Book Review: How Plagues Are Intertwined With Social Justice
In “A History of the World in Six Plagues,” science historian Edna Bonhomme investigates the racial and class inequalities, and the injustices of confinement, that have hampered official responses to...
View ArticleCutting Edge: The Cautious Optimism for Psychiatric Brain Surgery
Lobotomies left thousands of patients disabled in the 1950s. But with advances in treatment, some surgeons now say that, for a small group of patients, removing brain tissue can help patients with OCD...
View ArticleEPA Plans to Stop Collecting Emissions Data From Most Polluters
Officials have asked staff at the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to draft a rule that will drastically reduce data collection. Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move. “It would be a...
View ArticleIn the Northeast, a Question of Fighting Fire With Fire
Scientists have long debated the scale of intentionally set fires, particularly in the woodlands of eastern North America. And a dust-up over a 2020 journal article on prescribed burning illustrates...
View ArticleThe Mental Health Impacts of Scientific Fieldwork
Fieldwork is vital to scientific research. But difficult conditions at remote research sites can increase workers’ vulnerability and put them under physical, mental, and emotional strain. A shift in...
View ArticleCome-Gimme! Why Do We Shrug When Apes Cross the Language Barrier?
There is a long history of linguistic breakthroughs by researchers who have raised great apes in language-rich environments. But the first words and signs of humans’ closest relatives have stirred up...
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