Maggie Koerth-Baker

As the world’s cultures become more homogeneous, so has the definition of comfort.

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

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

The secret to robots with better social skills? Exploiting human nature.

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

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.

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

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…

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

Scientists are working on nonaddictive opiates, pills that sober you up, and pot designed to produce certain moods.