We're questioning Thomas Jefferson's hero status. Are we willing to do the same with science? I’ve never really been into heroes. That’s probably why I wasn’t super interested in general American history when I was a kid, because pretty much all of the children's history books at the time were heroic narratives. I knew I was supposed to love George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, but—dare I admit it?—they seemed boring, too good to be true. They just didn't sound like real pe

Solar panels are touted as "green" electricity. But they have drawbacks--like using thousands of acres of farmland and being manufactured from toxic metals. Driving through rural Michigan, dozens of miles from the nearest city, I suddenly run across a construction site. “Watch for trucks,” a sandbag-weighted neon-orange sign warns. I wonder what’s going on. A gravel pit? A new housing development? Half a mile farther, I slow down as the truck in front of me turns into a grave

Per capita milk consumption has plummeted since the 1940s. Does it have anything to do with processing? Data from USDA-ERS. As someone who spends a lot of time studying the past, I’ve found it very interesting to compare today’s movement against overprocessed foods to the natural foods movement of the 1940s. There are a lot of similarities, but one major difference is that today’s movement seems excessively focused on beef and beef tallow, which weren’t considered “protective

The glaciers in Glacier National Park are melting. Will the park still be worth visiting and preserving once they're gone? I love...