Funny how the people telling kids to get jobs in the trades tend to be white-collar.

Sometimes, the access gap is not a scientific or economic problem.

And what we can do to improve the situation.

It’s a dark and confusing world out there, and sometimes the hardest part is trying to figure out what’s going on.

Help Wanted: Someone to be everyone’s friend.

Why teach content knowledge when you can teach skills instead? Scotland decided to find out.

Clara Collier interviews Jessica Dai.

Asterisk editor in chief Clara Collier on what everyone is getting wrong about “AI and work.”

Once you realize what that means, you’ll be giving two cheers for the American work ethic.

How to save academics from themselves.

Even when incentivized to find common ground, the two remain far apart. Perhaps it’s not because of beliefs about AI, but about starting beliefs.

How do we model the future of work? It takes a village.

And why we like the things we do.

A glimpse inside the boring-by-design U.S. fact-checking machine.

An interview with Julianne Weis, formerly of USAID and Aid on the Hill.

Do women seek STEM jobs mostly because they "have" to? A viral study and popular talking point rests on shaky methodology.

An interview with PEPFAR's former chief science officer.

Everyone knows RCTs are the gold standard of evidence...right?

The development community treats war as inevitable. We’re learning how to pay to prevent it.

Usually, we like to back up our claims with numbers, but right now, we’re in a more reflective mood.

She thinks it's nearly imminent. He doesn't.

Clara Collier interviews Elizabeth Van Nostrand.

For health hackers, not experimenting is the bigger risk.

Differences do exist, but they are not evidence of diverging long-term goals.

The editors of The New Critic report on their generation’s Risk-geist.

The conditions under which AI policy will operate over the next decades are unlikely to match those in which it was introduced.

Why do manure spreaders have life cycles?

Clara Collier interviews Dan Schwarz about his newest Asterisk piece.

Historian Jon Peterson traces the route from Prussian military headquarters to Gary Gygax’s basement.

Acetaminophen, ibuprofen, and what doctors may want you to know.

Daniel Kokotajlo evaluates his 2021 essay, "What 2026 Looks Like."

Brian Hanlon of California YIMBY answers a rude question.

Bernie Sanders wants a moratorium on data center construction. The political calculus makes sense, but the policy prescription does not.

We can’t predict the full impact of climate change – so why did the climate movement stop pushing this fact and start denying it?

Leviathans, air pumps, Manhattan Project, a physicist at every dinner party, and more.

Scientists once hoped that studying the brain would teach us how to build AI. Now, one AI researcher may have something to teach us about the brain.

America’s earliest science fairs gave students the chance to do independent research. Today, they’re a competitive gloss to glorified internships. It’s time for a new format.

Coming up with drug candidates isn’t the bottleneck on finding new treatments. Can AI help with the things that are?

As federal research funding shrinks, scientists are looking to other sources of support. Can they learn to sell their work without selling out?