Maggie Koerth (316 entries)

Why Am I Right-Handed?
Donald Trump Incites His Crowds — And His Crowds Incite Him
This Survey Is Unwieldy And Intrusive — And Invaluable To Understanding Americans’ Health
All Those New Dinosaurs May Not Be New — Or Dinosaurs
Why Does The Sun Hurt My Eyes?
How Two Grad Students Uncovered An Apparent Fraud — And A Way To Change Opinions On Transgender Rights
Why Do Boys Have Wieners?
Congress’s Zika Fight Is Really About A Slush Fund To Combat Infectious Diseases
How Do You Put Out A Subterranean Fire Beneath A Mountain Of Trash?
Welcome To FiveThirtyEight’s Gut Science Week
Everybody Is Constipated, Nobody Is Constipated
What If The Moon Were Bigger?
Tornado Town, USA
Superbugs Have Reached The U.S. For The First Time — Again
Psychiatrists Can’t Tell Us What They Think About Trump
To Keep The Blood Supply Safe, Screening Blood Is More Important Than Banning Donors
We Study What Makes People More Liberal. But What Makes Them More Conservative?
No Technology — Not Even Tesla’s Autopilot — Can Be Completely Safe
The Loudest Sound In The World Would Kill You On The Spot
What Counts As An Accident?
Always Ready, Always There
How Do We Beam Pictures Back From Jupiter? It Takes A Village
Five Enduring Questions About Zika
How Big Is A Fart? Somewhere Between A Bottle Of Nail Polish And A Can Of Soda
We Use A Whole Bunch Of Energy Every Summer (And A Lot Of It Goes To Waste)
What Happens If E.T. Phones Us?
Why It’s So Hard To Find The Next Earth, Even If You’re Looking Right At It
How The Oil And Gas Industry Awakened Oklahoma’s Sleeping Fault Lines
Harvard Wins The Most Nobel Prizes In Physiology And Medicine (For Dudes)
And The Typical Nobel Prize Winner In Physics Is …
The Typical Chemistry Nobel Winner Changed After 1980
The Typical Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Is Not Old, American — Or Human
The Economics Nobel Isn’t Really A Nobel
How Many Times Did Trump Interrupt Clinton In The First Debate? Depends On How You Count
The Secret Lives Of Rocks
USA! USA! US … Oh, Never Mind. It’s The Literature Nobel.
Did The Pope Change Catholics’ Minds On Climate Change?
Why We Don’t Know How Much Sexism Is Hurting Clinton’s Campaign
It’s Hard To Tell Whether Trump Supports Renewable Energy — And That May Not Matter Much
How Do We Know When A Hunk Of Rock Is Actually A Stone Tool?
Big Farms Are Getting Bigger And Most Small Farms Aren’t Really Farms At All
Even Mega-Farms Are Mostly Family Owned
Democracy, Meh?
Police Violence Against Native Americans Goes Far Beyond Standing Rock
Oklahoma May Resist Federal Regulation, But Its Environmental Record Isn’t Terrible
Scientists Protest Climate-Change Deniers Among Trump’s Cabinet Picks
What A Balloon’s Pop Tells Us About The End Of The World
Virginia Was A Little Old To Still Believe In Santa
Everyone Is Vulnerable To Conflicts Of Interest. Including Donald Trump.
There’s Almost No Way Energy Policy Can Satisfy Everyone
Does The United States Really Need To Improve Its Image Abroad?
What We Learned (And Didn’t) About Scott Pruitt At His Confirmation Hearing
Trump Finds The Weak Spot In Obama’s Protections For Scientists
Presidents Before Trump Have Meddled With The EPA — It Didn’t Go Well
TrumpBeat: There Is No Pivot
Trump’s National Security Council Changes Aren’t Unusual — For The Most Part
TrumpBeat: What The Immigration Chaos Tells Us About What’s To Come
Why That Maui Wowie Doesn’t Hit You The Same Way Every Time
Let’s Go To Mars! (Or Not)
TrumpBeat: Is Trump Already Messing With Government Data?
Mars Needs Lawyers
TrumpBeat: Follow The Money If You Want To Know What Trump Will Do
How Big Is Space? Check Back In A Few Billion Years
Space Sex Is Serious Business
TrumpBeat: Return Of The Facts
The Easiest Way for Trump To Do Stuff Is To Not Do Stuff
TrumpBeat: You Can’t Build A Legacy On Executive Orders
A Weaker EPA May Not Mean The Environment Goes To Hell
TrumpBeat: ‘I Realized It’s Not So Easy’
Marching Scientists Will Have A Lot In Common With Angry ’70s Farmers
Trump Isn’t A Do-Nothing President
The Bugs Of The World Could Squish Us All
Moderate Republicans Are Flexing Their Muscles
The Tangled Story Behind Trump’s False Claims Of Voter Fraud
TrumpBeat: Yes, There Was Non-Comey News This Week
How Animal Rights Activists And Environmentalists Became Unlikely Adversaries
The Paris Agreement Would Have Been Less Partisan 30 Years Ago
TrumpBeat: If You Don’t Like The Officiating, Fire The Refs
The Kansas Experiment Is Bad News For Trump’s Tax Cuts
Two Government Agencies. Two Different Climate Maps.
Why Republicans Might Be Forced To Oppose Tax Cuts
The Trump Administration’s Own Data Says Obamacare Isn’t Imploding
Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission Is Facing A Tough Data Challenge
Don’t Tell The Kids, But Bedtime Is A Social Construct
The Fed Is About To Get Trumpier
Three Things Trump Could Do To Hurt Obamacare
The Solar Eclipse vs. Solar Electricity
Trump’s Military Ban Could Hurt More Than Just Transgender Troops
Look! We Found Something Republicans, Democrats And Jared Kushner Actually Agree On!
Trump Keeps Derailing His Own Agenda
Now Stare Directly At This Eclipse Story
What Can We Do If A President Has A Conflict Of Interest But Doesn’t Think He Does?
It’s Time To Ditch The Concept Of ‘100-Year Floods’
What 100-Year-Old Hurricanes Could Teach Us About Irma
Surviving A Big Storm Doesn’t Mean The Trauma Is Over
Kris Kobach Can Prove U.S. Elections Are Messy, But That’s Not The Same Thing As Fraudulent
One More Thing For Puerto Rico To Worry About: Disease-Ridden Mosquitoes
Mass Shootings Are A Bad Way To Understand Gun Violence
Why Puerto Rico’s Electric Grid Stood No Chance Against Maria
What Would Happen If There Were No Number 6?
Climate Science Isn’t Being Silenced Everywhere In Washington
Holiday Weight Gain Is More Complicated Than One Thanksgiving Dinner
The Contract Scandal In Puerto Rico May Say More About The Utility Than It Says About Trump
The Complicated Legacy Of A Panda Who Was Really Good At Sex
Politics Moves Fast. Peer Review Moves Slow. What’s A Political Scientist To Do?
Can Trump’s Pick To Lead The Weather Service Really Be Independent Of His Family Business?
Most Personality Quizzes Are Junk Science. I Found One That Isn’t.
A Competency Test For Trump Could Be A Bad Idea
How Much Sugar Would It Take To Get A Rocket To The Moon?
It’s One Thing For Trump To Like Uranium. It’s Another For Him To Save It.
These Researchers Have Been Trying To Stop School Shootings For 20 Years
What It’s Like To Watch #MeToo When It Is You, Too
The Trouble With Quitting Facebook Is That We Like Facebook
The Pay Gap Is Way Too Entrenched To Be Solved By Women Alone
If Pruitt Gets Fired, Liberals And Conservatives Could Both End Up Disappointed
Who Built The First House? And What Even Is A House?
Should We Trust Michael Cohen If He Flips On Trump?
You Can’t Opt Out Of Sharing Your Data, Even If You Didn’t Opt In
Why Is Water Slippery?
Humans Are Dumb At Figuring Out How Smart Animals Are
A Half-Day Of Diversity Training Won’t Change Much For Starbucks
Nuclear Power Won’t Survive Without A Government Handout
Science Wants Your Data
Pruitt Was Friendly To The Energy Industry. His Replacement Was Paid By It.
Wildfires In The U.S. Are Getting Bigger
Your Tweets Are Somehow Worthy Of Scientific Study
Can Science Save Politics? Or Will Politics Ruin Science?
Hacking The Electric Grid Is Damned Hard
How Money Affects Elections
Slow-Moving Storms Like Florence Produce Big Floods — And Are Becoming The Norm
Science Says Toxic Masculinity — More Than Alcohol — Leads To Sexual Assault
Why Humans Are Bad At Spotting Lies
Why We’re Stuck With An Inadequate Hurricane Rating System
What Climate Change Taught Us About Hurricanes
What Happens When Humans Fall In Love With An Invasive Species
Why Politicians Don’t Always Listen To Political Scientists
How To Make Sense Of This Week’s Mail Bombs
Only 6 Percent Of U.S. Terrorists Act Alone, But They Are Prolific
Who Should Recount Elections: People … Or Machines?
Why California’s Wildfires Are So Destructive, In 5 Charts
California’s Wildfires Could Mean A Generation Of Lung Problems
Human Behavior Might Be The Hardest Part Of Climate Change To Predict
Who Would Win A Fight Between An Anaconda And A Komodo Dragon?
We Have Ways To Stop Rogue Scientists. They Don’t Always Work.
Happy New Year! Your Resolutions Won’t Bring You Joy.
The Era Of Easy Recycling May Be Coming To An End
How To Make Sure Your Recycling Gets Recycled
Americans Were A Lot Less Worried About Climate Change Before Trump Took Office
How Much Is The Government Spending On Climate Change? We Don’t Know, And Neither Do They
The Green New Deal Is Impractical, But ‘Practical’ Solutions Haven’t Worked Either
Why Good Politics And Good Climate Science Don’t Mix
Who Will Science The Scientists?
Conspiracy Theories Can’t Be Stopped
Americans Are Smart About Science
Our Organ Donation System Is Unfair. The Solution Might Be Too.
Forget The Black Hole Picture — Check Out The Sweet Technology That Made It Possible
Even Brain Function Tests Can’t Tell Us How Old Is Too Old To Be President
Who Owns The Dinosaurs? It All Depends On Where You Find Them
The Loudest Places You Can’t Hear
Everyone Knows Money Influences Politics … Except Scientists
Can You Unwrinkle A Raisin?
Science Has A Sustainability Problem
What Questions Do You Want Answered About Climate Change?
How Weird Is Andrew Yang’s Tech Policy? Only About As Weird As America’s.
No Terrorist Is A ‘Lone Wolf’
Can We Prevent Mass Shootings By Preventing Suicide?
No, Bringing Back Mental Institutions Won’t Stop Mass Shootings
A Virtual Iowa Caucus Would Have Been A Hacking Nightmare
The World Isn’t Ready For Climate Refugees
Here’s The Best Place To Move If You’re Worried About Climate Change
We’ve Been Fighting The Vaping Crisis Since 1937
Why Partisans Look At The Same Evidence On Ukraine And See Wildly Different Things
Media Bubbles Aren’t The Biggest Reason We’re Partisans
Why Carbon Capture Hasn’t Saved Us From Climate Change Yet
How To Understand Natural Disasters In A Climate Change Age
Why Nonprofits Can’t Research Gun Violence As Well As The Feds
Is This Fish Winning Climate Change?
How To Fight With Your Family At Thanksgiving
Does Knowing Whom Others Might Vote For Change Whom You’ll Vote For?
In American Politics, Everyone’s A Cynic
Congress Is Throwing A Little Money At Gun Violence Research. It Might Go A Long Way.
Here’s How We Know 2019 Was The Second-Hottest Year Ever
You’ll Never Know Which Candidate Is Electable
Americans Were Already Primed To Distrust Elections. Then Came Iowa.
What Happens To Your Mail-Order Mattress After You Return It
Quarantines Won’t Save Us From Coronavirus
Americans Don’t Trust The People In Charge Of The Coronavirus Fight
Bloomberg’s Money Bought Him Something — Just Not The Nomination
Will Coronavirus Happen Every Year Like The Flu?
Why We Shouldn’t Hope COVID-19 Is Seasonal Like The Flu
Why We Shouldn’t Hope COVID-19 Is Seasonal Like The Flu [video]
Coronavirus May Make Millions Of Americans Sick. But We Only Have About 100,000 Ventilators.
Primary Polling Places Are Full Of Older People … And The Coronavirus
How Should You Social Distance? [video]
How Coronavirus Tests Actually Work
Why The U.S. Can’t Process Coronavirus Tests As Fast As South Korea [video]
Hand-Washing Technique Is Surprisingly Controversial
Why It’s So Freaking Hard To Make A Good COVID-19 Model
Politics Podcast: Why Forecasting COVID-19 Is Harder Than Forecasting Elections
Why Forecasting COVID-19 Is Harder Than Forecasting Elections [video]
Science Has No Clear Answers On The Coronavirus. Face Masks Are No Exception.
A Comic Strip Tour Of The Wild World Of Pandemic Modeling
How COVID-19 Is Wreaking Havoc On Our Ability To Make Things — Including Vaccines
There Are Not Enough COVID-19 Tests. There Are Also Too Many COVID-19 Tests.
How A Shortage Of Sand (And Other Common Items) Could Delay A Coronavirus Vaccine [video]
Why Are More Men Than Women Dying Of COVID-19?
More Men Than Women Are Dying From COVID-19. Is It Biology Or Behavior? [video]
Politics Podcast: Can COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories Be Stopped?
The Politics Of COVID-19 Conspiracy Theories [video]
The Uncounted Dead
Most Americans Haven’t Stopped Trusting Scientists
De-escalation Keeps Protesters And Police Safer. Departments Respond With Force Anyway.
Most Americans Still Trust Scientists [video]
The Two Autopsies Of George Floyd Aren’t As Different As They Seem
Is Police Reform A Fundamentally Flawed Idea?
The Science of Mask-Wearing Hasn’t Changed. So Why Have Our Expectations?
Every Decision Is A Risk. Every Risk Is A Decision.
Many Americans Are Convinced Crime Is Rising In The U.S. They’re Wrong.
What Happened In Portland Shows Just How Fragile Our Democracy Is
How Trump And COVID-19 Have Reshaped The Modern Militia Movement
Coronavirus Models Were Always About More Than Flattening The Curve
How To Know When You Can Trust A COVID-19 Vaccine
Emergency Politics Podcast: Trump Tests Positive For COVID-19
Trump Tested Positive For COVID-19. Now What? [video]
Trump Has An Elevated Risk Of Severe COVID-19. But It Helps To Be The President.
Take Negative COVID-19 Tests Seriously, But Not Literally
Trump Doesn’t Know Why Crime Rises or Falls. Neither Does Biden. Or Any Other Politician.
You Can’t Learn Much From One COVID-19 Patient — Even When That Patient Is President Trump
What A Summer Of COVID-19 Taught Scientists About Indoor vs. Outdoor Transmission
Fear Of Voter Intimidation Is Its Own Voter Intimidation
What Two Studies With Very Different Findings Can Tell Us About Voting In A Pandemic
Pfizer’s Vaccine Announcement Was Always Going To Be Political
What To Make Of Pfizer’s Big Vaccine Announcement [video]
Why Even A Small Thanksgiving Is Dangerous
Does It Matter Which COVID-19 Vaccine You Get?
Even After Getting Vaccinated, You Could Still Infect Others
The Police’s Tepid Response To The Capitol Breach Wasn’t An Aberration
Answers To All (Or At Least Some) Of Your COVID-19 Vaccine Questions
Why Police Aggression Is Far More Pronounced Against Left-Leaning Protesters [video]
Our Radicalized Republic
Politics Podcast: The Lawmakers Who Will Determine What Gets Through Congress
Partisans Don’t Just Disagree, They Hate One Another [video]
How COVID-19 Ended Flu Season Before It Started
Politics Podcast: How The Crisis In Texas Happened
Will National Politics Obscure What’s Really Happening In Texas? [video]
So You Got Vaccinated … And Then You Got COVID. Now What?
The Year Of Choosing Dangerously
Why Your Doctor Was Left Out Of The COVID-19 Vaccination Plan
What The Heck Is Going On With AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 Vaccine?
The Johnson & Johnson Pause Shows The System Is Working
Beware Of Humans
Politics Podcast: How Americans Feel About Vaccination After The Johnson & Johnson Pause
A Majority Of Americans Think Climate Change Should Be A Political Priority [video]
You Might Have Given The Coronavirus To Your Cat
Kids Can’t Get The COVID-19 Vaccine Yet. How Much Of A Risk Do They Pose To The Rest Of Society?
Politics Podcast: How Partisanship Explains Our Pandemic Behavior
How To Make Sure Your Kid Isn’t A Superspreader
How Partisanship Has Made Some Liberals More Cautious About COVID-19 [video]
Who Took Care Of The First Baby?
Politics Podcast: Can You Win A Fight With A Goose?
What Would Have To Happen For A Third Party To Be Viable [video]
Politics Podcast: Why Biden Wants A Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan
Why Republicans Are Starting To Make Their Own Climate Agenda [video]
COVID-19 Was Always Going To Be A Struggle For The CDC. But Trump Sure Didn’t Help.
How The CDC’s Blindspots Complicated The Fight Against COVID-19
How Science Moved Beyond Peer Review During The Pandemic
Covid Cases Are Rising. This Is What Americans Think We Should Do. [video]
When To Stop Hoping For a COVID-19 Miracle Cure
Why People Who Brush Still Get Cavities
Vaccines Mandates Work, But They’re Messy
What Three Upcoming Elections Can Tell Us About The Political Climate [video]
Police Reform Is On The Ballot In Minneapolis. But It’s About More Than Defunding The Police.
How Are Kids Handling The Pandemic? We Asked Them.
Would You Manage 70 Children And A 15-Ton Vehicle For $18 An Hour?
What You Can Do About Omicron — And Any Future COVID-19 Variants
The Science Behind Those Comfy, Cozy Holiday Feelings
We’re Misunderstanding What Caused Jan. 6
‘Back Alley’ Advice Is Making The Pandemic Worse
How Omicron Upended What We Thought We Knew About Natural Immunity
The COVID-19 Metrics Policymakers Should Be Watching After Omicron
What COVID Positivity Rates Can (And Can’t) Tell Us
When Is It Safe To Lift School Mask Mandates?
U.S. Ski Jumping Is Looking For More Friends In High Places
COVID-19 Has Left Millions Of Students Behind. Now What?
What Americans Can Expect If Abortion Pills Become Their Only Safe Option
America Has A Thing For Hippo Parts
Why Even A Less Effective COVID-19 Vaccine Is Worth Getting
Better Birth Control Hasn’t Made Abortion Obsolete
Overturning Roe v. Wade Could Make Maternal Mortality Even Worse
We’ve Known How To Prevent A School Shooting for More Than 20 Years
What The History Of Back-Alley Abortions Can Teach Us About A Future Without Roe
Suicide Prevention Could Prevent Mass Shootings
Mass Shootings Can Traumatize People Who Weren’t Even There
We Want To Hear About Your Experiences With Abortion Restrictions In U.S. Hospitals
Even Exceptions To Abortion Bans Pit A Mother’s Life Against Doctors’ Fears
No President Is Safe From His Own COVID-19 Policy
Why The Same Temperature Can Feel Different Somewhere Else
Who Should Get Tested For A New Disease?
Why Monkeypox Wasn’t Another COVID-19
How Natural Disasters Can Change A Politician
Can Focusing On Climate Change Help Win Elections?
Overturning Roe Has Meant At Least 10,000 Fewer Legal Abortions
As States Banned Abortion, Thousands More Americans Got Pills Online Anyway
So You Think You Can Explain The Election
The Butterfly Effect
The EPA Is Finally Addressing 4 Dangerous ‘Forever Chemicals’ — Out Of Over 4,000 [video]
Why Most Gun Laws Aren’t Backed Up By Evidence
The Hardest Part Of Red Flag Laws Isn’t Getting Them Passed
Why An Abortion Drug Approved 20 Years Ago Might Get Yanked From The Market
Does It Matter Where COVID-19 Came From?
There’s A Racial Bias on Police Facebook Pages
A Judge Just Suspended Approval Of One Of The Most Common Abortion Drugs [video]
Over 66,000 People Couldn’t Get An Abortion In Their Home State After Dobbs
Red States Are Trying To Fight The World On Climate
Earth Day Is The Victim Of Its Own Success
When State Law Defines ‘Man’ And ‘Woman,’ Who Gets Left Out? [video]