Science touches so many aspects of modern life that it's hard to keep up. Through our programs and this website, Science for the Public provides up-to-date information about scientific innovations, discoveries, and issues that are shaping modern knowledge.
Section #1 explains the AI basics: GenAI, AGI, ASI; GPT; how AI is "trained"; AI errors, AI "consciousness"; and AI hype
Section #2 explains the multiple impacts of AI: AI databases; copyright; jobs; cognition
Section 3 discusses important AI threats: AI deceptions; political AI; military AI; and AI disobedience
Section 4 describes the warnings of many AI leaders and experts: that the potential damage of AI is very real, and that governmental controls are absolutely necessary.
The kind of matter made of atoms accounts for a tiny fraction of the mass of the universe...
A theory we acept today was originally rejected by most physicists
Mounting evidence suggests a link between chemicals in consumer products and breast cancer.
What's so important about an atmosphere? Find out here.
Many of the most important advances in scientific understanding were initially rejected or ignored.
In an era of global science, other nations are increasing their science budgets. Why aren't we?
The discovery of organisms thriving in extreme temperatures and conditions deep undersea, deep in the Earth, deep in the ice suggests that life, once it emerges, is extraordinarily resilient..
07/18/23 The actual nutritional value of our food depends on the quality of soil in which it is grown. Healthy soil, healthy people, healthy planet. David R. Montgomery & Anne Biklé
09/17/24 How migratory creatures navigate so accurately to their seasonal destinations, sometimes thousands of miles away, is still often a mystery. What do scientists know, and what are they still trying to discover? Charles Walcott
03/19/24 A prominent biologist explains the crucial importance of biodiversity for life on Earth, and how the sixth mass extinction fractures that stability. Michael Reed.
05/14/24 WGBH Forum Network Webinar. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), specifically designed to measure the universe's expansion, has now produced the largest and most precise 3D map for the expansion analysis. And the first results of the survey are amazing. Paul Martini
07/19/11 Red dwarfs provide vital information about galaxy evolution... Andrew West
04/26/21 The evolution of the human language apparatus, comparison of human language and animal communication, and explanation of the Neanderthal language controversy. Philip Lieberman
10/18/16 All life depends on a microbial foundation. So does development of new antibiotics. But 99 percent of microbes are unknown. Slava Epstein
02/14/17 Ancient diatom fossils provide clues to the adaptability of these vital organisms in the deep past, and can help predict plankton survival in the present climate change. Christopher Bowler
04/12/16 How ocean earthquakes generate tsunamis --and where tsunamis can occur. John Ebel
12/10/13 TB cells do not all respond to antibiotics. Discovering why is the key to effective treatment. Bree Aldridge
01-23-24 GBH Forum Network webinar (1 PM ET). In his newest book, Sandro Galea emphasizes that the field of public health is committed as much to preventing disease as to treating it. Public health includes the social factors that frame our lives. To develop a foundation for better health requires a rational policy dialogue. Sandro Galea
05/07/19 How effective are offshore wind farms in nations that have developed them, and why has the US been especially slow to adapt such an important energy resource? Andrew Myers
11/01/11 An award-winning MIT lab engineers practical necessities for impoverished nations. Amy Smith
A splendid discussion of the initial resistance to --and ultimate acceptance of—many fundamental concepts of modern astrophysics/astronomy
A leading researcher on the science of clouds and what clouds reveal about climate change