The COVID-19 Response Is Failing Communities of Color

To build trust with traditionally underserved groups, health officials need to craft their messaging in a much more culturally sensitive way | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

A Word about Those UFO Videos

I'm an astrophysicist, but that doesn't mean I have a motivation to debunk them | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Did Galileo Truly Say, 'And Yet It Moves'? A Modern Detective Story

An astrophysicist traces genealogy and art history to discover the origin of the famous motto | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Early Detection: A New Front in the War on Cancer

Blood tests that find malignancies before they spread could transform our approach to treatment | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Keeping Pregnant Women Safe during the Pandemic

Our health care systems must be agile enough to ensure women have a safe pregnancy and childbirth even under the pressures of COVID-19 | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Should You Immerse Yourself in Bad News These Days, or Ignore It Completely?

Neither is ideal; the best option is to temper your negative emotions by focusing on positive ones | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Don't Regulate Artificial Intelligence: Starve It

The potential dangers of this technology are great enough that we need to be very careful about how powerful we allow it to be | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Nurses Are Playing a Crucial Role in this Pandemic—as Always

The profession’s contributions to improving the public’s health during times of crisis date back to the days of Florence Nightingale | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Don't Regulate Artificial Intelligence: Starve It

The potential dangers of this technology are great enough that we need to be very careful about how powerful we allow it to be | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Embrace the Ultimate Unknown

 The best way to have a good death is to live a good life | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

In Search of Naked Singularities

The “cosmic censorship” hypothesis says they shouldn’t exist—but is it possible that we’ve already detected them and misinterpreted their nature? | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

In Search of Naked Singularities

The “cosmic censorship” hypothesis says they shouldn’t exist—but is it possible that we’ve already detected them and misinterpreted their nature? | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Where do savant skills come from? (2014)

There's a scene in the 1988 movie Rain Man in which Raymond Babbitt (played by Dustin Hoffman) recites a waitress's phone number. Naturally the waitress is shocked. | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Prime Factorization as Verse

Creating poetry with the fundamental theorem of arithmetic | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Life Inside the Extinction

These are startling times, but there's a way out | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Will COVID-19 Make Us Less Democratic and More like China?

The pandemic has revealed the disadvantages of laissez-faire governance and advantages of centralized control | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 and the Harsh Reality of Empathy Distribution

Empathy is a complex trait, like courage or height; inevitably, some individuals inherit fewer pro-empathy genes than average | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Scientists Waited Two and a Half Years to See Whether Bacteria Can Eat Rock

Mystery of dirt’s origins is a thorny experimental problem | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Scientists Waited Two and a Half Years to See Whether Bacteria Can Eat Rock

Mystery of dirt’s origins is a thorny experimental problem | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Honey Bees Are Struggling with Their Own Pandemic

And there could be more on the way | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Coronavirus Roundup for April 25-May 1

Pandemic news highlights for the week | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Rise of "Health Entertainment" to Convey Lifesaving Messages in the COVID-19 Pandemic

The crisis shows the need for public health authorities to get creative in their communications | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Comparing Covid-19 Deaths to Flu Deaths Is Like Comparing Apples to Oranges

The former are actual numbers; the latter are inflated statistical estimates | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Honey Bees Are Struggling with Their Own Pandemic

And there could be more on the way | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage

The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Let's Create an Elite Scientific Body to Advise on Global Catastrophes

Call it the Science Readiness Reserves—a group that will anticipate and prepare for rare but disastrous events like pandemics, asteroid strikes and more | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Galileo's Lessons for Living and Working Through a Plague

An outbreak in Italy in the 1630s forced him to find new ways of doing his research and connecting with family | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions

They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

If You Think Preparedness Is Expensive, the Pandemic Puts Things in Perspective

Lessons COVID-19 has taught us | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Hygiene of Hand and Mind during the Pandemic

Making handwashing a meditative practice can help us focus on humanity’s interconnectedness with the environment | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 70's Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic

Phil Anderson's article More is Different describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking—and as the virus multiplies and spreads, that's just what the human race desperately needs | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Coronavirus: More Is Different

Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 1970s Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic

Phil Anderson’s article “More Is Different” describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking. And as the virus multiplies and spreads, that’s just what the human race desperately needs | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Beware of Antibody-based COVID-19 "Immunity Passports"

Dozens of tests with unknown accuracy have flooded the U.S. thanks to a move by the FDA that loosened restrictions | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Will Americans Be Willing to Install COVID-19 Tracking Apps?

Many would, but it depends on what organizations are distributing them | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Comparing COVID-19 Deaths to Flu Deaths Is Like Comparing Apples to Oranges

The former are actual numbers; the latter are inflated statistical estimates | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Self-Isolation? I'm an Expert

Here’s what I’ve learned as an oceangoing research scientist | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

More Time Out in Nature is an Unexpected Benefit of the COVID-19 Sheltering Rules

Exploring the natural world can be restorative to mental health | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Our Response to COVID-19 Is Male-Centric

We don’t know how the coronavirus may affect women and men differently, which prevents us from delivering appropriate and personalized care | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Theorem That Applies to Everything from Search Algorithms to Epidemiology

Perron-Frobenius theorem and linear algebra have many virtues to extol | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Theorem That Applies to Everything from Search Algorithms to Epidemiology

Perron-Frobenius theorem and linear algebra have many virtues to extol | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Tickling the Asteroid's Tail

How do you return a piece of asteroid to Earth? Practice | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Post-Traumatic Growth: Finding Meaning and Creativity in Adversity

Resilience and strength can often be attained through unexpected routes | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

The Stars Could Help Unify Us

In a time of social distancing, looking to the skies might bring people closer together | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19: Potential Implications for Individuals with Substance Use Disorders

People who smoke tobacco or marijuana; vape; or use opioids or methamphetamine may be at higher risk of serious disease | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Will COVID-19 Make Us More Socialist?

Pundits hope the pandemic will lead to more humane government policies but fear darker outcomes | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

Coronavirus Roundup for April 18-24

Here are pandemic news highlights for the week | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago

COVID-19 Will Hit the Elderly Even Harder in Developing Countries

The suffering will be unimaginable | Continue reading


@blogs.scientificamerican.com | 4 years ago