Laura Helmuth

HHS wants a new Medicare code that pays doctors extra only when they attribute a patient’s symptoms to a vaccine. Vaccine critics say doctors are paid to push vaccines. We aren’t. Under this code, we’d be paid to blame them. My new piece in @cidrap.bsky.social: www.cidrap.umn.edu/childhood-va...

Pregnancy brings up a lot of family-of-origin issues, in this case about whether to prioritize time with or money for the kid. I'm not sure this relationship can be saved, but I tried: slate.com/advice/2026/...

Listen, the people you help when you start a load of towels or the dishwasher on your way out are not the Airbnb owners. They're the people hired to clean the place, who are paid poorly and irregularly. Some requests are ridiculous, yes, but some are about considering a cleaner's time. Tip well.

means wasn't at HHS to govern, he was there to grift—and that becomes a lot more risky to do if congress starts doing oversight again because democrats are in power. we're going to see a LOT of corrupt officials jumping ship in the coming weeks as the writing on the wall becomes more clear.

A playground in Kansas reluctantly acknowledges the metric system.

"Trans Lives are Real. Harry Potter is Not" Sticker spotted in NYC

We already have flying cars. They're called helicopters. They're really expensive and there are good reasons you have to have a pilot license and work with air traffic control to fly them. Putting jets on a sedan is not going to result in a better vehicle or transportation experience in any way.

it makes my blood boil every time there’s a bullshit tech demo and everyone goes back to “oh that scamp elon has done it again” he’s a vicious monster out to ruin the lives of millions of people who don’t deserve any of it and he should be treated accordingly

this is disqualifying for any leader of the democratic party, no matter how you look at it.

elon will look untouchable right up until he doesn't anymore and western governments should accelerate that day as quickly as possible

Is it ~~bad~~ that people feed wildlife in national parks? Yes, absolutely. But is it funny that jays are like, “gimme trail mix”? Also yes.

A friend's sibling's child is non-binary, and the friend wished English had a good word for them. OH, says I. But we DO! That's your NIBLING. It's a mash-up of niece/nephew + sibling, and it's gender-neutral, linguistically efficient, and CUTE. Sharing this for anybody who doesn't know the word.

What fresh Bad Boss hell is this? The owner of a small business is using a photo of their entire staff to endorse a local candidate for office. An employee asks, "do I have a valid complaint?" Oh, yes. Yes, you do. slate.com/advice/2026/...

Have you ever seen one of these “Your GPS is wrong!” signs? There must be a story behind every one.

"Given the enormous time spent in workplace meetings, do we know what they accomplish or how to make them as worthwhile as possible? For decades, the answer was: not really... Once a tiny niche area, 'meeting science' is a growing specialization." On @knowablemag.bsky.social

In addition to the white nationalism, transphobia, narcissism, and pathological lying, it seems clear that Elon Musk enjoys causing suffering and death.

Couldn’t have happened to a nicer senator.

The questions we get for advice columns are anonymous, but I would love to know where this person used to work. It smells like a cult, complete with shaming people who leave and isolating those who stay. If this sounds like your workplace: Get. Out. slate.com/advice/2026/...

Fake freelancers are a nightmare for editors and not-fake freelancers.

What the fuck is the point of having stupid money if you still have to be so fucking stupid

Lots of things are bad right now but apples are *good*. What's your favorite variety? Mine is Ever Crisp. www.scientificamerican.com/article/appl...

"We don't want to turn into a banana republic, so we won't try to rein in corporations" is the kind of thing you say if you don't know what makes a banana republic a banana republic, and instead want to be a banana republic where the bananas are data centers.

Earth’s getting rounder. (Ice at the poles squishes the planet so it bulges at the equator; as glaciers melt, there’s less flattening.) agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...

It's better to enjoy things than save them! lastwordonnothing.com/2026/10/02/g... by @cragcrest.bsky.social

Spooky bird stories. My Halloween comic from 2024.

It's been a gray, rainy weekend here--perfect for a good book--and two of my library holds just came through on Libby. Thanks, fellow readers.

Olivia Rodrigo has a concert in DC tonight & the streets are full of pre-teen and teenage girls wearing tiaras and sparkly pink dresses and bows in their hair and they are SO happy & soon they’ll all be old enough to vote.

I haaaaaate it when a TV series kills off a good character.

Butterbutt. An older comic.

Just finished @sarahpinsker.bsky.social's collection "Sooner or Later Everything Falls into the Sea" and loved every bit of it, especially the final story, which was published earlier in Uncanny: "And Then There Were (N-1)." SO GOOD: www.uncannymagazine.com/article/and-...

However complicated you think the immune system is, it's more complicated than that. A whole new branch seems to be responsible for inflammation related to insect stings, poison ivy, and other skin conditions. Huh! www.science.org/content/arti...

The cause of, and solution to, many work problems is "snacks." This week: A start-up company's founder rented shared office space where they can't meet or eat. Time for a new shared office space: slate.com/advice/2026/...

You taught me language, and my profit on’t Is, I know how to curse.

"Normative appeals to civility and harmony, when applied indiscriminately, can obscure the moral distinction between domination and resistance—condemning confrontational opposition even in contexts where democratic survival or basic human dignity is at stake."

Finally saw Coyote vs. Acme and am boring all my loved ones with explanations of Easter eggs including the law firm Avery, Jones & Maltese. (Tex Avery & Chuck Jones were Looney Tunes creators; Peter Lorre was in Maltese Falcon) Anyway, it was delightful. averyjonesmaltese.com

I have not made or helped anyone make a diorama in many years, but I still hesitate (will I need this?) before throwing out a shoe box.

Not everybody knows this, and everybody should. On Sept. 26, 1983, a Soviet nuclear warning system alerted Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov that the U.S. had launched a missile attack. He did not retaliate, preventing WWIII. This is a post about AI. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanisl...

Today in Every Story Is a Science Story: "Was it a common thing in the 1890s for people in one smallish city to experience this many ax murders?" "The Bessemer process made it much easier to make steel, so there was an explosion of steel tools in the second half of the 19th century."