Science & Society

  1. Environment

    Fire-prone neighborhoods on the fringes of nature are rapidly expanding

    The transition zone where unoccupied wildlands meet developed areas increased globally by about 35 percent from 2000 to 2020.

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  2. Agriculture

    Exploiting a genetic quirk in potatoes may cut fertilizer needs

    A gene controlling potato growth limits the plant’s fertilizer uptake. Tweaking related genes could lead to more sustainable potato varieties.

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  3. Anthropology

    The ‘midlife crisis’ is too simple a story, scientists say

    Some scientists want to shift focus to the teen mental health crisis. But the course of happiness is too complex for simplistic theories, experts warn.

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  4. Animals

    This marine biologist discovered a unique blue whale population in Sri Lanka

    In addition to studying the world’s only nonmigratory blue whales, marine biologist Asha de Vos seeks to change her compatriots’ attitudes toward the ocean.

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  5. Science & Society

    Using AI, historians track how astronomy ideas spread in the 16th century

    A new AI machine learning technique helped historians analyze 76,000 pages from astronomy textbooks spanning nearly two centuries.

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  6. Archaeology

    A race to save Indigenous trails may change the face of archaeology

    As construction of a pipeline nears, an effort to preserve an Indigenous trail in Canada tests whether heritage management can keep up with advances in archaeology.

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  7. Health & Medicine

    Drop in vaping drives tobacco product use by U.S. youth to a record low

    The fewest number of U.S. middle and high school students are currently using tobacco products since the National Youth Tobacco Survey began in 1999.

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  8. Science & Society

    The U.S. empire was built on bird dung

    A mid-1850s act let the United States seize islands rich in bird guano. Those strategic outposts fueled the U.S. rise to power, a researcher says.

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  9. Science & Society

    The ‘Does It Fly?’ podcast separates fact from science fiction

    The podcast ‘Does It Fly?’ asks whether the technology of Star Trek, Doctor Who and other popular sci-fi shows could really work.

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  10. Science & Society

    Is U.S. democracy in decline? Here’s what the science says

    Political scientists disagree over how to interpret a slight dip in the health of U.S. democracy.

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  11. Science & Society

    There’s a new term for attempting to own the wind: ventography

    Nations established territorial claims underground to access oil and gas. Now they are expanding those claims upward to snag the wind.

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  12. Life

    The fruit fly revolutionized biology. Now it’s boosting science in Africa

    African researchers are using Drosophila melanogaster fruit flies to advance studies of genetics, biomedicine, developmental biology, toxicology and more.

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