Alan Yu
Alan was a Kroc Fellow at NPR and worked at WNPR as a reporter for three months. He is interested in everything from health and science reporting to comic books and movies. Before joining us, he studied journalism at Northwestern University, and worked at Psychology Today, NPR's Weekend Edition, and WBEZ in Chicago.
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From coast to coast, the invasive insect is costing U.S. farmers millions in crop damage, and it has become a smelly nuisance for homeowners. But researchers say they may have found some low-tech solutions to the stink-bug menace. -
The professional gamer just got a visa normally reserved for baseball players and other athletes to compete in the U.S., and more international players could follow. "Gaming is their full-time job," says Marcus Graham, a senior manager at the gaming site Twitch.
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A blockbuster video game director is working on a game where you don't shoot back. It puts the player inside the Iranian Revolution of 1979, and it's a financial and personal risk to the game makers. -
Few people have homes where smart appliances talk to each other. A group of companies hopes to develop a "common language" of software to change that. And the firms hope an open standard will address potential security and privacy issues that are bound to arise. -
The world needs new antibiotics because so many of the existing drugs are losing their punch. Some people are already talking about a "post-antibiotic era," when bacteria can defeat all the drugs doctors have at their disposal. Two scientists are crowdfunding a campaign to get everyone digging for new antibiotics. -
California-based Moon Express just unveiled the design for a small robot spacecraft about the size of a coffee table that it says could move about the moon's surface powered only by solar panels and hydrogen peroxide. -
Shell's new vessel is so large that if you stood it up, it would be taller than the Empire State Building. It will be anchored 300 miles off the coast of Australia to handle liquefied natural gas. -
It's no secret cats rule the Internet. Now, just flipping through cat pictures can be an educational experience. A new iOS app called Cat Spanish teaches 1,000 basic phrases by showing you flash cards of cute cats. -
The American public is clearly ticked off. How mad are voters? By some measures, angrier than at any point in decades. -
NASA has already scoped out most of the comets and asteroids large enough to do global damage. But the United Nations thinks an international consortium of space programs need to get together in an effort to stop smaller — but potentially still dangerous — asteroids from hitting Earth.
