For 16 years, I've wirtten articles for The Atlantic, The Economist, New York Magazine, The Washington Post, Reader's Digest, Popular Science, and other publications. Here are some of my favorites.
The Dark Reality of Betting Against Qanon
The conspiracy theory has been tied to real-life danger—but before it entered the mainstream, one man stumbled upon Q in a game of political predictions.
Sexual Attraction Is the Oldest Story on Earth
It’s pretty hard to catch single-celled organisms in the middle of sex.
“If you were a Martian looking down on Earth and asking if humans were sexual or not, if you couldn’t look through the windows, you’d never see humans having sex," John Logsdon, an early-eukaryotic-sex expert at the University of Iowa, told me. "Well, rarely.”
Does Medicine Actually Make People Live Longer?
When I was a kid, adults told me that medicine would be so advanced by the time I grew up, I’d live to be 150.
It seems possible. Alas, not for me, personally, but as a concept. After all, modern medicine has surely been extending the human lifespan for hundreds of years … hasn’t it?
The Hoax That Tricked Millions Into Thinking About The Environment
In 2017, a scam fooled millions of journalists, store owners, investors and ordinary people around the world. But the scammers weren’t after money ― and they were just as surprised as anyone that people believed them.
My Life With a Sleep Disorder That Makes Me Nocturnal
I once interviewed author Michael Lewis on the challenges of being a night owl. “Morning people ignore the bigotry at the heart of our culture,” Lewis told me. “It’s like a conspiracy of farmers. I’m handicapped by what farmers used to do.”
Would a Work-Free World Be So Bad?
Fears of civilization-wide idleness are based too much on the downsides of being unemployed in a society premised on the concept of employment.