Science & Society

More Stories in Science & Society

  1. people hold posters and flags in support of transgender people
    Science & Society

    Gender-affirming care improves mental health for transgender youth

    Several state legislatures have taken steps to restrict access to gender-affirming health care for transgender adolescents. That goes against medical guidelines.

    By Maria Temming
  2. A Scott's oriole, with black neck and head, black-and-white wings and yellow underbelly, perched on a branch
    Science & Society

    Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change

    Racist legacies linger in everyday lingo for birds, bugs and more. Some scientists see the chance to change that.

    By Jaime Chambers
  3. pictures of bananas arranged in a row from brown to yellow to green
    Psychology

    Everyone maps numbers in space. But why don’t we all use the same directions?

    The debate over whether number lines are innate or learned obscures a more fundamental question: Why do we map numbers to space in the first place?

    By Sujata Gupta
  4. people climb over building rubble in Les Cayes
    Earth

    Haiti’s citizen seismologists helped track its devastating quake in real time

    Two scientists explain how citizen scientists and their work could help provide a better understanding of Haiti’s seismic hazards.

    By Carolyn Gramling
  5. grid of window air conditioning units outside a Manhattan building
    Science & Society

    How extreme heat from climate change distorts human behavior

    As temperatures rise, violence and aggression go up while focus and productivity decline. The well off can escape to cool spaces; the poor cannot.

    By Sujata Gupta
  6. illustration of two scientists looking at boxes depicting famous psychology experiments
    Psychology

    Psychology has struggled for a century to make sense of the mind

    Research into what makes us tick has been messy and contentious, but has led to intriguing insights.

    By Bruce Bower
  7. child removing a mask to eat lunch in a school cafeteria
    Health & Medicine

    6 answers to parents’ COVID-19 questions as kids return to school

    Universal masking in schools could prevent a bumpy 2021–22 schoolyear and keep kids, many of whom are too young to be vaccinated, safe, experts say.

    By Sujata Gupta
  8. image of Mt. Rushmore
    Earth

    A new book reveals stories of ancient life written in North America’s rocks

    In ‘How the Mountains Grew,’ John Dvorak probes the interlinked geology and biology buried within the rocks of North America.

    By Alka Tripathy-Lang
  9. polar bear
    Life

    ‘Wild Souls’ explores what we owe animals in a human-dominated world

    The new book Wild Souls explores the ethical dilemmas of saving Earth’s endangered animals.

    By Jonathan Lambert