August 21, 2019 2:06 PM EDT
As people searched for answers around the shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services prevented its scientists from posting relevant research about guns, violence, and mental health on social media. According to the Washington Post, which broke the story, the orders came in the wake of the president’s incorrect suggestion that mental illness leads to mass shootings. Read more >
August 21, 2019 1:39 PM EDT
Economists need to make it possible for all teachers, economists or not, to help their students be climate economics literate. And we need to make it accessible and interesting to all students. Read more >
August 19, 2019 6:00 AM EDT
Science is always a potential threat to authoritarian rulers, because it uncovers truths that contradict their lies.
Recently we’ve seen a dramatic example of this conflict in Brazil, where the director of the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has been fired by the country’s new President, Jair Bolsonaro, for releasing data showing a substantial increase in Amazon deforestation. Read more >
August 16, 2019 4:22 PM EDT
My job regularly requires explaining complex science and policy topics to the media, public, and decisionmakers. So I took over the Union of Concerned Scientists’ twitter account (#GretchenTakeover) to share my top tips for talking about science in decisionmaking, examples of effective science communication, and suggestions for how to advocate for the Scientific Integrity Act. Here are the key takeaways. Read more >
August 16, 2019 9:13 AM EDT
Imagine if traffic gets even worse? Uber and Lyft are already being implicated in the rise of congestion in San Francisco and other cities. Add self-driving cars in the coming few years to the mix and things could look even worse. But it doesn’t have to turn out that way. Read more >
