Ethics News

June 13, 2025

Top Headlines

DNA Floating in the Air Tracks Wildlife, Viruses -- Even Drugs

June 3, 2025 — Environmental DNA from the air, captured with simple air filters, can track everything from illegal drugs to the wildlife it was originally designed to ...

Attachment Theory: A New Lens for Understanding Human-AI Relationships

June 2, 2025 — Human-AI interactions are well understood in terms of trust and companionship. However, the role of attachment and experiences in such relationships is not entirely clear. In a new breakthrough, researchers from Waseda University have devised a ...

Amphibian Road Mortality Drops by Over 80% With Wildlife Underpasses, Study Shows

May 29, 2025 — A new study shows that wildlife underpass tunnels dramatically reduce deaths of frog, salamanders, and other amphibians migrating across ...

Without Public Trust, Effective Climate Policy Is Impossible

May 27, 2025 — When formulating climate policy, too little attention is paid to social factors and too much to technological breakthroughs and economic reasons. Because citizens are hardly heard in this process, European governments risk losing public support at a ...

AI Is Here to Stay, Let Students Embrace the Technology, Experts Urge

May 22, 2025 — A new study says students appear to be using generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) responsibly, and as a way to speed up tasks, not just boost their ...

Why We Trust People Who Grew Up With Less

May 22, 2025 — When deciding whom to trust, people are more likely to choose individuals who grew up with less money over those who went to private schools or vacationed in Europe, according to new ...

Should We Protect Non-Native Species? A New Study Says Maybe

May 14, 2025 — A new study found that over a quarter of the world's naturalized plant species are threatened in parts of their native range -- raising questions about the role non-native populations may play in global conservation ...

Exposure to Extreme Heat and Cold Temperature Is Leading to Additional Preventable Deaths, New 19-Year Study Suggests

May 1, 2025 — Urgent action must be taken to reduce the ever-rising number of people killed by extreme temperatures in India, say the authors of a new 19-year study which found that 20,000 people died from ...

Good Karma for Me, Bad Karma for You

May 1, 2025 — Many people around the world believe in karma -- that idea that divine justice will punish people who do bad deeds and reward those who good. But that belief plays out differently for oneself versus others, according to new ...

Data Collection Changes Key to Understanding Maternal Mortality Trends in the US, New Study Shows

Apr. 28, 2025 — A new study offers fresh insight into trends in maternal mortality in the United States. For the first time, the study disentangles genuine changes in health outcomes from shifts caused by how deaths ...

Paying Fishers to Release Endangered Catches Can Aid Conservation, but Only If Done Right

Apr. 23, 2025 — A new study has revealed that an incentive program increased live releases of endangered species caught as bycatch. However, unexpectedly, the overall positive impact was reduced by some vessels ...

Skeletal Evidence of Roman Gladiator Bitten by Lion in Combat

Apr. 23, 2025 — Bite marks found on a skeleton discovered in a Roman cemetery in York have revealed the first archaeological evidence of gladiatorial combat between a human and a ...

Latest Headlines

updated 1:39pm EDT

Warming Climate Making Fine Particulate Matter from Wildfires More Deadly and Expensive

May 7, 2025 — Scientists say human-caused climate change led to 15,000 additional early deaths from wildfire air pollution in the continental United States during ...

Current AI Risks More Alarming Than Apocalyptic Future Scenarios

Apr. 23, 2025 — Most people generally are more concerned about the immediate risks of artificial intelligence than they are about a theoretical future in which AI threatens humanity. A new study reveals that ...

Should Farm Fields Be Used for Crops or Solar? Or Both

Apr. 21, 2025 — As farmers debate whether fields should be used for agriculture or solar panels, new research says the answer could be both. Scientists analyzed remote sensing and aerial imagery to study how fields ...

Is AI in Medicine Playing Fair?

Apr. 7, 2025 — As artificial intelligence (AI) rapidly integrates into health care, a new study reveals that all generative AI models may recommend different treatments for the same medical condition based solely ...

My Robot Therapist: The Ethics of AI Mental Health Chatbots for Kids

Mar. 31, 2025 — AI mental health apps may offer a cheap and accessible way to fill the gaps in the overstretched U.S. mental health care system, but ethics experts warn that we need to be thoughtful about how we use ...

Avoidable Deaths Are on the Rise in the United States, Yet Falling in Many Peer Nations

Mar. 24, 2025 — In most high-income countries around the world, the number of avoidable mortalities is going down. But in the United States, avoidable deaths have ...

Whose Air Quality Are We Monitoring?

Mar. 18, 2025 — The EPA's network consistently failed to capture air quality in communities of color across six major pollutants. The monitors are the key data source driving decisions about pollution reduction, ...

Want to Preserve Biodiversity? Go Big

Mar. 12, 2025 — Large, undisturbed forests are better for harboring biodiversity than fragmented landscapes, according to recent research. Ecologists agree that habitat loss and the fragmentation of forests reduces ...

How 'Self-Silencing' Your Opinion May Change Behavior

Mar. 5, 2025 — People who have a minority viewpoint on a controversial topic are more likely to 'self-silence' themselves in conversation -- and that may lead them to behave against their own beliefs, a new study ...

Misplaced Neurons Disrupt Wiring of the Brain

Feb. 25, 2025 — Research reveals why misplaced neurons in the brain are overactive and lead to developmental ...

Stroke Deaths and Their Racial Disparities Increased Over Last 20 Years

Apr. 9, 2025 — Over the last two decades, ischemic stroke mortality rates in the U.S. have grown, with almost 3 in 10 deaths occurring at home, and increases particularly among racial minorities and rural ...

Conservation Efforts Analysis Reveals Which Actions Are Most Helpful for Endangered Species Status

Mar. 18, 2025 — Targeted conservation actions are essential to prevent wildlife extinctions, but more efforts are needed to fully recover biodiversity, according to a new ...

Study Quantifies Loss of Disability-Free Years of Life from COVID-19 Pandemic

Mar. 11, 2025 — Among 289 million adults in 18 European countries, more than 16 million years of life were lost from 2020 through 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new ...

Siamese Fighting Fish Need More Space in Pet Shops, Study Shows

Feb. 25, 2025 — Scientists have found Siamese fighting fish are typically kept in containers just one-quarter the size they need to thrive, challenging decades of retail practice in the ornamental fish industry ...

Impacts of Workplace Bullying on Sleep Can Be 'Contagious' Between Partners

Feb. 21, 2025 — Workplace bullying affects not only the employee's sleep but their partner's too, according to new research published ...

Narcissists More Likely to Feel Ostracized

Feb. 20, 2025 — Narcissists feel ostracized more frequently than their less self-absorbed peers, according to researchers. This may stem not only from being shunned due to their personalities but from a tendency to ...

Are We Trusting AI Too Much? New Study Demands Accountability in Artificial Intelligence

Feb. 18, 2025 — Are we putting our faith in technology that we don't fully understand? A new study comes at a time when AI systems are making decisions impacting our daily lives -- from banking and healthcare ...

Tigers in the Neighborhood: How India Makes Room for Both Tigers and People

Jan. 31, 2025 — In India, tigers haven't just survived they're making a comeback. Despite a growing population and increasing pressure on their habitats, the number of wild tigers is rising. The reason? ...

Botanic Gardens Must Team Up to Save Wild Plants from Extinction

Jan. 27, 2025 — The world's botanic gardens must pull together to protect global plant biodiversity in the face of the extinction crisis, amid restrictions on wild-collecting, say ...

Progress and Challenges in Brain Implants

Jan. 24, 2025 — A scientific team looks at the progress and challenges in the research and development of brain implants. New achievements in the field of this technology are seen as a source of hope for many ...

While Most Americans Use a Device to Monitor Their Heart, Few Share That Data With Their Doctor

Jan. 22, 2025 — A new national survey found that while many Americans use a device to monitor their heart, few share that data with their ...

A Team With Diverse Expertise Produces Novel Ideas -- But Are They Practical?

Jan. 21, 2025 — A first-of-its-kind study shows that while teams with differing skill sets and perspectives bring fresh, unique ideas to the table, they often struggle to create practical, workable solutions -- ...

Ecologists Uncover Significant Ecological Impact of Hybrid Grouper Release Through Religious Practices

Jan. 19, 2025 — Ecologists have identified significant ecological risks associated with the release of hybrid groupers into Hong Kong's coastal waters, a practice often linked to religious 'mercy ...

A New Research Program Is Indigenizing Artificial Intelligence

Jan. 15, 2025 — A new initiative is challenging the conversation around the direction of artificial intelligence (AI). It charges that the current trajectory is inherently biased against non-Western modes of ...

How Households Can Cut Energy Costs

Jan. 13, 2025 — Giving people better data about their energy use, plus some coaching, can help them substantially reduce their consumption and costs, according to a new ...

Realistic Emission Tests for Motorbikes, Mopeds and Quads

Jan. 9, 2025 — Researchers have developed new measurement techniques and methods to measure emissions from category-L vehicles in realistic operation and to determine corresponding limit ...

States Struggle to Curb Food Waste Despite Policies

Jan. 9, 2025 — Current state policies aren't enough to curb food waste. Study shows states are falling short of the reduction goals set by the U.S. Environmental Protection ...

Rethinking Population Management in Zoos

Jan. 8, 2025 — Until now, contraception has been the method of choice for zoos to avoid surplus animals. Researchers are now calling for a paradigm shift: zoos could preserve their breeding populations, raise ...

Study Reveals Rising Interest in Permanent Contraception After Roe V. Wade Was Overturned

Jan. 7, 2025 — A new study has found a significant increase in the number of U.S. young adults seeking permanent contraception, specifically tubal sterilization and vasectomy, following the Supreme Court's ...

'Heartbreaking' Impact of COVID on Treatment of Children With Brain Tumors

Jan. 7, 2025 — Research into the impact of the COVID pandemic on children and young people with brain tumors has revealed how investigations or treatments were frequently postponed as key people or resources were ...