Science

Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous
The Chinese government froze meaningful efforts to trace the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite publicly declaring that it supported an open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation has found.
Startups want to geoengineer a cooler planet. With few rules, experts see big risks
In a parking lot and on San Francisco Bay, NPR witnesses two different tests for solar geoengineering to tackle climate change. With much science unsettled, experts say regulations aren't keeping up.
Coral reefs can't keep up with climate change. So scientists are speeding up evolution
Climate change is heating oceans faster than the world's coral reefs can handle. So scientists are breeding corals that can withstand hotter temperatures — but only to a point.
Seizures, broken spines and vomiting: Scientific testing that helped facilitate D-Day
Biomedical engineer Rachel Lance says British scientists submitted themselves to experiments that would be considered wildly unethical today in an effort to shore up the war effort.
Peter Higgs, who proposed the existence of the so-called ‘God particle,’ has died
Higgs predicted the existence of the Higgs boson particle, helping explain how matter formed after the Big Bang. His death at 94 was announced by the University of Edinburgh, where he was a professor.