Messages in a Bottle

A Times profile of the new NIH director: In September, the New York Times published a profile by our editor of Jay Bhattacharya, the new director of the National Institutes of Health. A follow-up appears in this issue as “Does MAGA Actually Want American Science to Win?” A free version of the profile can be found at TheNewAtlantis.com/JB.

NEH helps to fund “The Lonely Neighborhood”: Our essay series won a National Endowment for the Humanities Chairman’s Grant, allowing us to extend it into additional reported pieces. This issue features the second essay in the series, “The Bills That Destroyed Urban America.”

Event at St. John’s College with Cosmos Institute: In July, our editor moderated the “AI and the Development of Human Capacities” panel at St. John’s College, hosted by the Cosmos Institute.

Debating Progress: Managing editor Samuel Matlack engaged in a Q&A about his essay “Why the Progress Debate Goes Nowhere” in the June 5 newsletter of AEI fellow James Pethokoukis.

Squibs: Charles C. Mann’s hit series “How the System Works” concludes to acclaim, with quotations by columnist Ezra Klein in a national debate and an interview with the author by journalist Derek Thompson ~ “Eat Your AI Slop or China Wins” is reprinted by The Free Press ~ WNYC host Brian Lehrer asks environmental activist Bill McKibben on air to respond to the criticisms of his work written in our pages by Ted Nordhaus ~ Brian J. A. Boyd discusses his New Atlantis essays on AI in a panel moderated by columnist Ross Douthat ~ Essays by Nadia Asparouhova, Jon Askonas, and Charles C. Mann reach the front page of Hacker News.