Science & Society
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Climate
Wanted: New ways to chill air conditioners, fridges
A new amendment to the Montreal Protocol will phase out potent greenhouse gases currently used in air conditioners and refrigerators, prompting a hunt for eco-friendly alternatives.
- Neuroscience
Frequent liars show less activity in key brain structure
Brain activity changed as people lied more, a new study finds.
- Science & Society
Blame bad incentives for bad science
Scientists have to publish a constant stream of new results to succeed. But in the process, their success may lead to science’s failure, two new studies warn.
- Science & Society
2016 Nobels: Science News fans read it here first
Editor in chief Eva Emerson discusses Nobel-winning science and what the future may hold.
- Humans
Tom Wolfe’s denial of language evolution stumbles over his own words
Tom Wolfe’s book denies that language evolved and attacks Darwin and Chomsky with smugness lacking substance.
- Genetics
‘Three-parent babies’ explained
Several in vitro techniques can produce babies with three biological parents.
- Ecosystems
‘Citizen Scientist’ exalts ordinary heroes in conservation science
Journalist Mary Ellen Hannibal’s “Citizen Scientist” tells tales of ordinary people contributing to science.
- Oceans
Atlantic monument is home to unique and varied creatures
A region of ocean off the coast of Cape Cod has become the first U.S. marine national monument in the Atlantic Ocean.
- Science & Society
Sometimes failure is the springboard to success
Editor in chief Eva Emerson discusses scientific discoveries that resulted from failures large and small.
- Tech
XPRIZE launched new kind of space race, book recounts
'How to Make a Spaceship' chronicles the XPRIZE challenge that helped ignite the private space industry.
- Genetics
First ‘three-parent baby’ born from nuclear transfer
The first human baby produced through spindle nuclear transfer was born in April, New Scientist reports.
- Health & Medicine
Sugar industry sought to sugarcoat causes of heart disease
Sugar industry has long, sweet history of influencing science.
