Opinion journalism keeps the lights on. But at what cost?

What makes someone gay? Science is trying to get it straight.

Evolutionarily speaking, being gay is still something of an enigma

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  • Heterosexual people have been less interesting to scientists than gay people, in terms of where they come from, because, evolutionarily speaking, being gay doesn't lead to a higher "higher reproductive fitness" — meaning, it doesn't lead to more babies.
  • Across cultures, gay boys tend to be more interested in spending time with their mothers.
  • We still don't really know why gay people are attracted to each other.

This is how we end hyper-partisan politics

Want to empower social change? Break bread, literally, with the so-called enemy.

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  • Alice Dreger shares brilliant advice for divisive times: Break bread, literally, with your so-called enemy. "[S]ee if [you] can have a conversation, and preferably to do it over food or drink, because there is something very primal in us about sharing food and drink that allows us, I think, to open our hearts and our minds."
  • If you're passionate about social change, Dreger recommends avoiding destructive tools or methods that would cause a kind of "arms race" in activism—it leads somewhere that no one wants to go.
  • Spend time getting to know the issues you care about from a nonpartisan perspective—do descriptive, not normative, research. It will remind you of what the other side may be seeing that you might be missing because you're blinded by your partisan side.
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Why whistleblowing is the loneliest and most courageous act in the world

'Whose job is it to fix the bad stuff in the world?' asks Alice Dreger.

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  • Living with integrity means being able to fall asleep at night having asked and answered these questions: Did I treat other people well today? Did I uphold the principles that I really care about? Did I take care of injustice?
  • If you feel you need to call out bad behavior or blow the whistle on injustice, Alice Dreger offers this advice: "Can you get other people to do it with you? That will often help lighten the blow of the backlash. And then, can you afford to lose what it is you might lose?"
  • Choose your battles—you cannot fix everything. But, says Dreger, if more people called out injustice when they saw it, the world would be infinitely better to live in for all of us.


Galileo's Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and One Scholar's Search for Justice
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Safe spaces: Where should the line of censorship be drawn?

Are university safe spaces killing intellectual growth?

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  • Why you should want your ideological opposites on campus
  • Universities must be safe—but they cannot be censored
  • Don't be afraid of being offended. Be afraid of never changing your mind.
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