Science

A new book by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and Andrew S. Curran examines how 18th-century academics understood Black identity.

Researchers create massive genealogical network dating back 100,000 years

Thoreau's time at Walden Pond has provided substantial data for scientists monitoring the effects of a warming climate on the area's plant life.

Uptake of COVID vaccines for kids has been slow, but it has been slow for other vaccines too.

The Underground Railroad conductor's understanding of botany, wildlife biology, geography and astronomy allowed her to guide herself and others to safety.

Shibutani, Haruo Najima, and Tomika Shibutani reported that the vaccination lines stretched as long as 200 yards. “The conditions were atrocious.”

Combing across 19th-century shores, seaweed collectors would wander for hours, tucking specimens into pouches, before pasting their finds into artful albums.

The father of game theory helped develop the atom bomb—and thought he could calculate when to use it.

No matter the outcome of West Virginia v. EPA, the agency can take action to engage the public and make its data more accessible.

The atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the U.S. came with censorship and obfuscation about the effects of the radiation on those who were exposed.

How a team of fearless American women overcame medical skepticism to stop whooping cough, a vicious infectious disease, and save countless lives.

The overlooked first mentor of Thomas Jefferson.

IBM’s chess-playing supercomputer Deep Blue was eclipsed by the neural-net revolution. Now, 25 years on, the machine may get the last laugh.

The history of the movement is one of unlikely success. But what can we learn from embattled experiments like prescribed heroin? 

An act of love in the form of a medicinal tonic.

Fewer fires are burning worldwide than at any time since antiquity. But in banishing fire from sight, we have made its dangers stranger and less predictable.

Hiding behind "academic freedom," E. O. Wilson actively propagated race pseudoscience in collusion with white supremacists.

How the rise of alternative, "natural," medicines led Americans to equate food with moral character.

Vaccine skepticism and misinformation have persisted since the smallpox epidemics. With the internet, it's only gotten worse.

What the autism diagnosis says about you.

The white pine known as Tree 103 had lost the dewy glow that it had back in 1675.

Actions by the medical profession in the 1970s still reverberate today.

Corporate deregulation has long curtailed OSHA’s power to safeguard workers.

Access to information only goes so far to explain the curious link between secrets and those who tell them.

The past provides a key lesson to minimize the damage from the omicron surge.

Plastic production just keeps expanding, and now is becoming a driving cause of climate change.

The farm tractor wasn’t born overnight. Perfecting it led to a three-way battle between Ford, John Deere and International Harvester.

Fire is a planetary feature, not a biotic bug. What can we learn from Yosemite’s experiment to restore natural fire?

On the nineteenth-century artists and thinkers who pictured a future of abundance powered by steam.

We all can thank a 19th century Boston-born cookbook author and domestic science pioneer for revolutionizing the way recipes are replicated at home.