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Science & Nature

Science Doesn't Work That Way

Its authority derives not from unbiased experts but from the institutions and norms that structure their work.

Gregory E. Kaebnick

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Science & Nature

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 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

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

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

Politics, Science & Nature

Hydroxychloroquine and the Political Polarization of Science

How a drug became an object lesson in political tribalism.

Cailin O'Connor, James Owen Weatherall

Law & Justice, Politics

Abortions Don't Drain Hospital Resources

A doctor's case against COVID-19 abortion bans. 

Daniel Grossman

Class & Inequality, Science & Nature

Recessions often improve population health, but COVID-19 may be different

Mortality rates typically fall during economic downturns. But the unprecedented features of the COVID-19 shutdown suggest that trend might not hold this time.

Sarah Burgard, Lucie Kalousova

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