Space, the Final Smuggling Frontier
In a glimpse of a gloriously rule-breaking future, contraband has boldly gone where more is sure to follow.
Science
Humanity and Wild Nature Will Likely Both Be Flourishing in 2100
Human ingenuity is enabling us to get ever more goods and services from fewer and fewer resources.
Should We End the Lockdowns? A Soho Forum Debate
Harvard's Martin Kulldorff vs. Andrew Noymer of UC Irvine
End the COVID-19 Lockdowns? Two Epidemiologists Debate
Harvard's Martin Kulldorff vs. Andrew Noymer of UC Irvine
The Ultimate 2020 Libertarian Gift Guide
Reason's writers and editors share their suggestions for what you should be buying your friends and family this year.
Solar and Wind Power Struggle as California Faces Blackouts
The state's electricity grid operators warned in 2019 that power shortages might become increasingly common when heat waves hit in the coming years.
Rapid Home COVID-19 Tests Are the Best Path to a New Normal. They're Illegal.
Delivering rapid at-home testing kits to 330 million Americans is "something we can actually do at warp speed."
A Group of Scientists Wants To Reopen Society. Here's What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About What They Said.
The Great Barrington Declaration asks how much collateral damage is too much.
Unlock the Damned Playgrounds, Already
Playing outside is one of the safest group activities kids can do, yet Gavin Newsom and other pols are extending the pandemic misery indefinitely.
More Countries Should Pay Plasma Donors
Most foreign countries refuse to pay for plasma because of outmoded guidance from the World Health Organization, so much of the world relies on the U.S.'s paid plasma donors.
Science Denialism on the Left: Sex, Gender, and Trans Identity
In The End of Gender, Debra Soh stands up for impartial research—and for LGBTQ rights.
Debra Soh: The End of Gender
A controversial new book aims to debunk "the myths about sex and identity in our society."
The 'Insect Apocalypse' Has Been Canceled
At least in the United States, according to a new study
When Choosing What To Believe, People Often Choose Morality Over Hard Evidence
In new studies, many people "reported that morally good beliefs require less evidence to be justified, and that, in some circumstances, a morally good belief can be justified even in the absence of sufficient evidence."
Don't Put Too Much Faith in the Experts
“There is no such thing as expertise on the future.”
Is Asymptomatic Spread of COVID-19 Very Rare? Depends How You Define 'Asymptomatic'
Plus: Netflix out-trademarks the U.S. government, contraception shortages, and more...
Do the Divergent Results of COVID-19 Antibody Studies Reflect Real Differences?
The infection fatality rate probably varies from one place to another.
This App Protects Privacy While Tracing COVID-19 Infections
Stanford researcher Tina White and the new nonprofit Covid Watch are committed to protecting both individual rights and public health.
A Formerly Secret Memo Explains the DEA's Long Delay in Approving New Producers of Marijuana for Research
The Justice Department concluded in 2018 that an anti-drug treaty requires stricter controls than the DEA originally planned.
Can Nicotine Treat COVID-19? French Researchers Think So.
Plus: abortion bans defeated again, Peter Thiel company gets contact tracing contract, and more...
Can a Negative COVID-19 Test Be Trusted?
Preliminary research suggests that commonly used procedures frequently fail to detect the virus.
What's Up With All the Contradictory Advice About COVID-19 and Face Masks?
The combination of limited evidence and conflicting priorities has resulted in whipsawing messages from experts.
When Should Lay Voters Defer to the Views of Scientists?
My 2015 post on this subject includes points relevant to our current situation.
American Heart Association Journal Finally Retracts Study Implying That E-Cigarettes Cause Heart Attacks Before People Use Them
The journal's editors recognized the problem before publication, but the authors failed to address it.
U.S. Fertility Reaches All-Time Low as People Choose Things Other Than Children
The global total fertility rate fell by more than half, from 5 births per woman in 1960 to 2.4 today. But don't panic!
8 Months Later, This Journal Still Hasn't Corrected Its Study Implying That E-Cigarettes Magically Cause Heart Attacks Before People Use Them
The Journal of the American Heart Association has responded to critics with nothing but boilerplate promises of scientific integrity.
How Truth Became a Casualty of the War on Smoking
Different types of nicotine consumption pose different amounts of risk.
The Vaping Panic Is a Major Setback for Public Health
"There's no question public health would benefit dramatically if everybody switched completely to e-cigarettes."
Study Finds Almost 40 Percent of People in Eight European Nations Would Like to Live "in a World Where Chemical Substances Don't Exist"
Such scientific ignorance is common in th US as well, and can have a harmful influence on government policy.
If Biden Won't Support Legalization Until We Know Whether Marijuana Is a 'Gateway Drug,' He Will Never Support Legalization
The correlation between cannabis consumption and use of other drugs is clear, but its meaning remains controversial and probably always will.
Environmental Protection Agency
Is Trump's EPA Seeking To Gut Good Science?
Congress wants to know if the agency is strengthening transparency or silencing science.
Study: Styrofoam Might Last Only Decades, Not Millennia, in the Ocean
Researchers from MIT and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution say that sunlight can break down polystyrene within a few decades.
The Latest Fight Over Eating Meat Ignores These 4 Essential Nutrition Truths
Don't let the lack of consensus on nutrition keep you from striving for a better way to eat.
Think Globally, Shame Constantly: The Rise of Greta Thunberg Environmentalism
Her future—and that of the planet—hasn't been "stolen" and the best way forward is through serious policy discussion, not histrionics.
Stossel: Life Is Better Than Ever
Don't believe news reports—we're healthier, richer, and safer than ever before.
Are Hookahs More Dangerous Than Cigarettes, or Does Misleading University Publicity Generate Inaccurate Reporting?
The sexiest discoveries are often the ones not found in the actual study.
The Apollo Missions Were Cool, But Private Enterprise Has Been Better for Innovation
People are happier, healthier, and wealthier because freer markets have opened the floodgates of innovation, research, and development.
Bayer to Waste $5.6 Billion Trying to Appease Anti-Pesticide Activists
This will fail and more pressing problems will be neglected
The Case for Designer Babies
We already give our kids music lessons, braces, and tutoring. Why not also give them better genes?
How To Crush 'the Tyranny of Metrics'
Historian Jerry Z. Muller says we waste too much time fixating on measurements that lead us astray.
New Research Shows the European Union's Anti-GMO Rules Are Ridiculously Bad
“Neither de facto [GMO] bans nor mandatory labeling can be justified.”
Are Humans Predisposed by Evolution To Get Along?: Podcast
In Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, Nicholas Christakis says natural selection "prewires" us for peaceful co-existence.
States Sue Over School Lunch Changes, Say They're Not Scientific Like the Obama Rules Based on Retracted Nutrition Studies
Plus: Pete Buttigieg says no to "free college," and the problems with Elizabeth Warren's plan to jail business execs
Remy: Affluenflammation (Red Hot Chili Peppers Parody)
When quality of life improved, doctors discovered a new affliction.
A New Study About Roundup and Cancer Doesn't Say What You Probably Think It Does
Is this just another example of epidemiologists torturing the data until they confess to a spurious but headline-grabbing statistical significance?
Choosing Smart Embryos Isn't Immoral
It would be deeply immoral to require parents to select for particular traits, but it is also wrong to deny them the chance to make life easier for their children.
