Social Sciences

Levels of murder, assault, torture, and the like fluctuated greatly in the ancient world, according to new research

Science plays an enormous unseen role in keeping international avenues of contact open, even when political doors slam shut. We need to keep those channels open with China

The Philippines, India and China have seen the greatest total number of children displaced by disasters—some 23 million—in recent years

A new study suggests humans arrived in the Americas before the height of the last ice age more than 20,000 years ago

If this new estimate holds up, scientists have yet to identify the vast majority of earthworks strewn across the Amazon

The furor over a Nobel Prize winner’s derailed career lets scientists off the hook for their own responsibilities to fix a broken academic reward system

Vaccinologist Peter Hotez explains how the movement to oppose science and scientists has gained power

Nobel laureates sometimes wait 20 years or more after making their award-worthy discovery to receive the prize

ChatGPT and similar AI programs give propagandists and intelligence agents a powerful new tool for interfering in politics. The clock is ticking on learning to spot this disinformation before the 2024 election

Whether or not UFOs exist, we need to pay attention to how they are influencing our politics and culture

Mammals munching on dinosaurs in China, Greenland’s melted past, coral catastrophe in Florida, and much more in this month’s Quick Hits

Letters to the editors for the May 2023 issue of Scientific American