Science & the Public
Where scienceand society meet
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
Postmenopausal hormones up cancer risk
Danish researchers weigh in fairly conclusively on the risk of one especially deadly cancer.
- Earth
A hundred new nukes?
Here are some issues to contemplate while deciding whether to welcome the nuclear-power renaissance that Sen. Alexander has just proposed.
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- Humans
What’s in your bottled water?
A congressional hearing found bottled-water quality is not regulated as strictly as tap water is.
- Life
Collins nominated to head NIH
The chemist — turned physician, turned geneticist — has a spiritual side as well.
- Humans
Court backs EPA on controlling airborne particles
Upwind polluters can be held responsible for contributing to downwinders' violations of air-pollution standards.
- Animals
Megafish Sleuth: No Steve Irwin
There's no reason a scientist can't be an action hero — even if his damsels in distress have fins.
- Earth
Monster stingrays: Field notes from a global wrangler
A megafish biologist shares what he's learning about a rare freshwater species.
- Science & Society
Become a guinea pig
Three NIH researchers argue it should be considered a duty with a social mandate akin to voting.
- Health & Medicine
Plastics ingredients may shrink babies
A new study links phthalates, one of the more ubiquitous families of pollutants, with a baby being dangerously small at birth.
- Earth
How killer whales are like people
Killer whales may be sentinels for toxic chemicals accumulating in even landlubbers.
- Health & Medicine
Cousteau finds “hypocrisy” in scientific whaling
Another challenge surfaces to Japan's "scientific" whaling.
