It is tempting to think the next great economic powers will emerge almost automatically from size alone. A large population, a young workforce and fast-rising cities can look like destiny....

It is tempting to see Donald Trump’s approach to world politics as a noisy interruption rather than a lasting change. That view is comforting, but it is increasingly hard to...

Many people still talk about the United States and Europe as if their relationship runs on habit alone. The old assumption is simple: the Atlantic alliance may argue, but it...

Many people still picture artificial intelligence as something that lives in giant data centers, fed by endless electricity and controlled by a few of the world’s largest companies. That image...

For years, the condom business looked like one of the simpler corners of consumer health. Population growth was rising, public health campaigns were widespread, and the product served two clear...

For years, the common belief was that automation would come first for manual labor. The image was easy to picture: robots on factory floors, driverless trucks on highways, machines replacing...

For years, Antarctica seemed to defy the climate story people thought they knew. While Arctic sea ice was shrinking fast, Antarctic sea ice looked more variable and, at times, even...

Many people assume Iran matters to world energy supply mainly because of the oil it pumps. That is only part of the story, and not even the most important part....

Many people still think the central problem in HIV care is that treatment is too weak, too toxic, or too hard to deliver. That view is badly out of date....

It is easy to believe that religion is in steady global decline. In many wealthy countries, church attendance has fallen, religious affiliation has weakened, and public life often sounds more...

Most people assume blood is one of the few medical essentials that can never be replaced by a lab. It feels too complex, too human, too bound to donors and...

For generations, many adults were taught the same quiet warning: masturbation is a bad habit, a sign of weakness, or a threat to health and morality. That idea still survives...

Many voters still think India’s China policy is mainly about soldiers on a high mountain frontier. That is true in part, but it misses the bigger political story. In India,...

Many people assume the legal battle over same-sex intimacy is nearing its end. That view is easy to understand. In the last three decades, courts and legislatures in many countries...

Many people treat silence as a problem. In much of public life, especially in English-speaking settings, a pause can feel like tension, poor social skills, or a sign that something...

For years, students were told a simple story: get a degree, get a better life. That story is now breaking down in public view. Across many countries, parents and graduates...

There is a persistent misconception in modern dating culture that oral sex is merely a casual preamble to actual intimacy. Influenced by decades of media messaging and the undeniable footprint...

For generations, throat cancer had a highly predictable face. It was almost exclusively the disease of the heavy smoker and the chronic drinker, typically appearing in older men after decades...

For decades, the cultural conversation around physical beauty and sexualization has focused almost exclusively on women. When society did discuss male attractiveness, it rarely moved beyond vague notions of height,...

For decades, the economics of male physical appearance centered almost entirely on two distinct anxieties. Men spent their money either attempting to build muscle at the gym or trying to...

For decades, the public imagination confined group sex to shadowy underground clubs, secretive suburban key parties, and the extreme fringes of society. Most people assumed that inviting a third or...

When policymakers debate border security, the conversation usually revolves around walls, patrols, and deportation flights. There is a persistent misconception that stricter border enforcement simply deters human movement, forcing displaced...

Most people believe the cutting edge of artificial intelligence involves corporate efficiency, automated coding assistance, or scientific breakthroughs in massive server farms. The reality is far more grounded in fundamental...

People tend to imagine modern dating algorithms as infinitely adaptable, capable of mapping the entire spectrum of human desire with a few lines of code. But underneath the sleek interfaces,...