Is It Possible to Predict the Next Pandemic?
Large initiatives are underway to pinpoint the next big viral threats—but some virologists believe the task is too hard.
Why Young Americans Are Questioning Democracy
In a poll, less than one-third of millennial Americans said they thought it was essential to live in a democracy. Why?
Does Technology Need to Be Ethical?
The entrepreneur Anil Dash believes that the tech world has an obligation to be more humane.
How Just Six Words Can Spark Conversation About Race in America
Michele Norris has created an archive of more than 50,000 stories about race and identity.
When In-Person Conversation Is Better Than Texting
Sherry Turkle, the Director of the MIT “Initiative on Technology and Self,” discusses the relationship between talking in real life and cultivating empathy.
Astro Teller on Why Artificial Intelligence Is Not Scary
How worried should we be about robots taking over the world?
Khizr Khan on the Constitution
The lawyer and Gold Star father believes that Americans should look to its oldest documents for guidance.
Genetic Testing Is Recreating Bonds Broken by Slavery
Alondra Nelson discusses how ancestry tests can empower African Americans.
Dolores Huerta's Life of Activism
The 87-year-old labor leader who fought with Cesar Chavez says grassroots organizing is still effective.
Hate Groups Are Growing Under Trump
The director of the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project discusses an alarming new trend.
The Problem With Confederate Monuments
New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu believes that the Civil War should be remembered, not revered.
How Cable News Fails Viewers
Jon Lovett wonders if political commentary has become theater criticism.
Adam Grant's Advice for Raising Resilient Kids
The Wharton School organizational psychologist says kids should practice struggling.
Trump's 'Adhocracy' Could Leave the World in Disarray
Richard Haass argues the administration's approach to foreign policy is a liability.
What Drives Sally Yates
The former Acting attorney general reflects on her career and the decision that ended it.
Should the U.S. Get Rid of Political Parties?
Former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards thinks Americans are ready for a new system.
A College Student Who Seeks to Learn Rather Than to Teach
Surrounded by cultural pressures to dislike the “other,” one undergraduate marshals empathy and charity.
North Korea Says it Tested ICBM
The move would mark a dramatic improvement in Pyongyang’s military capabilities.
What Does 'Community' Mean?
The term’s evolution makes a nice metaphor for the rise of American individualism—and the decline of trust in American institutions.
How Germany Managed to Avoid Populism
The country’s economic resilience may have contributed to its political resilience.
When Hatred Is a Joke
On Sunday, the president posted a video making light of violence. The move was both highly unusual and completely at home in this turbulent political moment.
Khizr Khan: 'Go Seek Your Neighbor'
The Gold Star parent who made headlines at the Democratic National Convention offers advice on how citizens can “materially progress the American experiment.”
How Civic Obligations, Education, and Federalism Can Save America
Three observers of American politics fear deepening division and polarization, and offer different proscriptions for the best way forward.
David Petraeus Sends Mixed Messages on War Powers
The retired general urges Congress to step up and address where the U.S. military should be waging war, even as he praises an extra-constitutional strike on Syria.
Can Capitalism Reinvent Itself?
Senator Mark Warner says that the current economy isn’t working for many workers—and now is the time to fix it.
How to Be a Human Leader
A collection of highly successful women have some tips for developing that most fundamental and crucial of skills: speaking up.
The Budget-Reform Idea That Won’t Die
The Simpson-Bowles plan has been rejected at every turn. Why is it resurfacing now?
How Russian Journalists Dealt With Fake News
It seems new to the U.S. But the Russians have been dealing with it for years.
The Vital Role of Political Theater
Diane Paulus, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and Robert Schenkkan discuss how the Public Theater’s recent production of Julius Caesar fits into a grand artistic tradition.
How the World Can Prepare for the Next Pandemic
Global outbreaks like the 2014 episode of Ebola are a certainty in a connected world, which means public-health authorities have to think across borders too.
Has the Death of American Manufacturing Been Exaggerated?
The sector has shrunk, but remains a significant part of the economy.
Charitable Giving Is Only a Small Part of What Foundations Do With Their Money
Most of their capital doesn’t wind up in grants, but in investments. Is the latter the key to maximum impact?
What Interacting With Robots Might Reveal About Human Nature
The most urgent question for people is not whether machines will take their jobs, but how machines will change the way they behave in society.
The Perils of Meritocracy
It’s one of the most loved ideas in American life. Perhaps, though, it should be one of the most resented.
A Columbia Professor's Critique of Campus Politics
John McWhorter argues that an influential minority of college students are misusing concepts like safe spaces and white supremacy as performative cudgels––and that administrators and faculty members ought to do more to teach them the errors of their ways.
A Call to Police Comity Among Political Allies, Not Opponents
Peter Wehner argues that “we need people within our own political tribe to point out the limitations and dangers of excessive political tribalism, and how it can become an obstacle to intellectual honesty.”
'The President ... Says What He Wants to Say'
Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao tried to explain Donald Trump’s tweets about MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski.
Parents Share How They Protect Their Kids Online
Advice for anyone trying to figure out how to balance the perils of the digital world with its benefits.
DARPA's Ex-Leader's Speculative Dream of Mind-Melding Empathy
Arati Prabhakar imagines a neurologically enhanced future where everyone’s brains are connected.