Daily Reads

A.I. Drones Are Coming. We Are Not Ready.

— W.J. Hennigan

World leaders are marching us toward an uncertain era of new warfare — fast.

Place Names Change With Time, and That’s OK

— John McWhorter

What’s in a name? Depends where you are.

Carlos the Jackal’s Violent Chaos Endures

— Joby Warrick

And Americans are nowhere near prepared to deal with it.

Haiti Needs Stability, Not Mass Deportations

— Russel L. Honoré

Deporting Haitian migrants will further destabilize a country in crisis.

Gen Z Fell Out of Love With Work. I Don’t Blame Them.

— Emi Nietfeld

For Gen Z college graduates, the way millennials lived out their ambitions no longer makes sense.

‘Trying and Failing’ in Iran

What message is America’s performance in the Iran war sending the rest of the world? Elbridge Colby, under secretary of defense for policy, argues on “Interesting Times” that it’s one of American strength.

Canada: Neighbor or 51st State?

Is the United States actually going to annex Canada? On “Interesting Times,” the Opinion columnist Ross Douthat pushes the senior Trump administration official Elbridge Colby on just how real the threat of annexation is.

It’s not just a No 10 in the north, it’s an engine for growth throughout the whole UK | Andy Burnham

— Andy Burnham

Power has been too centralised in Britain and tackling that is key to progress and prosperity. This initiative is ambitious: we’re remaking the state Andy Burnham is prime minister of the United Kingdom On Monday, whi…

Jimothy the raccoon survived against the odds, a testament to sophisticated brains and devoted mothers

— Kelly Lambert

There Jimothy goes! Kiana Hall As a neuroscientist who studies raccoon and rats, I see the viral story of Jimothy the raccoon as a compelling tale of an animal overcoming disability and surviving in the wild. Jimothy,…

The Amazing Photos from NASA’s First-Ever Mars Lander

— David Nield

Viking 1 landed on Mars 50 years ago The post The Amazing Photos from NASA’s First-Ever Mars Lander appeared first on Nautilus.

Mole Rat Queens Stink Their Way to Power

— Devin Reese

The volatile compound they emit induces temporary infertility in other females The post Mole Rat Queens Stink Their Way to Power appeared first on Nautilus.

Does Watching TV Really Rot Your Brain?

— Bob Grant

Generations of parents have a new piece of scientific evidence to combat couchpotatoism The post Does Watching TV Really Rot Your Brain? appeared first on Nautilus.

Why Do We Tell Ourselves Scary Stories About AI?

— Amanda Gefter

Our tales of AI developing the will to survive, commandeer resources, and manipulate people say more about us than they do about language models. The post Why Do We Tell Ourselves Scary Stories About AI? appeared firs…

New Trump administration rules on federal science funding could make American research slower, costlier and harder to share

— Aliasger K. Salem

Political appointees may soon oversee scientific research in America. Maria Korneeva/Moment via Getty Images Most Americans don’t read the rules that govern the federal grants funding science. Those rules, called the …

College professors face an emerging challenge: We know students are no longer reading entire books

— Austin Sarat

A survey of 1,250 high school English teachers showed that they assigned an average of 2.81 books to read each year. Malte Mueller/fStop via Getty Images Anyone who has spent time on a college campus lately has probab…

Detroit wants to elevate youth voices in leadership – that means giving them real power

— Krista Mehari

Detroit is encouraging its young residents to participate in safe, social activities after large crowds of youth congregating downtown have led to curfew violations and multiple arrests. Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP…

STAT+: In win for RFK Jr., FDA advisory panel narrowly votes to allow compounding of unapproved peptides

— Sarah Todd and Lizzy Lawrence

The panel recommended allowing compounding pharmacies to produce popular but unproven BPC-157 and KPV peptides.

U.S. health officials are investigating a new outbreak of a diarrhea-causing parasite

— Associated Press

Federal health officials are investigating a new outbreak involving the diarrhea-causing parasite cyclospora.

STAT+: European regulators take steps to bolster clinical trial transparency

— Ed Silverman

The European Medicines Agency is taking what advocacy groups are calling unexpectedly “rapid action” to ensure that clinical trial results are made public as required by law.

STAT+: Popular insulin product enters shortage as other pens leave market

— Isabella Cueto

The Lantus Solostar insulin pen isn't in official FDA shortage, but patients are having a tough time finding it.

Senate health panel delays vote on CDC nominee

— Chelsea Cirruzzo

Too few senators were in attendance to proceed with a vote on the CDC director nominee.

STAT+: What’s in the last-minute flurry of health care bills?

— John Wilkerson

Congress is scrambling to advance a slew of health care bills before an August recess. Price transparency and prior authorization top the list.

FDA panel confronting peptide controversy

— Meghana Keshavan

Today's biotech news features the FDA weighing the fate of peptides; approvals for RevMed, GSK; and data on Lilly's "triple-G."

A father’s mission to save his daughter, and allegations on telehealth GLP-1 prescribing

— Allison DeAngelis and Elaine Chen

Has a wanted fugitive been posing as a biotech executive? And what does it take to develop a therapy for an ultra-rare disease? Find out on this week's episode of…

Live with Big Think: Inside “The Opt-Out Nation”

— Steph McClain

Big Think hosted its inaugural live event to bring our summer special issue, The Opt-Out Nation, to life. Join our candid conversation with the editors and writers behind it, featuring voices from The New York Times, …

Grocery Shopping in the Age of Explosive Diarrhea

— Jessica Winter

The cyclospora outbreak lays bare our underfunded and overwhelmed public-health system.

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, July 23rd

— Brendan Loper

A drawing that riffs on the latest news and happenings.

Taco Bellicose

— Barry Blitt

The President goes green.

The value of time off isn’t better productivity — it’s your humanity

— DJ DiDonna

As humans, we instinctively understand that time has profound worth, regardless of any workplace benefits. This is what sabbatical alumni mean when they ascribe a feeling of humanity to their time off. Unfortunately, …

The psychology of revenge, in 19 minutes

— Paul Bloom

Psychologist Paul Bloom explains why morality, the thing that makes cooperation and trust possible, is also what drives cruelty, cycles of revenge, and wars where both sides believe they’re the moral ones. This video …

How Ice-T evolved out of ‘survival mode’

— Ice-T

From writing ‘Cop Killer’ to playing a cop on SVU, ICE-T is no stranger to personal evolution. After losing both parents by seventh grade, he was sent to Los Angeles, where he learned to survive without a family. Here…

All the Queens houses

— Aeon Video

To the trained eye, the personalised homes of Queens, NYC, evoke everything from a Venetian streetscape to a Chinese temple - by Aeon Video Watch on Aeon

The upside of the global energy crisis

— Martin Wright

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has brought renewed urgency to the climate solutions campaigners have long championed The post The upside of the global energy crisis appeared first on Positive News.

The breakthrough changing how Americans donate organs

— Pratik Pawar

Instead of death being declared because the brain has stopped functioning, in DCD, death is declared after circulation ceases and the heart stops beating. | Miguel Porlan for Vox This story was originally published in…

‘It’s brought a sense of community back to the town’

— Tom Pattinson

A growing backlash against the Premier League has sparked huge interest in community clubs, which make football affordable for everyone The post ‘It’s brought a sense of community back to the town’ appeared first on P…

The bitter lesson of climate change

— Bryan Walsh

The skyline of Lower Manhattan is reflected on the top of a monument as wildfire smoke from Canada shrouds the sunrise in New York City on July 18, 2026, as seen from Jersey City, New Jersey. | Gary Hershorn/Getty Ima…

An HIV vaccine is within reach

— Elie Dolgin

In January 2025, Linda-Gail Bekker stood inside a vaccine manufacturing plant and allowed herself to believe that the first HIV vaccine candidate conceived through African science and led by Africans might finally bec…

Is Cuba Trump’s Next Target?

— John Haltiwanger and Rishi Iyengar

The regime in Havana is increasingly in the Trump administration’s crosshairs.

How Iran Gained the Upper Hand

— Howard W. French

And what that means for Washington’s options to extract itself from this quagmire.

Is the Red Sea the New Hormuz Crisis?

— Alexandra Sharp

Houthi attacks on Saudi shipping risk adding a new front to the Iran war.

China Is AI-Maxxing

— Rishi Iyengar

Beijing may be closing the gap with Washington in the AI race.

Odysseus at the End of Civilization

— Bret Devereaux

Nolan’s film confronts the betrayal of the West’s own values.

There’s Only One Way Out of Trump’s Reckless War

— Philip H. Gordon

Pay off Iran to open Hormuz and freeze its nuclear program.

Xi’s Demands for Loyalty Are Breeding Corruption

— Deng Yuwen

Ma Xingrui’s fall shows how deep personnel problems run.

Trump Is Triggering a Middle East Nuclear Arms Race

— Azriel Bermant

His deal to provide nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia encourages weaponization.