Joe Palca

The coming year is supposed to bring some important launches into space. It's possible private companies will successfully launch humans into space, and missions to Mars and the sun are planned.

Scientists used field recordings from humpback whales and laboratory experiments with anchovies to determine how the ponderous whale manages to catch the agile anchovy. The answer is timing.

We look at three noteworthy stories from the year in science news: acceptance of climate change, medical therapies to come from a new gene editing tool, and the first image of a black hole.

Tennessine is an extremely rare element. Only a few dozen atoms of it have ever been produced. The tale of how the first atoms of Tennessine were created is complicated.

After the InSight lander had trouble drilling a sophisticated thermometer into the Martian surface, a Plan B also didn't work, and the instrument ended up backing itself out of the ground.

A new technique uses the CRISPR molecule to snip away at the part of RNA viruses that allows them to spread infection by making copies of themselves.

Scientists in Massachusetts think they may be onto a new approach for treating viral infections, using CRISPR to quickly target the part of the virus that replicates it.

When NPR's morning show debuted in 1979, AIDS was an unknown acronym, computers were specialized tools of scientists and engineers, and climate change was a bipartisan issue.

A look at the biggest stories in science, technology and health over Morning Edition's 40 years on the air.

CubeSats are only about twice the size of a Rubik's Cube. Once dismissed as tools for students learning the principles of aerospace engineering, they're now being used for more sophisticated missions.

A sophisticated thermometer on NASA's Mars InSight lander has been stuck for months. It was supposed to drive down 16 feet into the Martian soil but stopped. So scientists used a novel way to free it.

After his son developed a rare eye cancer, a chemist in Texas developed a smartphone app that uses a camera and artificial intelligence to detect early signs of eye disease.

Flooding from storms can sometimes lead to contamination from sewage in the drinking water supply. Scientists are trying to develop a quicker test for one troublesome contaminant: norovirus.

Norovirus sickens tens of millions of people each year. They get the disease from contaminated food or water. Engineers have developed a rapid, inexpensive test to detect the virus in water supplies.

Scientists are getting closer to developing a wearable patch that can measure hydration and other health markers — in sweat. The hope is it could give athletes more data to boost their performance.

A lab at Arizona State University tries to find new ways to combat the global scourge of locusts. One solution may have to do with farming practices.

Engineers at the University of California Berkeley have developed a patch that can measure someone's sweat composition and sweat rate at the site of excretion.

Researchers at Arizona State University are studying locusts in hopes of finding better ways of preventing swarms from destroying crops.

An engineer has invented a new way to test for the presence of cholera bacterium in water. The test could be useful in remote areas, because it's lightweight and self-contained.

The South American country is home to the Andes Mountains and the Atacama Desert, places that have some of the stillest and driest air in the world. That makes them ideal for astronomy.