Science & Society
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Quantum Physics
Robert Redford film foretold Shor’s quantum computing bombshell
Twenty years ago, Peter Shor showed how quantum computers could break secret codes, turning the movie Sneakers from fiction to fact.
- Health & Medicine
Surgery museum holds wonders for the brave
Anatomical displays sit alongside art depicting medical history at the International Museum of Surgical Science.
- Science & Society
Millions of working mamas
It has been a long time since millions of American women working outside the home was big sociological news. Women are now 47 percent of the U.S. workforce.
- Science & Society
Misconduct found in Japanese stem cell research
An investigation into reports describing a type of stem cells called STAP cells has found that the lead researcher is guilty of scientific misconduct.
- Health & Medicine
Sudden death
Cardiologists disagree on whether electrocardiograms should be used to screen student athletes for a rare heart condition that can cause them to die suddenly and without warning.
- Cosmology
Top 10 cosmological discoveries
The cosmic microwave background radiation has played a part in many of cosmology’s greatest discoveries.
- Science & Society
Stone throwers might toss fingerprints into police hands
An Israeli police lab is studying methods to develop fingerprints on rock to identify stone throwers.
- Cosmology
Inflation rides gravity waves into cosmological history
The discovery of gravity waves in the cosmic microwave radiation signals the success of inflationary cosmology.
- Science & Society
Slight boost for U.S. climate research funding
While most science funding remains flat lined in President Obama’s 2015 budget, climate change research gets an increase.
- Science & Society
Top 10 scientists of the 13th century
Modern science began to emerge in Western Europe centuries before the Scientific Revolution, thanks to a few scholars who were ahead of their time.
- Science & Society
Medieval cosmology meets modern mathematics
Applying modern math to Robert Grosseteste’s theory of the heavenly spheres reveals a medieval idea’s similarity to modern cosmology.
- Science & Society
Flu drug research takes Intel STS top honors
A teenager’s computer analyses that identified six potential new flu-fighting compounds claimed first place at the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search.
