1. Grappling with the Truth

Post-Truth: A Guide for the Perplexed

If politicians can lie without condemnation, what are scientists to do?

Why Your First Idea Can Blind You to a Better One

While we are working through a problem, the brain’s tendency to stick with familiar ideas can literally blind us to superior solutions

Why People "Fly from Facts"

Research shows the appeal of untestable beliefs and how they lead to a polarized society

These Truths Are Not Self-Evident—but They've Been Firmly Established Over and Over by Scientific Research

A compendium of irrefutable facts for these fact-starved times

2. Climate

7 Answers to Climate Contrarian Nonsense

Evidence for human interference with Earth’s climate continues to accumulate

What to Believe in Antarctica's Great Ice Debate

Although not all the studies agree, most climate scientists argue that, yes, Antarctica is losing mass in a warming world 

Without Government, the Marketplace Will Not Solve Climate Change

Whether or not the world reaches an international emissions agreement, the U.S. government holds the real solution

3. Vaccines

Fact or Fiction?: Vaccines Are Dangerous

Overwhelming medical evidence shows that negative side effects are rare and minor

4. Guns

Firearms Research: The Gunfighter

A researcher studies the consequences of the ubiquity of guns in the U.S.

More Guns Do Not Stop More Crimes, Evidence Shows

More firearms do not keep people safe, hard numbers show. Why do so many Americans believe the opposite?

5. Food

The Truth about Genetically Modified Food

Proponents of genetically modified crops say the technology is the only way to feed a warming, increasingly populous world. Critics say we tamper with nature at our peril. Who is right?

Is This the Next Green Revolution?

To avert a future famine, scientists are manipulating the complex conversation that plants have with microbes, pests and other elements of the phytobiome

6. Evolution vs. Creationism

15 Answers to Creationist Nonsense

Opponents of evolution want to make a place for creationism by tearing down real science, but their arguments don't hold up

50 Years Ago: Repeal of Tennessee's "Monkey Law"

The statute that got John Scopes in trouble back in 1925 was finally repealed in 1967—but the  teaching of evolution in public schools is still not entirely safe...

Should Science Speak to Faith?

Two prominent defenders of science exchange their views on how scientists ought to approach religion and its followers