‘Breathless’ explores COVID-19’s origins and other pandemic science
BreathlessDavid QuammenSimon & Schuster, $29.99 When COVID-19 burst onto the global stage in 2020, it was deadly and disruptive. In the first weeks of January,…
Category: Science & Society
‘Fen, Bog & Swamp’ reminds readers why peatlands matter
Fen, Bog & SwampAnnie ProulxSimon & Schuster, $26.99 A recent TV ad features three guys lost in the woods, debating whether they should’ve taken a…
Looking for a job? Lean more on weak ties than strong relationships
The key to landing your dream job could be connecting with and then sending a single message to a casual acquaintance on social media. That’s…
Why once-gold ceilings in Spain’s Alhambra palace have purple stains
Once upon a time, Spain’s hilltop Alhambra palace glittered with gold. Over the centuries, though, the Islamic citadel’s ornate, gilded structures on its ceilings and…
In the battle of human vs. water, ‘Water Always Wins’
Water Always WinsErica Gies Univ. of Chicago, $26 Humans have long tried to wrangle water. We’ve straightened once-meandering rivers for shipping purposes. We’ve constructed levees…
‘Virology’ ponders society’s relationship with viruses
VirologyJoseph OsmundsonW.W. Norton & Co., $16.95 As a journalist covering COVID-19, I’ve had a front-row seat to the pandemic. I’ve been overwhelmed with despair over…
Demond Mullins climbed Everest to inspire more Black outdoor enthusiasts
Demond “Dom” Mullins’ days as a student at Lehman College in New York were interrupted in 2004 when his National Guard unit was deployed to…
College COVID-19 testing can reduce coronavirus deaths in local communities
Getting a COVID-19 test has become a regular part of many college students’ lives. That ritual may protect not just those students’ classmates and professors…
The idea that many people grow following trauma may be a myth
“What does not kill me, makes me stronger,” 19th century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche famously wrote. Variations of that aphorism abound in literary, spiritual and,…
‘Fresh Banana Leaves’ shows how Western conservation has harmed Indigenous people
Fresh Banana LeavesJessica HernandezNorth Atlantic Books, $17.95 During the civil war in El Salvador that began in the 1970s, an injured Victor Hernandez hid from…
Nudge theory’s popularity may block insights into improving society
Imagine removing a branch of the U.S. government, say the Supreme Court. What are the myriad ways that such an upheaval might reshape people’s lives?…
Military towns are the most racially integrated places in the U.S. Here’s why
Military towns are the most racially integrated places in the U.S. Here’s why
How we got from Gregor Mendel’s pea plants to modern genetics
How we got from Gregor Mendel’s pea plants to modern genetics
Stuck inside this winter? Try an at-home citizen science project
For many of us, it’s the height of winter, with harsh weather and the pandemic keeping us inside. If you’re looking for a new way…
Part donkey, part wild ass, the kunga is the oldest known hybrid bred by humans
From mules to ligers, the list of human-made hybrid animals is long. And, it turns out, ancient. Meet the kunga, the earliest known hybrid animal…
Why do some people succeed when others fail? Outliers provide clues
Northern Somalia’s economy relies heavily on livestock. About 80 percent of the country’s annual exports are meat, milk and wool from sheep and other animals.…
How some of 2021’s major science stories evolved over time
A story doesn’t necessarily end once it goes online. Here, Science News offers status updates on some evolving stories we reported on earlier this year.…
6 surprising records science set in 2021
From a record-setting black hole to the oldest animal DNA ever recovered, discoveries in 2021 stretched the limits of scientific study — and our imaginations.…
These are the viruses that mRNA vaccines may take on next
Tiny molecules came up big in 2021. By year’s end, COVID-19 vaccines based on snippets of mRNA, or messenger RNA, proved to be safe and…
Why it matters that health agencies finally said the coronavirus is airborne
This year, health experts around the world revised their views about how the coronavirus spreads. Aerosol scientists, virologists and other researchers had determined in 2020…
In 2021, COVID-19 vaccines were put to the test. Here’s what we learned
2021 was the year the COVID-19 vaccines had to prove their mettle. We started the year full of hope: With vaccines in hand in record-breaking…
These are Science News’ favorite books of 2021
Many of the Science News staff’s favorite books of the year challenge how we understand the world, from rethinking human history to reimagining the toilet.…
A massive 8-year effort finds that much cancer research can’t be replicated
After eight years, a project that tried to reproduce the results of key cancer biology studies has finally concluded. And its findings suggest that like…
Climate change could make Virginia’s Tangier Island uninhabitable by 2051
Virginia’s Tangier Island is rapidly disappearing. Rising sea levels are exacerbating erosion and flooding, and could make the speck of land in the Chesapeake Bay…
How missing data makes it harder to measure racial bias in policing
From 2012 to 2015, a team of researchers collected 2.9 million police officer patrol records in Chicago. The team’s analysis of that data, from nearly…
No, COVID-19 vaccines won’t make you infertile
The World Health Organization has warned that the globe is dealing with two pandemics. One is the spread of the coronavirus, but the other, equally…
‘The Dawn of Everything’ rewrites 40,000 years of human history
The Dawn of EverythingDavid Graeber and David WengrowFarrar, Straus and Giroux, $35 Concerns abound about what’s gone wrong in modern societies. Many scholars explain growing…
How to choose a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot
It’s been a little over six months since I got my second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and…
Scientists should report results with intellectual humility. Here’s how
In the children’s chapter book series Zoey and Sassafras, which my own two kids adore, young Zoey has to work out how to save magical…
Epidemics have happened before and they’ll happen again. What will we remember?
The emergency hospital, a partially demolished building hastily enclosed with wooden partitions, was about to open. It was the fall of 1918 in Philadelphia, and…
Nostalgia may have bona fide benefits in hard times, like the pandemic
Over 300 years ago, Swiss physician Johannes Hofer observed disturbing behaviors among Swiss mercenaries fighting in far-flung lands. The soldiers were prone to anorexia, despondency…
Methods of getting results from real-world experiments win 2021 economics Nobel
Some of the most insightful — and now most celebrated — studies of such major social issues as minimum wages and immigration have seized on…
How our SN 10 scientists have responded to tumultuous times
Each year since 2015, Science News has featured the work of outstanding early- and mid-career scientists in our SN 10: Scientists to Watch list. They’re…
The spoken word album ‘Experimental Words’ weaves rhyme with reason
B. Gregory “Science asks the questions. / And poetry marks the spot.” This line from “Unweaving Science,” the opening track of the spoken word album…
The Top 10 scientific surprises of Science News’ first 100 years
From the day Archimedes cut his bath short to shout “Eureka,” science has been a constant source of surprises. Even after the abundant accumulation of…
Mary Roach’s new book ‘Fuzz’ explores the ‘criminal’ lives of animals
Fuzz Mary RoachW.W. Norton & Co., $26.95 Around the world, criminals run free in the forest. These villains can’t be arrested — because they’re not…
Perspective-changing experiences, good or bad, can lead to richer lives
In December, my husband, our 5-year-old daughter and I tested positive for COVID-19. Life, already off-kilter, lurched. Smell, taste, breath — were they normal? The…
‘On the Fringe’ explores the thin line between science and pseudoscience
On the FringeMichael D. GordinOxford Univ., $18.95 There is no such thing as pseudoscience, and Michael Gordin has written a book about it. In On…
Gender-affirming care improves mental health for transgender youth
Daniel’s birth certificate is marked “female,” but Daniel is nonbinary — not exclusively male nor female. “I’m masculine leaning,” says the 18-year-old. The disconnect between…
Racism lurks in names given to plants and animals. That’s starting to change
With lemon and black plumage, the Scott’s oriole flashes in the desert like a flame. But the bird’s name holds a violent history that Stephen…
Everyone maps numbers in space. But why don’t we all use the same directions?
Consider a ruler, a timeline or even weights lined up in a gym. Why are the smaller values, the earlier times and the lighter weights…
‘Wild Souls’ explores what we owe animals in a human-dominated world
Wild SoulsEmma MarrisBloomsbury, $28 On the Arctic Ocean’s fringe, polar bears stand on ice thinning from human-caused climate change. Without thick ice from which to…
How to detect, resist and counter the flood of fake news
From lies about election fraud to QAnon conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine falsehoods, misinformation is racing through our democracy. And it is dangerous. Awash in bad…
A new memoir tells the life story of NASA ‘hidden figure’ Katherine Johnson
My Remarkable JourneyKatherine Johnson with Joylette Hylick and Katherine MooreAmistad, $25.99 Katherine Johnson became a household name circa 2016, when the bestselling book and Hollywood…
Gray wolves scare deer from roads, reducing dangerous collisions
Gray wolves help keep North America’s deer populations in check, and by doing so, may provide an added benefit for people: curbing deer-vehicle collisions. In…
Climate change disinformation is evolving. So are efforts to fight back
Over the last four decades, a highly organized, well-funded campaign powered by the fossil fuel industry has sought to discredit the science that links global…
Small bribes may help people build healthy handwashing habits
Good habits are hard to adopt. But a little bribery can go a long way. That’s the finding from an experiment in India that used…
Vaccine hesitancy is nothing new. Here’s the damage it’s done over centuries
As vaccines to protect people from COVID-19 started becoming available in late 2020, the rhetoric of anti-vaccine groups intensified. Efforts to keep vaccines out of…
Food that boosts gut microbes could be a new way to help malnourished kids
In the densely populated slums of Dhaka, Bangladesh, children survive on rice cooked with curry powder and cheap cookies and chips, packaged in appealing, colorful…
How science museums reinvented themselves to survive the pandemic
On January 30, 2020, Science Gallery Dublin assembled a small group of experts to discuss a strange new disease that had recently emerged in China.…