All Posts (Since 2018)

Ongoing megadrought in the US Southwest

Intersections

Background: “… American Southwest. Since 2000, the region — which includes Arizona, New Mexico, California, Utah, Colorado and parts of northern Mexico — has endured a historic “megadrought,” or a period of severe dryness that persists for decades. Scientists say it’s the driest this region has been in 1,200 years. Scientists point to two factors causing the drought — rising temperatures and declining precipitation. Heat from human-caused climate change creates a…

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America’s air monitors are disappearing. So is your power to expose polluters

Intersections

Across several states, a quiet chemical industry campaign is making it harder to hold polluters accountable. Ames Alexander and Brad Racino/Floodlight This story is from Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powers stalling climate action. Sign up for Floodlight’s newsletter here. Across much of the U.S., people have little way to know when the air they breathe turns dangerous. Over recent decades, federal funding…

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Doomscrolling is bad for you!

Intersections

Background: “Often, doomscrolling starts with a goal of becoming more aware of a situation so you can understand what’s happening and prepare yourself for it … However, with doomscrolling, this search for answers becomes obsessive and unproductive. Rather than helping you to learn useful information, you waste time as you surf from one outrageous story to another, all the while feeling worse about the world,…

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Should anyone be playing American football?

Intersections

Background: What is Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)? From the Merck Manual (Professional version). The midbrain in humans controls “functions such as hearing and temperature regulation.” But, because of its location–in the middle of the brain–this area is “likely to sustain damage” when a person suffers a hit to their head. A 2019 study that tracked football players (American football) at the University of Rochester in…

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Strategian: republish articles, an Open Educational Resource

News

The Strategian: Science Magazine is an open educational resource (OER) made available under a Creative Commons license. For original posts, look for the “Republish this story” graphic at the bottom of the article. Click that button to learn how to republish Strategian stories on your own online site or in print form. HTML and plain text versions of the posts are provided. Teachers (at all…

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Politics, distraction, and fear

Intersections

Whipping up fear or creating a distraction is a common tactic in politics. Providing stark, seemingly life or death choices, us versus them, scapegoating, creating a false bogeyman to distract from real problems, using lies and disinformation … fear and distraction is used because it often works. The invoked fear is often based on racism and bias. It’s those “other people”–with a different skin color,…

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The U.S. just had its hottest month in recorded history, surpassing Dust Bowl record

Intersections

by Jeff Masters and Bob Henson, Yale Climate ConnectionsAugust 10, 2026 Those who deny or dismiss U.S. climate change have hit a Waterloo moment of sorts. The nation just experienced its hottest month in more than 130 years of analysis, which breaks a record that had stood since the infamous Dust Bowl of the 1930s. For the 48 contiguous states, the July 2026 average of…

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Should you be a Luddite? Resist corporate/profit-driven mass technology? Do we deserve better technology and economic justice?

Intersections

Background: “I always come back to this idea that we deserve a better class of technology and a better class of technologist. Technologies are so important and they can do so much good in the world. But technology as a kind of singular thing does not necessarily improve our lives or create a better society. It only does so when it actually serves the needs…

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Ghostwriting in science: Monsanto, Bayer, Glyphosate and profits over health, part 1

Intersections

Background: “Ghostwriting occurs when someone makes substantial contributions to a manuscript without attribution or disclosure. It is considered bad publication practice in the … sciences, and some argue it is scientific misconduct. At its extreme, … ghostwriting involves … companies hiring professional writers to produce papers promoting their products but hiding those contributions and instead naming academic physicians or scientists as the authors.” From: Gøtzsche,…

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Image of a huge cat eating a horse, an example of AI slop.

Right now, AI is a mess

Intersections

Background: Right now, artificial intelligence is a complete mess–economically, socially, politically, culturally, environmentally, etc., and especially in the United States. Is this just a sign of an immature technology that has been labelled and presented in a very confusing way? Presented as a monolith, when it is not that at all? Maybe. Is this a sign of an immature technology foisted upon society by huge…

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