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By The Local Staff On January 1st, the Church of Norway and the Norwegian government will formally divorce after nearly 500 years together. But their relationship will remain close. Too close, some say. When 2016 becomes 2017, Norway will formalize the separation of church and state that was set in motion eight years ago by …

By Kathy Frankovic Sometimes it seems that Americans will believe anything.  And what we know as true or not true these days can depend on our political point of view.  But there are many of us who are willing to give at least some credence to the possibility that a claim might be true. At …

By Chris Megerian In the two decades since Ben Santer helped write a landmark international report linking global warming and human activity, he’s been criticized by politicians, accused of falsifying his data and rewarded with a dead rat on his doorstep. He describes it as “background noise,” and he tries to tune it out as …

“What’s more, different ways of coming out don’t just have personal impacts in people’s lives. They have political implications as well. And those will vary from person to person. Some people want their coming out to make a gentler, blending-in, “we’re just like everyone else” statement. Others want their coming out to be more radical, …

By Jerry Coyne As I posted yesterday, a lot of contributors gave their answers to the 2017 annual Edge Question, “What scientific term or concept ought to be more widely known.” (See all responses here.) In the last 24 hours Richard Dawkins has weighed in with his answer, “The genetic book of the dead,” which involves …

By Tim Argano ISTANBUL — The Islamic State issued a rare claim of responsibility on Monday for the New Year’s Day attack on an Istanbul nightclub that killed at least 39 people, describing the gunman who carried out the assault — and who has not been identified or captured — as “a hero soldier of …

By Justin Gillis With Donald J. Trump about to take control of the White House, it would seem a dark time for the renewable energy industry. After all, Mr. Trump has mocked the science of global warming as a Chinese hoax, threatened to kill a global deal on climate change and promised to restore the …

By Christopher Joyce Almost a million elephants roamed Africa 25 years ago. Assessments of their population now vary, but suggest there are fewer than half that many. The main reason for the decline is ivory. Despite a 1989 ban on ivory trade, poachers continue to kill elephants for their tusks. Now China, the destination for …

By Carl Zimmer Leah H. Somerville, a Harvard neuroscientist, sometimes finds herself in front of an audience of judges. They come to hear her speak about how the brain develops. It’s a subject on which many legal questions depend. How old does someone have to be to be sentenced to death? When should someone get …

By Ed Yong On August 15th, with little fanfare, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) took steps to improve its ability to deal with infectious outbreaks. The agency proposed a new rule that would expand its powers to screen, test, and quarantine people traveling into or within the United States, in the event …

By Emily Deruly As a writer, I generally favor words over numbers. But sometimes a good number is worth a thousand words. Or something like that. In that spirit, here are five numbers that help explain the state of education in 2016 (with a smattering of words thrown in for good measure). 83 This is …

By Steph Yin Inuit who live in Greenland experience average temperatures below freezing for at least half of the year. For those who live in the north, subzero temperatures are normal during the coldest months. Given these frigid conditions, anthropologists have wondered for decades whether the Inuit in Greenland and other parts of the Arctic …