State of the World’s Science
The pursuit of knowledge is now a global enterprise. Scientific American and Nature have teamed up on this special report on how this trend is changing the way science is done, and how it informs the world.
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NASA Crashes Twin Probes Into the Moon
NASA concluded its Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) moon mission by crashing two probes into the lunar surface — on purpose. The goal of the mission is to map the moon’s gravitational field. To do this, NASA launched two washing-machine-size probes to orbit the moon in September 2011. After both craft achieved orbit, they…
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Extreme Weather More Persuasive on Climate Change Than Scientists
AP poll shows that events like superstorm Sandy are succeeding with climate sceptics where scientists have been failing
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‘Marine’ Fossils May Instead Represent Early Land Dwellers
The fossils of various frondlike and sacklike organisms that supposedly lived at the bottom of ancient oceans may actually represent some of the earliest organisms to dwell on land. That’s the controversial interpretation of a new study, which suggests that rocks long thought to have been formed from sediments deposited on ancient seafloors may actually…
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James Gates: The Pain and Pleasures of Science
As a ball rolled down an incline, young Sylvester James Gates, along with the other students in his class, were tasked with timing it and observing the principles of mechanics in action. “I saw a piece of magic happen right before my very eyes,” he says. “Because, while I was well aware that mathematics was…
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Open Access to Scientific Research Can Save Lives
This year a high-school student in Maryland announced that he had invented a diagnostic test for pancreatic cancer. The test costs three cents per use. It works 168 times as fast and more than 400 times as accurately as the best previously existing test. It also may be able to detect ovarian and lung cancers….
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The Right Policies Can Fill the Gender Gap in Science
Across the world, many women drop out of — or never enter — work in the ‘knowledge society’, even after studying science and technology. Low enrollment rates for women in all but the life sciences, and high dropout rates after university (almost a third of women in science), result in not only the loss of…
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Omnipotence Needs No Defense and Other Obvious Theological Truths
Egypt is at the crossroads. Its emerging constitution, however, betrays the brightest hopes of the so-called Arab Spring. A draft approved by Egypt’s Constituent Assembly includes blasphemy laws and ignores the rights of women; it even permits child labor. Pray it’s just a rough draft. Citizens have taken to the streets in protest. We can…
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Why Seeing Is Believing – Usually – When It Comes to Climate Change
Political leaders haven’t moved on global warming because they’re not feeling widespread public pressure to do so. And the public isn’t putting that pressure on their leaders in part because many people still don’t believe that climate change is a real, or all that dangerous. The vast, vast majority of climate scientists know that global…
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Showing Decision-Makers the Value of Science
A SciDev.Net survey reveals the challenges of applying research insights to policy and practice, and underscores that evidence is not enough.