research

An illustration of a syringe, and inside it an hourglass keeping time

How and when will we know that a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective?

Several vaccines are in Phase 3 trials. So at what point will we be certain that one or more can provide protection against the coronavirus?

How and when will we know that a COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective?
Man on a computer

Fewer international students coming to US for grad school in science and engineering

Fewer international students coming to US for grad school in science and engineering
Man poses in front of lab equipment

When Soviet science faltered, the US stepped forward. Now it's France's turn.

When Soviet science faltered, the US stepped forward. Now it's France's turn.
Nima Arkani-Hamed

A physicist who always dreamed of working in the US says it’s no longer the ‘global center of science’

A physicist who always dreamed of working in the US says it’s no longer the ‘global center of science’
Death of Evidence rally

What lessons can Canada offer the US on the suppression of scientific research?

What lessons can Canada offer the US on the suppression of scientific research?
Willis Wang

How Trump's rhetoric could cost colleges billions in lost tuition revenue

Walk up and down Commonwealth Avenue on the Boston University campus, and it's easy to see and hear the presence of international students. The largest percentage of foreign students — here and nationwide — come from China. So when President Donald Trump sounds off, college administrators get anxious.

How Trump's rhetoric could cost colleges billions in lost tuition revenue
Airport

Scientists skip international meeting due to fear of US travel

A handful of scientists skipped a large annual meeting in Boston this weekend, where the impact of Trump administration policies on science took center stage.

Scientists skip international meeting due to fear of US travel
Man with champagne clinks glasses with three other men

One of the six US immigrant Nobel winners is 'totally speechless' over the push to limit immigration

Sir J. Fraser Stoddart won a Nobel Prize in chemistry this year. Like the five others who won in the US, he is an immigrant.

One of the six US immigrant Nobel winners is 'totally speechless' over the push to limit immigration
An orangutan

Humans aren't the only species where righties are more common than lefties

Vertebrates from humans to fish display a preference to be right- or left-dominant, even when they don't have hands.

Humans aren't the only species where righties are more common than lefties
Difference in hue between arterial (brighter) and venous (darker) blood.

Does human specimen research always need consent?

Here’s why scientists are against newly proposed rules on consent needed for using human specimens for research.

Does human specimen research always need consent?
Google’s new keyboard, Gboard, via Google

How much of your personal data do you give up when you use your smartphone?

Is the information in our smartphones more secure now that the NSA has changed its metadata collection guidelines?

How much of your personal data do you give up when you use your smartphone?
Luis Ceze, the University of Washington Torode Family Career Development Professor of Computer Science & Engineering, and research scientist Lee Organick

Is DNA the future of digital data storage?

These engineers have figured out how to store digital information on DNA. And that’s big news.

Is DNA the future of digital data storage?
female juvenile orchid mantis

It's an orchid. It's a mantis. It's incredible — and deadly.

The orchid mantis takes on the color of a “generic or an average type of flower” to attract bees and other pollinating insects as prey.

It's an orchid. It's a mantis. It's incredible — and deadly.
Amanda Feilding of the Beckley Foundation.

The woman behind a new LSD study has a history of experimenting on herself

Amanda Feilding co-directed new research on LSD that could prove beneficial in curing mental illness and PTSD. For Feilding, it's yet another step in a fascinating journey of personal experimentation.

The woman behind a new LSD study has a history of experimenting on herself
Shaman at the river

What a young scientist found when he started researching a famous 'boiling river' in Peru

Andrés Ruzo knew there was a river in Peru that bubbled and boiled. But it took him a long time to find it.

What a young scientist found when he started researching a famous 'boiling river' in Peru