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.
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 challenges of research on medical marijuana, as experienced by a UMass-Amherst scientist.
The many demands on emergency room staff include effective communication with highly stressed patients. This researcher seeks best approaches for communicating with the mentally ill in ER situations.
Millions of years after the Big Bang, scattered areas of gas density gradually increased in mass, heat and pressure, until they ignited in spectacular bursts of nuclear fusion...
Viruses, prions, bacteriophages ... all behave like living organisms but are not quite alive...
Author and philosopher Lee McIntyre discusses his newest book, The Scientific Attitude, and some of his earlier works. A timely subject!
David Toomey explains the surprising connections between the realm of science fiction and science fact, especially the ways in which sci-fi anticipated discoveries in real science.
RESCHEDULED for OCT 22 Adrien Finzi explains how the different components of the forest ecosystem (soils, microbes, plant species) respond to our rapidly changing climate.
How effective are offshore wind farms in nations that have developed them, and why has the US been slow to recognize the enormous potential of this energy resource? NEU researcher Andrew Myers presents the facts.
Dark matter is believed to comprise five-sixths of the matter in the universe, but cannot be "seen." Now, however, technical innovations offer the potential for real observation and maybe new physics.
Geologists did not understand that massive meteorites could vaporize on impact
Some mysterious, invisible stuff is holding galaxies together. Peter Fisher
A report on the 2015 experiments at the Large Hadron Collider, now at unprecedented 13 TeV energy. Tulika Bose
How the unique "antifreeze" blood and skeletal mutations of the Antarctic Icefishes provide insights into both climate change adaptations and human disease. H. William Detrich, III
What caused Earth's five mass extinctions --and are we headed for a sixth? Andrew Knoll
Ancient diatom fossils provide clues to the adaptability of these vital organisms in the deep past, and can help predict plankton survival in the present climate change. Christopher Bowler
A major authority on ocean sediments discusses what these deposits tell us about past and present climate. Richard Murray
Important insights into the brain from research on anesthesia, coma and sleep. Emery N. Brown
A major breakthrough in the restoration of vision. Shawn Kelly
Desalination offers a solution to the water shortage problem... John Lienhard V
The cooling systems of power plants use an enormous percentage of our diminishing freshwater supply. What's the solution? John Rogers
Philip Warburg's books on renewable energy represent the views of diverse people and groups.
An innovator in the investigation of a rather new area of microbiology