Science & Technology

(05/21/12) IBM's Watson already has "Jeopardy!" under its belt. Now the computer giant is turning to the University of Rochester for ideas on what to do next. The Innovation Trail's Zack Seward explains. more

(05/21/12) A high school science teacher from Lake Placid wants to help the town of North Elba change the way it disposes of organic waste.

Tammy Morgan teaches biology and environmental science at Lake Placid Middle-High School. She recently delivered a preliminary report to the North Elba town board on a proposed project to install an anaerobic digester at the town-owned landfill.

As Chris Morris reports, some farms already use anaerobic digesters to process manure, but North Elba would become the first municipality on the East Coast to use this kind of technology to process food waste on site. more

(05/21/12) Every spring, a Department of Environmental Conservation biologist drives along north country highways at dawn or dusk, stopping every so often to pull over and listen. They're listening for the distinctive "peent" of the singing American woodcock, a brown speckled bird a little larger than a songbird with a long, narrow beak for pulling earthworms out of the ground.

The little game bird is under threat New York state, and the survey each year is meant to get a handle on what population trends are in this region. DEC regional spokesman Stephen Litwhiler is the happy host to several of the birds in his backyard in southern Jefferson County. He says the birds' appearance each year is his personal "harbinger of spring."

For this Heard Up North, reporter Joanna Richards donned camouflage and hid behind the birds' favorite tree in Litwhiler's backyard to get a close-up look - and listen. more

(05/18/12) Dr. Alexander Schreiber studies change--the metamorphosis of amphibians and flatfish. His St. Lawrence University biology lab teems with frogs and fish in various stages of development.

His enthusiasm for his subject sends him off campus to local grade schools. And at SLU, it attracts even English majors like our intern, Roger Miller. Schreiber told Roger he just never stopped being a kid.

Roger Miller is a senior at St. Lawrence University. He's worked as an intern in our news and web departments for the last couple of years. We'll miss him, and wish him well after graduation this weekend. more

(05/15/12) St. Lawrence University physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue shared news of big events in the solar system in conversation with Martha Foley this morning. She explained how a solar eclipse can begin on May 21st and end on May 20th; Mars is on the move, and we'll have a once-in-a-century chance to see Venus "transit" in front of the Sun on June 5.

(04/25/12) When the town of Canton opened a drop-off site this week for old electronics, it was not only giving St. Lawrence County residents a convenient way to dispose of unwanted TVs, computers, and cellphones, it was also helping them comply with the law.

This month marks the one-year anniversary of the New York State law that requires old electronics be recycled instead of simply thrown in the trash. Under the law, manufacturers have to collect and recycle the products they create when consumers are done with them. But a new report by the Natural Resources Defense Council finds the law is having mixed results.

Reporter Tracey Samuelson of New York Public Radio followed one discarded computer through the recycling process. more

(04/17/12) It's been a great year for planet-watching. So says astronomer Aileen O'Donoghue, who teaches physics at St. Lawrence University.

She was in the NCPR studio this morning to share the news about Mars, Saturn and Venus. O'Donoghue also had a tip for a good view of the waxing crescent Moon and the Pleiades on April 23. She spoke with Martha Foley.

(04/13/12) Stargazers will have the chance tonight to take a look at the International Space Station. The space station will be visible this evening just after sunset--but St. Lawrence University astronomer Jeffrey Miller says it should be easy to spot with the naked eye, even in the bright early-nighttime sky. more

(04/09/12) North Country Public Radio staff and listeners have joined the thousands of people keeping close track of a pair of great blue herons nesting high above the Cornell Ornithology Lab's Sapsucker Woods pond.

Researchers at the lab have been following this pair for three years now, but the webcams are new this season, and they're giving scientists and laypeople alike new insight into how a heron family lives. Martha Foley talks with Charles Eldermire, project leader for the heron (and other) live webcams at the lab. more

(04/04/12) As the Republican primary marches forward, researcher Thomas Seeley is reminded of his work with honeybees. That might sound odd, but Seeley has spent decades studying the relationships in a hive, and says bees have an even longer history than human beings of making decisions democratically. Dr. Seeley is giving a public talk tonight at St. Lawrence University.

He spoke yesterday with Julie Grant about new research that points to certain pesticides as the major reason for the death of bees around the world. Seeley also explained how honeybees decide where to build a new hive, and how that's similar to our own democratic process.