Introducing Undark’s New Podcast: Entanglements
The Undark podcast is back with a new format and a new name: Entanglements. Tune in as our hosts explore some of the most contentious topics in science today. Our first 8-episode season will launch...
View ArticleThe Great American Nuclear Weapons Upgrade
A $1.7 trillion military program is advancing the American nuclear arsenal. While some analysts argue that the program is crucial to building — or rebuilding — a formidable arsenal that deters other...
View ArticleAn Honest Discussion of Covid Vaccine Side Effects Is Overdue
Severe side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations, like Guillain-Barré syndrome, are very rare. But, writes journalist Anthony Flint, the government currently does not sufficiently document or provide...
View ArticleAre Schools With Armed Police Actually Safer?
In 2022, more than 41,000 U.S. schools employed at least one officer. But recent research has questioned whether such policing actually promotes safety, and shows that the approach increases punitive...
View ArticleThe Nobel Prizes Tell a Story About Scientific Discovery
The Nobel Prizes have long been celebrations of scientific innovation. In this month’s Selective Pressure column, C. Brandon Ogbunu explores how this year’s awards have highlighted the increased...
View ArticleBook Excerpt: How Circadian Rhythms Make Life on Earth Tick
Circadian rhythms are essential to all living things. For humans, our inner clocks regulate everything from the ebb and flow of hormones to the rise and fall of blood pressure and heart rate, and help...
View ArticlePodcast: Will Artificial Intelligence Kill Us All?
This week on Entanglements, hosts Brooke Borel and Anna Rothschild talk to a former OpenAI employee and a Princeton professor about AI and doom. Could AI really become an existential threat to...
View ArticleWill Ukraine Embrace an Era of ‘War-Wilding’?
Amid the war’s destruction, Ukrainian scientists are seeing signs of an ecological recovery. When the conflict ends, they say, the nation should not rebuild its massive Soviet-era infrastructure and...
View ArticleAn Honest Discussion of Covid Vaccine Side Effects Is Overdue
Severe side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations, like Guillain-Barré syndrome, are very rare. But, writes journalist Anthony Flint, the government currently does not sufficiently document or provide...
View ArticleThe Search for Critical Minerals is Going High Tech
U.S. officials want to find domestic sources of metals that go in everything from green technology to cell phones. Science and defense agencies have teamed up to figure out how AI could help, from...
View ArticleAn Honest Discussion of Covid Vaccine Side Effects Is Overdue
Severe side effects of Covid-19 vaccinations, like Guillain-Barré syndrome, are very rare. But, writes journalist Anthony Flint, the government currently does not sufficiently document or provide...
View ArticleFrontline Mpox Responders Aren’t Getting the Support They Need
Mpox has been declared a public health emergency of international concern. Yet on-the-ground responders in Africa report a lack of funding and supplies to address the disease. To prevent mpox from...
View ArticleBook Review: The Curious History of Life-Saving Viruses
In “The Living Medicine,” journalist Lina Zeldovich recounts the long history of bacteria-eating viruses called bacteriophages, first developed in the early 20th century. Unlike antibiotics, phages...
View ArticleLiving in the Age of Risky Science
In an age where humans have learned to manipulate the very stuff of life, and to breathe a chilling and self-enhancing intelligence into algorithms, citizens of every nation have a right to know what’s...
View ArticlePodcast: Risky Science and Public Consent
This week on Entanglements: Should citizens decide on risky science? Our hosts talk to an Oxford political scientist and a former law and ethics professor about how democracy should play a role in...
View ArticleThe Downsides of a Massive Global Climate Conference
The yearly COP climate conference is growing in size, but not in its ability to act on climate goals, experts say. A 2021 report suggests splitting the conference into three parts and changing the...
View ArticleThe Delicate Path of Treating Addiction Among Doctors
Physician Health Programs aim to help doctors struggling with substance use and other problems while also keeping the public safe. But some medical professionals say the programs are overly punitive,...
View ArticleNeglecting Health Care May Have Cost Democrats the Election
Covid-19 has had had a disproportionate effect on Black, Hispanic, and Native American communities. One health policy researcher says the pandemic’s toll may have shaped the U.S. electorate in ways...
View ArticleInterview: What Biden’s Covid Czar Learned From the Pandemic
In a wide-ranging interview with Undark, Ashish Jha, the former White House Covid-19 response coordinator for the Biden Administration, discusses what the nation got right and wrong during the...
View ArticlePodcast: Is It Likely that Covid-19 Came From a Lab?
This week on Entanglements: Could the Covid-19 pandemic have been sparked by a lab leak? Our hosts explore this hot-button question in conversations with a Weill Cornell microbiologist and a Broad...
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