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Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

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In his new book Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future, journalist Ashlee Vance describes the technologist Elon Musk as “an inventor, celebrity, business man, and industrialist able to take big ideas and turn them into big products.” Vance takes us back to Musk’s his first startup, X.com, and the coup that ousted him, and tells us how Space X sprouted from an idea to send a greenhouse to Mars. Read an excerpt from the book here.

Author Ashlee Vance Explores the ‘Unified Theory of Elon Musk’

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Supermassive black holes are millions of times bigger than the sun and “feast” on their surroundings. But despite their size, the galactic giants can often evade detection. In a forthcoming paper in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers describe five different supermassive black holes. Astronomer George Lansbury, lead author on the study, discusses why the super-sized black holes are so difficult to find and what they can tell us about the evolution of the universe.

Astronomers Play Hide-and-Seek with Supermassive Black Holes

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How do you hold onto the memory of, say, your first kiss for years to come? With the help of prion proteins. While pathogenic prions are behind ailments like mad cow disease and kuru, recent studies published in Neuron and Cell Reports elaborate on the role functional prions play in maintaining long-term memories. The researchers behind the four papers all hail from Eric Kandel’s lab at Columbia University Medical Center. The Nobel Laureate returns to Science Friday to explain what we know about the role these kinds of proteins play in the upkeep of our most persistent memories.

Forget-Me-Not: How Prions Maintain Memory

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Climate change has caused bumblebee ranges to shrink by as much as 190 miles in some areas, according to a new study in Science. Jeremy Kerr, a biologist and lead author on the study, says that the pollinators are not migrating northward like most animals. Kerr discusses why the bumblebees are so susceptible to climate change and if assisting the insects in their migration might be an option.

Is Climate Change the Plight of the Bumblebee?

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The New Horizons spacecraft is about to capture its prize: a close-up of Pluto. Next week, the probe will zoom within 7,800 miles of the dwarf planet—close enough, says lead scientist Alan Stern, to spot the lakes in Central Park, if the craft were to pass within such a distance of Earth. He says studying the distant ball of rock and ice may give us a peek into the early formation of planets like our own, and clues to how our moon was born.

New Horizons Prepares for Pluto Close-Up

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Feel young for your age? Or like a 60-year-old in a 38-year-old’s body? People’s bodies age at remarkably different rates, according to a study appearing this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Measuring biomarkers like blood pressure and cholesterol levels, the researchers estimated each participant’s “biological” age. Though all participants were 38 years-old, their body conditions ranged from that of an average 30-year-old...all the way to 61.
 
But is measuring biological age a good idea? Will insurance companies discriminate against the biologically elderly? Study author Daniel Belsky, an aging researcher at the Duke University School of Medicine, walks us through the good and the bad.
 
And Rachel Feltman of The Washington Post shares a few selected short subjects from this week’s science news, including a false report of signs of life on Comet 67P and a fossil find that might be the missing link for dinosaur nose horns.

News Round-Up: 'Biological Aging,' Debunking Signs of Cometary Life, Triceratops Kin

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

Author Ashlee Vance Explores the ‘Unified Theory of Elon Musk’

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