Interview: Should There Be Peer Review After Publication?
As a graduate student, Laura Luebbert uncovered some troubling problems with a series of published research papers on honeybees. After a years’ long effort to document the issues, she and her co-author...
View ArticleHow to Pinpoint the H5N1 Mortality Rate in Humans
Avian flu is reported to kill half the people it infects. But that mortality rate doesn’t factor in mild cases that went undetected. And even less certain is how lethal H5N1 would be if it evolves to...
View ArticleA Hurricane Exposes Houston’s Infrastructure Weaknesses — Again
More than a week after Hurricane Beryl made landfall as a Category 1 storm, more than 100,000 electricity customers still didn’t have have power. And the majority of them were in the Houston...
View ArticleThe Perverse Legacy of Participation in Human Genomic Research
The story of how one person became the majority source of DNA for the Human Genome Project encapsulates 20th-century researchers’ attitudes toward donor consent, says Duke University’s Misha Angrist....
View ArticleLooking for Long Covid: A Clash of Definition and Study Design
Few experts dispute that long Covid can be debilitating, or that it warrants careful study. But a number of experts say it is misleading to frame it as a growing epidemic. That is at odds with the view...
View ArticleBook Review: A Family’s Cancer Ordeal, and a Genetic Enigma
Part memoir, part medical detective story, “A Fatal Mystery” is Lawrence Ingrassia’s account of his family’s tragic legacy of cancer and the discovery of Li-Fraumeni Syndrome, a rare condition caused...
View ArticleSchools Launched Anti-Obesity Policies. Experts Say They Failed.
Starting in the 2000s, schools across the country began weighing their students, sometimes even sending home report cards with each student’s body-mass index. Since then, evidence has mounted that the...
View ArticleAmid Shortages, Copycat Weight Loss Drugs Are Used by Millions
While weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro are in an enduring shortage dating back to 2022, compounding pharmacies are allowed to sell their own versions. Though the practice is FDA-authorized,...
View ArticleAre 20,000 Big Cats Caged in the U.S.? Highly Unlikely.
The Big Cat Public Safety Act, which was estimated to cost $3 million to implement between 2022 and 2027, focused on tens and thousands of animals that almost certainly do not exist. The law also...
View ArticleRevisiting the ‘Research Parasite’ Debate in the Age of AI
In this month’s Selective Pressure column, C. Brandon Ogbunu revisits a debate about so-called “research parasites” — scientists who use and reanalyze other people’s data. The large language models...
View ArticleBook Review: You Talking to Me? How Human Language Evolved
In “The Language Puzzle,” Steven Mithen draws on the latest findings from an array of fields, including linguistics, archeology, anthropology, psychology, and genetics, to show how human language...
View ArticleHow the FDA Could Shape the Future of Psychedelics Research
This August, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to make a decision about whether to approve the psychedelic MDMA for use in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder. A negative...
View ArticleIn Texas, ‘Junk Science Law’ Is Not Keeping up With Science
In 2013, Texas passed a pioneering law that allows for new trials in cases with flawed scientific evidence. But in the 10 years after the law went into effect, the state’s highest criminal court has...
View ArticleIn Some Cities, Second Thoughts About Gunshot Detection Sensors
Several recent studies on the effectiveness of gunshot detection technology have found it has little if any impact on shootings, investigations, or prosecutions. Meanwhile, officials in cities like...
View ArticleDon’t Ask AI to Make Life-and-Death Decisions
Generative AI tools such as ChatGPT will produce answers to almost any question a user asks. But one computer scientist cautions that such chatbots aren’t equipped to answer life’s big, existential...
View ArticleAmid Shortages, Copycat Weight Loss Drugs Are Used by Millions
While weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro are in an enduring shortage dating back to 2022, compounding pharmacies are allowed to sell their own versions. Though the practice is FDA-authorized,...
View ArticleReview: A Neurodivergent Reporter’s Odyssey of Self-Discovery
In “Do I Know You,” Sadie Dingfelder weaves together personal memoir and science reporting — including brain scans, computerized tests, and assessments by medical researchers — to describe the...
View ArticleAmid Shortages, Copycat Weight Loss Drugs Are Used by Millions
While weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro are in an enduring shortage dating back to 2022, compounding pharmacies are allowed to sell their own versions. Though the practice is FDA-authorized,...
View ArticleFrom Orchard to Aisle: An Uncertain Path for Emerging Crops
Pawpaws, tropical-tasting plants native to North America, aren’t widely accessible in stores, but this hard-to-get fruit has gained a cult following in recent decades — and the supply simply isn’t...
View ArticleIn Kenya, One Solution to Contaminated Water Comes From Above
Access to safe drinking water — and its equitable distribution — underpins public health. But for the estimated 250,000 people in Kibera, who live without any government infrastructure, clean water is...
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