Science
Reason magazine
THE IMPROBABLE RISE OF MAGA-MUSK
IS ELON MUSK A REACTIONARY WITHA DEFECTIVE BULLSHIT METER OR THE BEST PART OF THE SECOND TRUMP ADMINISTRATION?
10+ min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
A Free-Range Family
RIGHT NOW, CHILDHOOD is intensely meh. Maybe you read the recent report in The Journal of Pediatrics that said that as kids' independence and free play have gone down, their anxiety and depression have been going up.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Educulture Wars
THE CULTURE WAR is costing school districts billions, according to a report released in October 2024 by the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access. The report surveyed superintendents at 467 school districts nationwide about extra expenditures they undertook because of increased conflict over culture war issues such as critical race theory, book chal- lenges, gender-related debates, and other politicized topics. The report estimates that such fights cost school districts around $3.2 billion during the 2023-2024 school year.
1 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Q&A Penny Lane
PENNY LANE'S NEW Netflix documentary, Confessions of a Good Samaritan, delves into her life-changing decision to donate a kidney to a stranger. Known for her thoughtful and provocative storytelling, Lane has explored human connection and empathy in films such as Hail Satan? and The Pain of Others. Last October she spoke with Reason's Nick Gillespie and shared her emotional, physical, and philosophical experience with anonymous kidney donation and the challenges that came with it.
2 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
The Fragile U.S. Refugee Resettlement System
IN FY 2024, the U.S. resettled 100,034 refugees—the highest number in 30 years and about nine times the number resettled in FY 2021. The 2024 tally is a reason to celebrate and a reminder that refugee resettlement is highly subject to presidential whims.
2 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Rancher Jailed for Cloning Giant Sheep
MONTANA RANCHER ARTHUR “Jack”Schubarth, 81, succeeded in cloning a wild Marco Polo argali sheep, the world’s largest ovine species. That achievement cost him six months in jail.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
It's Still the Economy, Stupid
LEADING UP TO the 2024 election, pundits, pollsters, and political operatives discussed the electorate as a bundle of distinct race and gender categories, sometimes with even narrower subcategorizations attached. How would black women vote? What about Latino men? Suburban, college-educated women?
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Setbacks for Drug Policy Reform
IN 2016, 2018, 2020, and 2022, voters approved a raft of drug policy reforms.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
The SEC's War on NFTS
SHOULD ARTISTS HAVE to file paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) just to sell their own creations? Should they be required to warn buyers that art values might fluctuate?
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
The Case of Robert Roberson
LAST FALL, AN extraordinary legal drama played out in Texas that shook the foun-dations of the death penalty in a state that still stands for hang-'em-high justice.Hours before he was scheduled to become the first person in the country to be executed based on evidence of what used to be called \"shaken baby syndrome,\" Texas death row inmate Robert Roberson was granted an unprecedented reprieve when a state House committee subpoenaed him to testify before it.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
The Banks Are Narcing on You
WALKING INTO A bank feels like walking into any other business. Sure, there are a few extra cameras and an armed guard or two, but otherwise, it's a typical experience.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Election Reforms Blocked by Elections
SEVERAL PROPOSED ELECTION reforms on the 2024 ballot offered promising solutions: Reduce the power of partisan primaries, ensure more robust competition in general elections, and increase the likelihood that winning campaigns represent the median voter rather than a lesser-of-two-evils result.
3 min |
February 2025
Reason magazine
Libertarianism From the Ground Up
ARGUMENTS FOR LIBERTARIANISM typically take two forms. Some libertarians base their creed on natural rights-the idea that each individual has an inborn right to self-ownership, or freedom from aggression, or whatever-and proceed to argue that only a libertarian political regime is compatible with those rights.
5 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Lawlessness and Liberalism
THE UNITED STATES is notorious both for mass incarceration and for militarized police forces.
5 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Politics Without Journalism
THE 2024 CAMPAIGN WAS A WATERSHED MOMENT FOR THE WAY WE PROCESS PUBLIC AFFAIRS.
10+ min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
EVERY BODY HATES PRICES
BUT THEY HELP US DECIDE BETWEEN BOURBON AND BACONATORS.
10+ min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
The Great American City Upon a Hill Is Always Under Construction
AMERICA'S UTOPIAN DREAMS LEAD TO URBAN EXPERIMENTATION.
10 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Amanda Knox Tells Her Own Story
\"OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM RELIES UPON OUR OWN IGNORANCE AND THE FACT THAT WE DON'T KNOW WHAT OUR RIGHTS ARE.\"
10+ min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Trade Policy Amnesia
WHILE HE WAS interviewing for the job, President Joe Biden demonstrated an acute awareness of how tariffs work. It's worrisome that he seems to have forgotten that or, worse, chosen to ignore it-since he's been president.
2 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Civil Liberties Lost Under COVID
WHEN JOE BIDEN was sworn in as president in January 2021, he had good reason to be optimistic about the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Bye, Joe
AMERICA'S 46th president is headed out the door. After a single term marked by ambitious plans but modest follow-through, Joe Biden is wrapping up his time in office and somewhat reluctantly shuffling off into the sunset.
1 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Q&A Mark Calabria
IF YOU HAVE a mortgage on your home, the odds are that it's backed by one of two congressionally chartered, government-sponsored enterprises (GSES), Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
3 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Musical Surveillance
SOMEWHERE IN SAN Francisco's Mission District, they say a solar-powered phone is concealed in a box atop a pole.
2 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
No Longer a World Heritage Site, Liverpool Evolves and Thrives
IN 2021, LIVERPOOL made global headlines when the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) revoked its World Heritage status, citing new development along the waterfront as causing the \"serious deterioration and irreversible loss\" of the area's historic value.
3 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Don't Credit Drug Warriors for Reducing Overdoses
DURING THEIR PRESIDENTIAL campaigns, Donald Trump and Kamala Harris both promised to fight substance abuse by disrupting the drug supply.
2 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Taxpocalypse
WHEN THE NEW session of Congress opens on January 3, the clock will already be ticking toward the most important set of fiscal decisions lawmakers will make this decade.
4 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
More Creative Corruption
IN SEPTEMBER 2024, federal officials indicted New York City Mayor Eric Adams on charges including wire fraud and bribery.
3 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Glucose Monitors Are Finally Available Over the Counter
THE U.S. FOOD and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the first continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) for over-the-counter sale-a major win for health freedom and common sense.
3 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Nuclear Power Saves Lives
THE PANIC FOLLOWING the catastrophic meltdown of the nuclear power plant in Chernobyl in the Soviet Union in April 1986 resulted in nearly 400 fewer new nuclear power plants being built than had been projected.
2 min |
January 2025
Reason magazine
Why Kamala Harris Lost
FEW REALISTIC POLITICAL observers expected a blowout for Kamala Harris.
3 min |