SN Editor in Chief Tom Siegfried remembers the late physicist John Wheeler, who coined the term "black hole" in 1967, with excerpts from conversations the two had engaged in over the past two decades.

Some people have argued that science hasn’t fared well under George W. Bush. The President’s science advisor, John H. Marburger, III, begs to differ. Federal R&D spending is up big time.

Results from a survey of more than 1,500 EPA scientists suggest a systematic attack on scientific integrity within that agency.

Perchlorate is not yet a household word in many parts of the country. But it may becomes one if Sen. Barbara Boxer has her way. Perchlorate – an ingredient in solid rocket fuel, fireworks, flares and explosives – taints drinking-water supplies around the nation, not to mention plenty of foods. In animal tests, the pollutant perturbs thyroid-hormone signaling. If such hormonal messages are muted or garbled in the womb or shortly after birth, an animal may suffer developmental – even cognitive – retardation. So one might think that U.S. regulatory agencies would have set maximum all...

“New Orleans, at the end of the century, will be an island” — literally, predicts Bruce Babbitt. Whether or not you believe his assessment, he makes a good case for considering the implications of climate change when planning federal projects.

Fossil-fuel pollution has been offsetting global warming to the tune of about 30 percent per year. Cleaning up that pollution, a must, threatens to accelerate warming unless humanity changes its fuel-use strategy.