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Shots - Health News
4:12 pm
Thu March 28, 2013

Sand From Fracking Could Pose Lung Disease Risk To Workers

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Credit Keith Srakocic / AP
A worker stands on top of a storage bin on July 27, 2011, at a drilling operation in Claysville, Pa. The dust is from powder mixed with water for hydraulic fracturing.
Credit Steve Karnowski / AP
Dust blows off a pile of fracking sand at a mine near Chippewa Falls, Wis., on Dec. 15, 2011. Some of the air samples the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health experts collected at fracking sites had such high levels of silica that the respirators typically worn by workers wouldn't offer enough protection, according to NIOSH standards.
Credit Keith Srakocic / AP
A local contractor closes the valve on his tanker truck on July 27, 2011, after watering the roads to help keep down dust at a hydraulic fracturing operation in Claysville, Pa.
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Originally published on Mon April 1, 2013 12:50 pm

When workplace safety expert Eric Esswein got a chance to see fracking in action not too long ago, what he noticed was all the dust.

It was coming off big machines used to haul around huge loads of sand. The sand is a critical part of the hydraulic fracturing method of oil and gas extraction. After workers drill down into rock, they create fractures in that rock by pumping in a mixture of water, chemicals and sand. The sand keeps the cracks propped open so that oil and gas are released.

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Space
4:57 pm
Wed February 27, 2013

First Space Tourist Sets Sights On A Mars Mission

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Credit Alexander Nemenov / AFP/Getty Images
Space tourist Dennis Tito celebrates after his landing near the Kazakh town of Arkalyk on May 6, 2001.
Credit Oleg Nikishin / Getty Images
Dennis Tito (center) flies into the International Space Station as Russian Talgat Musabayev (right) looks on and the station's Russian commander, Yuri Usache, welcomes them, on April 30, 2001.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 5:23 pm

The world's first space tourist is financing a project that aims to launch an American man and woman on a mission to fly by Mars in 2018.

Back in 2001, businessman Dennis Tito shelled out about $20 million to ride a Russian spaceship up to the International Space Station. Now he's unveiled a new nonprofit group called the Inspiration Mars Foundation.

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Shots - Health News
1:13 pm
Thu February 21, 2013

To Keep Deadly Bird Flu In The Lab, Feds Set Rules For Scientists

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Credit Prakas Mathema / AFP/Getty Images
Health officials around the world are on constant lookout for the deadly bird flu. Here a worker collects chickens on a farm in Kathamndu, Nepal, where the virus was suspected of infecting poultry last October.
Credit Bryce Richter / University of Wisconsin-Madison
Research on the H5N1 virus is conducted in high-containment laboratories with airlock systems that make sure nothing can escape.
Credit Bryce Richter / University of Wisconsin-Madison
Bird flu researchers use ferrets to study how the virus mutates and spreads. Here virologist Yoshihiro Kawaoka points to the ferret cages in his laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
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Originally published on Fri February 22, 2013 6:25 am

Government-funded scientists here in the U.S. are a step closer to being able to resume some controversial experiments with lab-altered bird flu viruses.

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Science
3:18 pm
Fri February 15, 2013

Highly Anticipated Asteroid Upstaged, By A Meteor

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Originally published on Fri February 15, 2013 6:13 pm

The much-anticipated close flyby of a large asteroid was upstaged Friday when a meteor unexpectedly streaked across the sky over Russia. The ensuing explosion sent window shards flying and injured hundreds of people.

Space
2:35 am
Fri February 8, 2013

Close Shave: Asteroid To Buzz Earth Next Week

Credit NASA
This computer image from a NASA video shows the small asteroid 2012 DA14 on its path as it passes by Earth on Feb. 15.
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Originally published on Fri February 8, 2013 11:28 am

An asteroid the size of an office building will zoom close by Earth next week, but it's not on a collision course, NASA says.

Still, some people think this near-miss should serve as a wake-up call.

"It's a warning shot across our bow that we are flying around the solar system in a shooting gallery," says Ed Lu, a former astronaut and head of the B612 Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting humanity from asteroids.

The asteroid known as 2012 DA14 was first spotted last year by astronomers in Spain. It's thought to be about 150 feet across and made of rock.

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Credit Doby Photography / NPR

Nell Greenfieldboyce is a NPR science correspondent.

With reporting focused on general science, NASA, and the intersection between technology and society, Greenfieldboyce has been on the science desk's technology beat since she joined NPR in 2005.

In that time Greenfieldboyce has reported on topics including the narwhals in Greenland, the ending of the space shuttle program, and the reasons why independent truckers don't want electronic tracking in their cabs.

Much of Greenfieldboyce's reporting reflects an interest in discovering how applied science and technology connects with people and culture. She has worked on stories spanning issues such as pet cloning, gene therapy, ballistics, and federal regulation of new technology.

Prior to NPR, Greenfieldboyce spent a decade working in print, mostly magazines including U.S. News & World Report and New Scientist.

A graduate of Johns Hopkins, earning her Bachelor's of Arts degree in social sciences and a Master's of Arts degree in science writing, Greenfieldboyce taught science writing for four years at the university. She was honored for her talents with the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists.