Confronting Misinformation
How to protect society from fear, lies and division
Features
How to Get Through This Election
Stop arguing with people about what is true. Instead ask how they are voting
Why So Many Americans Are Skeptical of a Coronavirus Vaccine
It’s not just “antiscience thinking”
Trolling for Truth on Social Media
What 1990s Internet protest movements share with today’s disinformation campaigns
When a Journalist Becomes a Disinformation Agent
Simulation games help newsrooms prepare for covering a chaotic election season
Eight Persistent COVID-19 Myths and Why People Believe Them
From a human-made virus to vaccine conspiracy theories, we rounded up the most insidious false claims about the pandemic
How Birds Evolved Their Incredible Diversity
An analysis of 391 skulls shows that birds evolved surprisingly slowly, compared with their dinosaur forerunners
How Do We Prevent War in Space?
There are defensive, offensive and diplomatic options for averting conflicts in orbit
Decoding a Disorder at the Interface of Mind and Brain
A mysterious condition once dismissed as hysteria is challenging the divide between neurology and psychiatry
The 1918 Flu Faded in Our Collective Memory: We Might 'Forget' the Coronavirus, Too
The legacy of the 20th century’s deadliest pandemic shows how large groups remember—and forget—their shared past
Solving the Mysteries of Ancient Plagues
DNA from bacteria and viruses, recovered from human remains, shows how pathogens helped to topple empires and change civilizations
Departments
- From the Editor
Resist Misinformation, Watch Birds and Remember Plagues
- Letters
Readers Respond to the July 2020 Issue
- Advances
Cells Solve an English Hedge Maze with the Same Skills They Use to Traverse the Body
Echolocation Drains Bats Traveling through Noise
Storm-Surfing Parasites Spread Widely
New Pen-and-Ink Method Draws Health Sensors Directly on Skin
Neighborhood Wealth Dramatically Impacts Home Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Earthshaking Signature 'Brawn Songs' and Movement, Developed over Time, Identify Seals
In Case You Missed It
New Space Weather Network Extends over Africa
Metal-Breathing Bacteria Synthesize High-Tech Material
- Forum
A Diplomatic Appointment Goes to a Man with the Wrong Kind of Experience
- The Science of Health
Yoga May Bolster the Brain Regions Most Affected by Aging
- The Science Agenda
Repairing Earth once the Pandemic Is Over
- Anti Gravity
We Sometimes Missed the Boat--and Bridge
- 50, 100 & 150 Years Ago
50, 100 & 150 Years Ago: November 2020
- Graphic Science
Flu Season Never Came to the Southern Hemisphere
- Reviews
Early Maps of Geologic Strata, an Oliver Sacks Documentary and a New Science Podcast
- Meter
Poem: The Noble Gases
- Observatory
Scientists Failed to Use Common Sense Early in the Pandemic
