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.
Paradoxical objects that underscore the mystery of the universe, black holes seem the ultimate destructive force, but may be essential to the stability of galaxies...
The origin of the heavy elements was not understood until the 1950s
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.
08/19/14 A visionary approach to teaching, learning --and discovering-- mathematics. Sanjoy Mahajan
09/19/23 WGBH Forum Network webinar 11:30 EDT There is plenty of hype about space travel and even colonizing planets like Mars. We might need to know about the effects of zero-gravity on the human body. James Lackner
05/06/24 WGBH Forum Network webinar. All sorts of animals engage in imaginative types of play. Is this behavior just creature-entertainment, or is it important for development and bonding? David Toomey
03/08/16 Reconstructing the relationship between biological evolution and geology, climate, environment. Andrew Knoll
07/28/17 The long struggle to commit the international community to prepare for the worldwide climate crisis. Henrik Selin
06/21/18 Harvard's Law School Environmental Clinic shows us how we can use the law to save our environment. Wendy B. Jacobs
08/13/13 Exploring the "antibiotic paradox" and the decades-long efforts of Dr. Stuart Levy to avert the danger we have created
11/08/22. Can corrective nutrition prevent or reverse cognitive decline among older adults with bad diets? Here's a forthcoming study. Susan Roberts
02/04/14 Materials scientist Javier Fernandez discusses the "plastisphere" crisis and how it motivated the development of biodegradable "shrilk."
03/29/22 An innovation attracting great interest: an abundant, inexpensive clay might be used to remove the greenhouse gas methane from the atmosphere. Desiree Plata
Two textbooks by an international expert on Arctic biology and genetics
A geophysicist who develops mathematical models to investigate ancient natural processes