News

How We Got More Than 10,000 Students from 120 Countries to Embrace the Joy of Coding

A year ago, as we contemplated the prospect of weeks or months sheltering in place, we thought up a novel…

4 years ago

CDC’s ‘Huge Mistake’: Did Misguided Mask Advice Drive Up COVID Death Toll for Health Workers?

Since the start of the pandemic, the most terrifying task in health care was thought to be when a doctor…

4 years ago

Quantum Mechanics, the Chinese Room Experiment and the Limits of Understanding

Like great art, great thought experiments have implications unintended by their creators. Take philosopher John Searle’s Chinese room experiment. Searle…

4 years ago

Biden: Push States and Cities to Use Stimulus Money for Gun Violence Prevention

This week, the U.S. House of Representatives will likely vote to approve the American Rescue Plan, the final step toward…

4 years ago

100-Million-Year-Old Seafloor Sediment Bacteria Have Been Resuscitated

In 2010, Japanese scientists from the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s Expedition 329 sailed into the South Pacific Gyre with a…

4 years ago

Biden Must Take Immediate Action to Reduce the Risk of Nuclear War

When Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th U.S. president on January 20, he inherited major crises, including a…

4 years ago

Coronavirus News Roundup: February 20–February 26

The items below are highlights from the free newsletter, “Smart, useful, science stuff about COVID-19.” To receive newsletter issues daily…

4 years ago

How COVID-19 is Changing the Cold and Flu Season

By mid-December, the Northern Hemisphere is usually well into the start of its annual cold and flu season—but so far…

4 years ago

E-Eggs Track Turtle Traffickers – Scientific American

Poachers take note. If you’re thinking about stealing eggs from the nests of sea turtles on the beaches of Costa…

4 years ago

Physicists Need to Be More Careful with How They Name Things

In 2012, the quantum physicist John Preskill wrote, “We hope to hasten the day when well controlled quantum systems can…

4 years ago