“When you get the flu, viruses turn your cells into tiny factories that help spread the disease. In this animation, NPR’s Robert Krulwich and medical animator David Bolinsky explain how a flu virus can trick a single cell into making a million more viruses.” — NPR

“John Brenkus and the SportScience team examine the affects of snow on athletes.”

“The old phrase ‘You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ may need updating. For the ankle has overtaken the back as the most satisfying spot to scratch, according to researchers at the Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. In the study, reported in the British Journal of Dermatology, healthy volunteers were made to itch on the forearm, ankle and back by rubbing them with cowhage, a plant with tiny hairs that irritate the skin… Professor Francis McGlone, a member of the International Forum for the Study of Itch, said: ‘It was interesting that the ankle was the itchiest site and that the most pleasure came from scratching it, because the back has been well-known as a preferred site for scratching.” w/ photos

“Before we know it they’ll be speaking French. Dolphins are so intelligent they can learn to speak a second language – in their sleep. Captive dolphins in in Port-Saint-Père, France have been recorded sleep talking, scientists have found. But bizarrely, as they rest at night, the aquatic mammals are not making dolphin sounds but whale-like noises. Péos, Mininos, Cécil, Teha, and Amtan, who were born in captivity, have only ever heard whale sounds as recordings, Science magazine reported. If the sounds are confirmed to be ‘whale’, it would be the first known instance of dolphins remembering a particular noise and repeating it ‘later’, researchers say.” w/ photos

“With a few liberating swipes of their paws, a group of research rats freed trapped labmates and raised anew the possibility that empathy isn’t unique to humans and a few extra-smart animals, but is widespread in the animal world. Though more studies are needed on the rats’ motivations, it’s at least plausible they demonstrated ‘emphatically motivated pro-social behavior.’ People would generally call that helpfulness, or even kindness. ‘Rats help other rats in distress. That means it’s a biological inheritance,’ said neurobiologist Peggy Mason of the University of Chicago. ‘That’s the biological program we have.’ In a study published in Science, Mason and University of Chicago psychologists Jean Decety and Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal describe their rat empathy-testing apparatus: An enclosure into which pairs of rats were placed, with one roaming free and the other restrained inside a plastic tube. It could only be opened from the outside, which is exactly what the free rats did — again and again and again, seemingly in response to their trapped companions’ distress.” w/ photo + video

“Funyun lovers, rejoice! Your favorite snack is lovingly prepared before your very eyes.”

“Nobel laureate John Mather and Nat Geo explorer-in-residence Robert Ballard discuss how technology expands the limits of the known universe.”

“If America’s airports had a penny for every rushed passenger through security, they wouldn’t be near as pleased as they are today. The Transportation Security Administration says they’ve collected about $400,000 in abandoned change from passengers emptying their pockets through security checkpoints. That figure was actually down this year in comparison to 2010′s forgotten sum of $409,085.56… ‘Unclaimed money, typically consisting of loose coins passengers remove from their pockets, is documented and turned into the TSA financial office.” w/ photos

“If you have ever felt slighted by an individual or group then this is a lesson in revenge for you! Riga, the capital of Latvia is home to the Cat House, known as such because of the two sculptures of cats high on its roof. It is one of the city’s landmarks and is a testament to the desire of one man to have vengeance (if only metaphorically) on his enemies.” w/ photos

“If you can’t resist passing on a little tittle-tattle don’t be too hard on yourself. People who gossip are apparently doing us all a favor. Far from idle chit chat, talking about others has benefits for both the gossiper and wider society, scientists from the University of California in Berkeley claim. It can, hey say, help control bad behavior, prevent someone being exploited and even lower stress… Researchers published their report in the online issue of the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and Mr Willer summed up the findings: ‘Gossip gets a bad rap but we’re finding evidence that it plays a critical role in the maintenance of social order.” w/ photos