Soapbox

Health & Medicine

Iron deficiency goes unnoticed in too many U.S. female adolescents

Low iron causes problems from dizziness to severe anemia. It’s time to reevaluate screening guidelines to catch the problem earlier, an expert argues.

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.

Climate

There’s good and bad news with California’s electric vehicle program

The electric vehicle program is reducing carbon dioxide emissions but also shifting the pollution burden to the state’s most disadvantaged communities.

Neuroscience

‘Mommy brain’ doesn’t capture how the brain transforms during pregnancy

During the transition to motherhood, there's more going on than “momnesia,” neuroscientists argue. The brain changes to prep for the job of caregiving

Science & Society

Many plans for green infrastructure risk leaving vulnerable people out

Green infrastructure is one way to help combat climate hazards like flooding. But without equitable planning, only some communities will benefit.

Life

A new metric of extinction risk considers how cultures care for species

Conservation efforts should consider relationships between cultural groups and the species important to them, researchers argue.

Psychology

Latin America defies cultural theories based on East-West comparisons

Theories for how people think in individualist versus collectivist nations stem from East-West comparisons. Latin America challenges those theories.

Math

How the way we’re taught to round numbers in school falls short

A rounding technique taught in school doesn’t work well for machine learning or quantum computing, but an alternative approach does, researchers say.

Science & Society

Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society

Small interventions that influence people’s behavior can be tested. But the real world requires big, hard-to-measure changes too, scientists say.

Climate

Climate change communication should focus less on specific numbers

Even if nations don’t meet goals to curb global climate change, any progress is better than none.

Climate

Climate change could make Virginia’s Tangier Island uninhabitable by 2051

Tangier Island could be lost to rising seas sooner than previously realized. Whether to save the island or move its residents remains undecided.

Science & Society

How science overlooks Asian Americans

Existing scientific datasets fail to capture details on Asian Americans, making it hard to assess the group’s overall well-being.