Maggie Koerth-Baker

The young and the cognitively impaired have few protections when police interrogations push hard to extract a confession.

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. On 19 December 1984, The New York Times ran a story about parents who feared the risks of routine vaccinations. The parent quoted in the article was a lawyer who blamed vaccines for the death of his daughter. The story was framed as a conflict between parents such as him and medical experts, who pointed out that serious side-effects of vaccines were extremely rare, and that the diseases vaccines prevented were far worse. We have to be careful, the scienti…

International law is at odds with commercial ventures that are poised to exploit space-based resources.

The emerald ash borer is devastating trees from Minnesota to New York, and there is little scientists can do but study what effect the trees’ extinction will have on the ecosystem.

While there are effective tests for alcohol intake, it’s difficult to judge who is driving under the influence of marijuana.

Why the reinsurance industry wants to change the way we think about climate change.

Which is why we need a structural solution, like a carbon tax.

Why we should care about some guy’s lawn in Phoenix.

Technology, finance and savvy could make it cheaper to harness the sun’s rays

Lithium is lionized. Silicon has a whole valley named after it. But what about the silent heroes of modern technology? The time has come to get better acquainted with the rare earth elements that make our modern world run.