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.
The kind of matter made of atoms accounts for a tiny fraction of the mass of the universe...
The evidence for a 4-billion-years-old Earth was a serious contradiction of the widely held Biblical view
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..
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
12/06/22 The only way to understand the emergence of the earliest structures in the universe is through complex computer simulations. Here's how they are created and tested. Mark Vogelsberger
04/14/2014 The investigation of how super-galaxies form is expected to provide insight into other mysteries such as dark matter and dark energy. Arjun Dey
06/01/23 Although all life depends on microbial ecosystems, there are many unknowns about the mechanisms by which these ecosystems develop and evolve in diverse environments. Otto Cordero
04/26/11 Was there a human factor in the Ice Age extinctions of large mammals? ............ Sharon Levy
09/26/23 Clouds protect the planet and play an essential role in climate dynamics. How will the rapidly heating planet affect that relationship? Daniel Cziczo
11-14-23 The warming oceans will seriously affect global climate. Developing accurate models of how and when those impacts will occur requires analysis of both contemporary and historical data. Hali Kilbourne
09/10/10 What are the possibilities of extending human life and good health? David Stipp
08/30/22 The U.S. healthcare system ranks last among 11 high-income countries. We spend more than other nations on medical care, but the service is seriously inadequate. What can be done? Melissa Gariddo
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
An international expert on climate change and environmental policy who emphasizes the need for global action on climate change
A prominent philosopher who addresses issues in Artificial Intelligence and in military ethics.