April 8, 2025
Does Testosterone Make Men?
Does biology determine destiny, or is society the dominant cause of masculine and feminine traits? In this spirited exchange, the psychologist Cordelia Fine and the evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven unpack the complex relationship between testosterone and human behaviour. Fine emphasises variability, flexibility and context – seeing gender as shaped by social forces as much as…
March 26, 2025
Another Day Ending in “Y,” More Meritless Lawsuits Against the Fossil Energy Producers
One would think that Republicans would know better. One would think that Republicans from an important oil- and gas-producing state would know better. One would think, or hope, that they would prioritize the economic wellbeing of their states and the livelihoods of their constituents over their narrow political ambitions. And one would be wrong. Illustrating the perverse…
February 27, 2025
Don’t Let Anyone Confuse You: There Really Are Only Two Sexes
”It is the policy of the United States to recognize two sexes, male and female.” “‘Female’ means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.” Those are statements from President Trump’s Jan. 20 executive order titled “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal…
February 24, 2025
Why Utah’s ‘Simple’ Social Media Reform Could Set a Dangerous Privacy Precedent
The way that it is framed, you’d think that Utah’s HB418 is just a simple change to Utah’s privacy law. They are just “Data Sharing Amendments,” after all. But beneath that innocuous label lies a sweeping proposal that would make Utah the first state in the nation to require the most technically demanding and privacy invasive form…
February 19, 2025
Trump’s Tariffs Would Prime Prices at the Gas Pump
Donald Trump promised tariffs, and he delivered, imposing by executive fiat tariffs of 25 percent on imports from Canada (10 percent on Canadian energy) and Mexico and 10 percent on imports from China. His justifications are “the major threat of illegal aliens and deadly drugs killing our Citizens, including fentanyl,” and our “major trade deficits with those countries.” According…
February 19, 2025
Global Encryption Under Siege: How UK’s Apple Backdoor Demand Threatens International Security
The recent U.K. government directive mandating Apple to establish encryption backdoors underscores a vital debate surrounding digital privacy and security. While law enforcement contends that these backdoors are crucial for crime investigations, the reality is that any deliberate weakness in encryption introduces vulnerabilities that endanger all users. Encryption serves as the foundation of digital security,…
January 15, 2025
Goodbye and Good Riddance to Meta Fact-Checking
The decision last week by Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, to immediately stop using “fact checkers” — groups hired by Meta to determine what information is true and what is false, and thuswhat should be removed — represents not just a return to common sense but also good news for both science and…
January 12, 2025
The Collapse of Offshore Wind Power Is Only the Beginning
The “clean energy transition” — the wholesale replacement of conventional (for the most part fossil) energy with such unconventional technologies as wind and solar power — has been the raison d’être for great masses of the well-off living in comfort in Western economies for many years. And they now are grieving. Why? Because that transition, aided with…
January 6, 2025
Ten Years and Counting: Who Stands for the People of Puerto Rico?
The Lord works in mysterious ways, an eternal truth illustrated by the latest electric power blackout afflicting Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve. Merely the latest manifestation of the reality that the island’s electric grid is in desperate need of modernization, it is a reminder also that the sad saga of the Puerto Rico Electric…
December 12, 2024
The DOJ’s Misguided Overreach with Google Is an Opportunity for Trump
The Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed remedies in its antitrust case against Google read less like a serious legal prescription and more like an attempt to sabotage innovation—or perhaps the incoming Trump administration itself. By seeking to dismantle Google and force it to subsidize its competitors, the DOJ risks creating an economic disaster and hobble the development…