Finding out what goes on behind jury decisions and the biases that influence them is hugely important if the criminal justice system is to work properly.
Was Italy hit hardest by COVID in Europe?
CIRO FUSCO/EPA
Instead of assuming that science skeptics are motivated by ignorance, or selfishness, we should listen to them and try to understand and address their actual concerns.
A Soweto resident walks past a graffiti art wall educating locals about the dangers of COVID-19 in South Africa.
Kim Ludbrook/EFE-EPA
It’s human nature to unconsciously rely on quick rules to help make spur-of-the-moment decisions. New research finds physicians use these shortcuts, too, which can be bad news for some patients.
Science fields are improving at being more inclusive. But explicit and implicit barriers still hold women back from advancing in the same numbers as men to the upper reaches of STEM academia.
Undergraduate students need to learn the responsible use of data science as well as the nuts and bolts.
Hill Street Studios/Stone via Getty Images
Undergraduate programs are springing up across the US to meet the burgeoning demand for workers trained in big data. Yet many of the programs lack training in the ethical use of data science.
Government agencies are increasingly using facial recognition technology, including through security cameras like this one being installed on the Lincoln Memorial in 2019.
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Politicians of all stripes, computer professionals and even big-tech executives are calling on government to hit the brakes on using these algorithms. The feds are hitting the gas.
The University of Alabama’s Alpha Phi sorority runs out of Bryant-Denny Stadium during bid day in 2014.
AP Photo/Brynn Anderson
The motives and biases behind our actions shape how we see the world and everything in it. Understanding our biases means we can contain their negative influence and advance justice in our society.
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley – shown yelling – cried bias in the media’s coverage of the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
Library of Congress
The accusation of bias is like kryptonite for responsible news organizations: the stronger their piety to the ideal of objectivity, the more vulnerable they are to complaints made in bad faith.
President Trump frequently and loudly disagreed with scientists.
AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File
Politics always influences what questions scientists ask. Their intertwined relationship becomes a problem when politics dictates what answers science is allowed to find.
Myricaria germanica is a rare and endangered species hit hard by climate change, but little research is undertaken to help save it.
Martino Adamo
New research found colour played a major role skewing researcher bias — pretty, vibrant flowers get more scientific attention than dull plants, regardless of their ecological significance.
The Washington Post has been criticized for saying a reporter who was the victim of a sexual assault couldn’t objectively cover topics like the #MeToo movement.
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Bias-motivated attacks became a distinct crime in the 1980s. But police investigate only a fraction of the roughly 200,000 hate crimes reported each year – and even fewer ever make it to court.
If what you’re reading seems too good to be true, it just might be.
Mark Hang Fung So/Unsplash
Some AI systems make faulty assumptions about women and nonwhite men, which can lead to misdiagnoses. Overcoming this bias takes legal, regulatory and technical fixes.