Health
Heroin Overdose Deaths Nearly Quadruple in 13 Years
The increase in prescription pain medication use might be a contributing factor
Society & Policy13341 articles archived since 1845
Health
Disasters Have Same Human Impact as Tuberculosis
Deaths, economic losses and other negative impacts from disasters have caused losses equivalent to 42 million "life-years" annually since 1980, according to the UN
The Sciences
Struggle, Suffering Mark Lives of Nearly 2 Billion Women
Nearly 2 billion of the world's women are struggling or suffering in their daily lives, while 620 million describe themselves as thriving, according to a Gallup poll released on Wednesday...
Health
Slash Sugar Intake to Fight Obesity, Tooth Decay
Adults and children must cut the amount of sugar they consume by as much as half in North America and Western Europe and even more in other areas, the World Health Organization said ...
Environment
After 400 Million Years, Coelacanth at Risk of Extinction
It may have hidden in the ocean for millions of years, but life today poses numerous challenges for the West Indian Ocean coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae), the "living fossil" fish that was famously rediscovered off the coast of South Africa in 1938...
Health
U.S. Funds Efforts to Freeze Human Organs for Long-Term Storage
A glimmer of hope emerges for preserving transplantable livers and hearts in cold storage. As for brains—only in sci-fi
The Sciences
Watch Live Today: The Physics of Water [Video]
Physicist Marcia Barbosa will present a free live Webcast on the scientific mysteries of H20
Technology
Robot Rescuers Battle It Out
Nimble bots are going head-to-head for a $2-million DARPA prize
Environment
Detroit Fleet Cleans Up through Federal Program with an Uncertain Future
Diesel pollution has been cut by about 45,000 tons over the past five years through engine upgrades and replacements
Health
U.S. Supreme Court Set to Hear 2nd Major Obamacare Challenge
The Court will weigh a second major case targeting Obama's healthcare law on Wednesday when it considers a conservative challenge to tax subsidies critical to the measure's implementation...
The Sciences
Climate Skeptic Senator Burned after Snowball Stunt
Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe carried a snowball onto the Senate floor to insinuate that climate change was not real, after which Rhode Island Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse torched Inhofe's argument...
Health
How Designers Can Improve Health Care For Everyone
The last place anyone expects to find a designer is in a hospital, clinic or operating room, but those are exactly the spaces where I embed myself.
Mind & Brain
Pain Cases May Usher Brain Scans into the Courtroom
Questions surround whether brain-scan measures of whether someone is in pain are reliable enough to be used in legal proceedings
Environment
China's War on Air Pollution May Cause More Global Warming
Plans to clean up China's air may increase emissions of carbon dioxide
Mind & Brain
Can Science Solve Terrorism? Q&A with Psychologist John Horgan
For years, I’ve been getting e-mails from people who praise my brilliant research on terrorism and then ask me tough questions about the topic
Technology
Your Life, Your Data: Pushing Back at Government and Corporate Incursions into Personal Privacy [Excerpt]
Digital security specialist Bruce Schneier’s latest book examines the repercussions of—and the appropriate responses to—ubiquitous corporate and governmental harvesting of personal data...
Environment
Novel Energy Inventions Seek Greater Impact
A Q&A with the new head of Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy chemist Ellen Williams
Space & Physics
Air Force Space Command General on Keeping Space Collision-Free
Gen. John Hyten, Commander, U.S. Air Force Space Command, talks about the task of tracking all the materials in orbit and keeping them from crashing into one another. Steve Mirsky and Larry Greenemeier report
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Space & Physics
Scientific American and Nature Editors Remember Leonard Nimoy
Nimoy inspired many members of the Scientific American community, some of whom offer remembrances here
Health
The Sickness That Killed "Spock": Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
The lung ailment is a leading killer in the U.S.
