SpaceShipTwo, a privately funded commercial passenger spacecraft, is set to make its public debut in the Mojave Desert after five years of secret construction. The project is bankrolled by Virgin Galactic founder, British billionaire Sir Richard Branson. Full Story »
Despite the attention being paid to the Copenhagen climate talks beginning Monday, public opinion of the urgency of climate change continues to sink. Some social scientists say the issue is so daunting, many people decide to shut it out of their thoughts. Will this affect a climate change treaty? Full Story »
The world's leaders are descending on Copenhagen for the long-awaited United Nations climate conference. NPR's Richard Harris fills in host Guy Raz on the gap between rich and poor nations, and why the last major climate treaty, worked out in Kyoto, Japan, didn't live up to its promise. Full Story »
To celebrate its 350th birthday, the Royal Society of London selected 60 of the most notable scientific papers it's published over the past four centuries. And it's posting them online — with images of the original manuscripts. These are many of the biggest names in scientific history — Isaac Newton to Ben Franklin to Stephen Hawking. Host Guy Raz reviews a few of them with Michael Thompson, the man in charge of choosing from the society's 60,000-paper collection. Full Story »
Host Guy Raz explores some of the fallout from the "climate-gate" e-mail hack with Dr. Judith Curry, chairwoman of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech. And she says the e-mails reveal a lack of transparency and a lot of "locker room talk" in the climate research community. Full Story »
Some children get severely obese because they lack particular chunks of DNA, which kicks their hunger into overdrive, researchers report. Full Story »
This past week, state and federal officials broke ground on a long-awaited project key to the restoration of the Everglades. The project is part of a plan passed by Congress in 1989. It's long overdue and could be important in getting water back to the parched Everglades National Park. Full Story »
A recent Consumer Reports study finds that two-thirds of whole broiler chickens tested across the country harbored salmonella and/or campylobacter. Urvashi Rangan is the author of the study, and tells host Liane Hansen which chickens made the good and bad lists. Full Story »
As representatives from around the world gather this week to discuss climate change in Copenhagen, host Liane Hansen talks with former Colorado congressman and senator Tim Wirth. He's president of the United Nations Foundation, an organization which, in part, advocates for environmental issues. Full Story »
World leaders meet in Copenhagen Tuesday to begin an 11-day conference on climate change. The U.S. is going into the conference after already reaching an agreement with China that both countries will work toward what they call "significant" efforts to cut down emissions. Host Scott Simon talks to Undersecretary of State for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero about U.S. preparations for the conference. Full Story »
