Science & Society
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Health & Medicine
Florence Nightingale understood the power of visualizing science
Florence Nightingale showed simple sanitation measures could stop infectious diseases’ spread, a timely message given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
By Sujata Gupta -
Psychology
A simple exercise on belonging helps black college students years later
Black college freshmen who did a one-hour training on belonging reported higher professional and personal satisfaction years later.
By Sujata Gupta -
Humans
It’s time to stop debating how to teach kids to read and follow the evidence
Most children need help learning to read, but there’s long-standing disagreement on how best to help them. Decades of research have identified the most effective approaches.
By Emily Sohn -
Environment
50 years ago, American waterways were getting more protections
A 1970 bill that became the Clean Water Act helped to double the number of U.S. waterbodies clean enough for swimming and fishing. In January, the U.S. administration changed how waters were defined, effectively removing those protections for half the country’s wetlands.
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Health & Medicine
Why African-Americans may be especially vulnerable to COVID-19
African-Americans are more likely to die from COVID-19 than white Americans, data show. Experts blame long-standing health disparities.
By Sujata Gupta -
Science & Society
How materials science has changed humankind — for better and worse
As people began wielding new materials, the technologies fundamentally changed humankind, the new book ‘The Alchemy of Us’ argues.
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Science & Society
The U.S. has resisted the metric system for more than 50 years
Australia adopted the metric system 50 years ago. The United States tried by passing legislation for a voluntary conversion that was largely ignored.
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Health & Medicine
How coronavirus control measures could affect its global death toll
Slowing the virus’ spread will save millions of lives, but differences among countries could vary the pandemic’s toll in different places.
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Climate
These women endured a winter in the high Arctic for citizen science
Two women have spent the winter on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard to collect data for climate scientists around the world.
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Physics
Einstein’s letters illuminate a mind grappling with quantum mechanics
The latest volume of Einstein’s papers covers the infancy of quantum mechanics and new challenges to the theory of relativity.
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Health & Medicine
Face mask shortages have sparked creative solutions. Will they work?
Homemade masks, reusing masks and even scuba gear are some of the ideas for dealing with health care workers’ lack of supplies during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Health & Medicine
When will the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing end?
Social distancing may have to continue for months to prevent a resurgence of COVID-19. Wider testing and isolation of cases could ease such measures.