My Body My Choice graffiti

What Roe v. Wade Means for Internet Privacy

Roe v. Wade left Americans with the idea that privacy is something we can expect as citizens. But does the SCOTUS consider privacy a constitutional right?
Homura Akemi fandom

3 Questions to Ask About Online Fandom (and Teen Fans)

The internet has played a large role in fostering intense fan communities. But are these high-octane, super-specific interests healthy? Or...interesting?
Library fallout shelter

Preparing Libraries for Nuclear War

During the Cold War, America's libraries helped patrons prepare for nuclear war, from stocking reference materials to providing fallout shelters.
Atom earth

Atoms for… Peace?

Iran's nuclear program is in the news, again. But what's the backstory on how the country went nuclear in the first place?
US Embassy Havana Cuba

The Science Behind Sonic Incidents

U.S. government employees stationed in Havana, Cuba, and Guangzhou, China, have experienced mysterious symptoms. Could the culprit be a sonic weapon?
Mechanical Turk

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk has Reinvented Research

Online services like Amazon's "Mechanical Turk" have ushered in a golden age in survey research. But is it ethical for researchers to use them?
3d printing biological

3D Printing Body Parts

3D printing has evolved far beyond printing out a simple item using plastic. For example, scientists Jody Connell and colleagues described an innovative use of the technology to create three-dimensional bacteria cultures.
AUVs exploring the Titanic

The Wildest Inventions in Scientific Research

Sometimes scientists end up turning into inventors throughout the course of their research. Three cases in point.
Congress internet facebook

What Congress Should Know About the Internet

Facebook's privacy and ad preferences settings are a privacy placebo: they trick us into feeling a little better, but they don't treat the underlying disease.
team of PC gamers

Why Are Video Games so Great?

An anthropologist investigating one group of committed gamers found people attracted not to realism, but to deeply engaging cooperative projects.