Commentary / World Jan 5, 2019

Why people fall for fake news isn't simple

Scientists are weirdly divided over what seems like common sense.

Commentary / World Dec 24, 2018

You really are turning into your parents

At least you have some sense of what's coming, and maybe it's not too late to swerve.

Commentary / World Dec 22, 2018

Just exactly where is the final frontier?

The line between atmosphere and outer space is surprisingly debatable. Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo may or may not have crossed it.

Commentary / World Dec 15, 2018

Biodiversity wins, even when all seems lost

Tiny frogs and lizards surviving in Haiti's last splinters of forest show that even the most devastated areas can be redeemed.

Commentary / World Dec 1, 2018

Gene editing: Repeating nature's experiment

A mutation sometime in the last 3,000 years already gave some Europeans the immunity that a scientist claims to have recreated in an embryo.

Commentary / World Nov 24, 2018

In art, success depends on who you know

Researchers found they could predict success decades in advance from the names of the first five galleries where an artist exhibits.

Commentary / World Nov 13, 2018

You probably had plastic for breakfast

Welcome to a global experiment about the effects of eating and drinking microplastic.

Commentary / World Oct 29, 2018

No, sitting is not worse than smoking

Raising awareness is good, but overplaying a scare will foster distrust in science.

Commentary / World Oct 27, 2018

Algorithms and charting the great unknown

Researchers tend to cluster and mine the same familiar territory. AI can overcome that tendency and point to new questions.