Jungus

Scientists at Caltech have created a tiny, lens-free microscope that they say could be built for just $10. Changhuei Yang, one of the microscope’s inventors, explains the device and some of its potential uses.

The summer Olympics begin on Aug. 8 — will Beijing’s air be in shape for the games? The polluted city has taken drastic action to try to reduce smog during the events, shuttering some factories and adopting measures to limit the number of cars on the road.

Could popping a pill turn you into a long-distance runner? Researchers report that they have identified two signaling pathways that are turned on in response to exercise — and that artificially turning those pathways on in mice produced rodents with much greater endurance.

A study reveals that domestic fatalities caused by combining prescription medication with alcohol and/or street drugs increased by 3,196 percent between 1983 to 2004. David Phillips, one of the researchers, explains the findings, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

An experimental drug that aims to unknot the “tangles” that characterize the brains of people with Alzheimer’s has shown some promise. Guests discuss recent Alzheimer’s findings and the search for new treatments, including statin drugs, often used to treat high cholesterol.