How China’s “Bat Woman” Hunted Down Viruses from SARS to the New Coronavirus

Wuhan-based virologist Shi Zhengli has identified dozens of deadly SARS-like viruses in bat caves, and she warns there are more out there.

Biden 2020?

He’s done.

Coronavirus: Why You Must Act Now

Politicians, Community Leaders and Business Leaders: What Should You Do and When?

Vowing to Keep Border Open

Turkey's Erdogan compares Greeks to Nazis.

WHO Let The Dogs Out

Woof, woof, woof, woof, woof.

On Pandemic and Literature

Pandemic supplies evidence of a world in which nothing important is regional, local, limited.

What Happened to Jordan Peterson?

A philosopher, a medical crisis, and a mystery.

The Harrowing Hours and Defiant Aftermath of the New Zealand Mosque Shootings

The report from Christchurch about the day of the massacre—and the days that followed.

The Great Buenos Aires Bank Heist

They were an all-star crew. They cooked up the perfect plan. And when they pulled off the caper of the century, it made them more than a fortune—it made them folk heroes. I’m there in four-weeks time...

For 40 Years, This Russian Family Was Cut Off From All Human Contact, Unaware of World War II

In 1978, Soviet geologists prospecting in the wilds of Siberia discovered a family of six, lost in the taiga.

Scientists Figure Out How New Coronavirus Breaks Into Human Cells

Perhaps we only need to take an ACE Inhibitor...

How to Choose a Writing Instrument

 And what it says about you.

All We Owe to Animals

It is not enough to conserve species and ecosystems. We have an ethical duty to care for each individual animal on earth.

The University Model Needs to Evolve

Why lifelong learning is the international passport to success.

Pause and Effect

The past and future of punctuation marks.

The Enemies of Writing

A writer who’s afraid to tell people what they don’t want to hear has chosen the wrong trade.

Garbage Language

Why do corporations speak the way they do?

What Men Have Told Me

Literary men are abhorrent. 

On the Hatred of Literature

Resist the march toward a literary culture without love.

The AI Delusion: Why Humans Trump Machines

Artificial intelligence may never match the brain. Stay tuned for The Last Casebook of Doctor Sababa (the one after The Next Casebook of Doctor Sababa).

The Way We Read Now

The thrill is gone for lovers of fiction. Joseph Bottum on the strange death of the novel.

An Inflammation of Place

On the symptoms and spread of Newyorkitis.

Death on Mars

The martian radiation environment is a problem for human explorers that cannot be overstated.

The Pervasive Power of the Settler Mindset

More than simple racism or discrimination, the destructive premise at the core of the American settler narrative is that freedom is built upon violent elimination.

An Industrious Mouse Tidies Up a Retired Electrician’s Tool Shed Each Night

Far out.