Ari Daniel Shapiro
Packaging You Can Eat
Have you ever eaten a cocktail? Held a mouthful of juice in your hand? A team of chefs, chemists, and designers has come up with a way for you to do just that. They’ve created a biodegradable shell that can enclose ice cream, mousses, cheeses, and liquids. Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA reports.
Boosting Your Kid’s Brainpower
An Oxford University researcher will soon test whether applying an electric current to part of the brain can help children learn math – an effect previously demonstrated in adults. Parents are already lining up for access to the device. But is the technique safe? And is this an ethical way to improve your child’s performance in school? NOVA’s Ari Daniel Shapiro reports.
Strands of Evidence: Hair Forensics
You are what you eat, and what you eat ends up in your hair. Scientists in the US and Europe have used this basic idea to devise a sort of hair-based GPS tracking system that can reveal where you’ve been over the past few months. Law enforcement agencies are now using this technique to solve crimes. NOVA’s Ari Daniel Shapiro reports.
People vs. Apes: Do Social Skills Give Us an Edge?
We humans are exceptionally good at manipulating our environment, but what makes us so successful compared with other primates? Our intelligence? Our opposable thumbs? A clever experiment conducted in Africa and Europe suggests another answer: our social skills. Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA reports.
Close-Up Photos of Ants Show Species Diversity
A team of scientists from California is touring European natural history museums to photograph ant collections in exquisite detail. The images are being posted to a free website so anyone can study, or just admire, the world’s diversity of ants. Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA reports from London.
Driving Dutch in France
I had just switched on the GPS in my rental car and the computerized voice was talking to me in Dutch. Dutch! [...]
Clean Cookstoves Protect Women and the Environment
An estimated 3 billion people in the developing world cook and heat their homes by burning wood, charcoal, or dung. Their simple stoves cause trendous amounts of air pollution. Ari Daniel Shapiro reports from Uganda on the introduction of more efficient stoves that also help protect women from sexual violence.
Closure of Lakes Laboratory Spurs Protest in Canada
Scientists in Canada staged a rally on Tuesday against the policies of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Protesters say the government is slashing environmental research and weakening environmental protections. Much of the anger stems from the planned closure of an ecological field station in Western Ontario. Reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA has the story.
Turtles Caught in Cyprus’s Political Rift
Cyprus’s sea turtles are in trouble, but the feuding Greek and Turkish sides aren’t working together to protect them.
Gamers & Genomics: Crowdsourcing DNA Research
Scientists at McGill University in Montreal have developed an online game that uses crowdsourcing to study DNA. The game — called Phylo — helps solve complex problems in genomics by harnessing the human ability to spot visual patterns. Ari Daniel Shaprio of our partner program NOVA reports.
Scientists Repel Sharks – to Save Them
An American chemist says he’s found a substance – several, in fact – that can repel some of the most fearsome predators in the ocean, and he wants to use his discovery to protect them. Reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA has the story.
Tracing the Ocean’s Ingredients
The world’s oceans are full of salt and also contain ingredients vital to marine life and the Earth’s climate. Reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA met up with a French scientist who’s studying the chemistry of seawater for clues to our planet’s future.
Gene Test Offers Whiff of Hope
Genetic tests allow doctors to diagnose disease, but the knowledge of what’s in your DNA doesn’t always help in the way one might hope. Reporter Ari Daniel Shapiro of our partner program NOVA talks about one man and his unusual gene.
Illegal Bird Trapping in Cyprus
As many as 2 million songbirds a year are killed in the Mediterranean country, most to be eaten as a delicacy in local restaurants.
FishPopTrace Program Using DNA to Counter Overfishing
To protect endangered populations of fish, scientists in Europe are devising new forensic techniques that can identify where a fish was caught. This should enable regulators to make sure fish being sold come from sustainably harvested populations. Ari Daniel Shapiro reports.
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