Years ago, Christopher Kyba was skeptical about astronomy data collected by citizen scientists—after all, it relies on people making naked-eye assessments of the night sky. But when a student wrote to him with a question about measuring the sky’s brightness, he thought of the Globe at Night citizen science project, which launched in 2006 to let
Stephen Levine was born in 1942 in Pittsburgh. He wanted to be a doctor from the time he was a little boy; he saw how much his parents and people in his community respected the profession. At Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, he decided to go into psychiatry, drawn to how the field
This story originally appeared in High Country News and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The video shows clear river water washing over rocks as sunlight dances in the shallows. Small slivers of white that look like leaves float on the surface. But they aren’t leaves; they’re the bodies of juvenile salmon, most of
As the world fights the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing the COVID-19 pandemic, another group of dangerous pathogens looms in the background. The threat of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been growing for years and appears to be getting worse. If COVID-19 taught us one thing, it’s that governments should be prepared for more global public health crises, and
Conversations on the final day of this year’s WIRED25 event revolved around the existential mess that has characterized 2020: Covid-19, election integrity, California wildfires. But the experts who came together to share their insights into these problems, and the work they have been doing to confront them, also communicated a sense of genuine optimism. SUBSCRIBE
There’s a lot of noise about the coronavirus out there. As if living through a pandemic wasn’t difficult enough on its own, the rampant spread of misinformation about the virus has only made things murkier. And it’s especially hard to keep the facts straight when you have a strange new vocabulary thrust upon you practically
Air is political. Research indicates race is the biggest predictor of whether a person lives near a heavily polluted area. Covid-19 is especially lethal for patients with respiratory problems. Now researchers are studying whether air pollution makes Covid-19 illnesses more severe. They are especially concerned with so-called sacrifice zones, areas with pervasive exposure to toxic
While millions of Americans shelter in their homes, America’s prisoners are at work. In at least 20 states, from Florida to Michigan to Texas to California, incarcerated workers are making hand sanitizer, face masks, and protective gowns at prison manufacturing facilities. In Indiana, they’re making plastic face shields. In Oregon, they’re doing hospitals’ laundry. If
Jeff Bullas: Hi everyone and welcome to the Jeff Bullas show. Today, we’re going to be interviewing Steve Rayson. Before I actually have a chat with him, what I’m going to do is I’m just going to read a little bit about what Steve has done. Now Steve and I met, it was in Dublin,
