Part of of , our home for ambitious stories that explain our world.The most emotionally difficult moment in Michelle Graham’s life was when five snakes in her lab died.She had started a doctoral program studying jumping and flying snakes. There are several species of snakes that not only live in trees but can leap heroically from one to the next. Scientists still aren’t totally sure why they jump, but what Graham wanted to know was: How? How can an animal with no arms and no legs jump at all?In hopes of observing them fly, her lab purchased from a reptile dealer several snakes collected in...…Part of of , our home for ambitious stories that explain our world.The most emotionally difficult moment in Michelle Graham’s life was when five snakes in her lab died.She had started a doctoral program studying jumping and flying snakes. There are several species of snakes that not only live in trees but can leap heroically from one to the next. Scientists still aren’t totally sure why they jump, but what Graham wanted to know was: How? How can an animal with no arms and no legs jump at all?In hopes of observing them fly, her lab purchased from a reptile dealer several snakes collected in...WW…

The Family Security Act would offer up to $350 per month, per kid, to help parents raise their children.Finding the best ways to do good.In 2019, Mitt Romney became the first Senate Republican to , where all low- and middle-income parents would get a cash benefit to help raise their kids, regardless of whether or not they’re able to work. At the time, the plan was modest, amounting to only $1,500 a year for kids under 6 and $1,000 for kids 6-17.But on Thursday, Romney went further and proposed the Family Security Act, one of the most generous child-benefit packages ever, regardless of...…The Family Security Act would offer up to $350 per month, per kid, to help parents raise their children.Finding the best ways to do good.In 2019, Mitt Romney became the first Senate Republican to , where all low- and middle-income parents would get a cash benefit to help raise their kids, regardless of whether or not they’re able to work. At the time, the plan was modest, amounting to only $1,500 a year for kids under 6 and $1,000 for kids 6-17.But on Thursday, Romney went further and proposed the Family Security Act, one of the most generous child-benefit packages ever, regardless of...WW…

There’s still disagreement. But it looks like in many cases, pay raises swamp any lost jobs.Finding the best ways to do good.For at least the last 25 years, labor economists have been compiling reams of evidence trying to answer one big question: Do minimum wage laws cost jobs?It’s a newly relevant question with President Joe Biden pushing to more than double the federal minimum, from $7.25 to $15 an hour, as part of his .The obvious concern raised by Republican critics is that the move will cost jobs at a time when the economy can ill afford it. “Forcing a $15 minimum wage into a...…There’s still disagreement. But it looks like in many cases, pay raises swamp any lost jobs.Finding the best ways to do good.For at least the last 25 years, labor economists have been compiling reams of evidence trying to answer one big question: Do minimum wage laws cost jobs?It’s a newly relevant question with President Joe Biden pushing to more than double the federal minimum, from $7.25 to $15 an hour, as part of his .The obvious concern raised by Republican critics is that the move will cost jobs at a time when the economy can ill afford it. “Forcing a $15 minimum wage into a...WW…

Listen to a self-described Trump supporter rethink her support in real time.For the entire Trump presidency, the question skeptics of the administration kept asking was: what will be enough? What could make his supporters realize they’ve been had?Charlottesville wasn’t enough; trying to get a foreign prosecutor to pursue his political opponents wasn’t enough; a botched hurricane response that left thousands dead wasn’t enough; a pandemic that left hundreds of thousands dead wasn’t enough. So what would do it?In that context, something remarkable happened on C-SPAN on Wednesday night, after...…Listen to a self-described Trump supporter rethink her support in real time.For the entire Trump presidency, the question skeptics of the administration kept asking was: what will be enough? What could make his supporters realize they’ve been had?Charlottesville wasn’t enough; trying to get a foreign prosecutor to pursue his political opponents wasn’t enough; a botched hurricane response that left thousands dead wasn’t enough; a pandemic that left hundreds of thousands dead wasn’t enough. So what would do it?In that context, something remarkable happened on C-SPAN on Wednesday night, after...WW…

Call him a kleptocrat, an oligarch, a xenophobe, a racist, even an authoritarian. But he doesn’t quite fit the definition of a fascist.Is Donald Trump a fascist?That question emerged in various forms pretty early in his 2016 presidential campaign, which began with a , and gained steam after he called for a in December 2015, as a response to the San Bernardino terrorist attack.At that point, the Muslim ban proposal, I and asked them if Trump qualified. They all said no. Every one of them stated that to be a fascist, one must support the revolutionary, usually violent overthrow of the entire...…Call him a kleptocrat, an oligarch, a xenophobe, a racist, even an authoritarian. But he doesn’t quite fit the definition of a fascist.Is Donald Trump a fascist?That question emerged in various forms pretty early in his 2016 presidential campaign, which began with a , and gained steam after he called for a in December 2015, as a response to the San Bernardino terrorist attack.At that point, the Muslim ban proposal, I and asked them if Trump qualified. They all said no. Every one of them stated that to be a fascist, one must support the revolutionary, usually violent overthrow of the entire...WW…

The final debate between President and former Vice President , held on Thursday evening, was the first one of the that actually felt like a debate.The was a chaotic disaster due to Trump’s constant interruptions; the second one didn’t happen because Trump refused to agree to debate virtually while he had (the candidates held instead). This time around, and the handy use of a mute button allowed both candidates to express their thoughts — leading to a mix of actual substantive policy exchanges and less-than-coherent mudslinging about families and personal finance.The format seems to have...…The final debate between President and former Vice President , held on Thursday evening, was the first one of the that actually felt like a debate.The was a chaotic disaster due to Trump’s constant interruptions; the second one didn’t happen because Trump refused to agree to debate virtually while he had (the candidates held instead). This time around, and the handy use of a mute button allowed both candidates to express their thoughts — leading to a mix of actual substantive policy exchanges and less-than-coherent mudslinging about families and personal finance.The format seems to have...WW…

At least in the general election, they’re a vector for misinformation and don’t seem to meaningfully inform voters.Last Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates officially of the 2020 general election, originally scheduled for Thursday, October 15. The cancellation was caused by President Trump’s refusal to debate remotely (despite his positive test for Covid-19). According to , a member of the debate commission and one of the negotiators behind the first televised debates in 1960, the cancellation’s real victim was American democracy.“In seven decades of televised presidential...…At least in the general election, they’re a vector for misinformation and don’t seem to meaningfully inform voters.Last Friday, the Commission on Presidential Debates officially of the 2020 general election, originally scheduled for Thursday, October 15. The cancellation was caused by President Trump’s refusal to debate remotely (despite his positive test for Covid-19). According to , a member of the debate commission and one of the negotiators behind the first televised debates in 1960, the cancellation’s real victim was American democracy.“In seven decades of televised presidential...WW…

US chicken plants process 140 birds a minute. The Trump administration thinks that’s too slow.Finding the best ways to do good.Taking chickens and pigs from the highly concentrated farms where they live to supermarket shelves isn’t an easy process. The animals have to be processed at slaughterhouses where they’re killed and dismembered for their meat.And because chickens and pigs (and cows and lambs and turkeys … ) are living things whose shapes and sizes vary, cutting and pulling breast meat from chickens, for example, can’t be done with machines or robots. It has to be done by human...…US chicken plants process 140 birds a minute. The Trump administration thinks that’s too slow.Finding the best ways to do good.Taking chickens and pigs from the highly concentrated farms where they live to supermarket shelves isn’t an easy process. The animals have to be processed at slaughterhouses where they’re killed and dismembered for their meat.And because chickens and pigs (and cows and lambs and turkeys … ) are living things whose shapes and sizes vary, cutting and pulling breast meat from chickens, for example, can’t be done with machines or robots. It has to be done by human...WW…

Finding the best ways to do good.Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have an opportunity to cut poverty in America in half. A new study finds that the Democratic ticket has put forward or endorsed a set of proposals that, taken together, could add up to the biggest anti-poverty plan in decades.Three specific measures — Biden’s plan to ; ($3,600 for kids under 6), and proposing new tax credits for low-income households — would have lowered the poverty rate from 12.7 percent to 6.5 percent if they had been adopted in 2018, according to at Columbia. That’s 20.2 million fewer people living in...…Finding the best ways to do good.Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have an opportunity to cut poverty in America in half. A new study finds that the Democratic ticket has put forward or endorsed a set of proposals that, taken together, could add up to the biggest anti-poverty plan in decades.Three specific measures — Biden’s plan to ; ($3,600 for kids under 6), and proposing new tax credits for low-income households — would have lowered the poverty rate from 12.7 percent to 6.5 percent if they had been adopted in 2018, according to at Columbia. That’s 20.2 million fewer people living in...WW…

Few places represent the calamity of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the .Starting in February and escalating into early March, the nursing home in a Seattle suburb became one of the disease’s first hot spots in the United States. By , more than a week had issued a stay-at-home order, the Kirkland facility already had 129 cases (81 among residents; the rest among staff and visitors) and 23 deaths from the novel , according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.Before long, it became clear that practices at the Kirkland facility contributed to the spread of the virus there,...…Few places represent the calamity of the Covid-19 pandemic as well as the .Starting in February and escalating into early March, the nursing home in a Seattle suburb became one of the disease’s first hot spots in the United States. By , more than a week had issued a stay-at-home order, the Kirkland facility already had 129 cases (81 among residents; the rest among staff and visitors) and 23 deaths from the novel , according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report.Before long, it became clear that practices at the Kirkland facility contributed to the spread of the virus there,...WW…