Essay Volatile waters, fluid histories July 12, 2024 It can be depressing these days to read about the state of the world’s water supplies. This is a global problem, but it is undoubtedly most acute in the so-called global south, where population is growing fastest and water infrastructures are least robust. As pressing as these challenges are today, they have a long history. Read More
Essay Accounting for inequality July 10, 2024 Sitting in a Thai village with my collaborator, Anna Paulson, we began to wonder how to capture all the nuances of the reality of life of households and small entrepreneurs. Read More
Essay Ovid’s 38 recommendations for getting over a breakup July 10, 2024 Ever gone through a breakup? You’re not alone. In the year 1 CE, the Roman poet Ovid published a poem titled "Remedies for Love", and it suggests that relationships haven’t changed much in two thousand years. Read More
Essay The unexpected dividends of a congressional internship May 23, 2024 When I first set foot on Capitol Hill 18 years ago to begin my summer internship, I was immediately struck by the awe-inspiring presence of the Capitol. Read More
Essay The post-pandemic economy May 22, 2024 The pandemic’s later economic waves may be its biggest and most important. Read More
Interview Christina Grozinger and Harland Patch on The Lives of Bees May 21, 2024 The Lives of Bees takes readers inside the world of these marvelous insects, exploring their physiology, behavior, ecology, evolution, and much more. Read More
Essay A sermon from a mountebank? Religious messaging in the age of AI May 21, 2024 The news that the religious group Catholic Answers was obliged to “defrock” an AI priest called Father Justin after it gave answers falsely claiming to be a real priest has caused widespread alarm among the faithful and glee among the skeptical. Read More
Interview David N. Livingstone on The Empire of Climate May 20, 2024 Scientists, journalists, and politicians increasingly tell us that human impacts on climate constitute the single greatest threat facing our planet and may even bring about the extinction of our species. Read More
Interview Sarah Blaffer Hrdy on Father Time May 15, 2024 As mother-centered as the study of baby care has always been, it is increasingly clear that men harbor extraordinarily caring proclivities. Read More
Interview Michael A. Cook on A History of the Muslim World May 15, 2024 Over the years Michael Cook has accumulated a large fund of material in the course of teaching students about the history of the Muslim world. So what was he to do with it? Read More
Essay The power of creating archival silences May 13, 2024 We know, scientifically speaking, far less about the effects of poor posture on health then we think we do. Read More
Essay The eloquence of color charts May 13, 2024 Researching color sampling meant reconstructing entire worlds from scraps of fabric or daubs of paint. Read More
Interview Frank L. Cioffi on Stellar English May 09, 2024 Frank L. Cioffi wanted to write a handbook that was more than merely a reference work, a grammar handbook that readers would feel compelled to read cover-to-cover. Read More
Interview Michelle S. Phelps on The Minneapolis Reckoning May 09, 2024 Drawing on years of fieldwork, “The Minneapolis Reckoning” describes how Minneapolis arrived at the brink of police abolition and what happened next. Read More
Essay New problems in small places April 29, 2024 One of the many trends that made headlines during the Covid-19 pandemic was people moving from large, dense cities to smaller cities, towns, and even rural areas, bypassing the suburbs. Read More
