Science & Society
- Math
How Pythagoras turned math into a tool for understanding reality
Reality was made of numbers, Pythagoras said, and he employed numbers to explain the “harmony of the heavens.”
- Health & Medicine
WHO declares an end to the global COVID-19 public health emergency
Global COVID-19 deaths are down and immunity is up. But with the virus here to stay, it’s time to shift to more long-term health measures.
- Genetics
What was Rosalind Franklin’s true role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix?
Two researchers say that Rosalind Franklin knowingly collaborated with James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the molecular structure of DNA.
- Humans
‘Period’ wants to change how you think about menstruation
Kate Clancy offers fascinating science and history about the uterus and menstruation in her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.
- Science & Society
The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky
The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.
- Math
Dense crowds of pedestrians shift into surprisingly orderly lines. Math explains why
New research into collective behavior adds to decades of study on the wisdom of crowds.
- Climate
How an Indigenous community in Panama is escaping rising seas
The Indigenous Guna peoples' relocation from Panama could offer lessons for other communities threatened by climate change.
- Climate
Baseball’s home run boom is due, in part, to climate change
Higher air temperatures led to an average of 58 more home runs each MLB season from 2010 to 2019, a study shows.
- Science & Society
Here are the Top 10 threats to the survival of civilization
These aren’t just movie scenarios. From aliens and asteroids to pandemics, war and climate change, civilization as we know it is at risk.
- Space
‘Off-Earth’ asks how to build a better future in space
As humans prepare to live in space someday, ethics should be as much of guide as science and technology, an astrophysicist argues in a new book.
- Genetics
Why experts recommend ditching racial labels in genetic studies
Racial labels don’t explain biological and genetic diversity but do cause stigma. They belong “in the dustbin of history,” a panel of experts says.
- Particle Physics
‘Ghost Particle’ chronicles the neutrino’s discovery and what’s left to learn
Author James Riordon discusses his new book, why neutrinos are so important and how physicists are on the verge of making big discoveries about them.
