Science needs more shrimp on treadmills
The Washington Post, March 7, 2025
To hear Trump tell it, the federal government’s apparatus for doling out research grants is a woke slush fund for silly scientific studies that offer nothing in the way of solutions to the world’s problems. But more often than not, silly studies are merely baroque examples of what’s known as edge science — or research based on relatively novel ideas.
The Washington Post, March 7, 2025
To hear Trump tell it, the federal government’s apparatus for doling out research grants is a woke slush fund for silly scientific studies that offer nothing in the way of solutions to the world’s problems. But more often than not, silly studies are merely baroque examples of what’s known as edge science — or research based on relatively novel ideas.
Psychiatrists learned the wrong lesson from the gay rights movement
The Washington Post, May 3, 2024
When the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its bible of mental disorders in 1974, the science lined up neatly with the demands of gay rights activists. But today, the science of pediatric gender medicine is uncertain, so it doesn’t back the cause the of groups leading the contemporary LGBTQ civil rights movement in the United States.
The Washington Post, May 3, 2024
When the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its bible of mental disorders in 1974, the science lined up neatly with the demands of gay rights activists. But today, the science of pediatric gender medicine is uncertain, so it doesn’t back the cause the of groups leading the contemporary LGBTQ civil rights movement in the United States.
Gay men can fight monkeypox ourselves — by changing how we have sex
The Washington Post, August 2022
As during the AIDS crisis, gay men cannot wait for the government to save us from monkeypox. We need to change our sexual behavior now. We must do this as an act of empowerment to protect ourselves. Until a time when monkeypox hopefully abates, this can and should mean reducing our number of partners, skipping sex parties, practicing monogamy and even being abstinent.
The Washington Post, August 2022
As during the AIDS crisis, gay men cannot wait for the government to save us from monkeypox. We need to change our sexual behavior now. We must do this as an act of empowerment to protect ourselves. Until a time when monkeypox hopefully abates, this can and should mean reducing our number of partners, skipping sex parties, practicing monogamy and even being abstinent.
Gay men deserve the unvarnished truth about monkeypox
The Washington Post, July 2022
“Anyone can get monkeypox.” Countless public health experts have uttered statements such as this in the past two months. Members of the media and politicians have parroted the message ad nauseam without stopping to dissect what it implies or obscures. By reducing monkeypox risk to a simplistic binary equation, public health leaders are prioritizing fighting stigma over their duty to directly inform the public about the true contours and drivers of this global outbreak.
The Washington Post, July 2022
“Anyone can get monkeypox.” Countless public health experts have uttered statements such as this in the past two months. Members of the media and politicians have parroted the message ad nauseam without stopping to dissect what it implies or obscures. By reducing monkeypox risk to a simplistic binary equation, public health leaders are prioritizing fighting stigma over their duty to directly inform the public about the true contours and drivers of this global outbreak.