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The danger from large-scale asteroid impacts is not the stuff of science fiction. As new space technologies evolve to detect, deflect, or obliterate asteroids entirely, polls show that funding for planetary defense has long had strong bipartisan support both inside and outside of Congress.

For centuries, colonists have set their sights on Greenland because of its strategic location and unique mineral resources. But according to one geoscientist, this antiquated view misses the Arctic island’s real value: its ice. Preserving that ice by cooling the climate is imperative to our collective future.

NASA has plans to launch the first space station in deep space. Some experts say it’s an important steppingstone to long-term human space habitation, and NASA’s eventual goal of reaching the red planet. But others say it’s an expensive and risky step that engineers could skip.

After the devastation of the Los Angeles fires, officials are ready to rebuild. But as the risk of devastating wildfires increases with climate change, the calls to rebuild Los Angeles raise a series of tricky questions: How and where to rebuild — and whether to rebuild at all.

Only about 20 percent of Americans have followed current CDC guidance and gotten the latest Covid vaccine. The rest, experts say, may be experiencing vaccine fatigue or feeling distrustful about potential side effects. But are they missing out on important protection?

An energy company’s novel project spawned in the late 1980s helped set the stage for planting trees as a means to sequester carbon emissions. In the process, it resulted in a lot of lessons that are still relevant today in terms of the potential benefits, risks, and failures of forest carbon offsets.

Mirror molecules — synthesized chemical inverse images of natural counterparts — have potential as drugs for hard-to-treat diseases. But extending such work to create entire mirror organisms could pose serious biosafety risks. One researcher who studies mirror-image peptides considers where to draw the line.

The Netherlands allows medically assisted euthanasia for extreme mental suffering, and, in recent years, Dutch doctors have seen a steep rise in requests. Some clinicians are concerned and want more guardrails in place. But others argue euthanasia is sometimes the most humane option and should be easier to obtain.

Despite continued opposition, the World Bank has approved the first of five big dam projects expected to get its support in the coming months. Climate change has upped the need for renewable energy, but the environmental and social costs of building such massive projects remain.

As community violence intervention efforts have gained unprecedented funding, policymakers are asking a deceptively difficult question: Do these programs work? One sociologist says the problem lies in the definition of success and the research methods being used to determine it.

What if everyone could participate in the formal enterprise of research, publishing in journals and attending scientific conferences? C. Brandon Ogbunu argues that making both the consumption and production of research more accessible would help remedy the public’s decreasing trust in scientists.

Biostatistician Jeffrey Morris believes that to productively discuss vaccines and public health with a politically polarized public, scientists must maintain respect, transparency, a willingness to acknowledge uncertainty — and an awareness of how politics and partisanship can shape a person’s beliefs.

In 2021, the CDC recommended the state launch syringe exchange programs to help curb the spread of HIV. But state and local policymakers placed restrictions on such programs due to concerns about illegal drug use. Researchers and health workers say this has been a large contributor to the spread of disease, despite attention and other resources directed toward the outbreak.