Just three deaths from the oil spill—that’s all it would take to push the sperm whales of the Gulf of Mexico to the brink. Hundreds are known to feed in the area of BP’s blowout. Host Jeff Young talks with marine mammal toxicologist Celine Godard-Codding and sperm whale expert Hal Whitehead about how the oil spill might affect these amazing whales, which have the largest brains and loudest voices in the animal kingdom.

With little time left on the legislative calendar, senators hoping to take action on climate change are abandoning controversial plans to limit emissions from all sectors of the economy. Living on Earth's Mitra Taj reports on the fallback option - putting a cap on just electric utilities, which are responsible for about a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

The BP oil disaster is a failure of technology and lexicology. The words that we use to describe the Gulf of Mexico disaster don’t begin to define the scope of the catastrophe. Is it a spill? A gusher? Host Jeff Young tracks the flow of words with Paul Payak from the Global Language Monitor.

Blackflies are much maligned, and that's something members of the Blackfly Breeders Association want to change. The Maine group has more than 1,000 members and, with tongue-in-cheek humor, campaigns to boast the virtues of the insect that most people love to hate. Laurie Sanders has our story.

Most of us think of the sun as the provider of light and warmth. But what about sound? Professor Robertus von Fáy-Siebenbürgen, the head of University of Sheffield's solar physics team, translates the magnetic vibrations for human ears and tells host Jeff Young how the sun is a star musical performer.

It’s turtle nesting season along the Gulf Coast. But with the oil spill still ongoing, scientists fear turtle hatchlings will leave their nests and swim directly into the oily waters. So, conservation groups have devised a strategy to protect the young turtles: move their nests to the Atlantic coast. Host Jeff Young talks with David Godfrey, the executive director of the Sea Turtle Conservancy, about the detailed plan to save this year’s class of sea turtles.

Robert Byrd of West Virginia was the longest serving member of Congress in American history. Senator Byrd served 51 years in the U.S. Senate, and six years in the House. Reporter Ken Ward Jr. of the Charleston Gazette tells host Jeff Young how the coal state senator dramatically changed his opinions on environmental issues over the course of his career.

Research shows that the body's acceptance of a new heart has nothing to do with the race of the donor or the race of the recipient. Living on Earth and Planet Harmony's Regina Campbell-Malone explains.

The search is on for the best way to clean up oil in the Gulf of Mexico. Some companies want to release trillions of "super bacteria" into Gulf waters to eat the oil at a rapid pace. University of Louisville microbiologist and oil spill remediation expert Ronald Atlas talks with host Jeff Young about how likely this strategy is to succeed.