Fact-based conclusions and value-based judgments are both important aspects of science, but a clearer awareness of their differences can help scientists engage with a skeptical public, William Press said at the annual William D. Carey lecture.

Helium-3—a variation of the helium used in balloons—can reduce temperatures to nearly absolute zero, provide non-radioactive medical lung imaging, and detect neutrons emanating from smuggled nuclear devices. It may even be an element of a clean energy source. For decades, this non-toxic and non-corrosive gas has been in adequate supply, but now that supply is dwindling just as demand is rising dramatically.

Many different species of plants and animals have been moving higher in elevation and farther away from the equator to escape the Earth’s warming climate. Now, new research shows that this phenomenon is occurring at much faster rates than previously realized.