The unexpected side effect of Trump’s war on science
There’s something different about the crop of Democrats running for Congress in 2018. As in previous years, the party has recruited a small army of veterans in high-profile races and…
We Could Have Gone Past The Moon In 2020. But NASA Nixed It
The space agency decided against a manned mission to the moon, but not because of astronaut safety, a summary report concludes. Dan Vergano BuzzFeed News Reporter NASA decided to nix…
Brominated vegetable oil
Too much cola can mess with your brain. The effects of excess brominated vegetable oil explained Ben Valsler You may have heard about sweet, fizzy drinks making people, children in…
The Uninhabitable Earth
To read an annotated version of this article, complete with interviews with scientists and links to further reading, click here. I. ‘Doomsday’ Peering beyond scientific reticence. It is, I promise,…
Meet Rare Sea Wolves Who Live Off The Ocean And Can Swim For Hours
Along the wild Pacific coast of British Columbia, there lives a population of the sea wolves. “We know from exhaustive DNA studies that these wolves are genetically distinct from their…
The Wastebook
After a senator calls her research a waste of taxpayer dollars, biologist Sheila Patek heads to Capitol Hill to prove what her science is worth. In December 2015, the fight…
Collier’s articles on the conquest of space (1952-1954) – Space Stuff
From March 22, 1952, to April 30, 1954, Collier’s magazine published a series of articles that predicted some aspects of the future with uncanny accuracy. The articles came out in…
Born This Gay
At the turn of the 20th century, a German doctor sets out to prove that homosexuality is rooted in biology—but his research has consequences he never intended. In pre-Nazi Germany,…
Kurt Vonnegut and the Rainmakers
In the mid 1940s, no one would publish Kurt Vonnegut’s stories. But when he gets hired as a press writer at General Electric, the company’s fantastical science inspires some of…