Get Armed Police Out of Emergency Rooms
And stop letting hospital security guards carry guns; there are better ways to keep patients and staff safe
Policy & Ethics16284 articles archived since 1845
Why Some Birds Are Likely To Hit Buildings
Those that eat insects, migrate or usually live in the woods are most likely to fly into buildings that feature a lot of glass.
How a Small Arab Nation Built a Mars Mission from Scratch in Six Years
The United Arab Emirates’ Hope orbiter is the Arab world’s first interplanetary spacecraft — and has jump-started science in the country. Will the momentum last?
Medical Students Should Be Taught How to Care for Immigrant Patients
Physicians depend on race-based markers to determine what to look for—but where someone grew up can be more important than their ethnicity
In Case You Missed It
Top news from around the world
How to Fix Science’s Diversity Problem
We can be aware of the issue and still hold on to patterns of thinking and behavior that perpetuate discrimination
Counterfactual Experiments Are Crucial but Easy to Misunderstand
With COVID-19, as with climate, we need to explore a variety of possible futures in order to set policy
Animals Appreciate Recent Traffic Lull
Researchers saw a third fewer vehicle collisions with deer, elk, moose and other large mammals in the four weeks following COVID-19 shutdowns in three states they tracked.
How Universities Can Keep Foreign Governments from Stealing Intellectual Capital
The arrest of a Harvard scientist earlier this year on charges of lying about working for the Chinese government was a wake-up call
Let’s Defund the Pentagon, Too
We must begin moving beyond militarism, as Martin Luther King urged more than 50 years ago
Coronavirus Is Attacking the Navajo ‘because We Have Built the Perfect Human for It to Invade’
A traditional Diné storyteller explains how disadvantage and injustice have shaped her people’s encounter with COVID-19
Forests Getting Younger and Shorter
Old, big trees are dying faster than in the past, leaving younger, less biodiverse forests that store less carbon worldwide.
Speech Recognition Tech Is Yet Another Example of Bias
Siri, Alexa and other programs sometimes have trouble with the accents and speech patterns of people from many underrepresented groups
Readers Respond to the March 2020 Issue
Letters to the editor from the March 2020 issue of Scientific American
Disaster Loans Entrench Disparities in Black Communities
Systemic inequities such as credit scores mean Black home and business owners receive fewer federal relief loans than white ones
Why Does the Phrase ‘Woman Scientist’ Even Exist?
It’s ungrammatical—plus, it suggests we’re an exotic species. But it can also remind people that STEM isn’t just for men
Tweets Reveal Politics of COVID-19
Political scientists analyzed congressional tweets and observed how Republicans and Democrats responded differently to the virus. Christopher Intagliata reports.
Rape Kits Are Sitting on Shelves, Untested
Evidence gathered in sexual-assault cases could catch more criminals—if anyone bothered to look
The Problem of ‘Colonial Science’
Conservation projects in the developing world should invest in local scientific talent and infrastructure
