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Science + Tech – Articles, Analysis, Opinion

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Clifford Berry stands by the Atanasoff-Berry Computer. Courtesy of Iowa State University Library Special Collections and University Archives

What was the first computer?

The first computer, named the ABC, was built at Iowa State University. But for a long time, few had heard of it.
Same sex sexual behavior is common to many species and evolved millions of years ago. oneinchpunch/Shutterstock.com

An origin story for the queer community

Conversion therapy has been pushed on some in the LGBQ community by those who think same-sex sexual behavior is ‘unnatural.’ But such behavior seems to have evolved millions of years before humans.
Evolution has no final endpoint in mind. Uncle Leo/Shutterstock.com

Evolution doesn’t proceed in a straight line – so why draw it that way?

If you go by editorial cartoons and T-shirts, you might have the impression that evolution proceeds as an orderly march toward a preordained finish line. But that’s not right at all.
People have been modifying Earth – as in these rice terraces near Pokhara, Nepal – for millennia. Erle C. Ellis

Surveying archaeologists across the globe reveals deeper and more widespread roots of the human age, the Anthropocene

Hundreds of archaeologists provided on-the-ground data from across the globe, providing a new view of the long and varied history of people transforming Earth’s environment.
Uber and Lyft drivers protest their working conditions in Los Angeles in May 2019. AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes

Worker-protection laws aren’t ready for an automated future

If your job doesn’t currently involve automation or artificial intelligence in some way, it likely will soon. Computer-based worker surveillance and performance analysis will come, too.
Red Cross forensic specialist Stephen Fonseca, right, searches for bodies in a field of ruined maize in Magaru, Mozambique, after Cyclone Idai, April 4, 2019. AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi

Humanitarian forensic scientists trace the missing, identify the dead and comfort the living

Meet the unsung aid workers who put their lives on the line during war and natural disaster to make sure the dead are treated with respect – and that their grieving families get closure.
The world’s smallest frog can fit on a dime. E.N. Rittmeyer et al. (2012)

What is the smallest animal ever?

Scientists have identified the world’s smallest animal – for now. It could be possible smaller creatures exist that have not yet been discovered.
On June 5-6, 2012, NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory collected images of one of the rarest predictable solar events: the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun. NASA/SDO, AIA

Why we need to get back to Venus

This hot, acidic neighbor with its surface veiled in thick clouds hasn’t benefited from the attention showered on Mars and the Moon. But Venus may offer insights into the fate of the Earth.