The courts routinely deal with questions that judges cannot answer through legal precedent alone. What caused an environmental disaster? How reliable is a particular scientific […]
Category: Science
Can We Trust Food Safety?
Americans rarely think about the complex system that keeps the food supply safe. They purchase a bag of lettuce, a container of fruit, or a […]
Can America’s Power Grid Handle the Future?
Every summer brings familiar headlines about record temperatures, soaring electricity demand, and pleas from utilities asking customers to conserve energy during the hottest hours of […]
Wildfire Season Has Changed Forever
Wildfires have become one of the most recognizable symbols of a changing risk landscape in the United States. Each year, images of neighborhoods surrounded by […]
The Pest We Thought We Beat
For decades, the New World screwworm was considered a solved problem in the United States. Through sustained eradication campaigns and international coordination, the parasite was […]
Light Pollution Is Disrupting Human Biology
For most of human history, the rhythm of daily life was defined by the rising and setting of the sun. Darkness was not merely the […]
Lead Exposure Never Went Away
For many Americans, lead poisoning feels like a solved problem. It belongs to the past, alongside leaded gasoline and peeling paint in abandoned buildings. The […]
The Difference Between Scientific Evidence and Scientific Headlines
If you follow science through news coverage alone, it can feel like reality changes every week. Coffee is bad, then good. Eggs are dangerous, then […]
Why “The Science Is Settled” Is Almost Always Misleading
“The science is settled” is one of the most common phrases in modern public debate and one of the most misunderstood. People use it to […]
The Earth Is Sending Us a Bill We Can’t Pay
The United Nations just released a major report about the health of our planet, and the findings are pretty serious. According to the UN, the […]