Science & Society

Since 2022, when I got invited for a keynote talk at a Deep Learning school, I have been visiting with increasing frequency the northern Sweden town of Lulea, and its Technology University (LTU). In…

When I wrote Halloween Science 2.0, I wanted to get it down to a brisk 150 pages, which means taking a chainsaw to a lot of the material I had.(1) Like the woman who left her corporeal significant…

We definitely need to DOGE nonsense like acupuncture out of the NIH and use that money for science but I don't want to live in a culture where children's theater doesn't want to have a play about "…

As a member of the public, how can you determine whether Tylenol, also known as acetaminophen, causes autism? One approach is to use common sense. Consider this logical statement: during pregnancy,…

       Let’s write a letter to Donald Trump. Trigger warning: Lots of sarcasm here. Not-so-dear Don, Well, Don, those “sh**hole” countries are not “eating” the…

In early 2025, the Trump administration began to place tariffs on countries that already had them on the U.S., like China, Brazil, and many in Europe. China has already begun to experience deflation…

Every day we read a new headline warning us that American leadership is about to erode because of budget cuts to 'science.' We have been told tuberculosis was about to be eliminated by a vaccine but…

People dedicated to the art of grilling often choose lump charcoal – actual pieces of wood that have been turned into charcoal – over briquettes, which are compressed charcoal dust with other…

Let’s bury the dangerous, lazy, and politically convenient idea that there exists a distinct species of person called a "nuclear scientist." There is no such thing. There are physicists. Some…

In the 1980s, there was a conflict raging about recycling. Governments were starting to do it while states that had a 'bottle bill' - a deposit on bottles you got refunded upon return - wanted to…