Science & Society
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Health & Medicine
In 2021, COVID-19 vaccines were put to the test. Here’s what we learned
Vaccines can’t single-handedly end the pandemic, but they are still essential in the fight against the coronavirus.
- Science & Society
These are Science News’ favorite books of 2021
Our favorite books covered the Big Bang theory, human evolution, gene editing, how to define life, pseudoscience and more.
- Health & Medicine
A massive 8-year effort finds that much cancer research can’t be replicated
A project aiming to reproduce nearly 200 top cancer experiments found only a quarter could be replicated.
- 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 missing data makes it harder to measure racial bias in policing
Police officers rarely record nonevents, such as drawing a gun without firing. Failing to account for that missing information can obscure racial bias.
- Life
‘Life as We Made It’ charts the past and future of genetic tinkering
A new book shatters illusions that human meddling with nature has only just begun.
- Health & Medicine
No, COVID-19 vaccines won’t make you infertile
Contrary to misinformation spread by Aaron Rodgers and Nicki Minaj, neither the Pfizer, Moderna nor J&J vaccines cause infertility, data show.
- Anthropology
‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history
A new book recasts human social evolution as multiple experiments with freedom and domination that started in the Stone Age.
- Health & Medicine
How to choose a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot
To help you choose between the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 boosters, one reporter looked to the evidence and consulted experts.
- Psychology
Scientists should report results with intellectual humility. Here’s how
Foregrounding a study’s uncertainties and limitations could help restore faith in the social sciences.
- Health & Medicine
Epidemics have happened before and they’ll happen again. What will we remember?
A century’s worth of science has helped us fend off infectious pathogens. But we have a lot to learn from the people who lived and died during epidemics.
- Psychology
Nostalgia may have bona fide benefits in hard times, like the pandemic
Once described as a disease, nostalgia’s reputation is much improved. Researchers hope to develop mental health therapies that trigger these memories.
