Dan Vergano

Washington, D.C.

Senior Opinion Editor at Scientific American

Scientific American senior opinion editor. Contact: https://t.co/91Se80xztm

Articles

The Science of Autocracy Suggests the U.S. Is Headed for Dictatorship

3 weeks ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

As president, Donald Trump pretty much checks all the warning boxes for an autocrat. Last September Scientific American warned of Trump’s “nonsensical conspiracy fantasies,” that he “ignores the climate crisis” and has fondness for “unqualified ideologues,” whom he would appoint should he become president again. It’s now May and sadly, that all checks out. The U.S. is in a bad place, and scholars warn, looks to be headed for worse.
Here's How NASA Can Make the Moon Great Again

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

Good news, folks. We’re going to beat China to the moon. What’s that, you say? We did that already, a half-century ago on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong stepped on the lunar surface. The U.S. beat everyone, left a plaque, a flag and even some astronaut waste baggies. It was a pretty big deal.
Measles Vaccine Denial Is a Massive Brainwashing Campaign

1 month ago | exbulletin.com | Dan Vergano

What Are The Main Benefits Of Comparing Car Insurance Quotes OnlineLOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / June 24, 2020, / Compare-autoinsurance.Org has launched a new blog post that presents the main benefits of comparing multiple car insurance quotes. For more info and free online quotes, please visit https://compare-autoinsurance.Org/the-advantages-of-comparing-prices-with-car-insurance-quotes-online/ The modern society has numerous technological advantages.
Measles Vaccine Denial Is a Massive Brainwashing Campaign

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

A long-running nationwide brainwashing campaign, conducted in plain sight, now comes to its deadly culmination. The predictable consequence—reviving a preventable childhood disease in the U.S.—is at hand. With two children dead in Texas, an adult dead in New Mexico, and nearly 900 confirmed cases of measles across 25 states, we are now at risk of a preventable, dangerous disease becoming endemic once more within a generation.
Ces crânes retrouvés à Londres seraient ceux de gladiateurs décapités

1 month ago | nationalgeographic.fr | Dan Vergano

Les brutales décapitations faisaient partie de la mise à mort théâtralisée des gladiateurs, des criminels et des victimes de guerre de l’Empire romain, comme l'attestent des archéologues légistes ayant examiné des crânes mis au jour sur des sites du Londres antique. Capitale en pleine expansion d’une province romaine en l’an 100 après J.-C., Londonium (aujourd'hui Londres) accueillait légions romaines et Britanniques pour la tenue de combats de gladiateurs.
Here’s One Neat Trick for Making the U.S. Government Foolish: Firing Expert Panels

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

In the Trump administration’s ongoing race to make the U.S. poorer, sicker and dumber, one more stomp on the accelerator comes from cuts aimed against its federal advisory committees. Whether infectious diseases or space exploration, these panels of experts are the unpaid brains behind the brawn of the U.S. government. With its signature disdain for anything smacking of smarts or competence, the Trump administration now aims to destroy or neutralize them.
The Dire Wolf Hoopla Hides the Real Story: How to Save Red Wolves

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

Four cloned red wolves that fell out of the spotlight—hidden amid “de-extinction” hoopla about vanished dire wolves—tell the real secret to saving threatened species. And the answer isn’t a magical cloning technology. This month Colossal Laboratories & Biosciences announced the birth late last year of three gray wolf puppies with 15 gene variants that belonged to dire wolves (Aenocyon dirus); this large carnivore went extinct about 13,000 years ago.
Firing the Scientists Who Study Worker Safety Threatens Everyone

1 month ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

Black lung is a cruel disease. Incurable, it scars and hardens lungs, makes breathing hurt and leads to tuberculosis, heart disease and cancer. Still a recurring threat to miners, it is preventable by controlling exposure to dust in mines. We know that thanks to federal scientists the Trump administration now aims to wipe out. That’s a mistake that threatens everyone. In March, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Trump Administration Attacks on Science Trigger Backlash from Researchers

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

Slashed funding, mass firings and political edicts over what can be studied or spoken recently prompted an open letter that was signed by a sizable swath of the nation’s leading researchers, all members of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. “The voice of science must not be silenced,” read the letter, which was released on March 31.
Psychology’s Groupthink Helps Explain the Signal Chat Fiasco

2 months ago | scientificamerican.com | Dan Vergano

Killing civilians. Endangering pilots. Gross negligence. Breaking the law. Take your pick which Signal group chat calamity is worse for the Trump administration. Listing all the scandals is almost as challenging as finding an explanation for them. But at its heart sits a familiar, dangerous, flawed peril of political psychology: groupthink.