March 20, 2026
(Compact Magazine) – When people see a wheelchair user like me, they evidently assume my disability must be so hard to survive, so painful, and so isolating that even just venturing beyond my front door is an achievement worthy of … Read More
March 20, 2026
(The Atlantic) – Now the top half of her head was shaved and staples ran in a ladder across it. IVs were taped to each arm, and a machine next to her bed was helping her breathe. She couldn’t speak. … Read More
March 17, 2026
(NYTs) – For two decades now, social media companies have been virtually untouchable, profitably floating above accusations that they normalize propaganda, addict children and degrade our character. Legally and politically, platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube have been protected by … Read More
March 13, 2026
(Plough) – As laws permitting medically assisted death advance, how will we learn to accept diminishment rather than kill ourselves? I share this experience with Jens because I have been mulling over a parenting challenge, and I think the way … Read More
March 13, 2026
(Aeon) – Your inability to focus isn’t a failing. It’s a design problem, and the answer isn’t getting rid of our screen time These publications and technologies existed alongside serious thought. The penny dreadfuls didn’t prevent Charles Dickens, John Stuart … Read More
March 12, 2026
(New York Times) – The journal Nature in January published an unusual paper: A team of artificial intelligence researchers had discovered a relatively simple way of turning large language models, like OpenAI’s GPT-4o, from friendly assistants into vehicles of cartoonish … Read More
March 10, 2026
(WSJ) – Federal investigators are uncovering new layers of fraud in government programs, with a Minnesota man pleading guilty last week to bilking Medicaid by setting up a sham autism center. Meantime, a federal audit last week revealed how Medicaid … Read More
March 2, 2026
(New York Times) – Nearly all Medicare hospice patients receive care in their residence. So, as is standard, we enlisted the services of a Medicare-approved hospice agency. We soon encountered a harsh reality, however. Dying at home isn’t easy, even … Read More
February 26, 2026
(Tallahassee Democrat) – The challenges presented during times of serious illness often make people think of two options: pain or poison. Five Wishes offers a different path, where families can plan for care before a health crisis. And, even when a cure … Read More
February 26, 2026
(Washington Post) – AI didn’t replace me as a doctor. It made me better. The public is rightly wary about this new technology in health care. Its misuse can have serious consequences for patients, for example, by inappropriately denying care, … Read More
February 20, 2026
(The Atlantic) – Today’s longevity-medicine movement is driven by the same aggressive desire for eternal youth as the mythic stories of old. But whereas in earlier times ideas about wellness could travel only as fast as the people who held … Read More
February 17, 2026
(WSJ) – Inventors and executives are warning of widespread consequences that they don’t begin to understand. In the end you wonder of the creators: Are they even in control, or is their creation? We don’t know. That’s why we are … Read More
February 16, 2026
(WSJ) – Two years, 11 doctors and one diagnosis later, I’ve learned a lot about how medicine can miss women’s symptoms I was diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, a blood cancer for which a common symptom is a persistent … Read More
February 16, 2026
(CT) – Our culture idolizes independence and self-sufficiency to the point that people fear dependence on others more than almost anything else. The feeling of “being a burden” and a pervasive sense of loneliness are major reasons people seek euthanasia. … Read More
February 12, 2026
(New York Times) – This week, OpenAI started testing ads on ChatGPT. I also resigned from the company after spending two years as a researcher helping to shape how A.I. models were built and priced, and guiding early safety policies … Read More
February 10, 2026
(The Atlantic) – Many problems contribute to these shifts—insufficient investments in infrastructure, budget cuts in state and local health departments, the growing drug resistance of bacteria. Yet underlying all of the outbreaks, and even gun and opioid deaths, is a … Read More
February 6, 2026
(CT) – A reader of my newsletter asked me if he might be going to hell. Actually, the reader’s question was quite a bit more nuanced. He’s a Christian, a committed follower of Jesus. He’s also suffering from a debilitating, … Read More
February 5, 2026
(New York Times) – His wife paced the room as she talked, her tone pressured. She wanted to know what we were going to do next — surely, we would transfuse and restart antibiotics. I explained our care plans for … Read More
February 4, 2026
(Nature) – Hindering studies involving fetal tissue will impede the development of the alternatives intended to replace it, while slowing the search for new medicines. “This decision is about advancing science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling … Read More
February 2, 2026
(New York Times) – You’ve probably heard of extreme cases in which people treat bots as lovers, therapists or friends. But many more have them intervene in their social lives in subtler ways. On dating apps, people are leaning on … Read More
February 2, 2026
(New York Times) – Every few months, he acts out more than usual and he is hospitalized. Doctors administer enough medication to briefly calm him, then label him “stable” and “not a harm to self or others” and discharge him … Read More
January 23, 2026
(Nature) – After turning off ChatGPT’s ‘data consent’ option, Marcel Bucher lost the work behind grant applications, teaching materials and publication drafts. Here’s what happened next. We are increasingly being encouraged to integrate generative AI into research and teaching. Individuals … Read More
January 23, 2026
(Plough) – Our son Yusang has Down syndrome. He saved another child’s life. My wife and I had just learned that a couple from our church were wrestling with grief and confusion, so that cold Sunday evening, I set out … Read More
January 23, 2026
(New York Times) – We definitely have an attention problem, but it’s not just a function of the digital technology that pings and beeps and flashes and nudges us ever closer to despair. It starts with the way we think … Read More
January 22, 2026
(New York Times) – More than 300 Times Opinion readers responded to a January invitation to share their experience of rising health care costs. They included a cancer patient who shifted care mid-recovery to a new insurance plan that doesn’t … Read More
