When you're warm and cozy inside, it can be natural to wonder if the animals you see outside your window this winter are doing OK. Don't worry – they're doing better out there than you would.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Analysis and Comment
Think defensively about your online accounts and data security – and don't assume you'll avoid harm.
Forests in the US face many threats: climate change, invasive species, pests and pathogens. Could genetically engineering trees make these plants more resilient?
Big lines and long distances to walk have plagued airports since the dawn of the jet age. New designs and technologies haven't helped much, even if they're visually impressive.
Everyone has a different ideal temperature at any given time. It could be more comfortable to monitor people's body temperatures and adjust heating and cooling in response.
With all those blue recycling bins around you might think we are experts at recycling plastics. The truth is, that though many plastic items can be recycled, very few are. So what's the solution?
What you remember of your last meal affects when and how much you eat next time around. Neuroscientists have now identified neurons in the brain's hippocampus that are crucial to this process.
Anti-Semitism brought down one of the world's greatest centers for mathematical research.
Setting aside personal hardships for workers who don't see a paycheck during the shutdown, the research enterprise itself loses out, too. And unlike back pay, this lost time can never be made up.
Researchers found that aggressive messaging and framing current events as a 'war on science' had different effects on how liberals and conservatives felt about scientists' credibility.
As the number of 'internet of things' devices expands rapidly, so do security vulnerabilities to homes, businesses, governments and the internet as as whole.
A new theory of language suggests that people understand words by unconsciously simulating what they describe. Repeated exposure – and the simulation that comes with it – makes it easier to act.
In the space beyond Earth's atmosphere, countries are focusing on nationalist pursuits and ignoring the consequences for the rest of humanity. How can we keep the peace and build a sustainable future?
European countries, especially the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, have confronted Russian disinformation campaigns for decades. The US can learn from their experience.
Feel like visiting another star system or dimension? You can do this by traveling through a spacetime portal of a black hole. But you better choose carefully. All black holes are not created equal.
Year in review
I asked researchers to explain simply the phenomena that came up in my own life – and probably yours too.
You may not agree with using the gene-editing tool, CRISPR, to alter the DNA of human babies. But what about using it to engineer plants? Or wipe out one of the world's most dangerous creatures?
Academic research highlights the dangers – personal and societal – of giving too much time and attention to social media.
Gene-editing people
The announcement of the birth of babies with edited genes has been met by a deluge of scientific and ethical criticism. Public discussion focuses on risks and benefits – was breaking this taboo worth it?
A Chinese scientist has revealed he edited the DNA of twin girls born through in vitro fertilization. These girls are designed to be resistant to HIV. Is the edit a medical necessity or an enhancement?
Scientists at work
Scientific fieldwork that happens underground and underwater in spectacular but dangerous caves opens a window on a largely unknown world.
Tracking wild animals can provide lots of valuable data. New research suggests audio recordings of wild wolves can replace the typical radio collars, which can be expensive and intrusive.
Research and Expert Database
Many of the crop plants that feed us waste 20 percent of their energy, especially in hot weather. Plant geneticists prove that capturing this energy could boost crop yields by up to 40 percent.
Sociologists know what conditions make it more likely a mass delusion will take hold and spread through a group – whether adherence to a fashion fad or belief in a doomsday cult.
Scholars and skeptics warned about Facebook long before its founder was even born. Technology companies keep asking for more and more data and proving they can't be trusted.
It has taken hundreds, if not thousands, of years to create the juicy, shiny produce that you take for granted at the supermarket. But now there is a faster way to domesticate wild fruits and veggies.
Many Americans feel anxiety or dread when it comes to math. A lot of that anxiety starts in childhood.
As fictional inventors make terrible choices on the big screen, real-world tech innovators can learn from their example how not to make the same kinds of ethical mistakes.
Without much delay, Facebook and Twitter could make significant changes to limit political manipulation and propaganda. Will they? And will users ask it of the social media giants?
The US went crazy for Seabiscuit when he won his famous 1938 match race against War Admiral. Now researchers are investigating the thoroughbred's DNA to see what made him such an unlikely success.
Ninety percent of psychology studies come from countries representing less than 15 percent of the world's population. Researchers are realizing that universalizing those findings might not make sense.
Biometrics are more secure than passwords – but when they're compromised fingerprints and retina scans are hard to reset. Brain responses to specific stimuli are as secure and, crucially, resettable.
Only a small fraction of the data from archaeological fieldwork is made accessible to the public or preserved for future research.
Without their devices, regular GPS users take longer to negotiate a route, travel more slowly and make larger navigational errors.
Ionic winds – charged particles flowing through the air – can move airplanes using only electricity; no propellers or jet engines needed. The scholar who led the project explains how it works.
Who wouldn't want to travel in time, glimpsing the dinosaurs or peeking at humans 2,000 years from now? Now physicists have designed a time machine that seems deceptively simple.
Most Read past week
- Rotating black holes may serve as gentle portals for hyperspace travel
- Science gets shut down right along with the federal government
- Time travel is possible – but only if you have an object with infinite mass
- Offices are too hot or too cold – is there a better way to control room temperature?
- How one German city developed – and then lost – generations of math geniuses
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