Art teachers have been evaluated on English test scores. There seems to be no limit to how test data are being used to punish students, teachers and schools.
With billions upon billions of stars out there and probably at least as many planets, it seems almost silly to think there isn’t life somewhere else. Where are all our ET friends (or overlords)?
President Obama pulled out all the stops in recent days, but it wasn’t enough to convince House Democrats that he would negotiate a fair trade deal in the Pacific.
Smoothing out variable wind and solar is a growing problem. Instead of storing energy with batteries, utilities can adjust the power of millions of devices in buildings and homes.
Pedro Caban, University at Albany, State University of New York
Puerto Rico’s economic woes have led some analysts to compare it to Greece. Paradoxically, Puerto Rico’s colonial status explains both its growth and the impending financial debacle.
When disaster strikes, billions of dollars are spent on food and supplies, with little accounting of whether relief groups bought the right things or what impact they had.
Annihilate the Aedes aegypti mosquito population and you’d stop dengue fever from infecting up to 100 million people worldwide annually. Here are some high-tech methods under development.
The dead animal specimens that comprise natural history collections contribute a lot toward scientific understanding of their still-living counterparts – and those that have gone extinct.
The EPA said it will regulate emissions from airplanes – the latest in a string of environmental and climate regulations Obama has used to bypass the Republican-led Congress.
Everyone wants a better battery for longer run-time on electronics and driving range for EVs. What’s the most likely successor to today’s lithium-ion batteries?
In choosing the best school, US News & World Report rankings tend to play an important role. How accurate are the rankings and what could they be missing?
Neel Savani, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
When the sun belches out high-energy solar storms into space, fair warning would be appreciated by those who run technologies that can be affected here on Earth. A new technique promises better forecasts.
Kids who think being good at mathematics is just a matter of God-given talent are less likely to pursue math-related fields. But research says this kind of belief is misguided.