Alabama’s Embryo Personhood Decision Threatens Patients, Medicine and Advances in IVF
A state court ruling that embryos from in vitro fertilization are unborn children harms access to care for fertility patients, as well as medical innovations
Astronomers Fight to Save X-ray Telescope as NASA Dishes Out Budget Cuts
The Chandra X-ray Observatory faces a premature end under new funding cuts proposed by NASA—and astronomers aren’t happy
Florida’s Surgeon General Shows the Danger of Politicizing Medicine
Florida state surgeon general Joseph Ladapo’s rejection of evidence-based policy stems from political rather than scientific motivations and puts innocent people at risk
A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rests on Politics, Not Science
Lawmakers should look in the mirror if they want answers to who hyped dubious reports of Havana syndrome. Instead they are investigating the spy agencies telling them the truth about the mystery
Math Can’t Solve Gerrymandering
Researchers use powerful geometrical methods to try fixing unfair districts. That alone isn’t enough; we need to fight the values behind gerrymandering
Medicaid Expansion Alone Isn’t Enough to Stop the Opioid Overdose Crisis
Expanding the state and federal insurance program helps prevent overdoses. But that only happens with enough treatment, and legal reform, to make it work
Biden’s State of the Union Promises Big Job Gains from Clean Energy Policy
President Biden made big promises about what his climate and energy agenda could deliver during his State of the Union speech
Two Giant U.S. Telescopes Are Threatened by Federal Funding Cap
The Thirty Meter Telescope and Giant Magellan Telescope might need to compete for survival in the face of federal spending limits
We Need to Investigate UFOs—But Without the Distraction of Conspiracy Theories
A former government official calls for investigating unidentified anomalous phenomena without succumbing to conspiracy theories about extraterrestrials
New X-Ray Map of Cosmic Megastructures Unravels Subatomic Mysteries
A new catalog of more than 12,000 galaxy clusters is helping scientists better understand the universe’s clumpiness, dark energy and some of the smallest particles in the cosmos: neutrinos
What Can Election 2024 Polls Really Tell Us?
Election polls are accurate but can only reveal voter intentions on the day they were taken. They don’t predict the future
Mars Sample Return Is Still Worth Doing—Even If We Have to Wait
We should return samples from Mars to answer fundamental scientific
questions. That could mean stretching out the mission to keep NASA’s
other projects intact