Science
News and updates from the science team. Topics include genetics, infectious disease, psychology, and more.
It’s the beginning of a years-long effort to clean up and track the effects of chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
How bad is the East Palestine derailment, really?
Things could get real shitty.
The train derailment and chemical spill was the culmination of a long trend of cost-cutting in the rail industry.
As all these objects fall, a new space race is rising.
Every brain experiences reality differently. This census might help us understand why — and what it means.
The big problem with Florida asking for so much of its student-athletes’ health information.
Researchers have found that California’s electric cars are already keeping asthma patients out of ERs.
The drug’s cost crisis is spurring states to pursue a public version of an essential medication.
If we assume eggs must be cheap, we can’t address the twin crises of factory farming and bird flu.
Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are changing how patients view their own weight struggles. Will society follow?
The H5N1 avian flu virus isn’t a major human threat today. Here’s what it’d take to become one.
Linda Prine, a physician and co-founder of the Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline, describes the new realities for patients in states where the procedure is banned.
New experiments show the power of giving cash right before extreme weather strikes.
Palm oil once destroyed orangutan-filled rainforests in Southeast Asia. Now, the industry is cleaning up its act.
New rules around gain-of-function research make progress in striking a balance between reward — and catastrophic risk.
Short-term lockdowns could be key to ending pandemics early.
Wind and solar are rapidly growing, but Texas Republicans want to throw a lifeline to natural gas.
To reach sustainable progress on climate and health issues, we need to focus on what’s easy — not what’s hard.
The trouble with conservation’s cutest mascot.
The central bank is studying climate risks at major banks, but Fed chair Jerome Powell doesn’t want to get involved in policy.
The good news: You’re safe if you’re not an ant.
Biden isn’t coming for the gas stove.
The biggest questions about the newest Covid-19 vaccines are still unanswered.
Edwin Hubble’s name is everywhere in astronomy. Henrietta Leavitt’s should be too.
Want to save the bees? First, throw out most of what you know about them.
Farm animals starve and drown while shipped overseas for slaughter. Europe is considering a ban on the trade.
California’s floods reveal a likely climate change symptom: Quick shifts between opposing weather conditions.
Research shows gas stoves are a public health problem. But if you like your stove, you can keep it.
Recovering America’s Wildlife Act died last year in Congress, but lawmakers may soon get another shot.
Science is the engine of society, and the decline of truly disruptive research is a warning sign for all of us.
There’s drama in the plant world — and a shape-shifting vine is at the center of it.
Cold weather and rising gas exports are driving up prices — and it will hurt low-income communities the most.
Economic growth outpaced the increase in carbon dioxide pollution.
Satellite internet is going mainstream. So are its challenges.
A new law in Europe could help prevent our favorite foods from flattening forests.
A promising new Alzheimer’s treatment must escape the shadow of its controversial predecessor.
Drug companies around the world are working to develop a vaccine for Covid-19.
XBB.1.5, a subvariant of omicron, is gaining ground in the US, but deaths can still be avoided.
Atmospheric rivers are dumping rain on California. That’s not a good thing.