Green 'Christmas Comet' Visible In Night Sky

"This month, a comet called 46P/Wirtanen is doing a dramatic fly-by, giving Earth an unusually good view of its greenish glow."

"The timing of the comet's apparition — and its seasonally appropriate coloring — have led some to dub it the 'Christmas Comet.'"

"On Sunday, Wirtanen's proximity to Earth placed it in the top 10 of Earth's modern 'comet close encounters,' according to the University of Maryland's astronomy department. And few of those other close-proximity comets were bright enough to see with the naked eye, as Wirtanen is."

"'This will be the closest comet Wirtanen has come to Earth for centuries and the closest it will come to Earth for centuries,' Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement."

"On Sunday night, at its closest point, the comet was about 30 times as far away as the moon. While that evening offered the prime viewing opportunity, the comet will continue to be visible from some locations worldwide for several more days."

Magical Photos Bring Fables From Mbomo To Life

"Traditional fables from the Republic of Congo are collected in a new book, Congo Tales: Told By The People Of Mbomo — and illustrated with painterly photos that have a touch of magical realism."

"Eva Vonk, a Dutch film producer, came up with the concept for Congo Tales. It's the first project from a new multimedia series called "Tales of Us," which aims to communicate the importance of protecting remote ecosystems and the people who live there."

"Over the course of three years, Vonk, along with a local radio producer and a community activist, gathered tales told by people all over the Mbomo district in the Congo Basin, the second-largest tropical rainforest in the world. It's home to thousands of plant and animal species and to people as well."

"The basin is under threat from mining and logging, according to the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies."

Medical Detectives: The Last Hope For Families Coping With Rare Diseases

"All over the country, specialized teams of doctors are giving hope to families who are desperately searching for a diagnosis."

"The medical sleuths, scattered across 12 clinics nationwide, form the Undiagnosed Disease Network. Since the program began in 2014, they've identified 31 previously unknown syndromes and they've cracked more than a third of their cases, according to a recent paper in the New England Journal of Medicine."

"'It was like Sherlock Holmes,' says Euan Ashley, a professor of medicine at Stanford University.' Patients would come with mystery diseases and we would try to solve them.'"

"Although rare diseases are individually very uncommon, collectively they are surprisingly pervasive. In fact, if grouped together into a single category, they afflict between 25 to 30 million Americans."

"For people coping with mystery conditions, finally getting a diagnosis can be life-saving or life-changing. Take the perplexing case of the two Miller boys from Marin County."

After More Than 4,000 Years, Vibrant Egyptian Tomb Sees The Light Of Day

"More than four millennia after being chiseled by Egyptian artisans, the intricate hieroglyphics and stone carvings of an ancient tomb have been uncovered."

"Egyptian officials made the announcement Saturday at the site of the discovery in Saqqara, outside of Cairo, according to multiple media reports. Photographs of the tomb show a narrow doorway leading to a rectangular room, its walls covered with carved symbols, images and human forms. Particularly striking are their well-preserved colors – light yellows, rich blues and a reddish-brown skin tone."

"'The color is almost intact even though the tomb is almost 4,400 years old,' said Mostafa Waziri, secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, according to Reuters. He told reporters the find was 'one of a kind in the last decades."

"This rediscovered site is part of a massive complex that has proven invaluable to historians and researchers, as described by the magazine Archaeology:

"Thousands of tombs are spread across an area nearly four miles long and nearly a mile wide, and covering more than 3,000 years of complex Egyptian history. ... Saqqara has yielded some of antiquity's most compelling art and architecture, from the magnificent complex of Djoser, which set the standard for future pharaonic tombs, to intimate, carved stone friezes picturing some of the most moving scenes of daily life in ancient Egypt.'"

Wolves Are Back In Germany, But Not Always Welcome

"Wolves are making a big comeback in Germany, which is making some Germans uneasy."

"Farmers and hunters drove the species out of the country over 150 years ago, but conditions for wolves became more welcoming in 1990, after Germany's reunification extended European endangered species protections to the eastern part of the country."

"Since 2000, the Central European gray wolves have been moving back, mostly from Poland. In Brandenburg state, which surrounds Berlin, the number of known wolf packs jumped from zero in 2007 to 26 this year, according to the state's environmental office."

"That has come as a shock to many farmers, who now have to worry about protecting livestock from predators. They don't lose many animals to wolves nationally, but the few incidents that happen can be dramatic. In April, at least 40 sheep were killed in a single attack, and news reports described the aftermath as looking 'like horror.'"

"At an anti-wolf rally in November in Brandenburg's capital of Potsdam, farmer Marco Hintze said farmers should once again have the right to shoot at wolves."

As Climate Changes, Is Eating Raw Oysters Getting Riskier?

"Former North Dakota lawmaker Rae Ann Kelsch died last month at age 58 after eating raw oysters at a New Orleans restaurant. The alleged culprit: a fast-moving bacterial infection — linked to consuming raw or undercooked shellfish — that caused her organs to shut down."

"The place where Kelsch ate oysters has not been publicly released."

"Oysters have long been a trademark of southern cuisine, but they also pose health risks for some."

"'There's always going to be a small amount of risk,' says Dr. Fred Lopez, who studies infectious disease at Louisiana State University's Health Sciences Center."

"Lopez says the biggest danger comes from a pervasive bacteria called Vibrio vulnificus, which is what reportedly killed Kelsch."

"Vibrio vulnificus naturally thrives in brackish waters where the temperature is above 68 degrees Fahrenheit. As a result, it's actually more common in the Gulf of Mexico, where the waters are warmer, than on the East and West coasts."

"'If you're consuming a raw oyster that comes from the Gulf Coast waters ... particularly in the summer months,' says Lopez, 'You have to assume that it has Vibrio vulnificus.'"

Former NFL Player Tim Green Has A New Opponent — ALS

"Tim Green first noticed the symptoms about five years ago."

"The former NFL player, whose strength was a job requirement, suddenly found his hands weren't strong enough to use a nail clipper. His words didn't come out as fast as he was thinking them."

"'I'm a strange guy,' Tim says. 'I get something in my head and I can just run with it. I was really afraid I had ALS. But there was enough doubt that I said 'alright, I don't. Let's not talk about it. Let's not do anything.'"

"Denying pain and injury had been a survival strategy in football."

"I was well trained in that verse," he says.

Voyager 2 Bids Adieu To The Heliosphere, Entering Interstellar Space

"When you hit your 40s, it's only natural to want to try new things."

"That little platitude holds true not only for those suffering midlife crises, but also, apparently, for at least one spacecraft launched by NASA. Just a few months after celebrating its 41st birthday, the Voyager 2 probe has left its familiar environs and entered interstellar space — only the second human-made object in history to do so, after Voyager 1 did it in 2012."

"'I think we're all happy and relieved that the Voyager probes have both operated long enough to make it past this milestone,' Suzanne Dodd, the Voyager project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said in a statement released Monday. 'This is what we've all been waiting for.'"

"The moment they were waiting for arrived early last month, when Voyager 2 left what's known as the heliosphere — the vast bubble of plasma and particles generated by the sun and stirred in solar winds. This bubble ends at a boundary called the heliopause, where the sun's magnetic field peters out and solar winds give way to interstellar space."

"'Inside the bubble, most of the material has come from our sun and the magnetic field has come from our sun,' Voyager project scientist Ed Stone explained in a video provided by NASA. 'Outside the bubble, most of the material comes from other stars that exploded 5, 10, 15 million years ago.'"

Biography Captures The Charisma And Confidence Of Photographer Inge Morath

"'I'm fascinated by the necessity of quick decisions,"' Inge Morath told me more than 30 years ago, when she came to NPR for an interview. Morath was in the business of quick decisions — as a photographer and photojournalist she was the first woman to be accepted as a full member of the Magnum photo agency."

"Now, her life is the subject of a new biography by Linda Gordon. It recounts Morath's escape from Nazi Germany, her boundary-breaking career, and her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller."

Morath met Miller — and his then-wife Marilyn Monroe — in 1960 while she was taking publicity stills on the set of the film The Misfits. It was Monroe's last film, and Miller had written it for his wife.

"'Inge took some very, very beautiful and sympathetic photographs of Marilyn Monroe,' Gordon says. 'But Miller had struck her as intensely interesting — and he was quite impressed," Gordon says."

"Miller and Monroe's relationship had been on the rocks for some time. He and Morath had an affair and the two married in 1962. They were together for 40 years, until Inge's death in 2002."

How A Shorter Sea Ice Season Is Changing Life In The Arctic

"People who live in the town of Utqiaġvik have seen dramatic effects of climate change during their lifetimes."

"Utqiaġvik, formerly known as Barrow, sits right on the edge of the Arctic Ocean at the very top of Alaska. It's the northernmost town in the United States, and home to about 4,400. The coastline here used to be edged with sea ice for nearly the whole year. But that period is getting shorter and shorter, and as a result Utqiaġvik locals are dealing with coastal erosion and are changing how they hunt in the fall."

"Billy Adams is an Iñupiaq hunter in his 50s who's lived in Utqiaġvik his whole life. He grew up hunting ringed seals in the fall by going out onto ice attached to the coastline."

"'We would have [ice formed] by...October, mid-October. Somewhere around there,' says Adams."

"Iñupiat hunters eat ringed seal meat, use the skin for clothing and the oil to build hand-made boats. They can only hunt on the ice when it's thick and stable enough to support their weight."

World's First Insect Vaccine Could Help Bees Fight Off Deadly Disease

"Bees may soon get an ally in their fight against bacterial disease — one of the most serious threats the pollinators face — in the form of an edible vaccine. That's the promise held out by researchers in Finland, who say they've made the first-ever vaccine for insects, aimed at helping struggling honeybee populations."

"The scientists are targeting one of bees' most deadly enemies: American foulbrood, or AFB, an infectious disease that devastates hives and can spread at a calamitous rate. Often introduced by nurse bees, the disease works by bacteria feeding on larvae — and then generating more spores, to spread further."

"The idea of a potential new weapon to fight AFB has generated excitement in the beekeeping community, along with some skepticism about the claim of a vaccine — which remains in the testing phase. The news comes three years after the same researchers were hailed in Entomology Today as discovering the 'key to bee vaccination.'"

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Are Up Again. What Now, Climate?

"As climate negotiators from around the world meet in Poland this week and next to figure out how to keep greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere, they are hearing some discouraging news: Emissions of the biggest pollutant, carbon dioxide, are going up."

"For three years — 2014 through 2016 — the amount of atmospheric CO2 had leveled off. But it started to climb again in 2017, and is still rising."

"'Last year, we thought, was a blip — but it isn't,' says Rob Jackson, a climate scientist at Stanford University in California."

The CO2 increase in 2017 over the previous year was 1.6 percent, and in 2018 it's looking like emissions will have grown a further 2.7 percent. With the economy strong throughout most of the world, 2019 looks to be headed in the same direction, in terms of carbon emissions. 

"The recent slowdown in emissions and the subsequent uptick are both largely the result of what's been happening in China."

"'Their economy has been slowing a bit,' says Jackson, which is one reason global emissions stalled (China is the largest emitter of CO2 in the world). But now, says Jackson, 'the government is trying to boost growth, and they're green-lighting some coal projects that had been on hold.'" 

When And Where Fruit Flies First Bugged Humans

"The next time you swat a fruit fly in your kitchen, take heart from the fact that people have apparently been struggling with these fly infestations for around 10,000 years."

"A study published Thursday suggests Drosophila melanogaster first shacked up with humans when the insects flew into the elaborately painted caves of ancient people living in southern Africa."

"That's according to a report published Thursday in the journal Current Biology."

"Scientists say the flies would have been following the alluring smell of stored marula fruit, which were collected and stored by cave-dwelling people in Africa. This tasty yellow fruit was a staple in the region in those days — and was also the fruit that wild flies apparently evolved to depend on in nearby forests."

"The humble fruit fly now lives with humans all over the planet and is one of the world's most studied creatures. For more than a century, biology and medical laboratories have depended on this fly — one scientist notes that at least nine times, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine has been awarded for research on Drosophila. One of those prizes was won by Thomas Hunt Morgan of Columbia University, whose fly research in the early 1900s plucked this species from obscurity and transformed it into a mainstay of genetics."

"'It's small; it's cheap to raise; it has interesting genetics,' explains Thomas Kaufman, a biologist at Indiana University in Bloomington. '"We think that flies are quite charismatic. They're wonderful. They're beautiful little animals, and we love them. Seriously.'"

Infections May Raise The Risk Of Mental Illness In Children

"Researchers have traced a connection between some infections and mental illnesses like schizophrenia, depression and bipolar disorder. New research from Denmark bolsters that connection. The study, published Thursday in JAMA Psychiatry, shows that a wide variety of infections, even common ones like bronchitis, are linked to a higher risk of many mental illnesses in children and adolescents."

"The findings support the idea that infections affect mental health, possibly by influencing the immune system."

"'This idea that activation of the body's immune inflammatory system as a causative factor in ... select mental illnesses is one that has really caught on,' says Dr. Roger McIntyre, a professor of psychology and pharmacology at the University of Toronto, who wasn't involved in the study. 'This study adds to that generally, but builds the case further in a compelling way.'"

"In the new study, the researchers gathered data on hospitalizations and prescription medications for the 1.1 million children born in Denmark between January 1, 1995 and June 30, 2012."

Fishermen Sue Big Oil For Its Role In Climate Change

"While oil companies built seawalls and elevated their oil rigs to protect critical production infrastructure from the rising sea level, they concealed from the public the knowledge that burning fossil fuels could have catastrophic impacts on the biosphere."

"That's what citizens and local governments across the United States are asserting in lawsuits against oil, gas, and coal companies. Plaintiffs in the cases have alleged that fossil fuel producers knowingly subjected the entire planet and future generations to the dire consequences of their actions."

"On Nov. 14, fishermen in California and Oregon joined the legal fray by filing suit against 30 companies, mainly oil producers. The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations, the plaintiff, contends that the fossil fuel industry is at direct fault and must be held accountable for recent warming-related damages to the West Coast's prized Dungeness crab fishery, which catches millions of the tender-fleshed crustacean most years, and coastal chefs turn the critters into classics like Crab Louie and Crab Cioppino."

How Much Protein Do You Really Need?

"The marketing is enticing: Get stronger muscles and healthier bodies with minimal effort by adding protein powder to your morning shake or juice drink. Or grab a protein bar at lunch or for a quick snack. Today, you can find protein supplements everywhere — online or at the pharmacy, grocery store or health food store. They come in powders, pills and bars."

"With more than $12 billion in sales this year, the industry is booming and, according to the market research company, Grand View Research, is on track to sell billions more by 2025. But do we really need all this supplemental protein? It depends. There are pros, cons and some ho-hums to consider."

"For starters, protein is critical for every cell in our body. It helps build nails, hair, bones and muscles. It can also help you feel fuller longer than eating foods without protein. And, unlike nutrients that are found only in a few foods, protein is pretty much ubiquitous. 'The typical American diet is a lot higher in protein than a lot of us think,' says registered dietitian Angela Pipitone with Johns Hopkins McKusick-Nathans Institute of Genetic Medicine."

China Expands Research Funding, Luring U.S. Scientists And Students

"In 2003, Jay Siegel was up for a new challenge. Siegel was a tenured professor of chemistry at the University of California, San Diego, but he took a job at the University of Zurich."

"'When I first moved, people said, 'Oh, you're crazy to leave San Diego; it's a paradise. Why would you go to Europe? Blah, blah blah,' "recalls Siegel. "And after 10 years people were saying, 'Oh, man, that was the smartest thing you ever did. Zurich is wonderful.' "

"Then he told his friends he was moving to China. 'And again, people said 'What? Are you crazy?' ' Siegel says. But he thinks they'll soon realize he again made the smart choice."

"In the past decade or so, China has been expanding its commitment to scientific research, and it shows. Chinese researchers now produce more scientific publications than U.S. scientists do, and the global ratings of Chinese universities are rising."

"Five years ago Siegel became dean of the school of pharmaceutical science and technology at Tianjin University. He says the university president recruited him to build an undergraduate program that would attract students from all over — not just China. Siegel says the program is taught entirely in English."

Facing Backlash, Chinese Scientist Defends Gene-Editing Research On Babies

"The scientist who stunned the world by claiming he created the first genetically modified babies defended his actions publicly for the first time on Wednesday, saying that editing the genes of the twin girls while they were embryos would protect them from HIV."

"He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, addressed hundreds of scientists gathered at an international gene- editing summit in Hong Kong that has been rocked by ethical questions swirling around his research."

"Earlier, He stunned the scientists just as they were gathering for the historic meeting with his claim, which he outlined in a series of YouTube videos, bypassing scientific norms of first subjecting his experiment to scientific scrutiny by other scientists."

"'First, I must apologize that this result was leaked unexpectedly," He told some 700 attendees. 'This study has been submitted to a scientific journal for review.'"

New U.S. Climate Assessment Forecasts Dire Effects On Economy, Health

"The Trump administration released a major climate assessment on Black Friday, the culmination of years of research by the country's top climate scientists. It's well over 1,000 pages and touches on a daunting range of topics."

"President Trump said Monday that he has read parts of it. "It's fine," he told reporters at the White House, although he said he doesn't believe the report's assessment that climate change will cause devastating economic impacts for the U.S."

"The report is required by Congress every four years and is issued by 13 federal agencies and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. This one marks the most detailed and blunt assessment yet of the dangers of unchecked global warming."

"'Climate change is happening here and now,' co-author Katherine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told Weekend Edition Saturday. 'It is affecting all of us no matter where we live. And the more climate changes, the more serious and even more dangerous the impacts will become.'"

Look Out Mars, Here Comes InSight

"Mars gets a new visitor from Earth on Monday. If all goes well, a NASA probe named InSight will land near the Martian equator shortly before 3 p.m. EST. Once it lands on Mars, it will stay put. InSight isn't a rover. Its mission is to stick to one place after it lands — and study the interior of Mars from the planet's surface."

"But before it can carry out that mission, it has to land safely. That means slowing down from 12,300 mph as it enters the top of the Martian atmosphere — to a complete stop on the ground six and a half minutes later."

"'The landing is all completely automatic and autonomous,' says Rob Grover, leader of the Entry, Descent and Landing team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. 'We have no ability to actually, kind of, fly the lander to the surface,' Grover says."

"The reason real-time control isn't possible is because it takes a radio signal approximately eight minutes to travel from Earth to Mars. Because the entire landing sequence only takes six and a half minutes, the lander would already be on the ground by the time a signal from Earth arrived."