Soapbox
- Quantum Physics
A maverick physicist is building a case for scrapping quantum gravity
To merge quantum physics and general relativity, physicists aim to quantize gravity. But what if gravity isn’t quantum at all?
- Astronomy
Astronomers call for renaming the Magellanic Clouds
Explorer Ferdinand Magellan is not a fitting namesake for the pair of satellite galaxies of the Milky Way, a group of scientists argues.
- Health & Medicine
Iron deficiency goes unnoticed in too many U.S. female adolescents
Low iron causes problems from dizziness to severe anemia. It’s time to reevaluate screening guidelines to catch the problem earlier, an expert argues.
- Science & Society
Deliberate ignorance is useful in certain circumstances, researchers say
The former East German secret police, the Stasi, spied on people for years. But when given access to the Stasi files, most people didn’t want to read them, researchers found.
- Climate
There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program
The electric vehicle program is reducing carbon dioxide emissions but also shifting the pollution burden to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.
- Neuroscience
‘Mommy brain’ doesn’t capture how the brain transforms during pregnancy
During the transition to motherhood, there's more going on than “momnesia,” neuroscientists argue. The brain changes to prep for the job of caregiving
- Science & Society
Many plans for green infrastructure risk leaving vulnerable people out
Green infrastructure is one way to help combat climate hazards like flooding. But without equitable planning, only some communities will benefit.
- Life
A new metric of extinction risk considers how cultures care for species
Conservation efforts should consider relationships between cultural groups and the species important to them, researchers argue.
- Psychology
Latin America defies cultural theories based on East-West comparisons
Theories for how people think in individualist versus collectivist nations stem from East-West comparisons. Latin America challenges those theories.
- Math
How the way we’re taught to round numbers in school falls short
A rounding technique taught in school doesn’t work well for machine learning or quantum computing, but an alternative approach does, researchers say.
- Science & Society
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Small interventions that influence people’s behavior can be tested. But the real world requires big, hard-to-measure changes too, scientists say.
- Climate
Climate change communication should focus less on specific numbers
Even if nations don’t meet goals to curb global climate change, any progress is better than none.
