Ismail Harerimana grew up in Uganda not knowing why he was always sick.  His childhood in the 1990s was a string of recurrent infections: malaria, diarrhea, headaches, and skin rashes. By 14, he was scarily thin, at which point doctors put him on a new medication that seemed to help. It was for kidney disease, […]

Of all the hot-button social issues in America, there’s one that often flies under the radar but can unleash a torrent of strong feelings — swirling with apparent contradictions — when it surfaces: meat.  Case in point: Last month, the popstar Billie Eilish argued that you can’t say you love animals and eat them. Her […]

If there’s one thing Americans can agree on — beyond the fact we hate data centers and love Dolly Parton — it’s that we’re busier than ever, and it’s all too much. We don’t have time to socialize, we don’t have time to sleep, and we don’t have time for fun. We’re a uniquely overworked […]

The only good data center is a canceled data center. Or so a growing number of Americans seem to feel.  Throughout the United States, citizens are mobilizing against the construction of new data centers in general — and the massive, “hyperscale” ones that fuel artificial intelligence, in particular.  The past four years have witnessed an […]

A lot of humans are feeling very down on humanity these days. Maybe you’ve met them. Or maybe you’re one of them.    I’m talking about those who look around and say: Humans are destroying the planet — causing climate change, making other species go extinct. Soon enough we’ll be mucking up the cosmos, too — […]