Science & Society
- Science & Society
‘On the Fringe’ explores the thin line between science and pseudoscience
In his latest book, historian Michael Gordin surveys astrology, eugenics and other fringe movements to show how challenging it is to define pseudoscience.
- Science & Society
Gender-affirming care improves mental health for transgender youth
Several state legislatures have taken steps to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender adolescents. That goes against medical guidelines.
- Science & Society
Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change
Racist legacies linger in everyday lingo for birds, bugs and more. Some scientists see the chance to change that.
- Psychology
Everyone maps numbers in space. But why don’t we all use the same directions?
The debate over whether number lines are innate or learned obscures a more fundamental question: Why do we map numbers to space in the first place?
- Earth
Haiti’s citizen seismologists helped track its devastating quake in real time
Two scientists explain how citizen scientists and their work could help provide a better understanding of Haiti’s seismic hazards.
- Science & Society
How extreme heat from climate change distorts human behavior
As temperatures rise, violence and aggression go up while focus and productivity decline. The well off can escape to cool spaces; the poor cannot.
- Psychology
Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind
Research into what makes us tick has been messy and contentious, but has led to intriguing insights.
- Health & Medicine
6 answers to parents’ COVID-19 questions as kids return to school
Universal masking in schools could prevent a bumpy 2021–22 schoolyear and keep kids, many of whom are too young to be vaccinated, safe, experts say.
- Earth
A new book reveals stories of ancient life written in North America’s rocks
In ‘How the Mountains Grew,’ John Dvorak probes the interlinked geology and biology buried within the rocks of North America.
- Life
‘Wild Souls’ explores what we owe animals in a human-dominated world
The new book Wild Souls explores the ethical dilemmas of saving Earth’s endangered animals.
- Physics
With Steven Weinberg’s death, physics loses a titan
The Nobel laureate advanced the theory of particles and forces, and wrote insightfully for a wider public.
- Science & Society
What 20th century science fiction got right and wrong about the future of babies
A century of science has pushed the boundaries of human reproduction even beyond writers’ imaginations.
