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.
Huge regions of apparent nothingness throughout the universe are full of surprises....
Proof that massive stars would form black holes was rejected because of bias.
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
12/02/14 How do scientists investigate exoplanet atmospheres --and what are they discovering? Mercedes Lopez-Morales
01/04/21 The human body requires a gravity environment. So how do aerospace engineers plan for the colonization of space? Developing artificial gravity is a major objective. Ana Diaz Artiles
03/08/16 Reconstructing the relationship between biological evolution and geology, climate, environment. Andrew Knoll
04/09/10 Molecules in meteorites met with an optimal chemical environment on Earth. Alonso Ricardo
09/28/20 Ocean currents transport heat and cold around the globe, affecting weather and climate, and delivering nutrients to marine life. How does the accelerating climate change impact this vital system? Amy Bower
04/24/18 An important critique of geoengineering, including cautions about misinformation. Daniel Cziczo
02/22/21 The dual role of socioeconomic background and a family of (BET) proteins in the disproportionate occurrence of certain cancers. Gerald V. Denis
04/08/25 Numerous types of cancer are increasing today and scientists are trying to identify the causes. That's why cancer research is one of the most important concerns of modern science. We learn how the research is done and also why federal funding for this work is essential. Gerald Denis
05/18/22 Just how effective is Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS), the much-promoted solution to the excess atmospheric CO2 from fossil fuels? June Sekera and Neva Goodwin
03/06/18 Irrefutable evidence for why we should --and can-- transition to renewable energy without delay. Mara Prentiss
An interdisciplinary perspective on the biogeochemical relationships of ocean cycles
The most advanced research methods for investigating and predicting seismic activity