Stories by John Horgan

“Energy accountant” Richard Heede does research needed to hold major polluters accountable for their actions

NIH director Francis Collins, winner of the 2020 Templeton Prize, answers questions about God, free will, evil, altruism and his Christian faith in a 2006 interview

Journalist Leslie Kean investigates topics that many consider to be beyond the pale

Biology writer Carl Zimmer answers questions on heredity, CRISPR, human enhancement, immortality and the coronavirus

A weight-lifting guru, author and podcaster calls the U.S. response to the pandemic an “exercise in hysteria" that might do more harm than good

The pandemic has revealed the disadvantages of laissez-faire governance and advantages of centralized control

Pundits hope the pandemic will lead to more humane government policies but fear darker outcomes

The great astrophysicist Fred Hoyle (1915–2001) named the big bang theory but never embraced it

Is it ethical to seek serenity when the world is suffering?

As fear of mortality rises, so does tribalism and support for authoritarian leaders, according to terror-management theory

The Nobel Prize winner espoused an antireductionist vision of science in which “more is different”

The author of book on the 2009 flu outbreak explains how a lack of effective tests crippled U.S. attempts to contain the coronavirus

A physics student has founded an international organization for mentoring women in male-dominated fields

The coronavirus pandemic might have positive consequences

Does right-wing skepticism toward the coronavirus have anything to do with the postmodern philosophy of Thomas Kuhn?

The iconoclastic physicist rejected the idea of an end point to the human quest for knowledge and happiness

With psychotherapists’ encouragement, troubled people are seeking solace in pseudoscientific practices such as astrology and tarot cards

Readers critique a journalist’s critique of cancer medicine

Cancer medicine generates enormous revenues but marginal benefits for patients

A physicist slams hype about multiverses, string theory, and quantum computers and calls for more diversity in his field

Some products of our imaginations seem to spring from sources beyond our everyday selves.

Participants in a freewheeling exploration of nonmaterialist, mystical accounts of reality critique a journalist’s critique

Free will must exist if some of us have more of it than others

Cross-Check began a decade ago. Here are columns that the author liked, even if readers didn’t