We Let Tech Companies Frame the Debate Over AI Ethics. That Was a Mistake.
How can we trust the ethics panels of AI companies to take adequate care of the needs of people of color, queer people, and other marginalized communities if we don’t even know who is making the...
View ArticleIn America’s Science Classrooms, the Creep of Climate Skepticism
The Sunshine State has become ground zero for an intensifying ideological battle — one that has conservative groups wrestling for control over how climate science will be taught to American students....
View ArticleInterior Secretary Ryan Zinke May Soon Be Out. His Replacement Could Be Worse.
Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has come under fire for a series of possible ethical violations, including one that may rise to the level of criminal investigation. While Zinke has been said to be on his...
View ArticleAmong the Whales: Five Questions for Nicholas D. Pyenson
For paleobiologist Nick Pyenson, the past is just as crucial as the present: "You can play this game of, 'Let’s pretend that we don’t know anything about the past, and we just know about what we see...
View ArticleThe Three Big Health Issues at Stake in Tonight’s Elections
The results of the midterm elections could have a major impact on a broad array of other health issues that touch every single American. While all politics is local, and no single race is likely to...
View ArticleTo Adapt to a Changing Climate, Kyrgyzstan Revives Its Nomadic Past
Kyrgyzstan, a country of only six million people and by far one of the world’s lowest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions, has been unduly impacted by climate change. And the effects are...
View ArticleWhen an FDA Ruling Curbed Fecal Transplants, I Performed My Own.
My last trip to the emergency room was a grim formality. “You may want to tell loved ones about your dire circumstances,” my gastroenterologist said. It dawned on me that my doctor would sooner let me...
View ArticleTransition and Triumph: A Transgender Scientist’s Story
In 1997, the neuroscientist Ben Barres agonized over whether to come out as male or commit suicide. In this memoir, published after his death last year at age 63, he makes clear that coming out was the...
View ArticleIn the Midterm Elections, Mixed Results for Science and the Environment
Americans headed to the polls for the midterm elections on Tuesday, representing the first major opportunity for critics to mount opposition to President Trump since he took office early last year....
View ArticleCan Better Photosynthesis Help Feed the World?
By the year 2050, crop yields will need to be 60 percent higher to meet the food demands of a growing population. To make up the difference, plant researchers suggest developing genetic techniques to...
View ArticlePunishment: What Is It Good For?
Given the complexity of punishment, it’s improbable that the phenomenon has a single evolutionary explanation. Not all punishment serves to promote a greater good — and even when it does, it might not...
View ArticleTruly Sustainable Food Means Knowing Where It’s From
Why do we still destroy tropical forests to produce food? In part, we can blame it on humanity’s tendency to prioritize short-term profits over long-term sustainability. But one more specific answer...
View ArticleThree Decades Later, We’re Still Grappling With the Guinea Worm
The final push to full eradication of the parasite requires new approaches — including the implementation of better surveillance in at-risk communities, and more rigorous and field-informed scientific...
View ArticleIn Response to NRA Directive on Gun Policy, Doctors Fight Back
Doctors are pushing back on a tweet from the National Rifle Association, the U.S.’s largest pro-gun organization, directing them to “stay in their lane” on gun policy. The NRA’s message came just a day...
View ArticleBlack Holes: The Ultimate Heart of Darkness
According to this sweeping overview by the astronomer Chris Impey, black holes are the most terrifying implication of the general theory of relativity, trapping both light and matter inside their...
View ArticleThe Ethical Quandary of Human Infection Studies
When scientists give volunteers diseases like malaria to test new drugs, the research usually take place in wealthy nations where the results can be carefully tracked. But now there is a push to carry...
View ArticleDespite Hurdles, the Seed Library Movement Is Growing
Thanks to intellectual property rights and often well-intentioned laws, our ability to share seeds is restricted. Realizing this, food activists, garden enthusiasts, and community leaders are trying to...
View ArticleNew Research Suggests Optimism for HIV/AIDS
Preliminary work, published in August, projects the continuing decline of HIV cases in many African countries over the coming years. By 2030, if trends in the use of HIV/AIDS treatments hold, the rate...
View ArticleDespite Advances in Self-Driving Technology, Full Automation Remains Elusive
More than 50 years after efforts to automate travel by rail began, humans continue to dominate train cabs. The reasons have less to do with technological challenges than with social and economic...
View ArticleThe Uneasy Alliance Between Astrophysics and Warfare
From the invention of the earliest telescope to early nuclear bomb testing, the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, and the development of advanced missile and satellite technologies, the...
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