Open Season on Climate Science
I coined the term “Serengeti Strategy” to describe how industry special interests and their powerful patrons single out individual climate researchers or teams of scientists for attack, not unlike the...
View ArticlePill Pushers in White Coats
In less than 200 unassuming, readable, and carefully referenced pages, “Drug Dealer, M.D.” may be the most important medical book of the decade for finally getting the story of the opioid epidemic...
View ArticleForgotten, but Not Gone
In the 2000 movie "Memento," a man with amnesia has himself tattooed with words and phrases to help him recall information about his wife's killer. The strategy isn't so different from what some...
View ArticleAbstracts: Dakota Access, Science March, and More
A federal judge rejected two tribes' efforts to stop the final stage of construction on the Dakota Access Pipeline. The March for Science is scheduled to take place on April 22 in Washington, D.C. and...
View ArticleThe Oroville Dam Crisis Could Be the First of Many
Given the current state of the nation's tens of thousands of dams, engineers are unsurprised at the recent specter of water roaring down damaged spillways this week at Oroville Dam. A comprehensive...
View ArticleAbstracts: Disappearing Karst, Crispr, and More
Scientists are racing to document rare plant and animal species before the karst cliffs of Cambodia are turned into cement. A new species of mouse uses sound waves to navigate, suggesting that bats...
View ArticleSkin Deep: Feeding the Global Lust for Leather
In this first installment of a four-part series examining the evolution and movement of the international tanning and textiles industries, Undark visits key leather-tanning districts in Bangladesh and...
View ArticleAbstracts: Scott Pruitt, SpaceX, Zealandia, and More
Scott Pruitt was confirmed to head the EPA. Scientists and activists protested against Trump's attacks on science. Read these stories and more in our twice-weekly news roundup.
View ArticleIn Upstate New York, Leather’s Long Shadow
As its name implies, Gloversville, New York, was once the leather glove capital of the world and tanning of all kinds thrived across Fulton County. That heavily polluting industry fled to the...
View ArticleWorse for Wear: Indonesia’s Textile Boom
For residents of the West Java province near Bandung, economic growth has come at a steep price with the ruin of the Upper Citarum River and the destruction of rice fields contaminated with heavy...
View ArticleScientists Work on Public Trust
Concerns about the disconnect between scientists and non-scientists, as well as political assaults on science and rejections of evidence by policy-makers, are inspiring researchers to up their game...
View ArticleFive Questions for Steffen Foss Hansen
Nanoparticles confer special properties — strength, lightness, chemical reactivity — that make them useful in everything from cosmetics to car maintenance. Yet much remains to be learned about how...
View ArticleIn Appalachia’s Foothills, a Leaner Textile Industry Rises
Once a textile producing powerhouse, the fabric industry in Catawba County, North Carolina was decimated when the industry began moving offshore in search of cheaper labor. Today, the region is seeing...
View ArticleAbstracts: New Planets, Diabetes, Trails, and More
Astronomers have discovered another solar system containing seven Earth-sized planets just 39 light-years away. The Parks Department explores creative ways of keeping visitors on paths and away from...
View ArticleAbstracts: Bumblebees, Obamacare, AI, and More
Bumblebees can learn to complete a task for a reward, just like other animals. A draft GOP plan to repeal and replace Obamacare was leaked on Friday. Read these stories and more in our twice-weekly...
View ArticleRace, Science, and Razib Khan
Razib Khan’s career exemplifies the sometimes-murky line between mainstream science and scientific racism, and it illustrates how difficult it can be to define the boundaries between acceptable and...
View ArticleUndark Podcast #12: Wear and Tear
Journalists Larry and Debbie Price look at the migration and evolution of the leather tanning and textile industries. Also, Seth Mnookin discusses coverage of science in the era of Donald Trump and...
View ArticleGlobal Warming: Why Can’t We Get Along?
Liberal and conservative Americans are uniquely divided on virtually every aspect of climate change, and bridging the intellectual gulf has so far proven difficult. One first step might simply involve...
View ArticleA Delicate Dance Between Pain and Prescription
Opioid prescriptions started to drop a few years ago, but tighter new federal policy likely will stymy physicians’ efforts to provide adequate pain management to patients. New stats showing rising...
View ArticleAbstracts: EPA, Embryos, Organs, and More
President Donald Trump's proposed cuts for the EPA would eliminate 3,000 jobs and reduce the agency's budget by $2 billion. A scientist is pushing the biological and ethical limits on the days a human...
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