Science & Society
- Science & Society
A Dallas museum hosts rare hominid fossils from South Africa
Fossils of the South African hominids Australopithecus sediba and Homo naledi are on display at the Perot Museum of Science and History in Dallas.
- Science & Society
Why a warrant to search GEDmatch’s genetic data has sparked privacy concerns
A search warrant issued by a state judge in Florida gives police access to DNA profiles of over a million Americans in a public genealogy database.
- Humans
The medieval Catholic Church may have helped spark Western individualism
Early Catholic Church decrees transformed families and may help explain why Western societies today tend to be individualistic and nonconformist.
- Science & Society
Can neighborhood outreach reduce inner-city gun violence in the U.S.?
While mass shootings grab U.S. headlines, the steady scourge of inner-city gun violence gets less attention — and fewer solutions.
- Tech
Here’s what it will take to adapt the power grid to higher wildfire risks
Better sensing tech on power lines and reliance on more local power sources could help avoid vast power outages like those in California in October.
- Science & Society
Alaska’s free money for residents hints at how universal basic income may work
Since 1982, Alaskans have gotten an annual oil dividend. Scientists say that program hints at the pros and cons of a universal basic income.
- Science & Society
Bias in a common health care algorithm disproportionately hurts black patients
A machine-learning program that uses past medical costs to identify patients for extra care favors white patients over black patients, a study finds.
- Life
A peek inside a turtle embryo wins the Nikon Small World photography contest
The annual competition highlights the wonders to be found when scientists and photographers zoom in on the world around us.
- Science & Society
Economics Nobel goes to poverty-fighting science
Three scientists share the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for developing real-world interventions for tackling poverty.
- Cosmology
A new book explores how the concept of the multiverse has evolved
Tom Siegfried, author of ‘The Number of the Heavens,’ discusses what the multiverse has meant to great thinkers throughout history.
- Science & Society
This year’s SN 10 enjoy the journey, not just the discovery
Meet 10 young researchers who combine persistence and passion to make headway on science’s big questions.
- Science & Society
Parag Pathak uses data and algorithms to make public education fairer
Economist Parag Pathak has overhauled school choice systems across the United States. Now he’s assessing what makes for a good education.
