What if MAGA Has a Point About Science?
Distrust of science among the political right has been growing for at least two decades, setting the stage for the Trump administration’s actions to slash university research funding. Cosmologist Paul...
View ArticleBook Review: The Trouble With Depending on Experts
Using the pandemic response as Exhibit A, two recent critiques — “The Weaponization of Expertise” and “An Abundance of Caution” — offer illuminating assessments of the role of scientific expertise in...
View ArticleThe Challenges of Tackling Too Much Screen Time
Evidence suggests that excessively using smartphones and social media may harm youth. Now, RFK Jr. and some states want to institute blanket bans against cellphones in schools. But some studies suggest...
View ArticleA Possible Connection Between Mental Illness and Diet
A limited, though growing, body of scientific evidence suggests the ketogenic diet could be effective for treating schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders. The approach may also reduce the often...
View ArticleShifting Forces: The Evolving Debate Around Dark Energy
This year, scientists found evidence that dark energy — a mysterious but key force in understanding the universe — might not behave as initially expected. The discovery could pave the way for new...
View ArticleData, Death, and Delay — America’s Maternal Health Crisis
Each state has a maternal mortality review committee that reviews data on pregnancy-related deaths and makes recommendations on how to reduce them. Recent lapses in the work of committees in Idaho,...
View ArticleBook Review: An Impassioned Ode to the Riverine World
In “Is a River Alive?”, the British nature writer Robert Macfarlane explores that question and its moral, legal, and environmental implications. “How we answer this strange, confronting question...
View ArticleThe Impact of NIH Cuts Ripples Beyond U.S. Borders
Cuts to science funding in the U.S. have devastated American institutions, but they also affect a raft of international collaborations and scientists based at institutions abroad. Meanwhile, European...
View ArticleIn California, Colleges Pay a Steep Price for Faulty AI Detectors
Turnitin, which sells a popular plagiarism detector, released tool to identify AI-generated writing just six months after ChatGPT’s debut. California colleges have now spent millions to catch...
View ArticleThe Gates Foundation’s Global Reach Expands, to Mixed Reviews
The U.S. has backed away from global health funding, leaving a vacuum of an estimated $10 billion or more. That makes the Gates Foundation — formerly known as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation,...
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