Stories by Dan Vergano

The Trump administration’s mass federal firings include the scientific investigators who make dangerous workplaces safe for millions of people

“The risks of remaining silent at this defining time are far greater than the risks of speaking out,” says one scientist regarding the Trump administration’s attacks on science

At the heart of the Trump administration’s Signal scandal lies the familiar psychological pitfall of groupthink

Despite fears that speaking out will make them targets, top researchers warn that the Trump administration’s “wholesale assault on U.S. science” will harm the nation

Gender-affirming care attacked by right-wing groups is being reaffirmed by medical reviews and in the courtroom

Tariffs on Mexico and Canada won’t stop the demand for addictive drugs

Inaudible ultrasonic beams steered around obstacles can create pockets of sound in an otherwise quiet room, acoustics experts report

“Stand Up for Science” shows how science supporters are coming together

Schrödinger’s cat is scratching its head over the “topological” qubit that is causing a buzz in quantum computing. We should be, too

The U.S. Department of Defense suddenly pretending that climate change isn’t real is penny-wise and pound-foolish

Proposed U.S. space defenses against hypersonic nuclear missiles are unnecessary, impractical and would trigger a dangerous new arms race

Donald Trump has joined big firms in demanding workers end remote work. But the evidence suggests that hurts both workers and the work

“Laboratories would literally go dark,” says a medical research insider, if Trump administration cuts to NIH funding go through. Patients will suffer from lost medical advances, he tells Scientific American

DOGE’s Elon Musk should turn his $2-trillion hatchet to wasteful and perilous U.S. nuclear weapons modernization plans

“Propaganda works” is the real upshot of a survey showing lingering postpandemic distrust of science

A social scientist looks at the portrait of U.S. voters, and voting, in the aftermath of the 2024 presidential election that put Trump into the White House

The outcome of the 2024 U.S. presidential election could reshape policies from health care at home to nuclear proliferation abroad

Anti-immigrant rhetoric in the U.S. comes straight out of the playbook of eugenics, deeply dishonest scientism that falsely claims that criminality, poverty and a host of other ills are all genetically inherited

Fossil and gene discoveries paint an ever-more-intertwined history of humans combining with vanished species like Neandertals

Whoever wins the 2024 presidential election will face heightened nuclear geopolitics, deadlines on nuclear deals with Russia and Iran and decisions on a $2-trillion weapons-modernization effort

Rather than building an obsolescent, obscenely-over-budget jumbo rocket, NASA should turn to building truly innovative space technologies and plan a realistic lunar landing program

The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, owes his superstar success to self-satisfied competitors who blew obvious opportunities

The largest and most comprehensive studies of ‘Havana Syndrome’ point to stress or group psychology as likely explanations for most “anomalous health incidents”

Sean Kirkpatrick looked into the skies and deep into government archives for extraterrestrials. What he found is, to him, more concerning than little green men.