So far 2020 has been a standout year for all the wrong reasons, including its devastating natural disasters. Wildfires have ravaged the western U.S., and tropical cyclones have popped up left and right, with several causing significant damage to coastal areas. The latest storm, Hurricane Delta, is headed for the Gulf Coast. Though they are […]
An unusually busy Atlantic hurricane season is showing no signs of letting up. Hurricane Delta is currently churning toward the Gulf Coast, expected to make landfall in Louisiana later today. Delta is the 25th named storm this season and the ninth hurricane. It’s the earliest in the year that any season has reached 25 storms. […]
In the race for a coronavirus vaccine, China is making bold promises. A Chinese health official has publicly pledged that an effective coronavirus vaccine will be available by the end of the year. The country has also committed to sharing its vaccines with more than a dozen nations, particularly low-income countries that it has close […]
A microscopic image reveals a plant’s vascular system Scanning electron micrograph of a bundle of tracheid cells in a sample of softwood. Credit: Steve Gschmeissner Science Source Advertisement Like all living creatures, plants rely on the transportation of water and minerals throughout their body. Xylem is a vascular tissue that moves substances from plants’ roots […]
Early in the morning on October 2, President Donald Trump tweeted that he had tested positive for COVID-19. Only 33 days away from a highly contentious election, the diagnosis plunged the nation into uncertainty. Doctors, scientists and pundits quickly began speculating on what will happen to the president, and the White House has been both […]
Instead of thinking about whether to vote Democratic or Republican in the upcoming U.S. election, think about voting to protect science instead of destroying it. As president, Donald Trump’s abuse of science has been wanton and dangerous. It has also been well documented. Since the November 2016 election, Columbia Law School has maintained a Silencing […]
The confidence people place in science is frequently based not on what it really is, but on what people would like it to be. When I asked students at the beginning of the year how they would define science, many of them replied that it is an objective way of discovering certainties about the world. […]
It was a grotesque sight: the president of the United States preening from the White House balcony, his mask pulled defiantly off his face, able to infect anyone around him with the novel coronavirus. He had just been released from Walter Reed hospital, after he’d tweeted that we shouldn’t “be afraid of COVID” or “let […]
COVID-19 surged across the U.S. South in July and August, becoming the newest epicenter of the pandemic. During the summer of 2020, more than 20 percent of the entire world’s new COVID-19 cases occurred in the southern states led by Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas and Arizona. Reasons for the summer rise in cases have been […]
Tinnitus, the perception of phantom noises in the absence of actual sound, affects millions of people around the world. According to one recent assessment, approximately one in 10 adults in the U.S. experiences tinnitus—and in nearly a quarter of these individuals, symptoms last for more than 15 years. Those with tinnitus can also experience complications […]