PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360

"If I were at work right now, I'd be paid to have these thoughts." With that thought, Zack Booth Simpson dropped out of high school — then started reading biology textbooks and designing video games. Now he's at a university — not as a student, but as a researcher, combining living organisms with computer programming. Produced by Lindsay Patterson.

Astrophysicist Michael Salamon, who works at NASA's Universe Division, says Walt Whitman –- and a lot of other poets -- misunderstood the beauty of the heavens. Give him a few minutes with Whitman, Salamon says, and the poet would have some revising to do. Produced by Lu Olkowski.

Astrophysicist Michael Salamon, who works at NASA's Universe Division, says Walt Whitman –- and a lot of other poets -- misunderstood the beauty of the heavens. Give him a few minutes with Whitman, Salamon says, and the poet would have some revising to do.

For over twenty years the Oregon State Psychiatric Hospital stored the cremated remains of patients in copper containers. Photographer David Maisel found them, and shows the beautiful — and bizarre — chemical reactions that took place as the canisters corroded in his exhibit.

We all know the Thomas Edison line: genius is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration. But there are those who don't seem to perspire at all. Their extraordinary gifts seem to come from no where. We often call those people savants. And some neuroscientists are trying to understand where their talents come from.

Felice Frankel spent the last 20 years photographing objects that only the most powerful microscopes can see. In her book No Small Matter, which she wrote with the Harvard chemist George Whitesides, Frankel shows what life on the nanoscale looks like. Produced by Studio 360's Sarah Lilley.

Caraballo is a new media artist who collaborates with her husband, Abou Farman, under the name caraballo-farman. The couple came up with a new approach to representing breast cancer: they make bronze models of real tumors, created from MRI scans, that you can wear around your neck or put on your desk.

"If I were at work right now, I'd be paid to have these thoughts." With that thought, Zack Booth Simpson dropped out of high school — then started reading biology textbooks and designing video games. Now he's at a university — not as a student, but as a researcher, combining living organisms with computer programming. Produced by Lindsay Patterson.

Corn-based shrink wrap on the CDs, biofuel buses, recycling riders, organic hair spray: this is the greening of rock n' roll. Sarah Lemanczyk talked to the indie rock band Cloud Cult, which manages its carbon footprint and has fun at the same time.

Photographer Brandon Ballengée spends his days hunting for frogs with extra legs and missing eyes. He's an eco artist, and by seeking out these mutant anomalies, he hopes to bring environmentalism to new audiences. Produced by Studio 360's Trey Kay.

Neon signage has been around for exactly a century, but today the glowing lights face competition from cheaper LED technology. Physics professor Eric Schiff and Jeff Friedman, of New York's Let There Be Neon studio, explain what's behind neon's everlasting glow. Produced by Jordan Sayle.

Today's artificial limbs function better than they ever did, but from an aesthetic standpoint something is lacking. A standard prosthetic leg is a jointed metal pole with a plastic foot at the end. "There's nothing wrong with the design," says industrial designer Scott Summit. "It simply looks to me like a job that's half complete."

Studio 360 came to the writer Aimee Bender with a commission for a short story on a giant topic: the Big Bang. Before she started writing, Bender decided to bone up on her science: she spoke with Nick Warner, a professor of physics, astronomy, and mathematics at the University of Southern California. "Origin Lessons" is read by Kevin Pariseau.

Sparky is four feet tall and has a TV monitor for a head. He can see, he can talk, and he likes sculpture by Louise Bourgeois. He's the invention of the artist Marque Cornblatt, who controls Sparky from his laptop – and he wants you to have a Sparky of your own. Lisa Katayama takes Sparky on a spin through the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Television drama has created the impression of an ideal world where decisions in hospitals are made quickly and cost is never an issue. It directly affects our expectations for treatment, according to Billy Goldberg, an emergency-room physician, and Joseph Turow, the author of Playing Doctor: Television, Storytelling and Medical Power.