Donate or Join | Boston Review

A Political and Literary Forum

Menu Search
Donate Shop Join

Race, Science & Nature

How a Popular Medical Device Encodes Racial Bias

Pulse oximeters give biased results for people with darker skin. The consequences could be serious.

Amy Moran-Thomas

Read More

Science & Nature

Science & Nature

COVID-19 Is Changing What It Means to Be a Doctor

American medicine has long functioned as an elitist institution, putting professional prestige over the well-being of patients and physicians alike.

Marco Ramos, Tess Lanzarotta, Iris Chandler

Science & Nature

How Epidemics End

History shows that outbreaks rarely have tidy conclusions.

Jeremy A. Greene, Dora Vargha

Science & Nature

The Shape of Epidemics

Epidemic waves serve not just to predict but also to persuade. Their special blend of mathematical and moral messaging will shape the future of the pandemic.

David S. Jones, Stefan Helmreich

Arts in Society, Science & Nature

Imagining American Utopia

Rereleased this year in a single volume, Kim Stanley Robinson’s trilogy Three Californias imagines three possible futures for the world writ large through the lens of Orange County, California.

Dayton Martindale

Philosophy & Religion, Science & Nature

From Pandemic Facts to Pandemic Policies

The debate over pandemic response is not only about the facts—including the grim death toll. It's also about the relationship between science and decision-making, where values inevitably play a role.

Jonathan Fuller

Science & Nature

Will Evidence-Based Medicine Survive COVID-19?

The UK government’s ultra-cautious approach to “evidence-based” policy has helped cast doubt on public health interventions. The definition of good medical and public health practice must be urgently updated.

Trisha Greenhalgh

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

What Would Health Security Look Like?

Nineteenth-century reformers understood the deep connections between public health and environmental protection. That's why struggles for Medicare for All and a Green New Deal are two sides of the same coin.

Sunaura Taylor

Science & Nature

The Totality of the Evidence

As policymakers debate the right response to COVID-19, they must take seriously the harms of pandemic policies, not just their benefits.

John P. A. Ioannidis

Science & Nature

The Case Against Mars

Contrary to the boosterism of billionaires, the need for space colonization must be argued for, not assumed. And the arguments aren’t good.

Byron Williston

Science & Nature

Good Science Is Good Science

For the sake of both science and action in the COVID-19 pandemic, we need collaboration among specialists, not sects.

Marc Lipsitch

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

COVID-19 Crisis Capitalism Comes to Real Estate

Proptech is leading to new forms of housing injustice in ways that increase the power of landlords and further disempower tenants and those seeking shelter.

Erin McElroy, Meredith Whittaker, Genevieve Fried

Science & Nature

Models v. Evidence

COVID-19 has revealed a contest between two competing philosophies of scientific knowledge. To manage the crisis, we must draw on both.

Jonathan Fuller

Pages

       

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Vital reading on politics, literature, and more in your inbox

Love Boston Review?

Then you’ll love our new membership program! Join us to support engaged discussion on critical issues. You’ll also enjoy exclusive membership benefits.
Get Started

Copyright © 1993-2020 Boston Review and its authors.

Support Boston Review

Become a Member

Make a tax-deductible donation today

Boston Review Printing Note: For best printing results try turning on any options your web browser's print dialog makes available for printing backgrounds and background graphics.