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.
04/23/24 Promoted for years as a means to strengthen bones and lower risk of multiple diseases, improved studies by JoAnn Manson and others revealed that Vitamin D supplements were not very effective at all. Natural sources, including sunshine, are much better. It’s important to understand why. JoAnn Manson
05-06-24 WGBH Forum Network webinar, 12:30 PM EDT. 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
03/19/24 A prominent biologist explains the crucial importance of biodiversity for life on Earth, and how the sixth mass extinction fractures that stability. Michael Reed.
02/09/24 GBH Forum Network webinar (noon ET) The extreme level of atmospheric CO2 is well beyond a “capture and storage/sequestration” solution, yet the hype persists that some clever extraction innovation will resolve the problem. Charles Harvey
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
Huge regions of apparent nothingness throughout the universe are full of surprises....
The concept that all matter is composed of an invisible but fundamental entity was resisted for a very long time.
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 basic chemical elements of life on Earth are the most abundant elements in the universe...Are the conditions right elsewhere?
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
07/25/23 For centuries, we Earthlings have considered ourselves unique in the universe. Scientists today, however, tend to doubt our exceptionalism. But just how common might intelligent life be? Mario Livio
10/04/22 The most sophisticated telescope ever created is now producing its first deep-space images, revealing an astonishing universe. Silas Laycock
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11/07/19 Science for the Public mini-series : They Didn't Believe It! Brief stories about science discoveries that were very slow to be accepted
11/13/18 Structures and motions are governed by geometric rules. Ileana Streinu and Ciprian S. Borcea
10/08/19 A cell's size and the proportions of its components are strictly determined, but where do the rules come from? Scientists are still trying to figure that out. Jané Kondev
12/09/09 Genetic material in ancient fossils yields an amazing profile of extinct organisms. Chris Organ
05/16/17 An important explanation of the relationship between glacial cycles and climate change. Jack Ridge
10/10/14 A leader in the international research on marine sediments explains how climate history is recorded in ocean sediments. Richard Murray
10/2014 Many common toxins in the environment significantly harm the fetal brain. Philippe Grandjean
05/30/23 Language acquisition despite the absence of a critical brain region for language demonstrates the remarkable adaptability of the human brain. Evelina Fedorenko
01/11/2022 Is the hype about blue hydrogen as a "clean" energy resource valid? A major investigation emphatically contradicts the "clean" claim. Robert Howarth
10/19/20 The Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Lab produces cost-saving, practical innovations that make a real difference for developing nations: home-use desalination, drip irrigation -and many other solutions. Amos Winter
A well known astrophysicist who is also gifted at making science and mathematics accessible to the general public