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.
Most of the mass of the universe is invisible and undetectable and is known only by its effects....
We think of "matter" as stuff made of atoms. That kind of matter is an insignificant amount . Something like 84 percent of the matter in the universe is invisible and unidentifiable "dark matter."
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?
Partly in order to understand its amazing complexity, and partly in order to advance medical therapies. So, how do you create a viable cell?
01/07/25 Why climate scientists are very concerned about the global heat trend, how they analyze it, and what must be done. Mathew Barlow & Jeffrey Basara
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
02/09/24 GBH Forum Network webinar (noon ET) The extreme level of atmospheric CO2 is well beyond a “capture and storage/sequestration” solution, yet the hype persists that some clever extraction innovation will resolve the problem. Charles Harvey
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
01/14/21 Mathematics is the foundation of everything in Nature: structures, dynamics, processes. Understanding that foundation changes our perception of Nature. Lakshminarayanan Mahadevan
02/23/16 Tracing ancient genetic changes through extinctions and speciation events to reconstruct our DNA history. Betul Kacar
09/24/15 A leader in the study of exotic microbes at hydrothermal vents explains the significance and the potential of these life forms. Peter Girguis
04/15/15 A leading expert and author on the issue of genetically modified foods explains the corporate resistance to labeling GM foods. Sheldon Krimsky
02/29/20 It took almost a century to determine if and how continents moved (continental drift). In the 1960s irrefutable evidence showed that tectonic plates caused regular shifts of the planet’s magnetic polarity, volcanoes and earthquakes -and the drift of continents.
03/26/19 New approaches and technologies offer fresh insights to antibiotic resistance, and real solutions. Gautam Dantas
04/23/19 More than one in five Americans now takes a psychiatric medication. But long-term results are poor. Robert Whitaker, author of several books on this subject, discusses the problems of these meds and describes more effective initiatives.
11/25/19 How the world-class Sustainable Design Lab at MIT combines architecture, engineering, physics --and creative genius-- to design the optimal urban environment. Christoph Reinhart
05/29/13 The award-winning D-Lab's unique approach to improving lives in the poorest nations. Amy Smith
An enlightened approach to learning mathematics -and thinking mathematically
A global ambassador for health underscores importance of biodiversity