Science funding agencies are increasingly setting up their own units to conduct metascience — using the scientific method to study how research is funded, performed and evaluated. In July, Michael Kratsios, the director of the US Office of Science and Technology Policy, called for every federal science agency to create such a unit. A similar
Peatland fires in Indonesia, which can be exacerbated by El Niño, release a huge amount of carbon dioxide.Credit: Sigit Prasetya/NurPhoto via Getty As a climate scientist who studies land and ocean temperature records, I start each day by pulling observations and forecasts of the El Niño weather pattern from 14 leading models into a real-time
Earlier in August, cryptography professor Matthew Green wrote a controversial thread on X and a longer blog post that went viral within the cybersecurity community. Green, who has long been a close observer of the debate around the use of hacking tools by governments to fight crime and the need for strong encryption to protect
In June, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned that there is a 63% chance of a very strong El Niño developing before the end of 2026, potentially rivaling the most severe episodes since records began in 1950. The 1997-98 El Niño, one of the strongest on record, triggered severe floods and droughts across
