Essay | April 3, 2025
April 3, 2025
The New NIH Director Has His Work Cut Out For Him
Science funding badly needs reform. Jay Bhattacharya could be the man for the job — but Trump may have blown up his chance.
M. Anthony Mills
M. Anthony Mills is a senior fellow and director of the Center for Technology, Science, and Energy at the American Enterprise Institute.
He was formerly the associate editor of The New Atlantis and the executive editor of Big Questions Online. He received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame and writes on science and philosophy.
In The New Atlantis
Essay | Spring 2025
How Virologists Lost the Gain-of-Function Debate
For years, scientists kept the debate about risky virus research among themselves. Then Covid happened. As President Trump prepares to crack down on virology research, the expert community must face up to its own failures.
Essay | Summer 2024
The Refs Are Working Us
Fact-checking used to be how journalists policed themselves. Now it’s how they police everyone else.
Essay | Winter 2024
A President’s Council on Artificial Intelligence
The White House’s bland solution doesn’t match the problem. Here’s what would.
Essay | Summer 2023
The Masking Debate We Didn’t Have
The Covid establishment saw masking policies as purely scientific. Now critics are making the same mistake.
Essay | Spring 2023
What Does “Scientific Progress” Mean, Anyway?
Three ways we think about science flourishing — or getting stuck
Online Exclusive | January 25, 2022
January 25, 2022
Is This Still an Emergency?
As with 9/11, we cannot sustain crisis politics for years after a moment of unity passes.
Interview | Winter 2022
Science as Craftwork with Integrity
The study of expertise itself helps us get past a “magic” view of science — and strengthen it against populist critiques.
Essay | Summer 2021
Is It Time for a U.S. Department of Science?
Messy pluralism is actually what makes American research great.
Essay | Winter 2021
Online Exclusive | May 14, 2020
May 14, 2020
Squandering America’s Strength
How centralization created a single point of failure in our Covid-19 response
Essay | Winter 2020
The Science Before the War
How the technological feats of World War II grew out of curiosity-driven research
Reviving Expertise in a Populist Age
Wary of technocracy, a feckless Congress defers to executive bureaucrats.
Essay | Spring 2014
Other Publications
- “In Defense of Populism,” FirstThings.com, March 22, 2016
- “The Deliberator,” FirstThings.com, February 17, 2016
- "Science Is Neither ‘Settled’ Nor ‘Skeptical,’” Real Clear Science, October 28, 2015
- "Should Scientific Truth Be Subjected to a Vote?," Real Clear Science, September 29, 2015
- "The Real Legacy of Laudato Si," Real Clear Religion, June 19, 2015
- "2014: When Clicks Won Out Over Facts," Real Clear Markets, January 7, 2015
- "How to Confuse Pope Francis," Real Clear Religion, December 19, 2014
- “Please, No Google in the Gallery,” City Journal, November 28, 2014
- "The Pope's Big Bang." Real Clear Religion, November 1, 2014
- “What Kind of Data Revolution is This?,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, October 21, 2014
- “Are Humans Unique?,” Slate, September 25, 2014
- "Managing Expectations with Big Data." U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, August 21, 2014
- "A Christian Big Bang Theory?" Real Clear Religion, August 5, 2014
- "Look to Cyber-Physical Systems, Not Social Media, for the Data Revolution." U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, July 28, 2014
- "How Scientists Became the Priests of Our Brave New World." Aleteia, July 17, 2014
- “Every Datum Tells a Story” (with Mark P. Mills), City Journal, June 29, 2014
- "Cracking the Code of the New Economy: You Don't Need a STEM Degree to Work in a STEM field" (with Mark P. Mills). Pacific Standard, June 19, 2014
- "The Pope Believes in Evolution," Aleteia, June 13, 2014
- “Why Does Neil deGrasse Tyson Hate Philosophy?.” Real Clear Science, May 22, 2014
- "The Data-Driven Economy and the Railroad Age." U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, May 15, 2014
- "The Queen's New Clothes." Real Clear Religion, May 8, 2014
- "The Father of Population Control." Real Clear Religion, March 21, 2014
- “The End of Science or Another Revolution?,” Real Clear Science, February 19, 2014
- "The War on Pope Francis." Real Clear Religion, February 3, 2014
- "The Harry Potter Paradox." Real Clear Religion, January 24, 2014
- "In Defense of Immanuel Kant." Real Clear Religion, December 24, 2013
- "The Lost Art of Political Debate" (with Phil Mills). Real Clear History, December 6, 2013
- "G.K. Chesterton vs. Conspiracy Theorists." Real Clear Religion, December 5, 2013
- "Our Cultural Recession." Real Clear Religion, November 9, 2013
- "Wishy-Washy Millennials." Real Clear Religion, September 12, 2013
- "Victor Stenger's Atomic Muddle." Real Clear Religion, August 31, 2013"]