Scientific American October 2020 Implicit bias training isn’t enough. What actually works? In February 2016 I sat in a conference room on the Upper East Side of Manhattan with about 35 other people attempting to answer what seemed like a straightforward question: What is racism? Having trouble accessing this article? Please visit our FAQ page […]
The late esteemed English actor Christopher Lee traced his ancestry directly to Charlemagne. In 2010 Lee released a symphonic metal album paying homage to the first Holy Roman emperor—but his enthusiasm may have been a tad excessive. After all, says geneticist Adam Rutherford, “literally everyone” with European ancestry is directly descended from Charlemagne. The family […]
This year’s Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded for the discovery of the hepatitis C virus, which causes severe liver disease in more than 70 million people worldwide. The prize was jointly awarded to Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice, both Americans, and British-born scientist Michael Houghton. Three hepatitis viruses are known […]
When a star explodes at the end of its lifetime, it smears the elements forged in its heart across vast stretches of space. The results, dramatic designs of gas and dust known as supernova remnants, contain structures that have long puzzled researchers. But supernovae occur in the Milky Way only once or twice a century, […]
Introduction Truth, Untruth and Technologyby Jesse Emspak Section 1: The Digital Mind 1.1 Are Digital Devices Altering Our Brains? by Elena Pasquinelli 1.2 Your Brain on Google Maps by Zeynep Tufekci Section 2: The Enemy Is Us: How Social Media Manipulates Human Behavior 2.1 Why We Trust […]
Imagine that you’re at a summer barbeque, catching up with some friends, when you hear the sound of fire truck sirens going off in the distance. You might wonder whether there’s danger nearby, but you and your friends keep talking anyway, slightly louder now that you have to be heard over the noise. A few […]
The recently released 2020 Democratic Party platform contains a lot of policies that will excite scientists and environmentalists, including an aggressive agenda to fight climate change, the return of science-based decision making to the EPA, and environmental justice. There’s one game-changing passage, however, that’s received shockingly little notice outside of a small circle of experts—who […]
Greenland is the biggest island in the world. And the ice sheet that sits atop it is massive. “The pile of ice is so thick it extends more than 10,000 feet above the ocean. And if all that ice were to melt and go into the ocean, global sea levels would rise by 24 feet […]
Whatever else one might say about the Trump era in American politics, it’s provided a wealth of data for scientists studying public opinion. For those of us interested in “metanarratives”—the stories that groups tell themselves about who they are and where they’re headed—the 2016 and 2020 campaigns have been a gold mine. Every vision of […]
When a shop selling cannabidiol (CBD), a compound found in marijuana, opened near the place where I get coffee in my Southern California neighborhood, I was of two minds. Actually, for several weeks I was of one mind, which was to wish for the speedy demise of the business. As a physician, I just know […]