August 12, 2025
(New York Times) – Science is a method for formulating and testing hypotheses, not a fixed set of facts. It should work alongside other ways of knowing, but it must also be protected from political or commercial capture. Perhaps I’m … Read More
August 8, 2025
(NPR) – This week, a new word was unveiled: healthocide. In a commentary published in the journal BMJ Global Health, it’s defined in part as the deliberate damaging or destruction of health services. “We mean the intentional, systematic destruction of … Read More
August 7, 2025
(Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists) – Thirty years ago, as director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory, I wrote an essay on the 50th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In that piece (which can be found here), … Read More
August 6, 2025
(Wired) – First came the idea of splitting the atom; then, a chain of events leading to a moment forever etched in collective memory—the use of nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. On August 6, 1945, the sky … Read More
August 6, 2025
(Wired) – Human judgement remains central to the launch of nuclear weapons. But experts say it’s a matter of when, not if, artificial intelligence will get baked into the world’s most dangerous systems. The people who study nuclear war for … Read More
August 5, 2025
(Nature) – Eighty years after the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan, it is crucial that witness accounts are saved. Here is what one man told me. By the summer of 1945, after peace was declared in Europe, Japan was … Read More
July 30, 2025
(Wired) – Stress, isolation, and uncertainty appear to have caused the brain to age quicker for those who lived through the crisis. More than five years after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are still discovering the after-effects of … Read More
July 30, 2025
(BBC) – Google has admitted its earthquake early warning system failed to accurately alert people during Turkey’s deadly quake of 2023. Ten million people within 98 miles of the epicentre could have been sent Google’s highest level alert – giving … Read More
July 29, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – At least 16 children under 5 have died of hunger-related causes since mid-July, experts say The Gaza Strip is experiencing famine conditions, a group of global food-insecurity experts said, the most dire assessment of the enclave’s … Read More
July 23, 2025
(The Guardian) – Gaza has never been hungrier, despite several warnings about impending famine over the course of nearly two years of war. Over just three days this week public health officials recorded 43 deaths from hunger; there had been … Read More
July 15, 2025
(New York Times) – Information warfare, often called psychological operations, or psyops, is as old as war itself. But experts say the effort between Israel and Iran was more intense and more targeted than anything that had come before, and … Read More
July 11, 2025
(New York Times) – On the morning of June 1, Dr. Victoria Rose was nearing the end of her 21-day stint as a volunteer in Gaza when she saw news of a mass shooting of Palestinians near a food distribution … Read More
July 10, 2025
(Associated Press) – The triumphs of finding people alive ended days ago, while the mission of recovering bodies that might include even more children is far from over. The grim undertaking has prompted questions about how first responders and rescue … Read More
July 8, 2025
(BBC) – In a rural village close to the Ukrainian front line, a group of women queue quietly outside a purple and white ambulance, waiting to be seen by a doctor with his shaved head dyed the blue and yellow … Read More
July 8, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – The smell of decay wafted through the air in the searing heat, guiding volunteers in search of flash-flood victims. Teams of volunteers along with state and local officials on Tuesday fanned out on foot, horseback and … Read More
July 7, 2025
(Wall Street Journal) – It’s ‘frustrating as somebody who’s looking for, I mean, my whole family, almost,’ says Hailey Chavarria, as searches enter third day The search for those swept away by punishing flash floods in Central Texas over the … Read More
June 27, 2025
(The Guardian) – Extreme poverty is accelerating in 39 countries affected by war and conflict, leaving more than a billion people to go hungry, according to the World Bank. Civil wars and confrontations between nations, mostly in Africa, have set … Read More
June 12, 2025
(Axios) – The U.S. death rate from alcohol-related liver disease roughly doubled over two decades and was exacerbated by the pandemic, with women, young adults and Indigenous people experiencing the sharpest rise, a study in JAMA Network Open found. Why … Read More
May 28, 2025
(BBC) – “When we arrived, the miscarriage had already started.” One of their twins was stillborn and the other died a few hours after birth. Mohamed says there were no incubators for premature babies available. “Everything was gone in a … Read More
May 27, 2025
(NPR) – Two years of war in Sudan has caused an unprecedented humanitarian disaster in one of Africa’s largest countries and left its health system in ruins. Before fighting broke out in April 2023, Khartoum had nearly 100 public and … Read More
May 23, 2025
(Associated Press) – For more than two months, Israel has banned all food, medicine and other goods from entering the territory that is home to some 2 million Palestinians, as it carries out waves of airstrikes and ground operations. Palestinians … Read More
May 15, 2025
(New York Times) – After the shooting in the West Bank, doctors were able to save the baby, a boy, who was taken to a neonatal intensive care unit. The woman’s baby, a boy, survived after being delivered in an … Read More
May 13, 2025
(New York Times) – A new clinic, opened by a pulmonologist who lost his home in the Palisades blaze, is addressing the health issues developing among people exposed to the fires. Just three weeks after the blaze tore through neighborhoods … Read More
April 18, 2025
(KFF Health News) – Five years after the World Health Organization declared covid a global pandemic and the first Trump administration announced a national emergency, the United States faces a crucial shortage of medical providers, below the projected need for … Read More
April 17, 2025
(The Atlantic) – Of the many mistakes made in the COVID era, none were as glaring as prolonged school closures. The damages go beyond loss of learning, a dire consequence in its own right: Millions of families, both children and … Read More
