AI, Health Care, and the Realities of Being Human
Many doctors see AI-driven tools as a boon to working smarter and faster, but the technology can also put patients at risk for overdiagnosis and discrimination. Physician Arjun Sharma reflects on the...
View ArticleBook Excerpt: The Social Safety Net of Colorado’s Marmots
After years spent studying colonies of yellow-bellied marmots, scientists at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory have learned how an individual’s social network affects the alarm calls they give...
View ArticleFrom Toad Toxin to Medicine: The Promise of 5-MeO-DMT
The psychedelic compound stands out for its quick and potent effects, making it a cheaper alternative to psilocybin and LSD. But research on its effects is still nascent. Now, scientists are...
View ArticleIn Virginia, Data Centers Collide with Zero-Carbon Goals
The state has the biggest data centers market in the world, fueling unprecedented electricity demand and causing environmental groups to question how the state will transition the grid to renewable...
View ArticleIn Montana, a Tribally Led Effort to Restore the Whitebark Pine
Whitebark pines are a keystone species in high-elevation ecosystems, supporting biodiversity, preventing soil erosion, and regulating water flow. The tree also holds cultural importance for the...
View ArticleWhy AlphaFold 3 Needs to Be Open Source
DeepMind released AlphaFold 3, a powerful new version of its AI-driven model for predicting protein structures, biomolecular interactions, and more. But it did so without making the software’s code...
View ArticleBook Review: Truth and Consequences for Medical Whistleblowers
A core theme of “The Occasional Human Sacrifice” — equal parts investigative report, history, and memoir — is that those who expose medical wrongdoing are hardly heroes, at least not in the redemptive...
View ArticleAllergy Labels: This May Contain Peanuts (Or Maybe Not)
Precautionary allergen labels like those that say processed in a facility that uses milk or may contain fish are meant to address the potential for cross-contact. And in the United States, these...
View ArticleThe End of Pandemic Internet Subsidies
During the Covid-19 pandemic, a federal program subsidized the cost of home internet for more than 23 million low-income households, connecting more people to their jobs, schools, and doctors. But the...
View ArticleA Biologist, a Blog, and a Mosquito Control Dispute
A category of pesticides that are exempt from EPA oversight allows for iffy products to thrive. But AC2T, which is based in Mississippi, may be unique in the lengths it has taken to bring its mosquito...
View ArticleGenetic Studies Can Perpetuate Stereotypes of Bisexual People
A study linking a genetic signature of bisexuality with risk-taking and having more children received a lot of media attention earlier this year. One scientist explains why such genome-wide association...
View ArticleA High-Pressure Campaign to Downplay a Gas Pipeline’s Steep Risks
In West Virginia, Dominion Energy made plans to construct the Atlantic Coast Pipeline through steep terrain in some of the most flood- and erosion-prone topography in the U.S. According to Forest...
View ArticleOn the Hunt: The Effort to Track the Illegal Cheetah Trade
For years, conservationists have worked to protect cheetahs, a threatened species. Yet the precise origins of trafficked cubs have long been mysterious. Now, several new scientific efforts aim to...
View ArticleThe Promise of Precision Agriculture Is Slowly Coming to Fruition
Precision agriculture has long promised to provide more granular data — and new technology to use it — for farmers facing pressure to increase yields while being more environmentally friendly. It’s had...
View ArticleWhen Police Shootings Don’t Kill: The Data That Gets Left Behind
In recent years, more researchers have dug into the extent of fatal police shootings. But what about the survivors? Victims may endure serious injuries, multiple surgeries, and long-lasting physical...
View ArticleIgnoring Noise Pollution Harms Public Health
In 1972, Congress passed the Noise Control Act, which directed the EPA to protect the public from noise pollution. But in the decades since, the EPA hasn’t fulfilled that obligation. Health reporter...
View ArticleInterview: The Lasting Impact of Environmental Factors on Health
Environmental factors like urban air pollution and wildfires can have a profound effect on long-term health outcomes, especially depending on one’s socioeconomic status, where you live, and race and...
View ArticleThe Fuzzy Science on Whether Fido Is Actually Good for You
Plenty of people believe there’s something salubrious about caring for a pet. But some experts argue that the scientific evidence that pets can consistently make people healthier is, at best,...
View ArticleAt Kew Gardens, a New View of Forests, Fungus, and Carbon Capture
Soil is a huge reservoir of carbon. Scientists used to think that most of the carbon captured by soil entered the ground when dead leaves and plant matter decomposed. But it’s now becoming clear that...
View ArticleSurvey Trolls, Opt-In Polls, and the New Era of Survey Science
In theory, pollsters call a randomly selected sample of Americans, ask them a question, and report those results to offer a snapshot of public opinion. But as people have stopped picking up the phone,...
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