Today's commercial coffee production is based on only a tiny slice of the genetic varieties that have grown since prehistoric times. And that's a problem, because it leaves the world's coffee supply vulnerable to shocks like climate change, or the leaf rust currently ravaging Latin American coffee farms.

Never mind the big-budget NASA satellites. A team of young engineers has tricked out a few off-the-shelf cellphones and sent them to space. The smartphones are already above us, sending images and data back to ham radio operators on Earth.

When monkeys move to a new place, they want to eat what the locals are eating, a new study finds. It's among the first to see strong social behaviors in eating among wild animals.

When researchers turned on a gene for the hormone in the livers of diabetic lab mice, the number of insulin-making cells in their pancreas glands tripled within 10 days. Although the research was conducted in animals, the scientists say the findings could be relevant for humans.

Today's young people might aim for the sky, but they might not envision a visit to the White House. Host Michel Martin talks with two students, Darius Hooker and Isabella Leighton, about their interest in rocket science and the White House Science Fair.

When Superstorm Sandy flooded lower Manhattan last year, thousands of lab animals drowned and many scientists lost months or even years of work. The specialty animals can be very difficult to replace, but researchers say the loss of animal life is emotionally devastating and difficult to get over.