Arash Alaei and his brother Kamiar earned recognition and acclaim from the World Health Organization, the Asia Society, the Global Health Council, and other organizations for programs they started in Iran to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Unfortunately, they also caught the attention of Iranian authorities.

Actor Alan Alda is challenging scientists once again to answer a basic science question in language that will engage and enlighten 11-year-olds. He and the Stony Brook University Center for Communicating Science have launched the second edition of the Flame Challenge.

Helen Chappell learned about the AAAS Mass Media Fellowships from a former fellow, who described the program as a turning point in her career. Chappell could identify: She was feeling a bit lost in her physics studies and was interested in exploring other ways of using her education. So with only a week before the 2011 fellowship applications were due, Chappell went through a “fun scramble” to put in her paperwork for the program.

A brief writing exercise can help women in college physics classes improve their academic performance and reduce some of the well-documented differences between male and female science students, researchers say in a new study. The writing exercise seems particularly beneficial to female students who tend to subscribe to the negative stereotype that men perform better in physics, the researchers say

A Web site created at Carleton College to make earth science come alive in the classroom has been awarded the Science Prize for Online Resources in Education.

In an era in which knowledge of geoscience is fundamental to handling such pressing issues as climate change and environmental degradation, the Web site, known as On the Cutting Edge, fosters the sharing of ideas about teaching with the aim of improving education throughout the field.