TV Has a Cynical Message for Humanity
What happens when stories start to break down in the face of relentless human failure?
AI Is Running Circles Around Robotics
Moravec’s paradox strikes again!
Chicago’s Imperfect Choice
It’s not clear if either mayoral candidate is the leader the city needs.
Street Photography From ’80s and ’90s New York
Armed with his camera and a collection of albums, Jamel Shabazz documented Black life in the city.
Russia Escalates Its War on Reporters
The arrest on spying charges of the American journalist Evan Gershkovich is a grave—and cynical—new stage in Vladimir Putin’s repressions.
Putin Presses the Nuclear Nerve Again
Russia’s latest moves are useless, stupid, and provocative.
The Surprising Compatibility of Science and Faith
Readers reflect on humanity’s place in the cosmos.
Not Your Grandfather’s Moon Mission
NASA has picked the four astronauts who will fly to the moon next year—and this lineup looks different than the Apollo crews did.
Return of the People Machine
No one responds to polls anymore. Researchers are now just asking AI instead.
Don’t Take Your Eye Off Jack Smith
The classified-documents scandal is continuing to look worse and worse for Donald Trump.
Hiccups Have a Curious Connection to Cancer
Because hiccups can seem innocuous, they remain mysterious and surprisingly understudied.
Free Speech Is Not Just for Conservatives
An administrator at West Texas A&M University canceled a student drag show—a clear violation of the First Amendment.
AI Isn’t Omnipotent. It’s Janky.
Scary scenarios about malevolent machines are a distraction from problems that artificial intelligence is creating right now.
When Did People Start Brushing Dogs’ Teeth?
Canine dental-hygiene needs haven’t changed; our relationship with our pets has.
Is Holocaust Education Making Anti-Semitism Worse?
Using dead Jews as symbols isn’t helping living ones.
The Unexpected Tenderness of Succession
What a night inside the world’s saddest karaoke room revealed about the Roys
Road Rage Is Relevant Again. SNL Just Proved It.
A seemingly throwaway sketch set a scene that captured the age of social media: people, stuck in their cars, gesturing furiously at one another.
‘Well, Is There Blood on the Street?’
Why so few lawyers are willing to take civil-rights cases.
The Light in Autumn
A poem for Sunday
A Classic Theory About Dinosaur Life May Be Wrong
Paleontologists once thought that the biggest creatures grew the fastest. New research shows that’s not the whole story.
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