Stephen Johnson

St. Louis

Contributing Writer at Freethink

Associate Editor at Big Think

Articles

The price of Christianity's "broken bargain" with democracy

4 weeks ago | bigthink.com | Stephen Johnson

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free. Over glasses of merlot in 2003, the journalist Jonathan Rauch was asked about his religious beliefs. He nearly answered “atheist,” then paused. God never made sense to Rauch. As a child in Hebrew school, he went through the motions but was unable to believe. In his teens, he heard pastors on AM radio rail against gay people like himself, calling them “a stench in the nostril of God.” His atheism hardened.
Outdated Money Tips From Grandma You Should Ignore in 2025

2 months ago | blog.cheapism.com | Stephen Johnson

Cheapism is . We may earn a commission if you buy through links on our site. Grandmas Don't Always Know BestGrandparents often love sharing their tried-and-true financial advice with younger generations. But not all the guidance that worked in Grandma's day is still relevant.
Taking In the Good: Rick Hanson on the HEAL Method

Mar 27, 2025 | bigthink.com | Stephen Johnson

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people Imagine lounging in a hammock on a sunny beach, palm trees swaying in the breeze, the bright turquoise of the sea barely dimmed by your sunglasses. You glance up the beach, then down the beach: not a soul in sight. It’s only the first day of your holiday and your whole body feels so relaxed, you could dissolve into the sand and be swept out to sea. You take a lazy sip of your pina colada and take it all in.
Scientists find record high-energy cosmic ray electrons, but origin remains elusive

Dec 31, 2024 | bigthink.com | Stephen Johnson

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people The Earth is under attack — not by humanity or rampaging aliens, but by the Universe itself. Vast cosmic forces break apart hydrogen atoms and fling their components across the cosmos at nearly the speed of light. Some of these interstellar projectiles smash into the Earth’s atmosphere, allowing sensitive detectors to unravel their secrets.
Coatomer protein complex I is required for efficient secretion of dengue virus non-structural protein 1

Oct 13, 2024 | biorxiv.org | Stephen Johnson |Michael Beard |Siena M Centofanti |Gustavo Bracho

AbstractSecreted non-structural protein 1 (sNS1) is an important orthoflavivirus pathogenic factor that can induce vascular leakage; a key symptom of severe dengue disease. Given the role of sNS1 in dengue pathogenesis, defining the molecular mechanisms of NS1 secretion may contribute towards development of NS1-targeting antiviral therapies. To this end, we performed a customised membrane-trafficking siRNA screen to identify human host factors involved in NS1 secretion.
Major tech failures like the CrowdStrike crisis are a stark warning

Sep 2, 2024 | techradar.com | Stephen Johnson

(Image credit: Shutterstock)Today’s society is more dependent on technology than ever before. Virtually every aspect of our daily lives is intertwined with IT infrastructure, from the way we communicate and work to how we access essential services like banking and healthcare. This deep integration means that even the smallest error in a system can have profound consequences, affecting millions of people and causing significant disruptions.
How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology

Aug 17, 2024 | bigthink.com | Stephen Johnson

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people If physics ruled the 20th century, the 21st is shaping up to be the century of biology. The past two decades have brought us the completion of the Human Genome Project, the advent of CRISPR technology, the development of mRNA drugs, advances in personalized medicine and stem-cell therapies, and, more recently, AI advances that promise to accelerate our understanding of diseases and drug discovery.
How Arc Institute is bringing science into the century of biology

Aug 13, 2024 | freethink.com | Stephen Johnson

If physics ruled the 20th century, the 21st is shaping up to be the century of biology. The past two decades have brought us the completion of the Human Genome Project, the advent of CRISPR technology, the development of mRNA drugs, advances in personalized medicine and stem-cell therapies, and, more recently, AI advances that promise to accelerate our understanding of diseases and drug discovery.
How the internet changed news, according to The Onion

Jul 27, 2024 | bigthink.com | Tim Brinkhof |Stephen Johnson

When amateur writers pitch headlines to The Onion, their jokes often flop. One reason may surprise you: They use too many funny words that wink at the reader, “wacky” elements that sabotage any chance at good parody, former Onion editor Joe Randazzo told our sister site Big Think in 2012.
How the internet changed news, according to The Onion

Jul 17, 2024 | freethink.com | Tim Brinkhof |Stephen Johnson

When amateur writers pitch headlines to The Onion, their jokes often flop. One reason may surprise you: They use too many funny words that wink at the reader, “wacky” elements that sabotage any chance at good parody, former Onion editor Joe Randazzo told our sister site Big Think in 2012.