Public Health
Coronavirus News Roundup: April 24–April 30
Pandemic highlights for the week
Opinion
Neurological Health
How Big Data Are Unlocking the Mysteries of Autism
Better genetic insights can help support people across the spectrum
Behavior & Society
Religion Both Helped and Hurt during the Pandemic
It was good, on balance, for people’s mental health—but not so good for physical health
Policy & Ethics
The Fading Dream of the Computer Brain
Beware the hype about remaking neuroscience through technology, writes the director of the new documentary In Silico
Public Health
On Exploring Mars and Saving Endangered Species
The act of going to the Red Planet gives us a new lens through which we can better understand and protect life’s fragility
Medicine
Penicillin Wasn’t Alexander Fleming’s First Major Discovery
It was lysozyme, an enzyme that attacks the cell walls of bacteria—and just as with the celebrated antibiotic, he found it through pure serendipity
Public Health
Nurses Are Also Scientists
The pandemic has only reinforced what nursing professionals have known all along
Policy & Ethics
Biden Has Reversed Trump’s War on Science in His First 100 Days
His administration has made great strides in repairing the damage—but there’s plenty left to do
Behavior & Society
COVID Has Created a Perfect Storm for Fringe Science
It’s always been with us, but in a time of pandemic, its practitioners have an amplified capacity to unleash serious harm
Evolution
How 3-D Scanning Is Reinventing Paleoanthropology
It lets us excavate ancient fossils while preserving information about the sediments that hold them—crucial to understanding their age, among other things
