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.
Most of the mass of the universe is invisible and undetectable and is known only by its effects....
A poison that was initially considered a solution to disease-bearing insects and harmless to humans and animals became lethal
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?
Hibernation, dormancy, suspended animation, revival from apparent death; the line between life and death...
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
06/18/24 WGBH Forum Network webinar. CERN’s Large Hadron Collider has made very significant discoveries (including the Higgs boson), but physicists now need to expand the probe. Tulika Bose
10/23/24 The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and other advanced technologies are providing unprecedented data about the early universe. Astronomers are developing a new understanding of how the earliest stars and galaxies emerged. Julian Muñoz
10/27/15 A report on the 2015 experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, now at unprecedented 13 TeV energy. Tulika Bose
09/14/21 Today scientific information is available to all, yet misinformation and denialism abound. Galileo's famous struggle for truth centuries ago is highly relevant today. Mario Livio
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
06/07/11 Aaron Bernstein, M.D, MPH and author explains how the unprecedented loss of biodiversity impacts human health.
01-17-23 Coastal wetlands and salt marshes absorb huge amounts of CO2. Scientists are working to understand this complex process when such ecosystems are especially stressed by climate change. Robinson Fulweiler
05/16/17 An important explanation of the relationship between glacial cycles and climate change. Jack Ridge
08/05/25 A need-to-know program about the necessity of medical research and the consequences of the government's abrupt cuts on research and agency funding. Gerald Denis
11/06/14 Viral infections that were once obscure are potentially global threats in a highly linked world. New tools are being deployed to identify and block these diseases. John Connor
10/16/12 How university educational outreach programs encourage high school students' interest in science. Irene Porro
05/23/17 The great potential of ordinary plants in the development of "green" batteries. Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Biologist and Environmental Planner; co-author with David R. Montgomery of two excellent books on soil health, regeneration --and the relationship to healthy food.
An astrophysicist who investigates some of the most interesting questions about the cosmos --including gamma ray bursts