jaronbarends / collective / tags / science friday

Tagged with “science friday” (8) activity chart

  1. Science Friday: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

    "Medical researchers often use cells known as HeLa cells in their work. The ‘immortal cells’ are used to study cancer, aging, AIDS, and more. The name HeLa is a shortening of the name Henrietta Lacks — a woman whose cervical cancer cells were used to create this research cell line, without her knowledge or permission. In this segment, Ira talks with author Rebecca Skloot about ‘The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks,’ a tale of biology and medical ethics."

    From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201002125

    This is an interesting coincidental accompaniment to a RadioLab segment (will add next) about ‘cell immortality’ of a cluster of cells (scientifically known as WI38) derived from a single woman’s aborted child. Those cells now live in over a billion people though the majority of vaccines given over the last 50 years.

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  2. Science Friday: A Quake that Shook the World?

    "Last week’s powerful earthquake in Chile may have shifted the Earth’s axis and changed the length of a day, according to NASA researchers. The magnitude 8.8 quake of February 27 was powerful enough to alter the position of the planet’s figure axis, an imaginary line around which the mass of the planet rotates, by about 3 inches. That adds up to an Earth day that lasts about 1.26 microseconds less than it did before the earthquake. We’ll talk about how geological processes can effect the planet’s rotation, and how researchers model planetary movements."

    Incidentally, this also mentions Charles Darwin & the Beagle’s assistance and observations of a Chilean earthquake in the same spot as the recent one. It mentions how that quake shaped Darwin’s geologic interests that helped shape his theory of evolution. Great stuff. Also mentions FitzRoy, the captain of the Beagle. The same story is fictionalized (but still historical in inspiration) in "This Thing of Darkness" which I highly, highly recommend.

    From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201003051

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  3. Science Friday: Facial Recognition

    "Photo management programs such as Picasa and iPhoto can pick out a snapshot of your cousin Dave from a stack of party pictures — but what about more complex uses of facial recognition in less controlled situations? In this segment, we’ll take a look at the state of the art in facial recognition, from ‘Google Goggles’ that give you additional information about things your cell phone camera sees, to security applications that scan faces at airports. How good is the technology, and how can it be employed while respecting privacy concerns?"

    From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201001226

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  4. NPR’s Science Friday - Texting Aid Dollars

    "Much of the financial support for earthquake-stricken Haiti has a high-tech source — the text message. From $10 donations to the Red Cross (text HAITI to 90999), the Clinton Foundation’s Haiti Relief Fund (text HAITI to 20222), and Doctors Without Borders (text DOB to 90999), cell-phone philanthropy has pulled in millions of dollars. We’ll talk about the mechanics of the text-message-donation trend."

    From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201001221

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  5. Science Friday - Connected

    "Connected (broadcast Friday, September 25th, 2009) How can your friends — and your friends’ friends — affect you? We’ll talk with Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, two researchers exploring social networks and how they affect our health and behavior. In their new book ‘Connected,’ the pair describe research into how social networks tie into obesity, smoking, voting behavior, happiness, and more. "
    http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200909255

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  6. Science Friday - Who Owns Your Digital Data (31 July 2009)

    "From the E-book on your reader to the mp3s on your iPod to your musings on Facebook and Twitter - who owns the bits of data that make up your digital life? In this segment, Ira talks with technology columnist Randall Stross about the concept of "ownership" in the digital domain." From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200907312

    Guests include the UW dept. chair who developed Vanish, with their own explanation. Good stuff.

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 3 years ago

  7. Science Friday - Inspiring Girls To Engineer America’s Future

    "National Engineers Week is an annual event that aims to energize youngsters about engineering. Leslie Collins, executive director of the National Engineers Week Foundation, explains how "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" gets girls fired up about engin" From http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200902201 (broadcast Friday, February 20th, 2009)

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 4 years ago

  8. Celebrating 50 Years of Pheromone Research

    "Fifty years ago this month, the word ‘pheromones’ was first used in the scientific literature to describe the chemicals used to communicate between individuals of the same species. In this segment, we’ll take a look at the field of pheromone research, from Peter Karlson and Martin Lüscher first proposing the term ‘pheromones’ in 1959, to current investigations into whether pheromones play a role in humans." From http://sciencefriday.com/about/listen/

    download

    Tagged with

    —Huffduffed by tiffehr 4 years ago