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A section that asks “what if?” and “why not?”
IDEAS | KEVIN LEWIS
Social Studies: Government stimulus for crypto; a back door for worker visas; a precursor to the opioid crisis
Surprising findings from the social sciences.
IDEAS | WILL HENSHALL
The steam engine changed the world. Artificial intelligence could destroy it.
The US and China have to stop thinking of AI as an arms race.
IDEAS | TED SUTTON
For Parkinson’s disease, a remedy under my skin
Mr. Roboto I’m not. But Deep Brain Stimulation has given me hope — and more than a little affinity for the mechanical creatures that transfixed me in my youth.
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston has never elected a Black mayor. A quiet experiment could change that.
Black voter turnout in Massachusetts isn’t nearly as high as it could be.
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER
Being an influencer is harder than it looks
Emily Hund investigates how the shifting definition of “authenticity” is the basis of a $16 billion industry.
IDEAS | CRAIG FERHMAN
Are you too easily distracted? 19th-century Americans could relate.
In the category of innovations that make us impatient and harried, the smartphone joins the train, the telegraph, and the pulpy novel.
may i have a word?
May I have a word: Old saws get new teeth
Readers refresh truisms from a bygone time.
May I have a word: Two ways we cling to fantasy
May I have a word: Filling some holes in English
Submit to Globe Ideas
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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.
Born broken: The deep history of the T
What is the T for, anyway?
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston was once a wildly ambitious city. It’s time to go big again.
Soaring housing costs, a broken T, and other existential problems require sweeping fixes that meet the moment.
Explore visionary plans for housing, education, climate, and transit →
Bold visions from urban planners, policy experts, and readers →
Editing the Constitution
The Constitution is undergoing massive changes in the Supreme Court. It’s time to put the founding document in the hands of the people.
Public health
IDEAS | Traci Green, Jeffrey Bratberg, & Josiah Rich
Let pharmacists prescribe addiction medicine
IDEAS | V.M. VINES
Why I volunteer for medical trials
IDEAS | NATALIA LINOS & BENJAMIN MAZER
Ideas conversation: Has public health gotten too political?
democracy under siege
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
As Turkey turns 100, its democratic future still has not arrived
IDEAS | MILES TAYLOR
The midterms and Trump’s return show why we need a third party
IDEAS | FRANCESCO BERTOLUCCI AND STEFANO MORELLI
Step right up for the ‘20 years of fascism’ tour
politics
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
Boston has never elected a Black mayor. A quiet experiment could change that.
IDEAS | TODD WASHBURN
We’re all to blame for the chaos in Congress
IDEAS | DAVID SCHARFENBERG
An opportunity for Democrats, hiding in plain sight
civil rights
IDEAS | MARY ZIEGLER
As its 50th anniversary looms, Roe v. Wade still matters
IDEAS | MARIAH G. SCHUG
The price of prejudice: States that ban same-sex marriage leave millions on the table
IDEAS | SCOTT BANE
The Respect for Marriage Act, a century after one of Boston’s undercover same-sex love affairs
inequality
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD
How the language of social justice is used to protect the status quo
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Open Mass. beaches to everyone — with buses
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD
A recession, if we choose
climate crisis
IDEAS | STEPHEN KINZER
Costa Rica’s new president may test the commitment to eco-consciousness
IDEAS | VERONIQUE GREENWOOD
For one afternoon, lab-grown meat was the talk of the town
IDEAS | JOAN LUKEY
My road trip revealed that electric cars still have a long way to go
education
IDEAS | STEPHEN ASMA
A way out of the campus free speech wars
IDEAS | WILLIAM DEVINE
The business of college sports deserves to collapse
IDEAS | ADRIANA BARTON
The ‘Mozart effect’ is bunk. But your brain on music is still a wondrous thing.
development
IDEAS | MILES HOWARD
Evictions are rising again. It’s time to get creative.
IDEAS | ALAN WIRZBICKI
What is the T for, anyway?
IDEAS | ABDALLAH FAYYAD
Wu’s stubborn optimism is exactly what this transit crisis needs
history
IDEAS | CRAIG FERHMAN
Are you too easily distracted? 19th-century Americans could relate.
IDEAS | FRANCESCO BERTOLUCCI AND STEFANO MORELLI
The leather school in Florence that owes a debt to America’s 34th president
IDEAS | REBECCA TAYLOR
The enduringly lovely, dark, and deep lines published by Robert Frost 100 years ago
housing
IDEAS | CLAIRE DUNNING
The unintended consequences of Boston’s nonprofit-led urban development
IDEAS | STARRE JULIA VARTAN
Consider the small landlord
IDEAS | NOAH Y. KIM
Housing will test white support for Black lives
technology
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER
Being an influencer is harder than it looks
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER
Pondering a world without humans
IDEAS | EVAN SELINGER
ChatGPT taught me something powerful about human collaboration
essays
IDEAS | TED SUTTON
For Parkinson’s disease, a remedy under my skin
IDEAS | ASHLEY LEFRAK
The ‘main basic’ thing my son’s collections have taught me
IDEAS | ANTHONY AMORE
Brian Walshe and the art of the (sloppy) con
more special projects
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.