PRI: Science and Creativity from Studio 360

How do you convey the millions of years over which a species evolves in the span of a museum tour? Sarah Lilley looks at an exhibit on Charles Darwin that lets the science speak for itself. Original Air Date: 06.02.2006

Hospital architecture usually stirs up feelings of anxiety and dread—which may not encourage patients to recover quickly, according to several new studies. Jocelyn Gonzales reports on the architects and medical professionals who are designing a new wave of feel-good hospitals, as part of our on-going series on science and creativity.

Diamonds are not as rare as you might think. In fact, scientists have learned how to grow perfect diamonds in a laboratory. But that hasn't taken the shine off their allure, even for the experts who make them.

Kurt asks Dr. Seth Shostak about how he advised the filmmakers on the set of the new movie "The Day the Earth Stood Still." As the Senior Astronomer for SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, Shostak believes that aliens will contact us, and he can't wait.

If you know any kids in grade school, you know this thing: it's made of little plastic rods folded together into a spikey ball. When you pull out the segments, the Hoberman Sphere opens up into a big ball, three times its original size. And now a big Hoberman Sphere will orbit the earth.

People often depict scientists as coldly rational. Physicist Michael Salamon, who works at NASA's Universe Division, takes issue with that. He explains why Walt Whitman misunderstood the beauty of the universe, and why Maxwell's Equations are like a sexual experience.

When NASA launches the space shuttle, mission control wakes up the astronauts every morning with a song. But that's not the only music heard in outer space. The astronauts often bring instruments with them to play. We asked Richard Paul to find out what it's like to rock out in space.

Dr. Denis Pelli researches how we read, identify shapes, even why we find art compelling. Once a semester he takes a group of students to see a piece of installation art that he believes will teach them how to be better scientific observers. Laura Starecheski tagged along for the class trip.

The accumulation of radioactive waste at Nevada's Yucca Mountain storage site poses a challenge: how do you permanently label it? Engineers like Patrick Charton are trying to solve that problem. Produced by Sarah Lilley.

He was the godfather of science writing. Sir Thomas Browne's exacting observations and gorgeous prose anticipated modern science writers like Rachel Carson, Stephen Jay Gould, and Oliver Sacks. But Browne lived in the 1600s, and his way of reconciling the scriptures with science looks surprisingly like what we call "intelligent design." Produced by Sara

Synesthesia causes people to hear music -– or see letters or numbers -– in color. Neuroscience is beginning to unravel what's going on in the brains of people with this cerebral phenomenon, but hasn't yet explained why the genetic mutation exists. V.S. Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at UC San Diego, has a theory.

The life of the average artist is not known for a sense of security. Most will gain little money, status, or recognition. They may dream of these things, but what many artists should be yearning for more than anything is health insurance.

David Welch blogs about living with brain cancer. On his site, you'll find a section called "Tumor Art" with a series of striking portraits of him in different stages of treatment, by the artist Rosemary Feit Covey. Karen Sosnoski talked to Welch and Feit Covey about their unlikely collaboration.

A recent study of stroke victims with damaged language abilities found that those who listened to music recovered better than those who listened only to audio books. Music plus words trumped words alone. Studio 360's Gideon D'Arcangelo has witnessed this phenomenon first hand - with his mother Sylvia.

His groundbreaking book A Pattern Language urged architects to consider emotional and spiritual ideas when designing. Alexander failed to revolutionize the practice of architecture, but he inspired a movement in computer programming that affects how all of us use the Web.