Excerpt: The Dawn of Carbon Offsets Through Forestation
An energy company’s novel project spawned in the late 1980s helped set the stage for planting trees as a means to sequester carbon emissions. In the process, it resulted in a lot of lessons that are...
View ArticleWhy Alzheimer’s Scientists Are Re-thinking the Amyloid Hypothesis
Scientists have long posited that the disease is driven by build-up of a certain protein in the brain. Although this idea has recently been mired in controversies, data suggest the hypothesis is not...
View ArticleThe Real Benefits of Annual Covid-19 Booster Shots
Only about 20 percent of Americans have followed current CDC guidance and gotten the latest Covid vaccine. The rest, experts say, may be experiencing vaccine fatigue or feeling distrustful about...
View ArticleHow Los Angeles Can Fireproof Communities, Not Just Houses
After the devastation of the Los Angeles fires, officials are ready to rebuild. But as the risk of devastating wildfires increases with climate change, the calls to rebuild Los Angeles raise a series...
View ArticleGateway: The 21st-Century Moonshot Mission
NASA has plans to launch the first space station in deep space. Some experts say it’s an important steppingstone to long-term human space habitation, and NASA’s eventual goal of reaching the red...
View ArticleGateway: The 21st-Century Moonshot Mission
NASA has plans to launch the first space station in deep space. Some experts say it’s an important steppingstone to long-term human space habitation, and NASA’s eventual goal of reaching the red...
View ArticleWe Need Greenland. But Not in the Way Trump Thinks.
For centuries, colonists have set their sights on Greenland because of its strategic location and unique mineral resources. But according to one geoscientist, this antiquated view misses the Arctic...
View ArticleWorld Bank Reverses Course to Back Mega Dams
Despite continued opposition, the World Bank has approved the first of five big dam projects expected to get its support in the coming months. Climate change has upped the need for renewable energy,...
View ArticleIt’s Not Sci-Fi: Americans Support Asteroid Defense Spending
The danger from large-scale asteroid impacts is not the stuff of science fiction. As new space technologies evolve to detect, deflect, or obliterate asteroids entirely, polls show that funding for...
View ArticleWorld Bank Reverses Course to Back Mega Dams
Despite continued opposition, the World Bank has approved the first of five big dam projects expected to get its support in the coming months. Climate change has upped the need for renewable energy,...
View ArticleGateway: The 21st-Century Moonshot Mission
NASA has plans to launch the first space station in deep space. Some experts say it’s an important steppingstone to long-term human space habitation, and NASA’s eventual goal of reaching the red...
View ArticleThe Uncertain Multigenerational Implications of PFAS
PFAS are known as forever chemicals because of their environmental persistence, but as a mother, I also see their multigenerational persistence. Once a person is exposed to the toxicants, they...
View ArticleReading the Tea Leaves for Trump-Era Health Policy
President Donald Trump issued a flurry of executive orders and other actions on health care soon after reentering office. Other than signaling he intends to reverse many of Joe Biden’s moves, the...
View ArticleSeeking New Foods, Scientists Look To Bacteria, Algae, and More
Human diets have long included relatively small quantities of microbes — think of the live bacteria in yogurt. But now researchers at universities and dozens of startups across the globe are...
View ArticleKelp Farming Isn’t As Green As It Seems
Farming kelp has been endorsed as a strategy for removing and sequestering carbon from the atmosphere. But the practice has many pitfalls and could shift the delicate nutrient balance of the ocean. One...
View ArticleInterview: Doctors Need Flexibility in Prescribing Opioids
Stefan Kertesz, a physician and longtime critic of overaggressive cutbacks in opioid prescribing for those with chronic pain, says doctors need flexibility in how they treat their patients. “People...
View ArticleThe Downstream Effects of India’s Green Revolution
India extracts more groundwater than any other country worldwide, and more than the U.S. and China combined. Decades of intense monocropping of wheat and rice, encouraged by the country’s Green...
View ArticleThe Impact of Trump’s Order On Gender-Affirming Care
An executive order signed last week intends to limit insurance coverage for trans youth and threatens to withhold funding from hospitals. Transgender people and their advocates are concerned it will...
View ArticleThe FDA Weighs in (Again) on Biased Pulse Oximeters
In January, the FDA released new draft guidance for makers of medical devices that measure blood oxygen levels. This data can help determine whether a patient needs treatment, but the devices are not...
View ArticleThe End of Science’s Peacetime
The president’s executive orders to freeze federal funding and communications have thrown U.S. scientists into uncertainty, signaling the start of a major conflict around the practice of science. C....
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