When scientists constructed a puzzle-solving task and pitted teams of people against teams of ants, the insects sometimes proved to be the smarter species. That’s not to denigrate human intelligence — ants are smart, and their feats of coordinated activity are rare in nature.

Still, it is fair to say the results were humbling and that ants ...Read more

In an updated projection, the Congressional Budget Office moved up its estimate for when deaths will outpace births, putting that event horizon only eight years away, in 2033. That would mean a country suffering from the particular malaise that’s afflicted Japan, Norway, the U.K. and elsewhere: an aging population with a dwindling worker base,...Read more

When word came Wednesday that a deal had been reached that would provide a pathway for the release of the 98 hostages still held by terrorists in Gaza, I felt relieved, but I could not yet celebrate.

Of course, I will enthusiastically welcome the return of the hostages and the end of the torture they have endured over the last 15 months. But ...Read more

Despite failing to win a second term that he badly wanted, Joe Biden’s time in the White House had some very real accomplishments and should not be measured as a failed presidency.

While those minority of U.S. presidents who only served a single term are deemed losers, having been rejected by voters, Biden had major legislative achievements, ...Read more

For years, the Food and Drug Administration has taken up arms against clinics hawking unproven and ineffective stem cell treatments to desperate patients looking for cures of intractable diseases and conditions such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, multiple sclerosis and even erectile dysfunction.

As the FDA has repeatedly cautioned, there is no ...Read more

Fire has always played a crucial role in Southern California’s ecosystem, which features dry conditions and strong, hot desert winds called the Santa Anas, which blow from the east each winter. Many native plants require periodic burning to germinate, which is why, historically, many Native American tribes in California set “cultural fires�...Read more

One of the longest, most technical and, as it turns out, most inconsequential public-policy debates of the 21st-century was about net neutrality. Now that a federal appeals court has effectively ended the debate by striking down the FCC’s net neutrality rules, it’s worth asking what we’ve learned.

If you have forgotten the sequence of ...Read more

Last Wednesday morning, after a singularly terrifying night of fire in Los Angeles, people miles away from Altadena or Pacific Palisades discovered more than ash in their backyards. The pages of books, some almost entirely blackened and illegible, others serrated and singed by flame from which fragments of text emerged, had been ripped, I ...Read more

Kim Kardashian posted a plea to Gov. Gavin Newsom on Instagram last week saying wages for inmates fighting the Los Angeles County wildfires should be raised. Right now, they’re paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day, depending on their skill level, with an additional $1 per hour during emergencies. Other celebrities called for a “parade” in...Read more

Ten years ago, Sue Latta fought to have her marriage recognized legally in Idaho.

It’s her name on the lawsuit, Latta v. Otter, that officially legalized same-sex marriage in Idaho in October 2014, months before the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriage the law of the land in the landmark Obergefell case in June 2015.

But here we are, 10...Read more

For the second time this month, former first lady Michelle Obama is snubbing Donald Trump, yet another sign that sore loser Democrats can’t handle Trump’s election victory.

Mrs. Obama, who has been touted as a possible presidential contender in the future, is boycotting Trump’s Inauguration next week – the most prominent political ...Read more

On top of the human tragedy they’re still inflicting, the Los Angeles wildfires are exposing a gap between what people thought their homes were worth and what they’ll actually get from insurance companies when those houses have been reduced to ash. Potentially thousands of homeowners are learning it won’t be nearly enough.

But this isn�...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump intends to pursue a hard-line policy on undocumented workers, deporting millions in what he has billed as the “largest deportation” in the nation’s history.

The inspiration for this plan is the appallingly named Eisenhower-era program “Operation Wetback,” which relied on mass raids and roundups to deport ...Read more

Ten years ago, a radical spine cancer surgery simultaneously saved my life and disabled me.

I had been a very active person, but after surgery, my legs were partially paralyzed. Initially, I leaned on stories of fellow athletes who overcame significant physical handicaps to do their thing again; paralyzed mountain bikers, prosthesis-wearing ...Read more

As bad as the fires in the Los Angeles area have been — more than 12,000 structures burned, about 180,000 people evacuated, more than 35,000 acres scorched, and at least 25 deaths— they could have been even worse. Officials noted they didn’t “ have enough fire personnel … to handle this,” but in some ways we Angelenos got lucky.

...Read more

As the San Joaquin Valley now confronts widespread fear in its immigrant communities caused by recent sweeps by U.S. Border Patrol agents, one fact remains true as it has for years now:

If Donald Trump and congressional Republicans really wanted to solve the immigration and border crisis, they could do so.

But keeping the issue in the hot pot ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump demonstrated in his first term a willingness to withhold and otherwise weaponize relief funding to American communities stricken by disaster, providing help to states — or not — depending on his whims.

That inexcusable behavior is set to continue as Trump, amid a flurry of lies and conspiracy theories, and ...Read more

The Hollywood sign stands sentinel above Los Angeles, watching as embers dance through the January night like wayward stars. Glowing debris floats on warm winds past million-dollar mansions, while emergency crews battle a blaze that shouldn’t exist — not in winter, not here, not now.

Two thousand miles east, in the heartland of America, a ...Read more

It was perhaps his most outlandish claim on the campaign trail, yet one Donald Trump repeated as he was seeking to win back his old job as president of the United States: He can resolve the war in Ukraine in a single day.

“They’re dying, Russians and Ukrainians. I want them to stop dying. And I’ll have that done — I’ll have that done ...Read more

President-elect Donald Trump’s imminent return to the White House sparks a pressing question: Can the guardrails of American democracy survive another four years of the only U.S. president who sought to undermine the peaceful transfer of power?

Many of us on the center-right are worried the answer will be “no.” After all, conservatism, at...Read more