Ideas - The Boston Globe

IDEAS | STEVEN LIVINGSTON

Joy might not help Harris here

In battered cities like Flint, Mich., the Democrats’ campaign of optimism can come off as "grin and bear it."

IDEAS | KEVIN LEWIS

Social Studies: Partisanship on the courts; how COVID helped incumbents; local pubs keep populism in check

Surprising findings from the social sciences.

IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER

Harris can’t snap her fingers and restore abortion rights. Here’s what she can do instead.

The Democratic contender says she will bring back reproductive freedom nationwide. If only it were that easy.

IDEAS | CLAUDIA KALB

Is how we age a choice?

Science is tracking the behaviors, habits, and attitudes that help people live longer and better lives.

Henrietta Leavitt, center, in the Plate Stacks office at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge.

IDEAS | ANNA VON MERTENS

The almost forgotten woman who added depth to the night sky

Before Edwin Hubble, there was Henrietta Leavitt, whose work made other astronomers’ discoveries possible. Her way of looking is a testament to the power of attention in science, art, and life.

IDEAS | BRYAN KETT

The worm that made me cool

Identifying one kind of parasite turned me into one of another kind.

may i have a word?

May I have a word: Stain pain
Laundry disasters and the anxiety they provoke.

May I have a word: A future ex-husband

May I have a word: The gross thing about birthday parties

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Blueprints for a new downtown Boston

It's time to reimagine the identity of the city's core — and we've got ideas.

IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

How Uphams Corner got wealthier without getting whiter

The scrappy Dorchester neighborhood has fulfilled the community activist’s dream: development without displacement.

Where did all the workers go?

For two years, employers have been desperate for workers — and there’s no indication the labor shortage will soon change. What are we losing — and possibly gaining — as a result?

A girl headed to her elementary school in Brooklyn, New York on the first day of classes in 2021. This year, most schools are treating COVID like the flu or RSV, at the recommendation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

IDEAS | Sandro Galea

Is it OK to stop worrying about COVID?

IDEAS | Tasnim Ahmed

Doctors fleeing primary care is a crisis for Boston’s low-income neighborhoods

IDEAS | ADELINE GOSS

What should we think of the new Alzheimer’s drugs?

democracy under siege

"This doesn’t mean Caesarist leaders are less dangerous than fascist ones," the author writes. "They’re actually more threatening in one sense."

IDEAS | Elizabeth Svoboda

Trump isn’t a fascist. He’s a Caesarist.

IDEAS | DAVID SHRIBMAN

America is at a turning point, yet again

IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER

Latin America is rife with dysfunctional madness

The "Vehicle City" sign has hung over a main street in Flint, Mich., for over 100 years.

IDEAS | STEVEN LIVINGSTON

Joy might not help Harris here

IDEAS | JACK SHAFER

The anti-mainstream media election

IDEAS | ROB HENDERSON

Why are you so angry?

civil rights

Vice President Kamala Harris is campaigning on the issue of reproductive rights. She spoke about the issue at an event in Atlanta on Sept. 20.

IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER

Harris can’t snap her fingers and restore abortion rights. Here’s what she can do instead.

IDEAS | Régine Michelle Jean-Charles

Haitians in America vs. racist narratives, again

IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER

One antiabortion strategy could upend other forms of health care too

Glenn Loury in Providence on May 7.

IDEAS | CARINE HAJJAR

Glenn Loury wrestles with contradictions on race and in his own life

IDEAS | Shira Schoenberg

Cut loose at 18 and struggling into adulthood

IDEAS | LISA SELIN DAVIS

Subsidizing families is one thing the two parties can agree on

climate crisis

Satellite photo of the Baltic Sea surrounding Gotland, Sweden, with algae blooms swirling in the water.

IDEAS | BENJAMIN TWINING

Using the ocean as a carbon sink may be our best hope against climate change

IDEAS | KIRSTEN LIE-NIELSEN

Oysters, please — without a side of plastic

IDEAS | VERONIQUE GREENWOOD

A journey to the vault at the end of the world

education

Boston Latin School.

IDEAS | WILL AUSTIN

Fewer kids are applying to Boston’s exam schools. It’s a sign of a larger problem for the city.

IDEAS | JARED CHARNEY

At a recovery high school, graduation is a huge step on a treacherous journey

IDEAS | ALEXANDRA STYRON

The problem with campus protests is not cruelty but ignorance

A child swam at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Pool in Chelsea in June.

IDEAS | MILES HOWARD

Cool off at your local swimming hole — if you can find one

IDEAS | Morgan Evelyn Arnold

There’s a gaping hole in Boston’s live music scene

IDEAS | CARINE HAJJAR

Milton isn’t a ‘rapid transit community,’ no matter how many times the state says it is

Henrietta Leavitt, center, in the Plate Stacks office at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge.

IDEAS | ANNA VON MERTENS

The almost forgotten woman who added depth to the night sky

IDEAS | DICK LEHR

A former Boston cop opens a new investigation into some of the city’s darkest years

IDEAS | OLIVER EGGER

What I love about Bob Dylan’s least favorite song

Maureen Flores, the interim residential program director of DOVE, in the organization’s waiting room. Because of the state's housing crisis, DOVE is converting its shelter for domestic violence survivors into rent-free long-term apartments for those fleeing abuse.

IDEAS | SHIRA SCHOENBERG

The Mass. housing shortage is making life even harder for survivors of domestic violence

IDEAS | BART TOCCI

I can’t afford you anymore: A letter to the place where I was born

IDEAS | MILES HOWARD

Making too little to get affordable housing — and other problems with trying to stay in Boston

technology

DJ Bob Sinclar at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in California on April 19.

IDEAS | MATTIA FERRARESI

As schools consider whether to ban smartphones, some nightclubs are already there

IDEAS | ERIK FRID

How scammers used AI to profit from my brother’s death

IDEAS | PETER COHAN

Generative AI is looking like a big dud

IDEAS | BRYAN KETT

The worm that made me cool

IDEAS | Tejumola Adegoke

Why I can’t get a stubborn patient out of my mind

IDEAS | OLIVER EGGER

The roadkill artist

more special projects

IDEAS | JOAN VENNOCHI

How the MBTA went off the rails

Nearly everything about Boston has changed in the past few decades, yet the T has the same big problem — a failure to prioritize the rider experience above all.

IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG

Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.

The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.

Editing the Constitution

The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.

The Future of Work

The pandemic is still shattering expectations of what workdays look like. In this special issue of Ideas, we explore which of these changes will stick — and how they’ll affect the quality of our lives.

The Future of Food

What we eat, where it comes from, and how we get it are being reimagined like never before.

Massachusetts Works

We turn the typical model of journalism on its head — instead of focusing on what’s broken, we’re taking a look at what Massachusetts gets right.