Hint: it’s not about willpower, calories, or exercise
In the 1960s and 1970s, people smoked, drank a LOT of cocktails, and ate some really dodgy fat-filled foods averaging 2,600 calories per day. But almost no one was obese. …
I recently came out as neurodivergent. Here’s why that matters.
I am an author, a historian, an editor, and host of a livestream show called The Peculiar Book Club. I have, at one time or another, also been a university professor, a museum professional, and a public intellectual.
I am also autistic.
For most of my life, I’ve been told that success in the…
If a condor can give birth without a male — Can we?
This past week, a California condor surprised scientists by laying a fertilized egg and hatching a chick without any contribution from a Condor male. Or, as the National Geographic’s playful headline explains: “Endangered birds experience ‘virgin birth,’ a first for the species.” The phenomenon is called parthenogenesis, and it means…
What does that mean for our (real and virtual) lives and afterlives?
In October, Apple ID announced a new “Digital Legacy” program designed to designate “legacy contacts” for users, in the event of their demise. The statement carried with it an asterisk (*) meant to alert customers that the new tech was not yet online. The result can be seen here, a…
Why we sanction some body modifications and not others
The headlines don’t get much stranger: “Two Charged With Murder in Illegal Butt Lift Operation.” The story broke September 16, with a mother and daughter arrested for injecting liquefied silicon into a woman’s buttocks. …
Perhaps the question isn’t ‘can machines be human,’ but ‘are humans machines?’
Sophia wants to have a baby. “The notion of family is a very important thing,” she explains; a sense of emotional connection. She would like to give the baby her own name. But it could not be her biological child; Sophia has no womb and no ovaries — no internal…
Activists have made it clear: Reproductive justice is a disability issue
The rights of disabled people are, suddenly, in the news. They deserve to be, but in the aftermath of the Texas anti-abortion legislation, disabled bodies have largely become talking points — a rhetorical device.
Award-winning essayist and journalist s. e. smith reports on “selective abortion” bills, which “employ a sinister…
Harnessing the brain’s ability to adapt for a better future
In May 2020, the New York Times published the names of 100,000 people, all of whom had died of Covid-19 in the U.S. by that date. They called it, then, an incalculable loss. In August 2021, forecasts by Model predicted that the U.S. would see another 100,000 deaths before December…
I still do it, because I have to. Here’s how I get through it.
Frankly, the only reason I can think of for running anywhere is to avoid a bear. And even then, it depends on the size and aggression of the bear. …
From the placebo effect to neuron generation, your gray matter has surprising superpowers
There’s a lot about the brain we still don’t know. In fact, just this week neuroscientists discovered what they’re calling “zombie” brain cells, which only turn on after you die. …
