NASA - Mars 2020 Mission

Perseverance rover

 

Ingenuity helicopter

 

"NASA sets ambitious goals for latest mission to Mars" PBS NewsHour 2/17/2021

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SUMMARY:  If all goes according to plan, the United States will land its most advanced [Perseverance] rover ever on Mars on Thursday, nearly 300-million miles from where it lifted off last year.  It is a daunting task, one that will set up a more ambitious exploration of the Red Planet.  Miles O'Brien lays out the nerve-wracking challenges and goals of the mission.

 

 

"NASA rover lands on Mars, resuming search for remnants of life" PBS NewsHour 2/18/2021

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. is back on the Red Planet after a nearly 300-million-mile journey.  NASA celebrated late Thursday afternoon when it landed its latest rover on Mars.  The rover is designed to explore new areas of the planet and look for clues for past life there.  Miles O'Brien joins Judy Woodruff to discuss the mission.

 

LIVE 2:38:30

PANDEMIC FALLOUT - Update 5/25/2020

"As restrictions are lifted, how to apply lessons from health care workers to daily life" PBS NewsHour 5/18/2020

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SUMMARY:  In all but two U.S. states, stay-at-home orders are being lifted, and businesses are reopening.  But can the lifting of restrictions be safe, when COVID-19 is still increasing in many parts of the country?  Atul Gawande, a surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and chair of the joint health care venture Haven, joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how to control virus spread as daily activities resume.

"As Fed plans new lending program, Senate is divided over coronavirus aid" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2020

The 'money is more important than people's lives' Republicans are the problem.

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SUMMARY:  President Trump joined a Republican Senate luncheon Tuesday, where he defended his reported use of controversial antimalarial medication hydroxychloroquine.  He also said he would temporarily waive regulations that could complicate business openings or slow economic growth.  Meanwhile, senators from the two parties diverged on when and how to provide more pandemic relief.  Yamiche Alcindor reports.

"Newsom: California reopening ‘driven by evidence, not ideology’" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2020

You tell 'em Governor!

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SUMMARY:  California was one of the first U.S. states to see a significant outbreak of the novel coronavirus, but in the past few weeks, the curve of infection there has flattened.  As a result, Gov. Gavin Newsom has announced plans to loosen some restrictions.  He joins Judy Woodruff to discuss COVID-19 trends in his state, the data he’s using to make decisions and what he needs from the federal government.

"In Putin’s Russia, health care workers treating COVID-19 pay a deadly price" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2020

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SUMMARY:  Russia has announced nearly 10,000 new COVID-19 infections in just the last day, bringing its national total close to 300,000.  Half of the cases are in Moscow, where health care workers say protective gear and training for how to treat the disease are lacking.  Meanwhile, there are questions about why Russia's official virus deaths are relatively low.  Special correspondent Julia Chapman reports.

"Why American nursing homes have been hit so hard by coronavirus" PBS NewsHour 5/19/2020

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SUMMARY:  Nursing homes across the country are facing a desperate situation during the coronavirus pandemic.  In 17 states, more than half of reported COVID-19 deaths have been at these facilities.  Chronic staffing shortages, made worse by the virus, and inadequate infection control procedures exacerbate the threat amid the population that is the most vulnerable.  Lisa Desjardins reports.

"All 50 states partially reopen as CDC quietly releases its guidelines" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2020

The Trump Administration edited (stunted) version that is.

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SUMMARY:  All 50 states have now taken some steps to reopen after COVID-19 shutdowns.  Their approaches vary, with only minor restrictions remaining in states like Texas, while New York still has strict limitations in place.  Federal guidance from the CDC was released quietly, but its recommendations aren't mandatory.  Meanwhile, WHO officials warned that the pandemic isn’t going away.  Stephanie Sy reports.

"How the Trump administration is leveraging COVID-19 to tighten immigration" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2020

More 'stop the criminal brown people' attitude from Trump.

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SUMMARY:  The Trump administration is saying increased security on the U.S.-Mexico border is necessary to prevent the coronavirus' spread.  As a result, more than 900 migrant children were deported in March and April shortly after they reached the border -- much more quickly than normal, and without standard safeguards observed.  John Yang talks to Caitlin Dickerson of The New York Times.

"What computer-based models can tell us about coronavirus — and what they can’t" PBS NewsHour 5/20/2020

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SUMMARY:  For months, scientists and public officials have relied upon computer-based models to try to predict the trajectory or the coronavirus outbreak.  But models are not crystal balls, and all of them involve human assumptions.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien reports on how the efforts that go into making these models -- and their ultimate purpose -- are more complicated than many of us realize.

"How a disdain for government undermined U.S. pandemic response" PBS NewsHour 5/18/2020

Thanks to lying, self-serving Trump.

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SUMMARY:  Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, questions have been raised about why the U.S. federal government was not better prepared for such a crisis.  Scrutiny of President Trump has been intense, but questions extend beyond him to the efficacy of government and civil service more broadly.  William Brangham talks to the American Enterprise Institute’s Yuval Levin and The Atlantic’s George Packer.

"As 2.4 million file for unemployment, Trump insists economic recovery is near" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2020

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SUMMARY:  As U.S. businesses prepare for gradual reopenings, the number of Americans filing for unemployment seems to be leveling off.  Still, the Labor Department says more than 38 million people sought jobless benefits in the past nine weeks.  But as he departed for Michigan to tour a Ford factory now making ventilators, President Trump insisted that economic recovery is imminent.  Yamiche Alcindor reports.

"New COVID-19 model shows why early action matters" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2020

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SUMMARY:  A newly released analysis of coronavirus' spread in the U.S. suggests a haunting hypothetical: that if social distancing and stay-at-home orders had been implemented only a week earlier, more than 30,000 lives might have been saved.  But that alternate scenario relies upon computer-based modeling that has its limitations.  Miles O’Brien joins Judy Woodruff to discuss how this data can be useful.

"How the pandemic has pushed U.S. retail toward the brink of collapse" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2020

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SUMMARY:  For more than two months, the toll of unemployment in the U.S. has grown each week.  The retail sector, which was already struggling before the pandemic, is among the hardest hit, with stores closed or at reduced capacity and consumers nervous about spending money.  And many economists believe these lost jobs will not be returning anytime soon.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman reports.

"Can U.S. transit workers be kept safe on crowded buses and trains?" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2020

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SUMMARY:  U.S. transit workers have been hit hard by the coronavirus.  More than 120 have died from the disease just within New York City Transit, and drivers and transport workers represent the second-largest share of work-related cases, according to a Harvard study.  Sarah Feinberg, interim president of New York City Transit, joins William Brangham to discuss reducing risks for these essential workers.

"A virologist answers viewer questions about coronavirus transmission" PBS NewsHour 5/21/2020

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SUMMARY:  During this unprecedented crisis, we all have questions -- and the NewsHour is turning to experts for answers.  In this edition of Ask Us, virologist Angela Rasmussen of Columbia University joins Amna Nawaz to take viewer questions on transmission of the novel coronavirus, including whether it can be contracted from swimming pools and street surfaces.

"How virus research has become a point of tension for the U.S. and China" PBS NewsHour 5/22/2020

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SUMMARY:  The Trump administration has emphasized the possibility that the novel coronavirus was accidentally released by scientists at a Chinese lab.  While that accusation remains unproven, China’s oversight of such scientific research has come under scrutiny in the past, and now, an area in which the U.S. and China previously collaborated has grown fraught with tension.  Nick Schifrin reports.

"What we know about COVID-19 antibodies — and what we don’t" PBS NewsHour 5/22/2020

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SUMMARY:  Scientists say antibody testing could be a key tool in the fight against the novel coronavirus.  Still, many questions remain about the accuracy of antibody testing.  The Food and Drug Administration has tried to crack down on inaccurate tests, but scientists aren’t even sure yet what a positive test means for immunity.  John Yang reports.

"Remembering 5 more victims of the COVID-19 pandemic" PBS NewsHour 5/22/2020

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. death toll from COVID-19 has climbed past 95,000 this week.  As the staggering numbers reverberate, we take a moment to remember five people killed by the disease, including an opera singer, a father of six and a 25-year-old budding therapist.

"Thousands lost medical coverage as pandemic approached" PBS NewsHour 5/23/2020

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SUMMARY:  Since President Trump took office the number of people without health insurance in the U.S. has risen by nearly 2 million, joining tens of millions of others without coverage.  Health professionals now worry some coronavirus victims may avoid visiting doctors, helping COVID-19 to spread.  Simon Ostrovsky reports on a new federal policy that's driving thousands of immigrants to give up insurance.

MEGAFIRES - Predicting Wildfire Movement

"How scientists are trying to predict wildfire movement" PBS NewsHour 5/8/2019

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SUMMARY:  It’s been six months since the most deadly and destructive wildfire in California history, the Camp Fire, which killed 85 people and burned 19,000 structures in November 2018.  But even at the peak of the inferno, some scientists moved toward it, in an attempt to understand more about the intensity and spread of the flames.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien has the harrowing inside look.

WARNINGS FROM ANTARCTICA - For Science and Peace?

"Can Antarctica remain a refuge for science and peace?" PBS NewsHour 4/24/2019

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SUMMARY:  Antarctica is virtually uninhabited by people.  There are no roads, no cities, no government.  But thanks to a remarkable Cold War diplomatic breakthrough, the last continent ever discovered remains a place devoted almost exclusively to science.  William Brangham reports on how humans first found Antarctica, and how it proves that occasionally, even rivals can become partners.

SITE LINK "Warnings From Antarctica"

NORTH KOREA - Eye on Nuclear Program

"The science of measuring North Korea’s destructive nuclear power from afar" PBS NewsHour 2/21/2018

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SUMMARY:  The Trump administration considers North Korea's nuclear and missile programs the top threat to American national security.  How much do we really know about their nuclear devices?  In the second of a series, science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on how analysts gauge North Korea's progress.

NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing"

"How to have perfect timing, according to science" PBS NewsHour 1/30/2018

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SUMMARY:  What time of day do you do your best work?  Author Daniel Pink explores the question in his book “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing."  Jeffrey Brown sits down with Pink to discuss how mood and performance follow regular patterns throughout the day, and what that means for scheduling our lives.

SCIENCE - Visiting Mars on the Cheap

"How to visit Mars with a tiny satellite and static electricity" PBS NewsHour 1/1/2018

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SUMMARY:  CubeSat's, low-cost, bite-sized satellites inspired by the tubes used to hold Beanie Babies, were invented in 1999 as educational tools.  Now, aerospace suppliers and governments across the globe see the tools as the future of space commercialization and deep space exploration.

LAB WORK - After School Club, Rhode Island

"After-school STEM programs inspire kids to keep learning" PBS NewsHour 11/14/2017

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SUMMARY:  At an after-school STEM Club in Rhode Island, students are working on an engineering challenge -- because they want to be.  The low-stakes, fun environment offers time for exploration when resources or hands-on activities may be in short supply during school hours, and can help sustain interest as classes get harder.  Special correspondent Lisa Stark of Education Week reports.

ASTRONOMY - Dancing With the Stars

"Witnessing the collision of two neutron stars is a 'textbook changer.'  Here's why" PBS NewsHour 10/18/2017

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SUMMARY:  Astronomers witnessed for the first time ever a rare collision of two dense neutron stars.  The discovery began with an instrument called LIGO, which won this year's Nobel Prize for its discovery of gravitational waves once predicted by Albert Einstein.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain how the collision was detected and what it reveals about the universe.

AMERICA ADDICTED - Opioid Crisis

"Understanding the science of pain with the help of virtual reality" PBS NewsHour 10/4/2017

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SUMMARY:  Inside the search for new drugs and techniques to replace habit-forming opioids, science correspondent Miles O'Brien discovers future pain treatments may rely on virtual reality.

"How the opioid crisis decimated the American workforce" PBS NewsHour 10/5/2017

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SUMMARY:  In northeastern Ohio, employers say they see jobseekers all the time who look like "the walking dead," would-be workers struggling with opioid addiction.  The problem is so great, reports economics correspondent Paul Solman, that it's had a noticeable effect on the nation's labor force.

"Former drug users work on the front lines of the opioid crisis in Rhode Island" PBS NewsHour 10/6/2017

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SUMMARY:  They visit overdose victims in the hospital.  They hand out lifesaving drugs on the streets and educate their peers about their own relapses.  In Rhode Island, former drug addicts are the most valuable fighters on the front lines of the war against opioids.  William Brangham reports as part of our series, “America Addicted.”

"The shame of addiction turned my life into a lie.  Here's what saved my family" PBS NewsHour 10/6/2017

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SUMMARY:  Keeping up appearances as a family hid the denial and shame Anita Devlin felt as her son struggled with an addiction to opioid painkillers.  But when she finally shared their experience, it opened the door to healing and recovery.  Devlin, author of "S.O.B.E.R." about her son Mike's addiction and road to recovery with Caron Treatment Centers, shares her humble opinion about banishing judgment and reaching out to others.

MEXICO QUAKE - Why?

"Why Mexico City is vulnerable to earthquakes" PBS NewsHour 9/20/2017

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SUMMARY:  Tuesday’s earthquake was Mexico’s second in less than two weeks, bringing back memories of the country’s catastrophic 1985 earthquake that killed thousands.  What makes the region prone to earthquake damage?  Judy Woodruff asks seismologist Lucy Jones to explain the science.

THE LEADING EDGE - Cassini Funeral Pyre

"Why NASA's Cassini will take a fiery swan dive into Saturn" PBS NewsHour 9/13/2017

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SUMMARY:  Some 800 million miles away, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has orbited Saturn and captured images of its rings and icy moons.  After nearly 5 billion miles traveled and 20 years of sending revealing data from the gas giant, Cassini is winding down its way toward a suicide plunge into the planet.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on how NASA is choreographing the spacecraft's final dive.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM (NewsHour):  Some of the numbers involved in the Cassini mission are truly mind-blowing.

More than 290 orbits of Saturn, nearly five billion miles traveled, 450,000-plus images taken. There have been nearly 4,000 papers published about the work. And it included the participation of 27 nations.

NOVA "Death Dive to Saturn"

SCIENCE - Genetic Lyme Uptick

"Could genetically engineered mice reduce Lyme disease?" PBS NewsHour 9/12/2017

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SUMMARY:  Lyme disease has become part of daily life for residents on the rural Massachusetts islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, where the tick population has exploded.  Now a scientist at MIT is turning to a different culprit -- infected white-footed mice -- in an attempt to engineer a long-term solution to the problem.  Special correspondent Cristina Quinn of WGBH reports.

NEWSHOUR SHARES - Where Seabirds and Science Nest

"A summer colony where seabirds and science nest" PBS NewsHour 9/1/2017

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SUMMARY:  In our NewsHour Shares moment of the day, an island six miles off the coast of Portsmouth, N.H., is home to a colony of terns — a species of seabirds whose numbers are quickly dwindling worldwide.  Every summer, the island becomes a nesting place, but predators and lack of food pose a challenge to their survival.

ANTIBIOTICS - Why the Shortage

"We are running out of effective antibiotics fast" PBS NewsHour 8/2/2017

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SUMMARY:  Each year, superbugs -- viral bacterial infections resistant to common antibiotics -- infect more than two million Americans, killing at least 38,000.  As the list of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grows, so have the extraordinary efforts to prevent the spread of infection from patient to patient.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien and economics correspondent Paul Solman team up for a report.

"The financial barrier to developing antibiotics?  No big payday for drug companies" PBS NewsHour 8/3/2017

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SUMMARY:  As current antibiotics begin to lose their punch, there's an economic reality putting a damper on development.  Since every use of an antibiotic drives resistance, and doctors are reluctant to use a drug until there's no alternative, why would a drug company spend a fortune?  Economics correspondent Paul Solman and science correspondent Miles O'Brien continue their look at the hunt for new drugs.

"Drug companies aren't making new antibiotics.  Is there an economic cure?" PBS NewsHour 8/4/2017

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SUMMARY:  As drug-resistant infections proliferate, financial barriers are preventing the pharmaceutical industry from investing in new drugs to fight off superbugs.  Economics correspondent Paul Solman, in a series of reports with science correspondent Miles O'Brien, explores how researchers could be incentivized to develop new antibiotics.

THE LEADING EDGE - The Double-Edged Sword of Science

"This gene editing milestone raises big ethical questions" PBS NewsHour 8/2/2017

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SUMMARY:  For the first time in the U.S., a human embryo has been successfully edited to correct an inherited condition.  By snipping out the gene that causes a specific heart disease, scientists also ensured the disease could not be passed down.  But the milestone raises significant scientific and ethical questions.  Hari Sreenivasan speaks with Jessica Berg of Case Western Reserve University Law School.

THE LEADING EDGE - Pigs Can't Fly....Wait? Planes Can't Fly?!

"Why planes can’t fly when it’s too hot, and other ways our civilization can’t take the heat" PBS NewsHour 6/21/2017

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SUMMARY:  An extreme heat wave is baking the West and Southwest, with temperatures well above 100 degrees.  More than 40 flights were canceled or delayed because some planes can't safely lift off in that heat.  Science correspondent Miles O’Brien joins Hari Sreenivasan to explain how high heat can ground air flight and the larger trend of our warming climate and how it affects us.

TRUMP AGENDA - Demonizing Science

"Scientists, Stop Thinking Explaining Science Will Fix Things" by Tim Requarth, Slate Magazine 4/19/2017

It won’t.  Try this instead.

If you consider yourself to have even a passing familiarity with science, you likely find yourself in a state of disbelief as the President of the United States calls climate scientists “hoaxsters” and pushes conspiracy theories about vaccines.  The Trump administration seems practically allergic to evidence.  And it's not just Trump—plenty of people across the political spectrum hold bizarre and inaccurate ideas about science, from climate change and vaccines to guns and genetically modified organisms.

If you are a scientist, this disregard for evidence probably drives you crazy.  So what do you do about it?

It seems many scientists would take matters into their own hands by learning how to better communicate their subject to the masses.  I've taught science communication at Columbia University and New York University, and I've run an international network of workshops for scientists and writers for nearly a decade.  I've always had a handful of intrepid graduate students, but now, fueled by the Trump administration's 'Etch A Sketch' relationship to facts, record numbers of scientists are setting aside the pipette for the pen.  Across the country, science communication and advocacy groups report upticks in interest.  Many scientists hope that by doing a better job of explaining science, they can move the needle toward scientific consensus on politically charged issues.  As recent studies from Michigan State University found, scientists' top reason for engaging the public is to inform and defend science from misinformation.

It's an admirable goal, but almost certainly destined to fail.  This is because the way most scientists think about science communication—that just explaining the real science better will help—is plain wrong.  In fact, it's so wrong that it may have the opposite effect of what they're trying to achieve.

Before getting fired up to set the scientific record straight, scientists would do well to first consider the science of science communication.  The theory many scientists seem to swear by is technically known as the deficit model, which states that people's opinions differ from scientific consensus because they lack scientific knowledge.  In 2010, Dan Kahan, a Yale psychologist, essentially proved this theory wrong.  He surveyed over 1,500 Americans, classifying each person's “cultural worldview” on a scale that roughly correlates with politically liberal or conservative.  He then assessed each person's scientific literacy with questions such as “True or False: Electrons are smaller than atoms.”  Finally, he asked them about climate change.  If the deficit model were correct, Kahan reasoned, then people with increased scientific literacy, regardless of worldview, should agree with scientists that climate change poses a serious risk to humanity.

That's not what he found.  Instead, Kahan found that increased scientific literacy actually had a small negative effect: The conservative-leaning respondents who knew the most about science thought climate change posed the least risk.  Scientific literacy, it seemed, increased polarization.  In a later study, Kahan added a twist: He asked respondents what climate scientists believed.  Respondents who knew more about science generally, regardless of political leaning, were better able to identify the scientific consensus—in other words, the polarization disappeared.  Yet, when the same people were asked for their own opinions about climate change, the polarization returned.  It showed that even when people understand the scientific consensus, they may not accept it.

The takeaway is clear: Increasing science literacy alone won't change minds.  In fact, well-meaning attempts by scientists to inform the public might even backfire.  Presenting facts that conflict with an individual's worldview, it turns out, can cause people to dig in further.  Psychologists, aptly, dubbed this the “backfire effect.”

If scientists simply want to explain science to a curious audience, disseminate their research more broadly, or write for fun, this doesn't matter much.  But if scientists are motivated to change minds—and many enrolled in science communication workshops do seem to have this goal—they will be sorely disappointed.

That's not to say scientists should return to the bench and keep their mouths shut.  They should just realize that closing the “information gap” isn't the goal.  And instead, they need to learn how to communicate science strategically.

There are obvious reasons why science communication is a necessary and worthwhile endeavor, but a huge one is that there's a politically motivated push to destabilize scientific authority.  At a Heartland Institute conference last month, Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House science committee, told attendees he would now refer to “climate science” as “politically correct science,” to loud cheers.  This lumps scientists in with the nebulous “left” and, as Daniel Engber pointed out here in Slate about the upcoming March for Science, rebrands scientific authority as just another form of elitism.

Is it any surprise, then, that lectures from scientists built on the premise that they simply know more (even if it's true) fail to convince this audience?  Rather than fill the information deficit by building an arsenal of facts, scientists should instead consider how they deploy their knowledge.  They may have more luck communicating if, in addition to presenting facts and figures, they appeal to emotions.  This could mean not simply explaining the science of how something works but spending time on why it matters to the author and why it ought to matter to the reader.  Research also shows that science communicators can be more effective after they've gained the audience's trust.  With that in mind, it may be more worthwhile to figure out how to talk about science with people they already know, through, say, local and community interactions, than it is to try to publish explainers on national news sites.  And they might consider writing op-eds for their local papers, focusing on why science matters to their particular communities.

Scientists can also learn to avoid certain pitfalls.  I spoke with Gretchen Goldman, research director of the Union of Concerned Scientists' Center for Science and Democracy, which offers communication and advocacy workshops.  A counterintuitive lesson she's learned is that refuting stories that deny climate change by addressing each claim and explaining why it's wrong is not that productive.  In fact, it could be counterproductive: “If you repeat the myth, that's the part people remember even if you immediately debunk it,” she says.  A better approach, she suggests, is to reframe the issue.  Don't just keep explaining why climate change is real—explain how climate change will hurt public health or the local economy.  Communication that appeals to values, not just intellect, research shows, can be far more effective.

Goldman also said scientists can do more than just educate the public: The Union of Concerned Scientists, for example, has created a science watchdog team that keeps tabs on the activities of federal agencies.  Signing up helps ensure that policy decisions at all levels are based on good science.

In my own workshops, I've certainly been guilty of focusing on communication skills at the expense of strategy and not fully addressing the flawed deficit model.  But I'm learning to better challenge scientists' assumptions about how communication works.  The deficit model, I've found, is difficult to unlearn.  It's very logical, and my hunch is that it comes naturally to scientists because most have largely spent their lives in school—whether as students, professors, or mentors—and the deficit model perfectly explains how a scientist learns science.  But the obstacles faced by science communicators are not epistemological but cultural.  The skills required are not those of a university lecturer but a rhetorician.

There's a certain irony that scientists, of all people, know so little about, well, the science of science communication.  There's also a certain irony that, right here in this article, I'm lecturing scientists about what they might not know—in other words, I'm guilty of following the deficit model myself.  So in the spirit of doing better, I'll not just write this article but also take the time to talk to scientists in person about how to communicate science strategically and to explain why it matters.  I hope they end up doing the same.

CLIMATE CHANGE - Great Barrier Reef

"Climate change is killing the Great Barrier Reef" PBS NewsHour 3/22/2017

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SUMMARY:  Coral reefs are more than examples of natural beauty; they harbor fish that feed millions and shield us against storms and floods.  Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the largest living structure on the planet, is dying.  As ocean waters steadily warm, extensive coral destruction continues, part of an unprecedented global crisis.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on what's at stake.

MILES O'BRIEN (NewsHour):  Half the size of Texas, spanning 1,400 miles, Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet.  It is rich in beauty and diversity, but it is dying, as the ocean waters steadily warm.

DAVID WACHENFELD, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority:  It's a very confronting situation.  And I hope the people of the world take this as a call to action to do more about climate change.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Coral reef ecologist David Wachenfeld is director for reef recovery at the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.  It's the second consecutive summer of extensive coral destruction, or bleaching, on the reef.

DAVID WACHENFELD:  We are using aerial surveys and underwater surveys to try and cover that whole enormous area of the Great Barrier Reef to get a handle on the extent and severity of the event.  But, certainly, this year is shaping up to be another very bad year, as was last year.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Last year, two-thirds of the corals in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef died, the worst die-off in history.  As for this year, it is too early to tell.  But the outlook is grim, as this is one big piece of an unprecedented global coral crisis.

C. MARK EAKIN, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Coral Reef Watch:  Since June of '14, we have had continuous bleaching somewhere in the world.  Globally, over 70 percent of the coral reefs around the globe have been exposed to the high temperatures that cause bleaching.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Coral reef ecologist Mark Eakin is the coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Coral Reef Watch.

He relies on data from scientific satellites operated by NOAA, the Europeans, and the Japanese that measure ocean water temperature.  He, along with David Wachenfeld, is co-author of a new study published in the journal Nature documenting the link between warm waters and dying coral in the Great Barrier Reef.

C. MARK EAKIN:  What we did here at Coral Reef Watch was to provide the satellite data that gives the information on the areas where the high temperatures occurred.

So, there are charts in there showing where the bleaching was worst and where the temperatures were highest for the longest time, and the correlation between that heat stress and where the bleaching occurred was very high.

TRUMP AGENDA - Science Under Siege

aka "Trump Trying to Hide Truth of Science"

Lord Trump:  'The peons don't need science, all they need is my guidance from on high.'

"How scientists are scrambling to safeguard vital environmental data" PBS NewsHour 2/15/2017

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SUMMARY:  Since the election, members of many scientific and research groups have been archiving government data they believe could be jeopardized by the new administration.  Their fear is that without data, you can't have environmental regulation.  Science correspondent Miles O'Brien took a look at one of those efforts underway at New York University.

JEROME WHITINGTON, New York University:  Psyched to see everybody in the room.  Really exciting.

MILES O'BRIEN (NewsHour):  It's early, cold, and Saturday, and yet this room at New York University is standing room only.  A few hundred volunteers are here to download and save scientific data created and curated by the federal government.

JEROME WHITINGTON:  Without the data, you don't have environmental regulation.

MILES O'BRIEN:  Anthropology Professor Jerome Whitington is one of the organizers of this data rescue event, the eighth in an ongoing, open-ended series which began after the election.

JEROME WHITINGTON:  Now, one of the things we're going to accomplish at this event is, we're going to do a lot of work to get hard-to-access data sets, things that previous events have struggled to get.

MILES O'BRIEN:  They are focused primarily on the essential science used to create environmental regulations.  They worry the Trump administration's anti-regulatory bent and outright denial of peer-reviewed climate science might put the data in jeopardy.

JEROME WHITINGTON:  We're less worried about it being outright deleted and disappearing, and more worried about it becoming unusable or inaccessible in specific ways.

MILES O'BRIEN:  So, they are systematically building a data refuge in the cloud on servers hosted by Amazon.

Bethany Wiggin directs the University of Pennsylvania program in environmental humanities.  She is an organizer of the data refuge project.

BETHANY WIGGIN, University of Pennsylvania:  We have always thought of data refuge as providing an insurance policy.  The situation is quite urgent.  Events on the federal level are moving quickly.  The changes being made to programs is happening quite fast.  The situation is very uncertain.