Sujata Gupta

Sujata Gupta

Social Sciences Writer

Sujata Gupta is the social sciences writer for Science News. She was a 2017-18 Knight Science Journalism fellow at MIT. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Nature, Discover, NPR, Scientific American, and others. Sujata got her start in journalism at a daily newspaper in Central New York, where she covered education and small town politics. She has also worked as a National Park Ranger, completing stints at parks in Hawaii, California and Maine, and taught English in Nagano, Japan.

All Stories by Sujata Gupta

  1. Health & Medicine

    Global progress in combating child malnutrition masks problem spots

    Low-resource countries are tackling serious childhood malnutrition, national-level statistics show, but a closer look highlights disparities.

  2. Science & Society

    Installing democracies may not work without prior cultural shifts

    Experts often argue over what comes first: democratic institutions or a culture that values democratic norms. A new study supports the culture camp.

  3. Science & Society

    What happens when governments crack down on scientists just doing their jobs?

    Through their research findings or sense of duty, scientists can run afoul of government leaders keen to control information’s spread.

  4. Humans

    The medieval Catholic Church may have helped spark Western individualism

    Early Catholic Church decrees transformed families and may help explain why Western societies today tend to be individualistic and nonconformist.

  5. Science & Society

    Alaska’s free money for residents hints at how universal basic income may work

    Since 1982, Alaskans have gotten an annual oil dividend. Scientists say that program hints at the pros and cons of a universal basic income.

  6. Science & Society

    Bias in a common health care algorithm disproportionately hurts black patients

    A machine-learning program that uses past medical costs to identify patients for extra care favors white patients over black patients, a study finds.

  7. Science & Society

    Parag Pathak uses data and algorithms to make public education fairer

    Economist Parag Pathak has overhauled school choice systems across the United States. Now he’s assessing what makes for a good education.

  8. Humans

    Culture helps shape when babies learn to walk

    The culture in which a baby is raised can accelerate or slow down the development of early motor skills. Does it matter?

  9. Earth

    Climate misinformation may be thriving on YouTube, a social scientist warns

    Analyzing 200 climate-related videos on YouTube shows that a majority challenge widely accepted views about climate change and climate engineering.

  10. Science & Society

    Longer gaps between births can halve infant deaths in developing nations

    Leaving more time between successive pregnancies matters for infant survival, but only in less-developed countries.

  11. Science & Society

    Lost wallets are more likely to be returned if they hold cash

    Worldwide, return rates of lost wallets goes up as the money inside increases, contradicting the idea that people act in their own self-interest.

  12. Science & Society

    How the battle against measles varies around the world

    Measles is a global health threat. Snapshots of several countries show how stopping its spread depends on local conditions and beliefs.