Science

Du Côté de Chez Madame Defarge

Alexander Cockburn : Native Americans

These days, even London and Paris seem a bit like North Korea.
False Prophets

Patricia J. Williams : Racism & Discrimination

James Watson continues his long and well-documented history of baselessly biologizing social stereotypes.
People Burn Here

Mike Davis : California

Illegal immigrants are the invisible victims of the California wildfires.
Root and Branch

Ian Hacking : Genetics & Genetic Engineering

A Canadian philosopher surveys some of the livelier flashpoints in America's battle over evolution.
John Gofman's Nuclear Courage

Joseph J. Mangano : Anti-Nuclear Activism

Remembering an eminent scientist who fought tirelessly to protect human health from the hazards of nuclear weapons and nuclear energy.
NASA Scientists Challenge Security Rules

Dave Lindorff : Privacy Rights

Wary of government efforts to silence global warming research, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Lab and Goddard Space Flight Center are going to court to block new security rules.
Putting Science in the Dock

Barry Yeoman : The Courts

Judges' ability to discriminate against expert witnesses has ended up empowering large corporations.

2006

A Passion for Pluto

Marla Geha

Pluto's demotion from a planet to a dwarf isn't the work of mean-spirited Grinches. It is a necessary part of the same process that got Pluto discovered in the first place.
Science and the First Amendment

Patricia J. Princehouse : Education Policy & Reform

If you can lie about science and get away with it, you can lie about anything. That's why we must say no to ideological zealots who are waging war against science and against democracy itself.
Experimental Art

Joshua Foer : Non-Fiction

Alan Lightman makes scientists into artists in his new book The Discoveries, promoting original journal articles as "the great novels and symphonies of science."
Freezing Their Assets

Nicholas von Hoffman : Economics

Among the superrich, there's a growing desire to freeze themselves and their bank accounts in hopes of rising again. Talk about Groundhog Day.
Political Science

Bryan Farrell : Global Warming & Climate Change

NASA climatologist James E. Hansen won't let political pressure from the Bush Administration blunt the urgency of his research on global warming: It's not too late to mitigate the damage.

Brave Neuro World

Kathryn Schulz : Medicine/Drugs

As neurotechnology expands our abilities to rejuvenate aging brains, rebound from trauma and enhance moods or sexual prowess, we need a consistent set of neuroethics about how that technology should be used.
Darwin and God

Dr. Marc Siegel : Religious Fundamentalism

Darwin's discoveries about evolution never argued against the existence of God. And the theory of "intelligent design" is a dangerous attempt to undermine science and justify a literal reading of the Bible.
The Other 1905 Revolution

Joshua Foer : Non-Fiction

Physics was on the verge of something big at the turn of the century, and it took an Einstein to ask the big question in the right way.

What Are They Reading?

Teresa Stack : Non-Fiction
The New Scopes Trials

Eric Alterman & Mark Green : George W. Bush Administration

When a President starts appointing scientists as he does campaign staffers, we risk an era of Lysenkoism in America.
The Junk Science of George W. Bush

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. : Environment

It's more fiction than fact.
Lost in Space

Katha Pollitt : George W. Bush

Life is full of mysteries and space is such an expensive one.