Shallow Roots The gardening season in central New York is short. Nights stay cold deep into spring, and two years ago all the squash got killed by a frost on the last day of August. You only get one shot at growing most vegetables, particularly those that take a long time to mature. My project...

The Global Burden of Disease I have been experiencing something of an epistemic crisis, which is a fancy way of saying I’m less sure about not just what I know, but why I think I know it. And I’m not talking about the pressing but obviously intractable issues facing the country, like how to bridge...

How Bad Will Food Shortages Get? In the spring of 2020, as lockdowns spread across the country, there were a couple weeks in which supermarkets emptied out, with meat and other fresh goods in particularly short supply. Even after the initial shock, the prevalence of COVID in industrial meatpacking plants along with other ongoing supply...