Biased tech design prompts a writer to call for resistance
Technically Wrong, Sara Wachter-Boettcher’s new book about the prejudices, slights, and snubs built into today’s technologies, ends with an observation abou…
Book and media reviews from the journal Science, edited by Valerie Thompson.
-
-
An urgent treatise on rising sea levels predicts a wild and watery future
It is hard to disagree with Jeff Goodell’s observation in his new book that “the water will come,” and “it will reshape our world.” As I write, Hurric… -
Climate change and conservative forest management may mean bigger and more frequent wildfires
On 22 September, the first day of fall, fire season in many parts of the United States should have been winding down, yet the U.S. National Interagency Fire Cen… -
Observing animal movement has come a long way, thanks to advances in data science and technology
Animal tracking has been an enduring interest throughout history. Until recently, however, tracking simply meant following the tracks of animals. In the mid-20t… -
Blending fact and fiction, a mathematics professor aims to breathe new life into the history of game theory
Game theory is one of the slipperiest topics in the history of mathematics. Looked at one way, the field is quite narrow. Beginners usually think of it as based… -
Fossils aren’t your forte? A charming tale of cephalopod evolution may change your mind
As a squid biologist, I have always been a huge fan of living cephalopods, but their shelled ancestors never piqued my interest before I picked up Danna Staaf… -
A science-based guide offers tips for exploiting and overcoming faulty decision-making
Humans have put men on the moon. We have split the atom. We can predict tides, eclipses, and even asteroid flybys to the minute. None of this would be possible… -
A journalist chronicles the coevolution of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and the modern chicken
What does the invention of the chicken nugget in 1963 have to do with a 1999 outbreak of urinary tract infections in Berkeley undergraduates? More than you migh… -
A history of handedness shows how attitudes can influence scientific conclusions
What causes some people to be left-handed? Is handedness a uniquely human trait? Are left-handers more likely than other people to be creative geniuses or to su… -
Nearly a century after it killed millions, a journalist reflects on how the Spanish flu changed the world
Between 1918 and 1920, the Spanish flu infected a third of the global population. It claimed more lives than either World War I or World War II. Nearly a centur…
