Science & Technology

An Unhealthy Definition of Rights

For the new majority on the Supreme Court, religious liberty takes precedence over the government’s power to protect public health.

December 21, 2023 issue

The Lost World

Nature documentary has of late become a haunted genre. Not so Prehistoric Planet, which revels in portraying that which is already dead and gone, no longer our responsibility.

December 21, 2023 issue

Gut Instincts

Recent books about the importance of the microbiome have driven many patients to fixate on the idea of “gut health.” Are they right to do so?

December 7, 2023 issue

The Bull’s-Eye on Your Thoughts

Today digital privacy exists only at the discretion of the companies that mediate our online engagement. But what happens when those companies, an employer, school administrators, or the government have access to our neural data?

November 2, 2023 issue

Where the Orcas Swim

The death that humans inflict on whales today has little to do with demand for meat or blubber. We may think of whaling as a bygone practice, but it is ongoing, pervasive, and implicates us all.

November 2, 2023 issue

Not Milk?

A new book shows how cow’s milk attained the status of kitchen essential and universal beverage in the United States. But its consumption has been in decline for decades—a trend that nothing seems capable of stopping.

October 19, 2023 issue

Toward a Land of Buses and Bikes

There is more housing for each car in the United States than there is for each person.

October 5, 2023 issue

Unreasonable Terms

In Owning the Sun, Alexander Zaitchik shows how American drug companies have exploited government contracts to pursue profit over public interest.

October 5, 2023 issue

Better, Faster, Stronger

Two recent books illuminate the dark foundations of Silicon Valley.

September 21, 2023 issue

Spored to Death

Fungi have caused some of the worst wildlife disease outbreaks ever documented. Will they come for us?

September 21, 2023 issue