Science

One year after the space shuttle Columbia accident, Columbia Remembered...Atlantis, Go For Launch looks back on the shuttle tragedy and looks ahead to the planned flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis. Hear from the Columbia astronauts and re-live the tragic loss of the shuttle. Get the inside story of the recovery of the shuttle's flight data recorder from the man who found it.
Will Steger is packing up his sled again. This December, the Minnesotan begins a journey back to the Arctic -- this time to bring attention to what global warming is doing to the top of the earth. Like his last journey to the region, this one will be documented on the Internet.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham addresses the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. He announces a prioritized list of major, new scientific facilities needed over the next 20 years to support research in areas that have been the traditional responsibility of the department.
Allowing states to regulate companies that provide voice calls over the Internet as traditional telephone companies would conflict with federal law and could slow Internet growth, a Minnesota judge wrote Thursday.
More than a thousand scientists who study dinosaurs and other long extinct creatures begin a convention in St. Paul this week to talk about their new discoveries.
Minnesota-born Peter Agre and another American, Roderick MacKinnon, won the Nobel Prize in chemistry on Wednesday for studies of tiny transportation tunnels in cell walls, work that illuminates diseases of the heart, kidneys and nervous system. Agre's late father had predicted that Peter would one day win a Nobel Prize. His mother, Ellen, got the call at 6:45 Wednesday morning about the award.
Minnesota homeowners are experiencing an invasion of Asian lady beetles. They cluster around buildings in large numbers during fall as they search for protected sites to spend the winter months. MPR's Dave Molpus talks beetles with entomologist Jeffrey Hahn.
Gov. Pawlenty wrapped up his first trade mission by calling for greater cooperation between Minnesota and Montreal. The governor returned from the two-day trip on Tuesday, saying there are opportunities for business and research partnerships between the two regions in the area of biotechnology.
Gov. Tim Pawlenty says he may seek tax incentives for biotech research and investment in Minnesota. The governor is promoting Minnesota's biosciences and medical industries during his first trade mission in Montreal. The governor says the Canadian government offers much more generous tax breaks to the biotech industry.
The Pawlenty administration and others watching the Minnesota economy see biotechnology as one bright light on the horizon. And no single place better captures Minnesota's biotech dreams than a sprawling, abandoned building on the western edge of St. Paul. The city bought the building this month to serve as a non-profit "incubator." Officials hope the empty space will nurture fledgling biotech entrepreneurs into tomorrow's powerhouse corporations.