Ask a Scientist

Our monthly ‘Ask a Scientist’ column answers questions that come from UCS members and supporters.

photo of wetlands, with streams meandering through patches of brown grass and a stand of trees on the horizon, set against a blue sky

February 13, 2025

Ask a Scientist: What Value Do Wetlands Provide?

Guest Commentary

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

January 14, 2025

Ask A Scientist: How Can Scientists Drive Change Through Climate Lawsuits?

Guest Commentary

ethylene oxide hotspots in MN

December 10, 2024

Ask a Scientist: Chemical Safety Matters for Real People’s Lives—The Ethylene Oxide Story

Seth Michaels
Senior Science Policy Writer

Getty Images North America

October 15, 2024

Ask a Scientist: How Close Are We to a Clean Energy Transition?

Guest Commentary

Poll workers assist voters on Super Tuesday at the First Ward Creative Academy, Mecklenburg County Precinct 13 on March 5, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Grant Baldwin/Getty Images

September 12, 2024

Ask A Scientist: How Can Science and Data Inform Fairer, Freer Elections?

Guest Commentary

Two women cook in a kitchen on an induction stove.

SolStock/Getty Images

August 13, 2024

Ask A Scientist: What Energy Solutions to the Climate Crisis Are Within Reach?

Guest Commentary

Man pushes man in a motorized scooter across flooded sidewalk.

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

July 16, 2024

Ask a Scientist: What Happens When Sea Level Rise Comes for Public Housing?

Guest Commentary

May 14, 2024

Ask a Scientist: Stopping Big Ag from Hijacking US Farm and Food Policy

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Exxon Mobile sign at gas station

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

April 9, 2024

Ask an Expert: What to Expect this Oil Industry Proxy Season

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Mitchell Johnson/Unsplash

March 12, 2024

Ask a Scientist: UCS Transportation Program Adds Equitable Mobility to Its Portfolio

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Cholla powerplant in Arizona.

Alan Stark/Wikimedia Commons

February 9, 2024

Ask a Scientist: Gas Power Plants Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Communities

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Daily Hampshire Gazette

January 16, 2024

Ask a Scientist: Can Election Science Ensure the Integrity of the 2024 Elections?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

farm runoff

Lynn Betts/USDA NRCS

December 12, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Fighting Big Ag Pollution with Maps and Math

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

man standing on roof while holding a solar panel

Kindel Media/Pexels

November 16, 2023

Ask a Scientist: The US Has to Do More to Meet Its Carbon Emissions Reduction Goals

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

plane with "scientific integrity" banner

October 16, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Building on Advances in Scientific Integrity

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

September 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: It’s Getting Easier for US Car Owners to Go Electric

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Pigs crowded into a CAFO

Mark Stebnicki/Pexels

August 10, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Will the New Farm Bill Transform the US Food System?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

August 10, 2023

How Will EPA’s Proposed Power Plant Carbon Rule Impact Public Health?

Brady Watson
Senior Campaign Coordinator

Photo of Oppenheimer in a fedora and suit

NBC News Studios

July 13, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Scientists and Arms Control from Oppenheimer to Today

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Olivier Lantzendorffer/iStock.com

June 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Top Takeaways from the New EPA Carbon Pollution Rules

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Sienna Falzetta/BLM

May 16, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Calling Out the Companies Responsible for Western Wildfires

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Dennis Schroeder/NREL

April 13, 2023

Ask a Scientist: The Electric Car and Power Grid’s Shared Future

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Dennis Schroeder/NREL

March 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: New UCS Federal Scientist Survey Shows Real Progress

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Satelite view of the Livanova commercial sterilizer in Arvada, CO

Esri/OpenStreetMap

February 9, 2023

Ask a Scientist: EPA Failing to Protect Communities from Cancer-Causing Gas

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor