Science

In a warming world, the dangers from natural disasters are changing. In a recent commentary, we identified a number of costly and deadly catastrophes that point to an increase in the risk of “cascading” events – ones that intensify the impacts of natural hazards and turn them into disasters.

Many of the world's richest seem to earnestly believe that some kind of apocalyptic "event" is coming, and have prepared accordingly. You might have read about this before — such as in the New Yorker's deep dive back in January 2017 — but billionaire doomsday preppers are back in the news again thanks to a new viral article penned by professor and media theorist Douglas Rushkoff. In it, Rushkoff gives some insight on the grave manner in which some of the business elite are going about preparing for a doomsday, which he learned first-hand after receiving an invitation to speak with some one-percenters.

The six-member Arizona Regulatory Review Council, appointed by Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, has canceled plans for an online educational program dispelling myths about vaccinations due to complaints from parents who refuse to vaccinate their kids.

The Takata Corporation sold defective air bag inflators that resulted in the death of 16 people in the United States and a massive recall of cars. While it was rare for the air bags to fail, the brutal consequences of this defective device in even minor collisions was easy to recognize. But the effects of low-dose ionizing radiation – high energy waves or particles that can strip electrons from atoms and physically damage cells and the DNA within – on people’s health is much harder to see, and prove.

One of the world's leading scientists says technology gives a handful of bad actors the power to do serious harm on a global scale -- and he gives humanity a 50-50 chance of surviving the 21st Century.

There are diseases and health conditions that are essentially invisible to us until it is too late.

State-of-the-art sensors that can measure stress levels, mood, posture, performance and even smell took centre stage at Asia's top high-tech fair in Tokyo.

Artificial intelligence research has a lot to learn from nature. My work links biology with computation every day, but recently the rest of the world was reminded of the connection: The 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry went to Frances Arnold together with George Smith and Gregory Winter for developing major breakthroughs that are collectively called “directed evolution.” One of its uses is to improve protein functions, making them better catalysts in biofuel production. Another use is entirely outside chemistry – outside even the traditional life sciences.

When President Barack Obama created Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, the 2012 program that offered undocumented young people brought to the U.S. as children a path into society, for a moment the ideals of the American Dream seemed, at least for this group, real.