Science
Explaining the Global Warming Hiatus
Grappling with climate-change nuance in a toxic political environment
Its a climate-change mystery: As global warming has plateaued, scientists are more certain than ever about the long term trend. But where did the heat go?
ADHD meds like Ritalin, Adderall, Concerta, and Vyvanse have been called "smart pills" for their ability to bestow superhuman powers of concentration. In the U.S. especially, where about 11 percent of schoolchildren have an ADHD diagnosis, parents and teachers embrace the drugs as a way to get kids to sit still and pay attention.
The Supreme Court Reveals its Ignorance of Genetics
The Supreme Court decided today that human gene sequences cannot be patented, invalidating some of Myriad Genetics's patent claims on the breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2. But it was only a partial victory for scientists and patients' rights advocates—the Court upheld the company's patents on the cDNA versions of those genes. What's cDNA? Clearly the Court doesn't understand, or else wouldn't have made such a ruling.
I don’t have a whole lot in common with Angelina Jolie, but we do share a terrifying family history of breast cancer. Like Jolie, I lost my mother to cancer—mine at 49, Jolie’s at 56. Also like Jolie, I decided to have the genetic test for the BRCA1 and 2 mutations, which, if present, indicate a severely increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer over a lifetime.
For the first time in history, we understand how isolation can ravage the body and brain. Now, what should we do about it?
We are in collective denial about what ingesting a meal really entails.
By the cold logic of evolutionary science, post-menopausal women lack obvious utility. That they manage to attain old age is a mystery that requires explanation.
In Praise of Empty Souls—Can We Learn From Psychopaths?
How Older Parenthood Will Upend American Society
The scary consequences of the grayest generation.
We are having kids later than ever. We have no idea what we're getting into.
