Science & Society
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Science & Society
A new map exhibit documents evolving views of Earth’s interior
"Beneath Our Feet" puts maps on display to show how people have envisioned and explored Earth’s subsurface.
- Science & Society
In science, some big risks are worth the rewards
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says scientists sometimes take risks that can lead to significant rewards and important discoveries.
- Science & Society
Readers inspired by SN 10 scientists’ research
Readers wanted to know more about the scientists' research who were profiled in "The SN 10: Scientists to watch."
- Science & Society
Philosophical critique exposes flaws in medical evidence hierarchies
Rankings of research methods for validity of medical evidence suffer from logical flaws, an in-depth philosophical critique concludes.
- Animals
EPA OKs first living pest-control mosquito for use in United States
Feds approve non-GM male tiger mosquitoes for sale as fake dads to suppress local pests.
- Animals
Great praise for categories, and seeing beyond them
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill discusses classification and some of the challenges of putting species in categorical boxes.
- Science & Society
Trauma surgeon studies gun violence stats — and was one
Joseph Sakran is trying to help counter the U.S. epidemic of gun violence with data.
- Climate
‘Killer Hurricanes’ reconstructs the past to predict storms of the future
Geologists find clues to the future of deadly hurricanes, written in stone and sand, in the new NOVA documentary “Killer Hurricanes.”
- Genetics
Resurrecting extinct species raises ethical questions
'Rise of the Necrofauna' examines the technical and ethical challenges of bringing woolly mammoths and other long-gone creatures back from the dead.
- Science & Society
Conspiring with engineers helps make science great
Acting Editor in Chief Elizabeth Quill says the passion to acquire knowledge and apply it lives in both engineers and scientists.
- Science & Society
An American astronomical evangelist coined the phrase ‘island universe’
Ormsby MacKnight Mitchel, a Civil War general nicknamed ‘Old Stars,’ first used ‘island universe’ in his monthly astronomy magazine.
- Science & Society
Economics Nobel nudges behavioral economist into the limelight
Behavioral economist Richard Thaler started influential investigations of behavioral economics, which earned him the 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences.
