This Is the Legal Thicket the NRA Has Created to Make It Impossible to Study Gun Violence
boonchai wedmakawand/Getty Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Since the shooting that left 17 people dead at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, last month, several states have been scrambling to enact legislation that might prevent gun violence—at least on a mass scale. But the lack of research on the federal…
A New Report Has Some Grim News About Black Babies
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. For decades, the number of American babies born too small was on the decline. But new data suggests the rate may be ticking up again—especially among African Americans. The World Health Organization defines an underweight newborn as weighing less than 5 pounds, 8 ounces. In…
Can You Beat a Billionaire by Mobilizing Young Voters?
Daniel Biss, campaigning for governor of Illinois, addresses students at Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois.Charles Rex Arbogast/AP Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. On a mid-February morning, Illinois gubernatorial candidate Daniel Biss hit the road at 6:15 to begin an 18-hour day of driving. The 40-year-old Democratic state senator was on…
What Is the Greatest Number of All Time?
Tom Garrity (left) and Colin Adams.Photo courtesy of these guys. Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Williams College mathematicians Tom Garrity and Colin Adams are best known outside of their field (and perhaps inside it, too) for their occasional public smackdowns on questions such as, “Which is the better number: π…
Conor Lamb’s Victory Is Not a 20-Point Swing
Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. I don’t want to throw cold water on Conor Lamb’s apparent victory tonight, but I do want to point out one little thing: when a congressional seat opens up and there’s no longer an incumbent, that can produce a 10-point swing all by itself. Back…
Are You Ready For a Recount?
Brian Cahn via ZUMA Looking for news you can trust?Subscribe to our free newsletters. Here’s where we are in the Pennsylvania 18th district special election: the Democrat, Conor Lamb, is ahead by about 1,000 votes with nearly all votes counted. However, there are still about 3,000 absentee ballots left to be counted in three red…