The Environmental and Health Fallout of Rural Train Derailments
Train derailments overwhelmingly happen in rural and tribal areas where communities have fewer resources for response and recovery, experts say. In the wake of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in...
View ArticleDo a Quarter of Kids Really Get Long Covid? It’s Complicated.
Estimates of the number of children who struggle with lasting symptoms after a Covid-19 infection vary widely — and some researchers suggest their colleagues have overstated the risks. Is long Covid in...
View ArticleIn Environmental Field Research, Minorities Face Magnified Risks
The threat of racial, religious, and gender discrimination can be imposing for environmental field researchers, who must often work in secluded areas and unfamiliar communities. To make these spaces...
View ArticleBook Review: For a Centuries-Long Phosphorous Binge, a Reckoning
In “The Devil’s Element,” a cautionary study of phosphorus, journalist Dan Egan shows how an element that is essential to maintaining life has become a global menace through it use — and overuse — as a...
View ArticleYour ‘Recycled’ Grocery Bag Might Not Have Been Recycled
To ease the plastics problem, new laws require companies to include recycled materials in their products. But enforcement will be difficult, experts say, without a reliable way to track these materials...
View ArticleProtecting Miners Amid a Black Lung Resurgence
Federal regulations introduced more than 50 years ago brought the rates of black lung disease down for decades. But now, central Appalachia is seeing a resurgence: Cases in the region have tripled...
View ArticleInside the Post-Roe Scramble to Count Abortions
On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision overturned the 50-year precedent set by Roe and reshaped abortion access across the U.S. It also posed a challenge for abortion researchers: Could...
View ArticleAs Microbiome Science Forges Ahead, Will Some Be Left Behind?
The FDA’s approval of the first fecal microbiota treatment last fall was a watershed moment for research on the human microbiome. It should also serve as a reminder of how critical it is to ensure that...
View ArticleBook Review: Behind the Demise of the Tavistock Gender Clinic
“Time to Think,” by BBC journalist Hannah Barnes, is a deeply reported account of what went wrong at the Gender Identity Development Service in Britain, the U.K.’s only clinic for children with gender...
View ArticleA Potential Triumph in Physics, Dogged by Accusation and Doubt
University of Rochester’s Ranga Dias says his team has discovered a material that can conduct electricity without resistance at room temperature — a breakthrough that could win him a Nobel Prize. But...
View ArticleIn Small-Town Colorado, Gas Interests Fight Electrification
Despite recent national attention on the air pollution caused by natural gas, most fights over the fuel occur at the state and local level. When small communities like Gunnison, Colorado and...
View ArticleRecreational Fishing Industry Won’t Slow Down for Right Whales
Strong science documents the plight of right whales and the connection between boat speed and deadly collisions. But opposition from industry groups and fishing advocates, as well as potential...
View ArticleAs Flint Reeled From a Water Crisis, Words May Have Caused Harm
During the Flint Water Crisis, a narrative emerged that the city’s children had been severely poisoned — and doomed to learning difficulties. Now special education enrollment is rising, but that may...
View ArticleBook Review: How Misinformation Acts Like a Virus
In “Foolproof,” social psychologist Sander van der Linden argues that fake information and conspiracy theories represent “viruses of the mind” that can latch onto the brain. The solution, he writes, is...
View ArticleIn Ukraine, Grain Shortages Reverberate Beyond Borders
The destruction of grain silos and crops is a financial disaster for Ukrainian farmers and agriculture companies. But the repercussions stretch far beyond the borders of Ukraine to some of the world’s...
View ArticleIn Texas Fracking, ‘Forever Chemicals’ Abound
A new report found that more than 40,000 pounds of PFAS has been injected into more than 1,000 wells across Texas — and warned that the chemicals could pose a risk to public health. Because PFAS are...
View ArticleIn Libya, Assessing Heritage Sites Caught in the Crossfire
The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sabratha, including an ancient Roman theater, was damaged by gunfire during a power struggle over the city in 2017. In order to restore the theater, local...
View ArticleChatGPT Isn’t ‘Hallucinating.’ It’s Bullshitting.
Applied to AIs, terms like hallucination serve only to perpetuate the misconception that these computational machines work much like our brains do. But the phenomenon is by design. A better term for...
View ArticleBook Review: How Alzheimer’s Caregivers Cope in a Warped Reality
Clinical psychologist Dasha Kiper’s “Travelers to Unimaginable Lands” explores the complex, often fraught, relationship between patients and the “invisible victims” of dementia disorders — those tasked...
View ArticleHow New Zealand’s Pesky Pigs Turned Into a Cash Cow
Three hundred miles from the mainland, Auckland Island is home to introduced pigs that have evolved into ultra-resilient, disease-free predators. They have wrought destruction on native species — and...
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