Science & Society
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Science & Society
How science overlooks Asian Americans
Existing scientific datasets fail to capture details on Asian Americans, making it hard to assess the group’s overall well-being.
By Sujata Gupta -
Science & Society
The gap in parenting time between middle- and working-class moms has shrunk
Some well-educated mothers are spending less time with their kids than before, while some less-educated mothers are spending more, a new study shows.
By Sujata Gupta -
Earth
Invisible bursts of electricity from volcanoes signal explosive eruptions
Mysterious “vent discharges” could help warn of impending explosions, a study of Japan’s Sakurajima volcano shows.
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Health & Medicine
How COVID-19 vaccines were made so quickly without cutting corners
Usually it takes years to get both test results and FDA authorization, but speedy spread of the virus and eager volunteers shrunk the shots’ timeline.
By Rachel Lance -
Science & Society
An ecologist’s new book gets at the root of trees’ social lives
In ‘Finding the Mother Tree,’ Suzanne Simard recounts how she discovered hidden networks in forests.
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Animals
‘Fathom’ seeks to unravel humpback whales’ soulful songs
The film ‘Fathom’ on Apple TV+ follows the quest of researchers on the ocean’s surface to decipher the eerie symphony of humpback whale calls below.
By Jake Buehler -
Science & Society
50 years ago, UFO sightings in the United States went bust
In 1971, reports of unidentified flying objects were on the decline. Fifty years later, sightings have spiked thanks in part to pandemic lockdowns.
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Earth
A new book uses stories from tsunami survivors to decode deadly waves
In ‘Tsunami: The World’s Greatest Waves,’ two scientists chronical hundreds of eyewitness accounts to show the human cost of life at the water’s edge.
By Sid Perkins -
Science & Society
Moral judgments about an activity’s COVID-19 risk can lead people astray
People use values and beliefs as a shortcut to determine how risky an activity is during the pandemic. Those biases can lead people astray.
By Sujata Gupta -
Health & Medicine
Food that boosts gut microbes could be a new way to help malnourished kids
Malnourished children in Bangladesh fed a food aimed at restoring gut health grew more than those who got a traditional high-calorie supplement.
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Science & Society
How science museums reinvented themselves to survive the pandemic
The pandemic forced science museums to reach out to their communities, and some built a wider following.
By Emily Anthes -
Science & Society
50 years ago, scientists predicted steady U.S. population growth
The country’s annual population growth rate, mostly stable since the 1970s, is now the lowest it’s been in over a century.
By Sujata Gupta