Science & Society

  1. Animals

    When and why did masturbation evolve in primates? A new study provides clues

    In a first-of-its-kind comparative study, researchers show that primates were masturbating 40 million years ago and that the behavior may help males keep their sperm fresh.

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  2. Science & Society

    Anténor Firmin challenged anthropology’s racist roots 150 years ago

    In The Equality of the Human Races, Haitian scholar Anténor Firmin showed that science did not support division among the races.

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  3. Science & Society

    Deliberate ignorance is useful in certain circumstances, researchers say

    The former East German secret police, the Stasi, spied on people for years. But when given access to the Stasi files, most people didn’t want to read them, researchers found.

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  4. Math

    ‘Once Upon a Prime’ finds the hidden math in literature

    In her new book, mathematician Sarah Hart explains how math shapes all sorts of literary works, from nursery rhymes to Moby-Dick.

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  5. Health & Medicine

    San Francisco airport will monitor plane waste for COVID-19 variants

    The airport, working with the CDC and a biotech company, will be the first in the United States to regularly test plane sewage.

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  6. Math

    How Pythagoras turned math into a tool for understanding reality

    Reality was made of numbers, Pythagoras said, and he employed numbers to explain the “harmony of the heavens.”

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  7. Health & Medicine

    WHO declares an end to the global COVID-19 public health emergency

    Global COVID-19 deaths are down and immunity is up. But with the virus here to stay, it’s time to shift to more long-term health measures.

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  8. Genetics

    What was Rosalind Franklin’s true role in the discovery of DNA’s double helix?

    Two researchers say that Rosalind Franklin knowingly collaborated with James Watson and Francis Crick to discover the molecular structure of DNA.

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  9. Humans

    ‘Period’ wants to change how you think about menstruation

    Kate Clancy offers fascinating science and history about the uterus and menstruation in her book, Period: The Real Story of Menstruation.

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  10. Science & Society

    The Smithsonian’s ‘Lights Out’ inspires visitors to save the fading night sky

    The exhibition examines how light pollution harms astronomy, ecosystems and human cultures. But it also offers hope.

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  11. Math

    Dense crowds of pedestrians shift into surprisingly orderly lines. Math explains why

    New research into collective behavior adds to decades of study on the wisdom of crowds.

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  12. Climate

    How an Indigenous community in Panama is escaping rising seas

    The Indigenous Guna peoples' relocation from Panama could offer lessons for other communities threatened by climate change.

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