May 7, 2026
(Noema) – Scent is a vital component of human intelligence. But in our quest to advance artificial intelligence, nobody seems to care about it. Between 2015 and 2025, the number of research papers on artificial olfaction remained stagnant, while papers … Read More
May 6, 2026
(WSJ) – The Fifth Circuit’s order has a sound basis. Mifepristone—not to be confused with the Plan B morning-after pill, which is available over the counter—poses clinical risks and is a potential tool of coercion and abuse. Its distribution without … Read More
May 5, 2026
(NYT) – We come from different parties and have guided artificial intelligence policy under very different presidents. But we agree: A.I. has become so powerful that, along with its tremendous promise, the technology poses immediate risks to national security. The … Read More
April 30, 2026
(New York Times) – This month, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief executive, apologized to the people of Tumbler Ridge. “While I know that words can never be enough,” Altman wrote, “I believe an apology is necessary to recognize the … Read More
April 28, 2026
(WSJ) – The Trump Administration last week moved to reclassify marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Is the goal to reduce America’s collective IQ? The main practical effect of the Justice Department’s reclassification of cannabis as a Schedule III drug … Read More
April 24, 2026
(The Atlantic) – In March, I put my iPhone into a yellow cardboard box with MO stamped on top—the M looked like a riff on the Motorola logo; the O looked like a flower. Over the next several weeks, I … Read More
April 24, 2026
(NYT) – From the Kremlin to Silicon Valley, some of the most powerful people in the world now want something more: eternal life. But what if the tyrant succeeds in making himself immortal, or in expanding his allotted life span … Read More
April 22, 2026
(WSJ) – After an uproar among oncologists, the FDA last fall agreed to reconsider RP1 and selected a second panel to eliminate what it called “bias.” Dr. Prasad believed the first panel was biased because it recommended the drug. So … Read More
April 21, 2026
(The Conversation) – The first time the placebo effect really got under my skin was when I read that roughly one-third of people with irritable bowel syndrome improve on placebo treatments alone. Usually this statistic is presented as a fascinating … Read More
April 21, 2026
(Aeon) – Neat ethical principles have nothing to say to doctors like me, faced with the brutal, bloody compromises of hospital life Other than the principles of informed consent and patient confidentiality, the field has had no impact on my … Read More
April 17, 2026
(WSJ) – A trip to the emergency room helped me realize my generation is in trouble—and that we can’t give in to defeatism about our chronic health issues I emerged from surgery four and a half hours later with 72 … Read More
April 17, 2026
(NYT) – On Thanksgiving she ran a Turkey Trot with her daughters — her first race since the accident. She described the turnaround to me as “miraculous.” Like so many other people who are taking these drugs for intractable and … Read More
April 14, 2026
(NYT) – Plenty of people hate Mark Zuckerberg’s superintelligent, supercharged spectacles. I was ready to hate them, too. Meta is investing heavily to promote its new product (a Super Bowl ad starring Spike Lee, a brick-and-mortar store on Fifth Avenue), … Read More
April 13, 2026
(WSJ) – We all took an oath to do no harm. That includes killing our patients. Throughout medical school and residency, I always believed that people mattered. But it wasn’t until my conversion to Christianity that I understood why. Scripture … Read More
April 10, 2026
(Comment) – There is, of course, something a bit ridiculous to this whole scene: the “ideal” measurements for girls and boys at each month calculated down to the inch, the doctors with clipboards, the very concept of the most “scientific” … Read More
April 10, 2026
(WSJ) – Noelia Castillo Ramos was in despair. By helping her kill herself, the Spanish state destroyed her autonomy. Advocates of assisted suicide present Castillo’s death as an exercise of individual liberty. They argue that choosing the timing of one’s … Read More
April 9, 2026
(Psychiatric Times) – As Canada approaches the planned implementation of their medical euthanasia program for patients with sole psychiatric illnesses, these authors make an argument as to why euthanasia should remain closed to patients with psychiatric disorders. Unlike many other … Read More
April 8, 2026
(NYT) – Anthropic said it found critical exposures in every major operating system and Web browser, many of which run power grids, waterworks, airline reservation systems, retailing networks, military systems and hospitals all over the world. If this A.I. tool … Read More
April 6, 2026
(The Walrus) – There’s chaos in the waiting room. A glance at FirstNet, the app we use to track patients, shows that forty-three people have been triaged by nurses and are waiting to be seen. Nine have minor issues, such … Read More
March 27, 2026
(Comment) – Reflections from a Canadian public policy researcher. Tracy’s story has reverberated through the years. Amid news in 2018 that Robert Latimer was applying for a pardon or a new trial, my friend Taylor Hyatt, who lives with cerebral … Read More
March 24, 2026
(The Atlantic) – Even as they claim the right to train their models on work belonging to other people, the AI companies have rejected similar reasoning when it comes to their own products. Consider OpenAI’s terms of service for ChatGPT, … Read More
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
