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Many experiments have shown how the GI tract and its resident bacteria coexist in an intimate relationship that keeps us healthy. One striking example of the crucial role of gut flora is a treatment called a fecal microbiota transplant, used to cure a virulent form of hospital-acquired diarrhea.

What will a significantly smaller American scientific enterprise look like? C. Brandon Ogbunu writes that shrinking research funding will have negative effects across many parts of the scientific world, including changing the way that scientists publish their work and the sorts of science that they conduct.

The science on PFAS incineration is relatively nascent, which leaves concerned citizens in limbo. Most research and regulation have focused on the compounds’ presence in water. But few studies have examined their prevalence — and potential health risks — in air.

By slashing teams that gather critical data, the Trump administration has left the federal government with no way of understanding if policies are working — and created a black hole of information whose consequences could ripple out for decades.

In recent years, crowd control has become more of a science than an art, as recreation researchers have nudged the field toward more evidence-based approaches. Using various methods, a growing body of research is analyzing how to minimize human impact on public lands while maximizing accessibility.

Over the past decade, spurred by personal testimonies, autism researchers have increasingly examined how women and girls have eluded diagnosis by adopting two broad strategies — camouflaging and masking — in an attempt to better fit in with neurotypical peers and family members.

Advocates argue that the proposed reforms — which come after decades of steady, bipartisan-supported growth in funding for biomedical research — will cut administrative costs and other perceived bloat. This, they argue, will ultimately direct a bigger share of science spending toward actual science. Many scientists aren’t buying those arguments.

For decades, climate disasters were seen as the burden of poor nations. But the wildfires in Los Angeles and other catastrophes in the Global North prove that no one is immune. Adaptation, which could mean entire populations relocating, cannot replace mitigation as the main response to climate change.

A proposed rule from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service would change the definition of “harm” to an endangered species, effectively allowing such activities as logging and oil drilling to be approved even if they harm protected plant and animal habitats.

More than half of the calories consumed in the U.S. are from highly processed foods, which often contain synthetic ingredients. The new head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has said the U.S. should rid its food supply of these additives. What impact would such bans have on public health?

There is a long history of linguistic breakthroughs by researchers who have raised great apes in language-rich environments. But the first words and signs of humans’ closest relatives have stirred up relatively little fuss in both the scientific literature and the media. Why aren’t they more celebrated?

Fieldwork is vital to scientific research. But difficult conditions at remote research sites can increase workers’ vulnerability and put them under physical, mental, and emotional strain. A shift in the culture is needed to improve field workers’ access to mental health resources and support systems.

Scientists have long debated the scale of intentionally set fires, particularly in the woodlands of eastern North America. And a dust-up over a 2020 journal article on prescribed burning illustrates the debate’s nuances.

Officials have asked staff at the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program to draft a rule that will drastically reduce data collection. Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move. “It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,” one said.

Lobotomies left thousands of patients disabled in the 1950s. But with advances in treatment, some surgeons now say that, for a small group of patients, removing brain tissue can help patients with OCD and other disorders. But other experts are hesitant to recommend the procedures without more data.

In “A History of the World in Six Plagues,” science historian Edna Bonhomme investigates the racial and class inequalities, and the injustices of confinement, that have hampered official responses to cholera, Ebola, AIDS, Covid-19, and other epidemics.

The impending bankruptcy of genetic testing company 23andMe prompted worries about consumers’ personal data being sold. It has also raised the argument that genetic data shouldn’t be treated as assets for generating profit but rather as biospecimens that require individual consent before being bought or sold.

Apps that help track health information, provide diagnostic assistance, and facilitate care may have benefits, but with a patchwork of regulations, there’s potential for harm. Experts say more oversight is needed.

Academic surveys suggest that as many as one in five preteens in the U.S. now take melatonin at least occasionally, and that some younger children consume it multiple times per week. Companies and influencers increasingly market the hormone online. The trend has unsettled many childhood sleep researchers.

In Washington state, The closely-spaced deaths of two cougars who tested positive for the H5N1 avian flu suggest the virus is likely more widespread than thought. “There’s just so much about this virus and the epidemiology and disease ecology of it that we don’t understand,” one wildlife veterinarian said.

Even among the most durable migratory bird pairings, sexual exclusivity is rarely part of their relationship. One of the most remarkable evolutionary strategies is brood parasitism, or the sneaking of eggs into other birds’ nests in an attempt to steal parental care.

More than five years ago, the Covid-19 virus reached U.S. shores. Talking about the pandemic has become overwhelming, writes columnist C. Brandon Ogbunu. But now is the time to extract meaningful lessons from the ordeal that can be applied to other infectious disease scenarios, and to science and society as a whole.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration supports everything from emergency preparedness to weather apps to climate science. Many meteorologists say that recent reductions in funding and staffing will make it difficult for the federal agency to carry out its mission.

The move — along with the CDC’s explanation — is a sign that the nation’s top public health agency may be falling in line under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime critic of vaccines.

Some experts say the online abuse of children is rampant, and that police and lawmakers need more tools to catch perpetrators. Now, researchers in several countries are training artificial intelligence systems to help prevent predatory conversations. Will the tools work?

In “Ends of the Earth,” popular science writer and paleontologist Neil Shubin travels north and south to explore the frontiers of polar research, as well as the extraordinary biological adaptations of plants and animals and what today’s rapidly changing arctic environment can tell us about the planet’s future.

A recent drop in the number of opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. has puzzled researchers. But results from a recent study on drug addiction suggest how to keep that downward trend going: by engaging diverse local coalitions to take the lead in addressing the challenges in their communities.

Researchers are, by and large, dubious of efforts to demonstrate a genetic basis for racial or ancestral-group differences in intelligence. The current tools, they say, simply aren’t equipped to explain such complex traits. But there’s no guarantee that this state of affairs will hold forever.

Though the fungi await FDA approval, state regulators are issuing licenses for providing psychedelic mushrooms in mental health treatment and are planning to authorize “healing centers.” These are some of the first locations in the U.S. to administer mushrooms outside of clinical, religious, or illicit settings.

Recent lawsuits against the American Chemical Society and the University of Pennsylvania join a recent uptick in legal action against programs intended to promote diversity in academia. Many legal scholars and scientists say that such cases will hurt the scientific community.

In “The Power of Nuclear,” Dutch journalist Marco Visscher lays out the reasons why widespread fears and hesitations about atomic energy are misguided, illogical, and propelled by unscientific thinking, offering instead “the incredible story of a technology that was misunderstood from the beginning.”

Herbicides pose risks to the environment and to human health, but they are also the best tool land managers have for controlling invasive plants, which themselves can cause harm to ecosystems. One Mississippi State University graduate student in forestry looks toward potential solutions to this conundrum.

Norway may not be the first country that comes to mind when thinking of the space industry. But it has quietly emerged as a ground-station powerhouse, supporting some of the world’s most important science-seeking satellites. Experts, though, worry about its proximity to Russia.

When foreign aid was halted in February, diplomats in Vietnam warned that defunding the clean up of a massive deposit of postwar pesticides would be a catastrophe for public health. Now, companies in charge of remediation are scrambling to secure the site before torrential rains flood nearby communities with contaminated soil.

For years, scientists have explored ways to cool the planet through geoengineering. Now a little-known, well-financed startup, Stardust, is aiming to develop a proprietary geoengineering technology, seemingly for government clients.

Technology writer Nicholas Carr contends in “Superbloom” that our obsession with digital technology is causing us to live in a perpetual state of sensory and communication overload. In the process, our devices are exacting a large toll, altering how we think, act, and communicate with one another.

In February, the White House issued an executive order meant to protect access to in vitro fertilization and reduce costs for IVF treatments. But it doesn’t address the emotional burden often interwoven with fertility challenges. Clinics should provide more mental health support to their patients.

With crumbling public health infrastructure, county health departments in Texas face steep challenges. Aging infrastructure, a dearth of primary care providers, and long distances between testing sites and laboratories plague many rural areas in the state, where the measles outbreak has concentrated.

Elon Musk’s agency froze most spending above $1 on federal credit cards. Now, officials and researchers at science agencies are struggling to order basic supplies and carry out the main functions of their jobs. “The longer this disruption lasts, the more the system will break,” said one USDA official.

When the National Institutes of Health announced on social media that it would reduce funding for biomedical research grants, the agency pointed to elite universities and their hefty endowments. But less-wealthy institutions may be particularly hard hit by the proposed changes.

Is it possible that many scientists and the news media got the Covid-19 response all wrong? Political scientists Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee, the authors of “In Covid’s Wake,” argue that many pandemic-era policies were not grounded in evidence and did not properly weigh their potential to cause harm.

Layoffs and funding freezes have struck a blow to the U.S. scientific enterprise. Selective Pressure columnist C. Brandon Ogbunu argues that to mitigate the damage, scientists need to swiftly adopt a harm reduction model and build a different profession — one still capable of defending and practicing science.

The existing legal framework over who owns genetic resources was not designed for the digital age. And although international negotiators have wrangled over digital sequence information for many years, they have yet to reach a consensus.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said the Trump administration would liberate Americans from the FDA’s “aggressive suppression” of vitamins, dietary supplements, and other substances. The $70 billion industry is now likely to push for bolder health claims, government and insurance payments for unproven products, and looser restrictions.

Since the 1990s, more than two dozen drugs have been approved to treat multiple sclerosis. But a question looms: For older adults — who are less likely to suffer the disease’s hallmark flare-ups, and more likely to experience troublesome side effects from the drugs themselves — does there come a time to quit?

Historian Rebecca Charbonneau, in “Mixed Signals: Alien Communication Across the Iron Curtain,” examines an unusual alliance of interests during the Cold War, when Soviet and American scientists worked together to search for extraterrestrial life despite the gaping political divide on Earth.

In early 20th century, public health had great success in preventing disease and death. But in the decades that followed, progress stalled when its attempts to integrate with medicine failed. One public health official writes that we need to understand this past to find the way toward a healthier nation.

Over the last few decades, there’s been a shift in the types of diseases causing the most harm around the world: Chronic diseases like cancer, heart disease, and metabolic disorders have overtaken infectious diseases. Scientists at a new research center say the trend is due to corporate-produced risk factors.

Investigative journalist Charles Piller, in “Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance, and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimer’s,” examines compelling evidence that dozens of renowned neuroscientists appear to be responsible for problematic images used in their published studies into the disease.

A list compiled by a group of Senate Republicans last fall, and released to the public earlier this month, identifies thousands of federally-funded projects as “woke DEI” research driven by “far-left” agendas. Many researchers are baffled by their inclusion — and concerned about what the report portends.