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Heat is making our planet uninhabitable. Why isn’t this the top news story around the world?

In the 1973 sci-fi movie “Soylent Green,” the year 2022 is depicted as a world so ravaged by pollution that the temperature never drops below 90°F (32°C). Food is scarce; millions of people are homeless and crowd together in hallways just to sleep; the government has become overtly authoritarian. While things are not currently that bad (at least not yet), studies on climate change repeatedly indicate that the heat-based premise of “Soylent Green” is rapidly becoming close to reality....

Originally posted on salon.com

Lessons from a Nobel Prize-winning vaccine designer on standing up for one’s principles

The first time I talked to Dr. Katalin Karikó on the phone, it was late 2020. I knew that Karikó had helped create mRNA vaccines — the ones developed by pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer/BioNTech (where Karikó works) to fight the COVID-19 pandemic — and I expected to discuss science.

Instead, I unexpectedly found myself wishing I knew how to speak Hungarian....

Originally posted on salon.com

Autism is not “demonic” or a mistake, despite what some Christian pundits claim

Growing up as an autistic teenager in the early noughties, I often struggled with the prejudices of the people around me. When I obsessed over specific interests, failed to make eye contact and was socially awkward, I would be told that there was something “wrong” with me. For a long time, I internalized these assessments; it was not until I learned about the concept of neurodiversity that my self-esteem improved....

Originally posted on salon.com