Dating Apps Are Intensifying Online Partisanship
Some social scientists argue that dating and mating patterns may be the real drivers of polarization.
We Consume a Spoonful of Plastic a Week
You've heard about all the microscopic plastic in our water supply. But did you know there are ways to limit how much you ingest?
Is It Ethical to Grow a Brain in a Petri Dish?
Brain organoids could be the key to understanding brain diseases, which is why we should think carefully about how far we are prepared to take them.
Can Crops’ Wild Relatives Save Troubled Agriculture?
Cultivating a limited number of crops reduced the genetic diversity of plants, endangering harvests. Seed collectors hope to fix it by finding the plants’ wild cousins.
An Epidemic of Retractions
Nicolas Chevassus-au-Louis's new book, Fraud in the Lab, offers some tough love for the scientific community.
Volcanic Ecosystems in the Deep Ocean
Undersea volcanoes, like Hawaii's Kīlauea, foster diverse ecosystems in an environment far from sunlight—and as acidic as lemon juice.
Climate Change and Syria’s Civil War
Some scholars and scientists are calling climate change the invisible player in Syria's ongoing civil war. But is that too simplistic an explanation?
Aeroplankton: The Life in the Air We Breathe
Just as the ocean is full of plankton, the air we breathe teems with microorganisms.