Is AI Ready to Help Diagnose COVID-19?
While machine learning might hold promise as a powerful medical tool, statisticians warn that current models are severely flawed. If adopted too soon, they could do more harm than good. ...read more
Author: Vishay Singh
Museums are Full of Forgotten Treasures. Here’s How You Can Help Find Them
These citizen science projects need online volunteers to help identify specimens and transcribe old notes from science centers and museums. ...read more
Thorne-Żytkow Objects: When a Supergiant Star Swallows a Dead Star
One of the universe’s strangest stars is thought to form when a neutron star gets sucked into a red supergiant. But despite 45 years of searching, astronomers still aren’t sure they’ve ever found one. ...read more
Typhoid Mary Was a Real, Asymptomatic Carrier Who Caused Multiple Outbreaks
In the early 1900s, Mary Mallon worked as a cook — and spread typhoid fever to the families she worked for. ...read more
What Would Happen If We Didn’t Have Vaccines?
Immunizations are intended to stop diseases like the coronavirus. But there are a range of other long-term societal benefits from vaccines. ...read more
The Path to Ingenuity: One Man’s Decades-Long Quest to Fly a Helicopter on Mars
NASA is about to fly a rotorcraft on another planet for the first time. And for the engineers who built the Mars Ingenuity helicopter, it's a Wright brothers moment. ...read more
Do IQ Tests Actually Measure Intelligence?
The assessments have been around for over 100 years. Experts say they’ve been plagued by bias, but still have some merit. ...read more
How to Explore the Stars Without Ever Leaving Home
A "Dynamic Orbital Slingshot" could be just the thing for visiting interstellar comets while they're blazing through our solar system. ...read more
The Expedition to Heaven on Earth
At the top of Everest, where the ground juts up toward space, the highest-altitude weather stations are now taking stock of our changing planet. ...read more
Pregnant During the Pandemic: How Does COVID-19 Affect Expecting Women and Their Babies?
Several research groups are still trying to tease out the long-term consequences. ...read more