Science & Society
- Math
Supreme Court shies away from test on the math of voting rights
Mathematicians are taking aim at gerrymandering — drawing election district maps that seek to benefit one party over another. The courts have become involved too.
- Science & Society
Women are closing the participation gap in science, but slowly
In many STEM fields, current rates of progress aren’t enough to close the gender gap for decades or even centuries, a new study suggests.
- Computing
Incognito browsing is not as private as most people think
You may think you’re going deep undercover when you set your web browser to incognito. But you’d likely be mistaken, a new study finds.
- Brain
Not all social media sites are equally likely to provoke anxiety
Most teens are on social media. Could these sites cause anxiety? A teen checks it out — and finds big differences.
- Psychology
Your window to learn new languages may still be open
Results from an online grammar quiz suggest that people who start learning a second language at age 10 or 12 can still learn it well.
- Science & Society
Science may help keep a ballerina on her toes
Ballerinas can go through a pair of shoes every performance. To make her shoes last a little longer, one teen reinforced them with carbon fibers.
- Tech
New eyewear could help the visually impaired
Young inventors develop novel electronics to help people identify colors and navigate obstacles.
- Environment
Restaurant diners may ingest extra pollutants
People who dine out have higher levels of certain potentially harmful pollutants in their bodies than do people who eat home-cooked meals, new data show.
- Science & Society
Heating up the search for hidden weapons
Using an off-the-shelf camera and an innovative bit of software, a high-school student developed the means to inexpensively detect a hidden weapon.
- Genetics
Your DNA is an open book — but can’t yet be fully read
There are many companies that offer to read your DNA. But be prepared: They cannot yet fulfill all those promises you read in their ads.
- Tech
Websites often don’t disclose who can have your data
Privacy policies don’t reveal much about how websites share a user’s data.
- Science & Society
Science on a shoestring
Scientists in lower-income countries encounter hurdles such as small budgets, lack of equipment and long wait times for supplies.
