Right Now
Is Ultraprocessed Food Really That Bad?
A Harvard professor challenges conventional wisdom.
The $2-Trillion War
War is messy, and putting a price tag on a war that stretches over years, with consequences lasting decades longer, is a staggering task. Yet in...
Of Mice and Hands
"Computer use does not cause carpal tunnel syndrome.” Moreover, “no one has proven that the disease is made worse by work on a...
Waiting to Inhale
Extreme sports usually mean speed, danger, or spectacular stuntsthings like snowboarding, skateboarding, rock climbing. They may reach...
Sex and the Inner City
The sexual and romantic habits of urban black males have long been a subject of scrutiny. Forty years ago, the Moynihan Report—The Negro...
Downloading Deafness
Most of us by now have had problems communicating with an oblivious headphone user who ignores our impatient repetitions of “Excuse...
The Market for News
Imagine that the Labor Department releases new statistics that show the U.S. unemployment rate rising from 6.1 to 6.3 percent. One major...
The Law of Dissimilars
Humans have a natural propensity to distrust the “other.” The classic social-psychology experiment in which individuals are randomly...
Light Blitzes Plaque
Fast forward a decade and imagine what a drugstore shelf might hold. A pill containing an entire day’s nutrients? A gadget that confers...
Rethinking New Orleans
In the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush promised to “do what it takes” to help New Orleans’s residents...
Retinal Ennui
If you “can’t see the forest for the trees,” you’ve focused too much on the details to take in the larger situation...