PBS NewsHour - Science

An estimated 300,000 West Virginians still have little or no tap water after a major chemical spill in the capital city of Charleston. State officials say up to 7,500 gallons of an industrial chemical spilled into the drinking water supply on December 9. Ashton Marra of West Virginia Public Broadcasting reports.

Residents of nine West Virginia counties are being told to avoid using tap water to bathe, drink, cook or wash clothes and dishes after a foaming agent used in coal production leaked from a chemical plant into the Elk River. Hari Sreenivasan reports on efforts to clean-up the water emergency.

The mayor of Charleston, W.Va., says the water emergency has been "nothing but bad news" for residents who are still awaiting a timeline for when they'll be able to resume normal life. Hari Sreenivasan talks to Mayor Danny Jones about how the chemical spill is affecting his community.

The Internet is moving beyond computers and phones. From your toaster to your car to your socks, almost everything you touch can be wired for connectivity. Judy Woodruff talks to Cecilia Kang of The Washington Post about the technological breakthroughs featured at the annual Consumer Electronics Show.

Michael Bloomberg left office a few days ago after serving 12 years as the Mayor of New York city and people already are trying to assess his legacy. Katherine Bagley of Inside Climate News speaks on why she thinks the mayor's efforts to address climate change are so significant.

Take a look at these new technologies that allow people to keep track and quantify every detail of their daily lives. It's a growing movement called “quantified self.” The personal data gathered is often health-related, but there are applications to measure productivity and time spent in REM sleep. Is this data gone wild?

Robotic devices are everywhere: in factories, law enforcement, caretaking. They even suck up dust bunnies. Today they are smarter than ever, but they only excel when the task is clearly defined. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien reports on why it's hard to teach robots basic human things, like walking and problem solving.

In a digital age that creates more automated services at ever lower prices, how can we retain the value of human work and relationships? Hari Sreenivasan ponders this with computer scientist Jaron Lanier, author of "Who Owns the Future?", and Andrew McAfee from MIT's Center for Digital Business at the Sloan School of Management.

Concerns about energy, climate change and warmer oceans creating stronger storms moved front and center in 2013. Science correspondent Miles O'Brien joins Judy Woodruff to review the year's big developments and science headlines, including new ways to attack cancer, the latest in space exploration and the impact of funding cuts.

Seeds are big business in Hawaii, where large biotech companies develop genetically modified crops. Megan Thompson reports on a battle being waged on the island of Kauai by residents who say growing practices like pesticide use are hazardous to public health.

Lake Tahoe, straddling the border of California and Nevada, attracts 3 million visitors each year. But decades of economic development and climate change are now putting the lake's famously blue waters in danger. Gabriela Quiros of KQED reports on the conflict between development and protecting the lake for generations to come.

Optimists at Silicon Valley think tank Singularity University are pushing the frontiers of human progress through innovation and emerging technologies, looking to greater longevity and better health. As part of his series on Making $ense of financial news, Paul Solman explores a future of "exponential growth."

Monarch butterflies migrate to warmer regions each winter, but in recent years Mexico has seen far fewer Monarchs arriving. Environmental changes have eliminated the butterflies' sources of food and shelter along the way. Independent video journalist Ross Velton reports on efforts to help Monarchs survive their journey south.

A new breed of video games are designed to exercise aging brains and improve players' attention, speed and memory. But critics say the claims made by developers are not supported with evidence. Could these mental workouts make a difference? Special correspondent Jake Schoneker reports on the science behind cognitive training.

Want to have a just-like-real-life fantasy experience without leaving your living room? Virtual reality technology is already employed by certain industries, but economics correspondent Paul Solman considers the variety of applications it could have in the consumer market in the future.