Mental Health
Young Researchers of Color Need Better Mentors
Universities need to train their faculty to be better mentors to students of color, and to understand these students’ vulnerabilities
Opinion
Education
Losing a Grandparent Hurts Boys at School
The death of a grandparent may be a rite of passage, but it is not harmless for many boys, particularly boys of color. Losing a grandparent in childhood corresponds with lower reading, math and verbal skills among boys at a critical age...
Psychology
Water Scarcity Changes How People Think
Lacking money makes people focus on the present—but lacking water makes them plan for the future
Planetary Science
The Mars Sample Return Mission Is at a Dangerous Crossroads
Mars Sample Return has always been an expensive, high-risk, high-reward project. But now, with realization of the mission’s actual cost and expanding timeline, Congress must commit to fully supporting the effort or risk tanking the rest of NASA’s planetary science program...
Climate Change
Electric Vehicle Owners Are Not Driving Enough—And That’s Bad
Used car buyers and the U.S. government need to dive into the marketplace to deliver the emissions reductions promised by electric vehicles
Behavior
Why Some People Choose Not to Know
Altruists seek to understand how their actions will affect others—while willful ignorance can free people to act selfishly
Artificial Intelligence
OpenAI’s Soap Opera Collapse Bodes Ill for AI Benefiting Humanity
Whatever fantasies we may have had about the nonprofit structure of OpenAI have been eviscerated. While it remains a nonprofit, it’s proven entirely beholden to ruthless capitalism...
Statistics
Bad Science and Bad Statistics in the Courtroom Convict Innocent People
Science, statistics and expert testimony are crucial in securing justice. But their dubious applications in the courtroom can send innocent people to jail
Toxicology
Hair Relaxers Will Be Safer without Formaldehyde, but It’s Just a Start
Banning formaldehyde hair relaxers might help protect Black women’s health, but won’t end the racism that drives their use
Sociology
The Same Extremists Target Both Muslims and Jews
Far-right extremists shifted their online hate from Muslims to Jews in 2017, and offline hate followed the same trends
