of a city in ...

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This Dirty Little Weed May Have Cleaned Up Ancient Teeth

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Turns out that for 7,000 years, snacking on nutsedge may have helped people avoid tooth decay. But at some point, the root it lost its charm. By the 1970s, it was branded "the world's worst weed."

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With Help From Extinct Humans, Tibetans Adapted To High Altitude

Wednesday, July 02, 2014

At an altitude of nearly 3 miles, the Tibetan plateau is an extreme place to live. It's cold, it's hard to grow food, and there's about 40 percent less oxygen in the air than there is at sea level.

Somehow, though, native Tibetans are adapted to it. Their bodies — ...

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Lone Passenger Pigeon Escapes Pie Pan, Lands In Smithsonian

Friday, June 27, 2014

Passenger pigeons used to be the most abundant bird in North America. But hunters drove them to extinction, and by 1914, only one was left. A century later, that pigeon, named Martha, is on exhibit.

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Scientists Observe Springtime Changes On One Of Saturn's Moons

Monday, June 23, 2014

On Titan, summer is almost three years away. But in a dark, placid ocean of natural gas, scientists have spotted something that could be the first inkling of springtime.

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From Genes To Fangs: Snake Venom Recipes Remain Mysterious

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

When a saw-scaled viper sinks its fangs into a person, it isn't pretty.

Toxins attack the victim's capillaries. The body launches an immune defense, as it would with an infection. But that takes time — too much time. The venom quickly dissolves the tiny blood vessels, and the body runs ...

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R U Ready To Quit Smoking? Texting Can Help

Friday, June 06, 2014

Smokers who want to quit have all sorts of tools at their disposal: call lines, nicotine patches, medication, friends, doctors. And now, texts.

Getting counseling through text messages doubled the odds of kicking the habit compared with those who relied on Internet searches and basic information brochures, a ...

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