While U.S. research struggles, a different pattern is emerging overseas, Ross Andersen writes. Is China on the verge of becoming the next scientific superpower?
“Looksmaxxing” and its cousins—“soft maxxing,” “hard maxxing,” “fiber-maxxing”—are fake trends, @ibogost.com argues, but they’re also real expressions of the internet’s intrinsic drive toward extremism:
Many people have a smartphone but want to use it less. “This ambivalence,” @julieebeck.bsky.social reports, “is one of the key tensions of modern life. And for many people, it cannot be eliminated—only managed.”
Ukraine’s ambassador to Hungary may have the hardest job in Europe: He represents a government that has become Viktor Orbán’s primary target, @isaacstanleybecker.bsky.social writes.
“As a girl, I was taught that one always has to share. And I grew up into a people pleaser,” @jenishawo.bsky.social writes. “Silencing my own needs has always been easier for me than telling someone else no. Was I raising my son to be the exact same way?”
Stories about revolutionaries seem to entrance readers and moviegoers alike—especially if they don’t end well, Lily Meyer writes:
Some research suggests that diagnostic errors stem from failures in thinking. But one doctor set out to learn if diagnostic excellence is a skill that any clinician can achieve. Alexandra Sifferlin explores his findings in her new book:
America has paid little attention to the effective use of small drones as deadly tools in the Ukraine war—but a swarm of them over an American military installation with nuclear weapons in Barksdale, Louisiana, ought to change that, Brynn Tannehill argues:
The rise of cheap drones has threatened traditional munitions production—yet the continued investment in artillery and tanks shows how Europe and NATO are “ill-prepared for not only wars of the future but also the ones raging today,” Simon Shuster reports:
President Trump helped pull off his improbable comeback with the help of manosphere podcasters, @elainegodfrey.bsky.social reports. Now many of these men seem to feel—by varying degrees—duped by the president they helped elect.
