Science & Society
- 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.
- Health & Medicine
50 years ago, scientists warned of marijuana’s effects on the unborn
In 1969, scientists warned about prenatal marijuana exposure. Researchers today are still untangling drug’s effect on fetuses.
- Climate
How climate change is already altering oceans and ice, and what’s to come
A new IPCC report gives the lowdown on how climate change is already wreaking havoc on Earth’s oceans and frozen regions, and how much worse things could get.
- Science & Society
3-D printed ‘ghost guns’ pose new challenges for crime-scene investigators
Researchers are analyzing the ballistics of 3-D printed guns and the plastic they leave behind to help forensic scientists track these DIY weapons.
- Science & Society
How circling the globe has evolved in the 500 years since Magellan’s famous trip
Humankind has found new and improved ways to circle the globe in the five centuries since Magellan set sail.
