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....
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?
Partly in order to understand its amazing complexity, and partly in order to advance medical therapies. So, how do you create a viable cell?
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
03/13/13 How the Sun's magnetic storms can affect electric grids and electronic communications. Jeffrey Hughes
03/08/21 Gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars are providing unique information about the universe. Edo Berger
05/31/22 How do archaeologists reconstruct the far-flung colonies of the ancient seafaring Norsemen/Vikings? Douglas Bolender
09/20/11 The challenge for genomic studies today is how to manage the vast collection of data. John Quackenbush
11/05/13 What modern seismologists are learning about the Earth's interior. Miaki Ishii
01/22/13 The complex relationship between marine life and the chemistry and circulation of oceans. Mick Follows
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
02/10/19 A visit to the Weng Lab at Whitehead Institute to learn how researchers exploit the mechanisms and molecules of plants contributing to medical innovations. Jing-Ke Weng
08/02/22 A unique innovation based on photosynthesis, the bionic leaf can potentially produce energy and fuel inexpensively --and in a localized manner. Daniel Nocera
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
An indispensable resource about corporate deception tactics --from tobacco to climate change
An archaeologist who has contributed especially to the understanding of Viking settlements in Iceland.