Science Friday

From color to crunch, there are subtle cues that make our food taste better. Plus, a new autonomous system lets the Mars rover conduct research even while offline. And an experimental vaccine patch would deliver influenza vaccine via an array of dissolvable, microscopic needles.

USGS wildlife biologist Karyn Rode monitors how populations of polar bears are affected by shrinking sea ice and other changing conditions in the Arctic. Plus, how safety lapses at national nuclear weapons labs are making dangerous work even more hazardous.

A new way to look at fetal health, using the placenta. Plus, the Kepler mission found thousands of new planet candidates, including 10 possible rocky worlds within their stars habitable zone. And a new video captures DNA in the act of replication.

The cephalopod celebration continues, with a look at technology inspired by the brainy creatures. Plus, researchers estimate that climate change effects could wipe out 39–59 percent of Ethiopian coffee farms in the future.

Cephalopod Week kicks off with an octopus matchmaker and cephalopod defense moves. And how your mindset might change the way you metabolize a milkshake. And researchers look to a simple organism, the flatworm, to study how living in space might affect humans on a cellular level.

The North American Great Lakes are changing under the influence of pollution, invasive species, and climate change. How well will they weather this stress?

Biochemist Jennifer Doudna describes her work on developing the CRISPR-Cas9 technique and the ethical concerns of using the revolutionary tool. Plus, regulating algorithms could offer better insight into why they fail. And researchers find a doomed planet orbiting a massive hot star.

A new report says only one quarter of SPF products on the market are up to snuff. And a customizable melanin-like material could offer better protection from the sun.Plus, hominin fossils dating to 300,000 years ago have been found at a site in Morocco.

A look at why our immune systems turn on us, and why we are still powerless to stop the attack. Plus, an innovative muscle graft could help people with amputations feel their bionic limbs. And how researchers are developing wearable devices that can improve human movement.