This summer urban agriculture got some good press and a financial boost. Time Magazine ran an article describing the "urban agricultural boom in the U.S." and the Governor of N.Y. State kicked off a program of grants to community gardens, saying "Community gardens are an important resource in our urban neighborhoods, providing open space and access to healthy, nutritious food for city dwellers."
I'd love to hear from ScienceFriday.com visitors about what they are noticing in their own neighborhoods either in urban agriculture or community gardens.
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Our SciFri podcasts have reached a new peak: 250,000 downloads each! That makes for about a million downloads per month, over 10 milion per year!
We are the second most downloaded Podcast on NPR, of all NPR programs. That's quite a feat, especially for a science program. And it proves what I've always said about the public's interest in science and technology.
Thank you!
Have you tried our videos? Video producer Flora Lichtman has created some terrific video podcasts which you can watch on our website and subscribe to on iTunes.
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I have been observing the prevalence of stinky feet and shoes and realized a couple of things. First of all, stinky shoes are more common in humid environments. Secondly, they are usually shoes that have been sweated in, like running shoes. Dress shoes with which a person wears wool socks or no socks tend to be less stinky.
The reason is that bacteria thrive in moist environments like those created with sweat and cotton socks. With the right environment, the bacteria feast on the dead skin cells from your feet and ...

And that's not of being eaten. Something far less natural or savory. Populations of freshwater fish are on decline due to habitat loss, introduction of non-native species, and last but not least, climate change.

In a report recently issued by the American Fisheries Society 700 fish are now listed as either threatened, endangered, or vulnerable. This is a 92% increase over the number of fishes classified as "imperiled" in the equivalent 1989 study. Of the 364 fishes classified in the previous study, 61 are now extinct.
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Last night I came across a blog entry by Matthew Brown which discussed data from the laboratory of Dr. Jeremy Gray and others on the inverse correlation of intelligence and self-control. Immediately, I thought wow, if I'm fat because of a lack of self control, does that mean I'm less intelligent than someone who is free of compulsive behaviors?
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Today I had an appointment with Judith Townsend, the Physician's Assistant who works with Dr. Louis Arrone, in New York City. Dr. Arrone is an expert in medications to treat obesity. I go there with the intention of trying medications to help me reduce my weight, which is an approach I haven't yet tried.
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In Monday's meeting of the United Nations in Geneva, scientists predicted that mountain ranges worldwide risk losing their glaciers by the end of the century. Attributed to global warming, glaciers are currently losing water at twice the rate of only a decade ago, and four times the rate observed a century ago.
This trend of glacial thawing has already been observed in Glacier National Park in Montana. About a century ago, the park hosted 150 glaciers; now there are just 26.
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Check out the Large Hadron Rap.
An original rap about the Large Hadron Collider. Brought to you by Will Barras, PhD student in the department of linguistics and English language at the University of Edinburgh and science writer (and rapper) Kate McAlpine.
The lyrics are terrific and the dizzying pace of video and music is magical.
Check it out!
Have one of your own? Please send along....
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