Anorexia Should Never Be Considered a Terminal Illness
Less than half of those diagnosed with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa fully recover. Now, some psychiatrists are suggesting that some people cannot be cured and should be given palliative care....
View ArticleHow a Nuclear Weapons Lab Helped Crack a Serial-Killer Case
When California law-enforcement authorities were looking for a breakthrough in a notorious 1990s serial-murder case, they turned to an unlikely ally for help: the Forensic Science Center at Lawrence...
View ArticleEnvironmental DNA Is Everywhere. Scientists Are Gathering It All.
By sampling eDNA, or mixtures of genetic material, in water, soil, ice cores, cotton swabs, dead human bodies, or practically any environment imaginable, even thin air, it is now possible to search for...
View ArticleWomen and Minorities Bear the Brunt of Medical Misdiagnosis
Some 12 million U.S. adults are misdiagnosed every year, resulting in ICU admissions and deaths. But recent research has uncovered a disproportionate toll: Women and racial and ethnic minorities are 20...
View ArticleThe Revolution of Environmental DNA
In a six-part series, Undark explores the origins of environmental DNA collection. With new applications on the horizon, the eDNA era is raising keen hopes (and some nagging worries) about a technology...
View ArticleThe Uncharted World of Emerging Pathogens
The pandemic catalyzed a push for new technologies to help track viruses. Now, scientists around the world can sample environmental DNA from a cup of dirt, a vial of water, or even a puff of air. As a...
View ArticleWhy Doctors Avoid Talking With Patients About Gun Safety
Gun violence in the U.S. is a public health crisis, according to many medical associations. But a recent study suggests that most physicians don’t talk about firearm safety with their patients, and...
View ArticleInterview: Confronting the Riddle of Geoengineering
According to climate expert Rob Bellamy, large-scale technological interventions like solar geoengineering that seek to change the Earth’s environment or atmosphere to counter the effects of global...
View ArticleFor Captured Carbon, Scientists Plot a Sub-Ocean Tomb
Researchers are exploring the possibility of injecting excess carbon dioxide into the ocean floor to remove the greenhouse gas from the atmosphere on an enormous scale. It’s a controversial idea, but...
View ArticleThe Growing Environmental Footprint Of Generative AI
Generative artificial intelligence uses massive amounts of energy for computation and data storage and millions of gallons of water to cool the equipment at data centers. Now, legislators and...
View ArticleAre Evidence-Based Medicine and Public Health Incompatible?
Over the past 30 years, evidence-based medicine has transformed the practice of medicine worldwide. Whether it can transform the practice of public health — which focuses not on individuals, but on...
View ArticleAmbivalence Over AI: We Are All Prometheus Now
The film “Oppenheimer” portrays the nuclear physicist’s ambivalence toward the weapon he helped create — an uneasiness now reflected in worries over the potential destructive power of AI. Society must...
View ArticleBook Review: Reflections on a Life Suffused With Science
Nell Greenfieldboyce deftly weaves science and memoir in a collection of deeply personal essays, breaking out of the objective, impersonal writing mode that has characterized her career as a journalist...
View ArticleInstitutional Ethics Committees Move Too Slowly, Critics Say
Although Institutional Review Boards play an important role in protecting trial participants, critics say that the boards can also be overly cautious and protective of their institution, with consent...
View ArticlePsychiatrists Raise Concerns Over an Uptick in School Referrals
Many psychiatrists have been seeing more children wind up in their offices and emergency rooms, pushed into psychiatric evaluations by their schools. But when schools offload the responsibility of...
View ArticleA Transparent, Open-Source Vision for U.S. Elections
A young nonprofit has created a voting machine that’s built with off-the-shelf parts. Every single line of code that powers the technology is posted on GitHub, for anyone to read and review. Can...
View ArticleAmid Pushback, the USGS Decides to Restore Its Pesticide Database
Last spring, scientists learned of plans to scale back a government database that’s widely used in pesticide research. Now, following months of advocacy, USGS appears set to restore the beloved public...
View ArticleBook Review: The Mysteries and Quirks of Human Memory
Memory does not work like a recording device, Charan Ranganath writes in “Why We Remember.” In fact, your brain is doing what it evolved to do: prioritize and store important information and let...
View ArticleYour Child’s Medicine Probably Wasn’t Fully Vetted. Here’s Why.
The vast majority of drugs prescribed for children appear to be safe, but a lack of proper testing puts kids at a relatively high risk of side effects, experts told Undark. And medications that work...
View ArticleHow Facebook Contributes to the Demise of Endangered Species
From rhino horns to exotic orchids, it’s easy to find protected wildlife products for sale online. With lax regulations, weak enforcement, and a lack of legal culpability, not only is wildlife...
View Article
