The Why Files
The science behind the news.
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Founded:
1996
 
The Why Files
It's one of the biggest puzzles of paleontology: Why did North America's large mammals go extinct shortly after the glaciers melted about 15k years ago? New study suggests that hunters get the credit -- or blame.
The Why Files
Flu vaccine is made in eggs, but that's too slow for a major epidemic. How are vaccines made inside animal cells? What other methods can protect us against a fast-changing, deadly virus?
The Why Files
Golfer-doctor finds that treating apnea cuts golf scores; sees new motivator for wearing nighttime masks.
The Why Files

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November 3 at 5:19am
The Why Files
Canada's oil-drenched sands give it the second-largest oil reserves in the world. Using the "tar sands" pollutes air and water, destroys forests and could cause cancer. Should we leave oil sands alone?
The Why Files
POSTED 22 OCTOBER 2009 Google/Yahoo/Bing: New brain tutors? Staying mentally and physically active is a standard prescription for helping a healthy brain survive the assaults of aging...
The Why Files
Ultralight aircraft are guiding crane chicks toward Florida wintering grounds. Dangers remain, but it's a step ahead for Americas' largest flying bird, once reduced to 21 animals.
The Why Files
Owning a StarCAVE, an interactive virtual reality theater where scientific models are projected stereoscopically on every surface, including the floor, is probably a biologist’s single best bet at getting on MTV’s “Cribs.” Now showing: RNA. “You c...
The Why Files
Until now, getting a picture of genetic change in a tumor over time has been next to impossible. A new study reveals that cancer's genetic tangle gets more complicated with time.
The Why Files
Scientists propose 9 limits on human actions: Wrecking ozone, over-using fertilizer, killing species could block key "ecosystem services." Are there natural limits to fresh water use and pollution?
The Why Files
The green Jell-O torpedo you see above is called a salp. Typically the gelatinous little ocean creatures are less ostentatious, but researchers have lent this one some flouresceine dye for a photo-op...
The Why Files
How many dead? Research and real-life experience prove that people die when drivers pick up the cellphone. Even worse: texting on the road!
The Why Files
For aerial navigation in cramped spaces it’s bat MAV to the rescue. Big bucks have been pumped into micro-aerial vehicle (MAV) research due to interest from the surveillance industry. ...
The Why Files
Flax, the basis for linen, was spun and dyed, and lost in the mud. More than 30,000 years later, microscopic flax fibers provide the first cord in archeological history.
The Why Files
The ozone layer protects Earth from UV rays: Twenty-two years after a treaty to protect ozone, how is the layer doing? What has happened to the ozone hole above Antarctica?