SAN FRANCISCO — Is this a good time to talk about “enoughness?” It was in long-ago 1973 that the economist E.F. Schumacher first published “Small Is Beautiful,” a seminal (and, to the surprise of some, best-selling) collection of essays critiquing Western economics. Mr. Schumacher was among the first to champion sustainability, localization, small-scale industry and…
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To many people who rely on the mail to deliver their prescriptions, the latest political skirmishing over the U.S. Postal Service doesn’t really matter. They’ve been dealing with delays for weeks, and while some are not urgent, others are more worrisome. Dr. Toula Milios Guilfoyle, a retired physician in Jefferson, N.H., is among those who…
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A plant extract trumpeted this week as a “cure” for Covid-19 by the leader of a pillow company is untested and potentially dangerous, scientists say. Mike Lindell, the chief executive of My Pillow and a big donor to President Trump, told Axios that the president was enthusiastic about the drug, called oleandrin, when he heard…
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Artificial sweeteners hold the promise of satisfying your sweet tooth without the downside of excess calories, and they are increasingly used in products ranging from diet sodas and powdered drink mixes to yogurt and baked goods. But whether using them can prevent weight gain — a problem many people are struggling with during the coronavirus…
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The Trump administration has announced measures intended to boost childhood vaccination rates that have sagged during the coronavirus pandemic, putting hundreds of thousands at risk of contracting serious and life-threatening diseases. The Department of Health and Human Services is giving permission to pharmacists nationwide to administer all scheduled shots to children as young as 3,…
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Sandra Mansour’s job is turning dream worlds into dresses. She pulls clouds down to earth via billowing tulle; she sews dawn dew from gardens into glass-beaded gowns. It’s a gift, as they say, but it comes with a cost—like, literally—because the hand-crafted pieces by the Swiss-born, Beirut-based designer are roughly (and rightly) the cost of…
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If wearing face masks out in public will be a part of our standard operating procedure for the foreseeable future, we might as well do it in style. We’ve been matching our masks to our makeup and matching our masks to our looks. Several designers started making reusable masks early on the pandemic. Now Burberry…
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Growing up in Chicago, Juliana Calistri was surrounded by all things Italian: music, food and language. Ms. Calistri’s grandparents were raised in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, and though her father was born in Chicago, he spoke Italian before he spoke English. “If you ask me to bake, I’m going to make biscotti and lemon knots,…
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Dr. Roland B. Scott was the first African-American to pass the pediatric board exam, in 1934. He was a faculty member at Howard University, and went on to establish its center for the study of sickle cell disease; he gained national acclaim for his research on the blood disorder. But when he applied for membership…
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GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. — The world has caught up to Gregory Crewdson. In his large-scale photographs, which are produced with a movie crew in bravura Hollywood style, the people stare off into space, cloaked in solipsistic misery. The lighting is so portentous and the isolation and hopelessness so exaggerated that these scenes have always reminded…
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