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.
From the first moments of the universe to the formation of atoms ...
Evidence for destruction of the ozone hole was rejected for decades
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 necessary ingredients and conditions; formation of life's molecules; Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA) ....
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
02/18/25 Is there life beyond Earth? So far, despite the discovery that there are billions of planets in our galaxy, and our increasingly sophisticated probes for life, we still don’t know. Life and the conditions for its emergence are both very complex phenomena. Mario Livio
11/13/11 From the Big Bang to parallel universes... Max Tegmark
08/23/11 How do spiral galaxies like our Milky Way form? Elena D'Onghia
12/14/20 Ecological systems are the archetypal complex systems. And regardless of scale and diversity --from microbial systems to rain forests—they share common patterns and dynamics. James O'Dwyer
08/10/20 Get the real facts about those about lion's mane jellyfish near Massachusetts beaches, but get the real science about jellyfish in general: their amazing biology and their role in marine ecosystems. Laurence Madin
02/20/18 The inherent conflict between profit from one of California's major crops and the impact on environment and health. Julie Guthman
12/12/23 Belmont Media Center. Runoffs from agriculture, industries and other sources accumulate in many waters and cause harmful algae blooms (HABs), including the red tides that are increasingly common. Algal blooms are now occurring in every coastal state in the U.S., and are a major threat to marine organisms --and people. Patricia Glibert
03/22/21 Designing a wearable device to study brain function and dysfunction, with a goal of precise therapeutic interventions to treat neurodegenerative diseases Shawn Kelly
07/23/13 Determining the relationship between environmental contaminants and the global increase in autism. Marc Weisskopf
10/24/23 Imagine a future world in which clean electricity is available anywhere you go. The generic Air-gen effect innovation means that this future world can become a reality. Jun Yao
02/14/12 Efficient production of solar energy with solar thermo-electric generators (STEGs)... Gang Chen
Reknowned for introducing a paradigm shift in the understanding of complex networks
A leading physicist explains how to implement renewable energy in the US --now!