Category: Ideas

What a remorseful January 6 insurrectionist taught me about why we believe.

If there’s one thing a woman can count on, it’s getting harassing messages online. Here’s a taxonomy of the creatures on the other end of them.

New technology could allow you to suck up DNA out of the air wherever you go. This could have big implications for a genetics-fixated future of sports.

The rigid health care system in the US often leaves pain patients worse off. It’s time for clinicians to recenter respect and compassion.

Social media’s economy of vibes is an engine that sustains the culture war and increasingly real-world attacks on trans and queer people.

As a tech worker turned tech organizer, I believed the current wave of activism was the first. Then I realized I was part of an important lineage.

Tokens like CityCoins could turn taxes into another investment vehicle, for better or worse.

The platform’s essential infrastructure should be controlled by a user-owned democracy.

‘Secular shabbats’ may be a trendy self-help tool, but they won’t curb your screen use or provide a quick fix for your stress.

The movement to bring DDT back after its ban found a curious ally: Big Tobacco. But the endangered industry was after something bigger.

To win PR points, Western tech companies are indiscriminately endangering people’s health and livelihoods.

Celebrities struggle with ownership of their image. It’s time to prevent “portrait piracy” before the rest of us need to worry too.

As the first cases involving NFTs hit the dockets, courts will decide questions around ownership, art, and commerce.

The app’s buzz may have quieted down, but its spirit still animates the social internet.

Smartphones can plot travel routes, contact loved ones, and collect evidence of abuse. As one refugee put it, “this sim card is our life.”

The belief that we could save endlessly online turned us all into information hoarders. What society needs instead is better systems for preserving public knowledge.

The platform can be quicker at recommending groups built around child predation than it is to remove them.

Ukraine’s deputy minister of Digital Transformation says Western tech sanctions have helped—but it’s time to remove Russia from the global IT ecosystem.

The collapse of the insect population could unravel ecosystems. Scientists wonder if robots and drones could stop the gap.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the so-called “Bible of Psychiatry,” is approaching its 70th year. It should be its last.

The Kremlin’s web of nonstate hackers can wreak just as much havoc as Putin’s government.

There’s a wave of innovation that we’re failing to recognize—and it’s being led by users and networks, not tech companies.

Death and disease increase after divorce. Journalist Florence Williams, mourning the end of her own marriage, investigates why.

Digital technologies and Covid have collapsed our identities into mush—a condition that’s likely to outlast the pandemic.