Science as Inquiry - Understanding about scientific inquiry

  • Energy and climate: The hidden stories
    Energy and climate: The hidden stories

    Climate scientists worry about feedbacks, glacial melting, sea level rise, using tax policy to slow warming, and the complexity of climate science. Is it realistic to base our economy on endless growth? What does human behavior tell us about dealing with warming?


    Thursday, February 11th, 2010
  • Tracking traveling toads
    Tracking traveling toads

    Do new species arise because so many niches are available in a new habitat? Or do they arise because newcomers have multiple talents for survival? A new study points to traits that enable success in the new location.


    Thursday, February 4th, 2010
  • Autism debate: Does an epidemic continue?
    Autism debate: Does an epidemic continue?

    The long rise may be inflated by redefinition of autism, social acceptance of the disabled and desire for services. If this is a real epidemic, it’s even more critical to find the cause.


    Thursday, January 14th, 2010
  • Fish phishing attack explained!
    Fish phishing attack explained!

    Cleaner fish remove parasites from other fish. Why do males punish females who eat the wrong food from their host? A clue to the evolution of cooperation?


    Thursday, January 7th, 2010
  • Internet: The fastest teacher?
    Internet: The fastest teacher?

    MRI scans of older people show major differences between searchers and non-searchers. After seven hours of Internet experience, those differences disappear. Honest? Could changing the brain be this easy?


    Wednesday, October 21st, 2009
  • A policeman watches over a sidewalk crowded with people wearing light-blue facemasks.
    Swine flu

    The epidemic fades, with 61 confirmed deaths and 5,251 cases so far. Were the public health warnings overdone? Or did they help stem the pandemic? Your guide to the time of finger-pointing, flu-style.


    Thursday, May 14th, 2009
  • Electric Cars: Meet the plug-in Hybrid
    Electric Cars: Meet the plug-in Hybrid

    Hybrid cars and plug-in hybrids boost auto efficiency and reduce pollution, but it’s a long struggle from the idea to the reality.


    Thursday, November 29th, 2007
  • Dolly the clone: 10 years later

    In 1997, Dolly was BIG NEWS. What did Dolly teach? Why did cloning attract so many oddballs, and what is the status of reproductive cloning and therapeutic cloning? The Why Files honors Dolly with a 10-year lookback.


    Thursday, May 31st, 2007
  • April’s Cool. Meet some Offbeat Science Projects

    How do dragonflies fly? How do bats catch insects hidden behind leaves? How do you make a temperature of 2 billion degrees? Why would anyone care?


    Thursday, March 23rd, 2006
  • BigFoot Revealed: BigHoax!

    Bigfoot film was a fraud, a hoax, says man who played bigfoot in 1967 film. Why do so many people believe in cryptozoology?


    Thursday, April 1st, 2004


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